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Terrible Customer Service on Land Line/DSL outage

This week, my copper dial tone and DSL service went out after a bad storm in our area. Took two days to get a repair tech out, then six hours later the problem occurred again. Had to get a supervisor involved before I could get them to agree to try to "squeeze me in" with a Saturday repair (another two-day wait and total five days of outage).

The problem is fixed, for now.

But, I don't appreciate being lied to by call center reps and supervisors. My second repair call, which occurred around midnight, was finally answered after a 30-minute hold. The rep told me he could tell from his computer that we had an area outage (lie #1), and someone would be working on it next morning. (lie #2)

When the problem wasn't corrected by midafternoon the next day (Friday), I called again to get status. Rep told me there was no sign of an outage ("I don't know why they told you that") and a repair order had already been scheduled for Monday, apparently by the rep I'd spoken to the night before.

I asked to speak to a supervisor, who at first said "they don't schedule repairs on the weekend" (lie #3). After I pointed out I was on the verge of switching to FIOS but hadn't yet, had a $2k a year account with DirecTV, and also had Comcast fiber on my street, she agreed to "see what I can do." She called back five minutes later saying she'd talked to our local service dispatcher and he would try to "squeeze me in" on Saturday.

Repair tech showed up at 1 pm Saturday, spent five minutes replacing "coppers," which he said were lightening and surge protectors, in my outside box. He also said he was on his way to my neighbor across the street for an appointment there. So much for "no Saturday appointments."

Verizon's repair service is a mess. Call center people don't know what they're talking about, have no clue what's going on in the phone system, they lie to you to get you off the phone (the supervisor said that's obviously what they did when they told me the "area outage" would be checked the next day), and then even the supervisors lie to you (no Saturday appointments) until you make it look like Verizon might lose an account.

I was seriously considering Verizon FIOS, but this situation has led me to do more reading on the web and it appears their FIOS service itself, and the repair service for it, is even more of a mess. No way I'll switch now. At least when my sat TV goes out because of rain it comes back in five minutes--not five days.

Verizon, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?????

Comments

Jan1234

We have Verizon FIOS and the service for the telephone is faulty at best. My account would validate that we have had phone outage at least once per month over the last year. When you can reach what Verizon considers Customer Service, they send a technician out. The service is restored. The problem was unknown and the solution is documented as "service restored".

Please do not change your service.

I agree: Verizon, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?????

larryw9999

If a technician is coming to your home to resolve an issue once a month, why don't you ask what the issue is? The technician will know better than an agent in a call center what problem was found and what was specifically done to restore your service. If it is a recurring problem, the technician is aware that the issue is a recurring problem, they may take a different action that will resolve the issue for good.

You may want to consider this the next time you have the problem.

Jan1234

Yes, that is common sense isn't it? So, yes we have talked to the technician. The last two times the problem reported to the technician by the agent in the call center was a bad power supply. However, according to the agent in the call center - it is at the discretion of the technician to change the power supply. Each technician (since we have never received the same one) has indicated that there is no problem with the power supply. I truly believe that the technicians either 1) do not know what the problem is or 2) do not care and thus do nothing. Either way - it is continued disrupted service.

Now, do I get into the "blame the other guy game" that we hear?

The solution is to change providers when the contract expires or sooner if possible.

In the meantime, I welcome any other suggestion to stop this circus. We have our monthly service call scheduled for tomorrow between 9:00 - noon.

westom

@Jan1234 wrote:
When you can reach what Verizon considers Customer Service, they send a technician out.
Verizon has numerous business school graduates in management. Therefore people who take calls have virtually no technical knowledge - can only follow a checklist of diagnostic procedures. Business school graduated view education and kowledge as an expense. Spreadsheets never show better trained employees as an asset. Anything a customer service rep can do to not roll a truck provides some kind of bonus points for that rep.
Generally, when I call, I already know what the problem is. And can even provide numbers that makes that problem immediately obvious. Due to business school graduates, customer service often has no idea what those numbers mean. Historically, then they would do anything necessary to unload my call - since it obviously required a truck roll. Dump a truck roll on someone else.
With a lineman, you have someone who knows something. Ask him what the problem was, how to avoid that problem, how you might fix it, and why the problem exists. Linemen - especially the older ones - tend to be honest because they actually know something and when business school graduates are not their boss.

westom

@Jan1234 wrote:
In the meantime, I welcome any other suggestion to stop this circus. We have our monthly service call scheduled for tomorrow between 9:00 - noon.
Power supply problems are immediately obvious with a 3.5 digit multimeter - a tool so complex as to be sold in stores that also sell hammers - for about the same price. I have forgotten what those voltages are suppose to be. But if you measure those power supply DC voltages, then report the number accurately to three digits, I might be of assistance.
With no numbers or other relevant facts (symptoms), every post can only be "it might be this or might be that".

larryw9999

Sorry for the "common sense" suggestions, your previous post made no reference to speaking to techs and a possible bad power supply.

I know that there are fiber solutions center technicians that monitor the forurms to provide assistance. Unfortunately, this post is in the home phone (landline) section so it may not be noticed by the FSC techs who are on the forums.

I am going to private message you a way to contact me when the technician arrives at your home tomorrow. If either of the FSC techs that I can reach out to are available, I can have them try to diagnose the issue with the technician at your home and finally resolve the issue. So look for for a private message from me.

larry

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