FiOS Complaints

[MIB]

Does anyone have any complaints about their FiOS service, at all?  I am thinking of ordering it. Anything at all. TV, internet speed, customer service, billing, etc. Also, if anyone has the Triple Freedom bundle, could they tell me the actual price you pay, "hidden charges" and everything included?

[stuland]

Be advised that your verizon bill will be very hard to read for the first 90 days.  Due to credits and such.  My advise to you is stick with your original plan you sign up for and when all the free for so many days stuff disappears from your bill then sign up for what you want.  So far I think the product is good but customer service lacks big time and there is no local office to go to speak to someone face to face.  I thought my old carrier (Cox) was bad but they have nothing on the sales reps for verizon.  I wish I would have stayed with cox communications and by the time you realize your mistake your 30 day trial is over and your stuck for the year or pay the $179.00 to get out of contract.  If your plan is to switch and save then you will be very angry.  The lowest bill I have paid so far is this months at $266.  Everything is priced higher than advertised.

[MIB]

Is your contract still in play? Is the price you pay with or without it? Do you have the Triple Freedom Package?

[KenAF]

I have Verizon's "Flex Duo" plan, which includes 20/5 Internet and FiOS HD Extreme for $79.99/mo.  I pay an extra 2x$2.99 = $5.98 for two CableCards (for my TivoHD), plus another $4 or so in local, state, and federal taxes.  My total bill comes to around $90/mo.

If you get the "triple play" bundle with Verizon phone service, you will be inevitably be hit with the associated state and federal taxes.  I primarily use my cell phone for outgoing calls, so I got Vonage's "Zero" plan for $4.99/mo which includes free unlimited incoming minutes but costs $0.038 per outgoing minute.  My typical Vonage bill is around $8/mo with taxes, or about $100/mo total for FiOS TV, Internet, and Vonage phone service.

Message Edited by KenAF on 12-03-2008 10:31 PM

[Justin46]

MIB,

I am not sure what "hidden charges" you might be referring to, but I pay $170.83/month, total, taxes, fees, STBs and all, for FiOS Triple Freedom (Extreme HD TV, 20/5 internet, and Freedom Essentials phone), 1 HD DVR, 2 SD STBs, and Movie Package. Your taxes and fees would depend on where you live I think.

I am a 3 year plus FiOS user, TV, internet, and phone, and am overall very satisfied with the service. Sure along the way there have been some problems, all pretty minor, and all resolved except the quality of the Guide info, it is incorrect a lot of the time. When I compare FiOS to my previous TV and internet provider, Charter Cable, I am super, super satisfied with FiOS. FWIW...

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
IMG 1.6.0, Build 06.89
Keller, TX 

Message Edited by Justin on 12-03-2008 09:49 PM

[Sabre70]

My only complaint is the fact that they need to get thier software issues resolved on the receivers.  Also the fact that every TV needs a set top box or digital adaptor,no dual tuner(dishnetwork) or ability to split signal.  My bill is 105.99 plus aprox $10 taxes.  I have Triple Freedom, MRDVR and SD set top box.  No HD programing yet for me.  Price point is good, but as stated cust serv leaves a bit to be desired.  On the positive side is this forum that Vz monitors.  I just don't like being the test subject for faulty or bad software or fimware releases on the set top boxes.  No matter what serv you go with as soon as you start adding movies or set tops to other tv your package goes up.  Hope this helps. Good Luck. 

[TimSykes]

The big issue everyone has is phone support, being it a issue with a bill, or a issue with service. Fios has one of the worst phone support center I have ever called. And I am dell certified and have had to call into dell India a lot. But on the other had, you will get better support coming to the boards here if you have a issue, and calling phone support at last resort. There are even a few Verizon guys that are here everyday to help out will tech and other support issues. 

[Dal]

For anyone looking to sign up for any products with Verizon, I would advise you to do some research on the company.  Google Verizon complaints or Verizon billing complaints.  You will be very surprised at what you find.  I have been a customer of Verizon for over a year.  I signed up for Verizon Triple Freedom in September of 2007 for $94.99 a month.  Since then I have regretted it.  Their billing system is absolutely horrible!!  They continue to overcharge my account and double charge my credit card.  DO NOT sign up for automatic billing.  You can not get them to stop charging your account.  I think the FCC needs to investigate Verizon's billing issues.  My family is counting the days till the end of our contract with Verizon.  I am even going to cancel my wireless with them.  It's too bad because the wireless has been very good in every way but because I have had enough with Verizon I need to leave this company all together.  Buyers beware!  Please do your research, I wish I had done it before I signed up.

[Nortel]

I agree that Verizon has had some growing pains with FIOS.  I have a triple package and it took a good 4 months until my billing was correct.  However I was always able to get customer service to help.  In terms of cost, the set top boxes are the big extra.  The actual product is good and we are very happy with it.

[Tireman]

Verizon should have stuck to phone and internet because Fios TV is terrible they really don't understand us TV customers and IMO don't care to

[KenAF]

---

@Tireman wrote:
Verizon should have stuck to phone and internet because Fios TV is terrible they really don't understand us TV customers and IMO don't care to

---

I think the TV service is excellent.  Now, I can't say the same thing about their DVRs, and more specifically, the guide data provider.

[Tireman]

Ok Kenaf you're right,

I wasn't specific, the TV picture quality is good. The DVR and guide are terrible, and I feel as if customer service doesn't care if I miss a favorite show or sporting event because of them.  I guess one of my biggest gripe is that I was over charged for keeping replacement DVRs longer than what Verizon says I should have, but nowhere did it say I had a certain amount of time to return them, all of a sudden a got an outrageously high bill.  When I called in to find out why, I was told I should have returned them sooner even thou I was led to believe that I would be getting different DVRs and one of the replacements was defective.  No matter how much I explained my reason for holding on to them as long as I did Verizon didn't care.  I was really hoping that Verizon would understand and say OK Mr. Customer we understand you wanted to watch all the recorded shows on them, we'll credit the difference just return them ASAP.  Instead they only gave me credit for one and there's still charges on that bill I don't understand.  I'm a very patient person but since I've gotten Verizon TV I've spent way too much time talking about it with them on the Phone, and now I'm here typing about it.  sorry about the long rant

[PIPESMOKER]

What do you not like about the guide?

[PIPESMOKER]

I think the Fios TV service is great also.  I love the way I can get the user guide on my lap top and when I find a movie I want to record I just click the record button.  No more scrolling forever with the TV remote to find something to watch.  I do it all just by sitting at my lap top.

[ubrgeek]

Their regular TV service is great. Their non-HD on-demand is the worst quality I've ever seen. It's like watching UHF.

[PIPESMOKER]

Would that be the same quality of signal I would get watching the subscriptions on demand area?

It's not renting on demand but it's still in the on demand section?  Just wondering because I get

great quality with my fios no matter what I watch.   

[ubrgeek]

Yeah, the premier subscription on-demand. Obviously the non-HD section.

[CHubbzs]

Their customer service is good depending on who you get and what kind of mood they are in at the time.  I signed up for Verizon when they had a sign up bonus (which was one of many gifts offered at the time). When I got on board all the really cool stuff had passed. I believe my offer was an AMEX card worth $250.  DID NOT SEE THE CARD!!!!!  NEVER GOT IT!!! I had a neighbor say that when she signed up she had the same problem and she did not get her gift either.  I have had problems with Verizon day one, from order till months later. Long story short....ordered services online....one of their techs came out hooked everything up (so we thought)........had some of the services we asked for but not all (signed up for the triple freedom)....a month passed was not billed for services ( begin a good person, called to let Verizon know this so it could be corrected).......another month passes by no bill and services shut off completely.....called Verizon again rep to me that on their records it showed no service connection for my address......????......had to completely do a whole new contract with them (this is three or four months later)......told I would get credits for services not used....now back to what I said above....did not get gift....did not get credits.....well not the ones I was promised.  Til this day I am still paying for their mistake. They dropped a $300+the month that was due bill in my lap and wanted it all. I should have stayed with the other guy.....all this heartache over wanting a cheaper bill and all I have now is a bill that is more than what I used to have.

[JKoch]

I know what you mean, they are like alot of these other companies and make promises they can't keep.  A guy at work told me how great Verizon was until the free stuff was done, then he changed his tune.  I had the Dish Network, I am thinking about going back after my year is up, they wanted me to stay bad, they kept caling and e-mailing me, but I signed the 1 year contract with Verizon.  I had a problem about a month or two ago with malware, everytime I went into Internet Explorer I would get some weird stuff going on, so I called Tech Support, the tech I spoke with said "Sorry I can't help, but I will give you the number for Norton Antivirus, since I have Norton, so I called Norton and they told me to call Verizon, so it was the ping pong effect.  Then the kicker today was if they have to reset my password, they must talk to my husband since his name is one the account..The funny thing is I am the one that signed the contract for FIOS 2 years ago and my hubby has nothing to do with the internet except helping with the Verizon Bill, since it has TV and Telephone connected also.  Another thing that I was not impressed with was they don't have anyone that could turn the On Demand on over the weekend.  I tried called 10 times yesterday and got no where.  So I will have to take care of that tommro.

[PIPESMOKER]

Their regular tech support will not help in the least with a virus, worms, spyware or anything of the such.  You have to sign up for the expert care for a monthly charge, but that department will take care of all things like that with your computer. 

[PIPESMOKER]

I use the Fios TV Central to set up my shows that I want to record and use it to look at the guide that way I am not scrolling having to hold the remote.  It's so mcuh easier to sit at the laptop and look at the guide and click on a button with your mouse to record it.