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?

[MIB]

And the price for the Triple Freedom Package in California, with 10/2 internet, Essentials TV, and Freedom Essentials Phone would be what? And is anyone's internet speed really as advertized (if it's 20/5, is your real speed 20/5)?

[CSimpson]

---

@MIB wrote:
And the price for the Triple Freedom Package in California, with 10/2 internet, Essentials TV, and Freedom Essentials Phone would be what? And is anyone's internet speed really as advertized (if it's 20/5, is your real speed 20/5)?

---

My bill for the Triple Freedom Package in VA (Extreme HD, 20/5 internet, Phone) comes out to $161.94.  And my 20/5 services REALLY is 20/5.  I just checked shortly after I upgraded from 15/2 -> 20/5 yesterday.

 

[speedo123]

---

@MIB wrote:
And the price for the Triple Freedom Package in California, with 10/2 internet, Essentials TV, and Freedom Essentials Phone would be what? And is anyone's internet speed really as advertized (if it's 20/5, is your real speed 20/5)?

---

I've got 10/2 in Florida, but my Network Magic program says I'm running at 6850/1830.  When I called Verizon to find out why I was running that much slower than I should be, their test said I was running at around 9300/1950.  Verizon says my Network Magic program must not be reading correctly.  Hmmm?  Network Magic was always accurate when testing my old DSL line speed.  So, I don't know what my real speed is.  And if you use the Verizon speed check program, you may still not know what it actually is.  The bundle here for the three services is $99, but with equipment costs, it ends up at ~$130.  Still, the total is about $50/mo cheaper than I paid for Verizon phone and internet (DSL) and DirecTV.  I get better picture, better phone, faster internet and no TV blackouts during our frequent Florida thunderstorms at a lower price.  If only Verizon would fix their DVR glitches, Guide problems and offer bigger hard disks, it would be unbeatable! 

[cprgolds]

The result of your speedtest for my 20/5 service depends on a lot of things besides your theoretical connection speed.    I am in Portland Oregon.

If I run speedtest.net with a server in Olympia Washington, in get:

 

If I run it with the closest server, I get:

 

And the Network Magic speedtest gets me:

So I wouldn't back on just one set of results and sugggest you try speedtest on more than one server.

[CharlesH]

Also, try other speedtest websites, even I'm personally more biased towards Speedtest.net, its getting much more popular then it used to be so it gets bogged down during popular times of the day.

List of speed test sites:

http://speedtest.net/

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://myspeed.visualware.com/

If you are having an issue with speed check out this thread,

 http://forums.verizon.com/vrzn/board/message?board.id=FiOS_Internet&thread.id=1417&view=by_date_asce...

Message Edited by CharlesH on 12-30-2008 03:19 PM

[conehead98]

i havent had any guide issues. if i do i reboot my router and that usely fixes updates the guide. the fios tv is the best i have ever had. the picture signal and strength are great. there compresion is the best. as far as coustmer service. i have had no issues with that either.but in every company coustmer service you will have good and bad. i sugest you call verizon. tell them the pakage you want.they will price it out for you monthly so you know what it cost after the free months etc etc are over. i have had fios internet and tv over a year now. and havent had any major issues with it

[dvhart]

As has been stated numerous times, Verizon FiOS phone support has got to be the worst in the industry.  They don't handle non-verizon-phone customers well at all (difficulty finding your account).  Level of service varies greatly on who you speak with (and which call center you get routed to).  They constantly blame issues on other departments within Verizon or their contractors - fact is, if this is the only number I can call, it is your fault.  Very few of the reps are willing to do anything other than read from their standard answers screens, but I have had a couple that were professional and bent the processes to solve my problems.

Most recently, they disabled my TV service when I returned an STB I no longer used.  I had downgraded to FiOS TV local and plugged the cable directly in to my HDTV with a QAM tuner.  I had the box disconnected for several days with the TV working, then dropped the box off to save myself the $15/mo for their terrible DVR.  The rep promised me the service would continue without the box on my bill - by the time I got home, the service had been disconnected.  It took me 2 hours on the phone to get them to reconnect, and then they refused to do it without adding an STB to my account - despite the fact that I don't need it.  TV is working now and I don't have an STB in the house - I suppose one will show up in the mail someday...  Nice to be paying for it though for no reason.  Like shredding a $50 bill once a year.

{link removed}

Message Edited by CharlotteS on 12-30-2008 03:58 PM

[MIB]

When I got FiOS, the installer left me a Spanish "FiOS Welcome Kit". I do not read Spanish at all. I called them thrice already. Each time, they transferred me to almost every department they had, then I was back where I started. When I e-mailed them about it, they told me to call them. I still have a Spanish welcome kit and am guessing how to use all the FiOS equipment. Does anyone know how I could get another one?

[CharlesH]

I would be glad to send you out a welcome guide.

Send me a Private Message with your name, billing telephone number, and a brief description of your problem.

** Don't know how to send a Private Message? ** (To send a Private Message, Click on my name to the left, then click on "Send this user a private message" )

[speedo123]

---

@CharlesH wrote:

** Don't know how to send a Private Message? ** (To send a Private Message, Click on my name to the left, then click on "Send this user a private message" )

---

After sending a PM, is there an easy way to get back to the forum and post you were on prior to clicking on the Sendee's name? 

[vinnyv07]

UNABLE TO LOCATE HUB

[MIB]

What are you talking about?

[cprgolds]

---

@vinnyv07 wrote:
UNABLE TO LOCATE HUB

---

This is a known problem:  See http://forums.verizon.com/vrzn/board/message?board.id=FiOS_TV&thread.id=1813

[JKoch]

I have called customer service numerous times and thought they had good customer support until yesterday.  I think they should have someone in their business office over the weekends, because people that work 2nd shift like me have problems calling during their normal business hours, so what if a problem arrises over the weekend with like adding service, who do you call? I also downloaded the Verizon Help/Support...Believe me don't download this program it will screw up your microsoft outlook, at least I am a little more smarter then the guy on the other end of support and did a system restore and now am able to receive my e-mail through outlook.  I was on the phone 53 mins with this person and they did not help me at all?  I then figured out what to do on my own.  Thank God for system restore.  I think he went over the same steps 5-8 times not thinking I knew what he was talking about, but if he knew what system restore was, that phone conservation would have taken 2 minutes.  I have been around the internet for the last 10 years, not sure why I called Customer Support, but obviously the guy at customer support didn't know either.

Hopefully noone will encouter the same problems that I did..

[Diode2]

I've had FIOS for 6 months.  Billing and Customer services is the worst.  Not even sure if savings are an advantage - given the time you have to spend resolving billing issues.  I've spent 13hrs - it's like a full time job.  I am considering going back to Comcast and using Vonage.  Unfortunately Verizon gets you with at $175 penalty for cancelling within a year.  6months and counting.  Keep you phone and TV with seperate companies.

[OCF]

I have had FIOS internet for some time now, and it works very well. If you have an issue you need to resolve through Verizon, good luck to you. Calling for assistance is a nightmare, the folks are friendly enough, but almost powerless to help. You would save a lot of time by recording your telephone number and account number as you will need to repeat them, to the many people you will be shuffled off to after you unsucessfully negotiate the robotic operator.

I just had a case yesterday where my FIOS was suspended by finance for no apparent reason. It was impossible to resolve that evening after I returned from work and discovered the problem. 2 hours later and 5 people that could not help. Checking by latest bill I noticed that verizon had acknowled my last payment (my payments have been current for many years) and my current bill was due the 24th (this was the 18th) . I finally got ahold of the right person in finance (the next day) who in fact, confirmed that I was not past due and there was no reason for finance to have suspended my account. No reason, no explanation, and still it tool talking to 2 more people to get the situation resolved.

I want to point out that the people I talked to were very friendly but powerless to help. As a whole I would rate the Verizon Customer service system as Incompetent, seriously. There isn't even a place to enter a formal complaint. This is apparently it, a forum. I will investigate an alternative service ASAP and not look back, good luck to you.....

With alternative Phone systems charging less than half the price of Verizon, and a shamefully inadequate customer service system, I predict that Verizon as a company does not have a bright future.

[lite]

Shortly after I signed on for fios I changed my mind (still during the free tial period) and decided I didn't want the internet security suite. I contacted the internet [people and was told it would be removed from my account. Lo and behold 3 months later I get 5:99 added to my account for it. I {please keep your posts courteous} was told I never called about it, she removed it then but I was responsible for the months bill. My bill is so much more than I was told after all the added fees. The phone service offers none of the services Cablevision offered. I have my phone # unlisted FOR A FEE, I don't have call fowarding unless I want to pay for it (included in Cablevision's package) . 411 calls are free with Cablevision, not so with Verizon. Fios has a FEW more high def channels most notably NFL network. Cablevision will pay my early termination fee if I go back. If they get the NFL network I will go. I still can't believe Fios doesn't have MSNBC! Fios has until Cablevision gets NFL network to get their acts together. If and when Cablevision gets NFL I am gone gone gone. 

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 03-20-2009 12:48 PM

[nodrog]

Beware the billing. For me, they provided services I did not ask for and specifically said I did not want, and then proceeded to charge me for them. Plus I have an ongoing technical issue due to an undisclosed incompatibility with one of my TVs (see my post re intermittent signal interruption). Otherwise, however, the service is pretty good, and the online chat is quite handy because you get the responses in writing, precluding the apathetic phone tech syndrome. Best of luck.

[PIPESMOKER]

I have very rarly had any problems what so ever.  every once in a while we will have a few of the higher end channels out but they usually have them up and running in a short amount of time, and that's not very often.  Have never had any phone problems or internet problems.  If it is a internet problem it is always something on my end with my lap top.  Our Fios TV and phone is very crisp and clear.  I have read others talk about their billing and it is very hard to read,  you just have to look at it a line at a time to make sure you are being charged correct and we have never been over charged.  Their CS has always been good to me, but I don't call them often except for the wireless CS (I don't have Verizon wireless, but I am manager of a account with a couple of phones on it) and their wireless CS is great.  They have taken care of every issue I had the first time and were always nice and polite.  . 

I do subscribe to their extra level of tech support for a few dollars a month.  But they will go in and remove bugs and even remove a virus if you get on on your computer.  They take care of computer problems that reg. Tech support doesn't handle.  And with me not knowing how to fix anything with a computer I use the service several times a month, so it's worth the 12 or 14 dollars a month or however much it is.  They don't try to explain to  you what to do, they connect to your computer and they do all the work you just sit and watch them type on your screen and such.  It's a great service if you have the few extra dollars a month and know nothing about computers.  They have even went in and cleaned mine up and reset some settings so my lap top would run faster.

I am much happier with Verizon than the cable company (with internet) that we had before.   We did have our home phone with AT&T and we went ahead and moved it over to Verizon and bundled it with everything else we already had.  We can do many more things with the phone and voicemail than we could with ATT.  And every time it rained our ATT lines had lots of static on them.

Overall my wife and I are very happy with Verizon.

[PIPESMOKER]

My wife had a problem with her computer not sending or receiving email yesterday.  The fios tech support person and I use that term loosely, spent over 40 mins on the phone, and ended up saying he didn't know what the problem was, it had to be the computer. So I called the Premium tech support and asked him to look at it, as the fios tech said it was the computer.  He said it was really a fios tech problem but he would be more than happy to look at it for me since the problem was not resolved with regular fios tech support.  He logged into her lap top and looked at it for about 30 seconds and said it was the firewall.  He went in and corrected a couple of settings and her email started working right a way. 

[MIB]

May I remind you all that this forum section was created by me, MIB. It is not officially associated with Verizon. Although, they may or may not read what you write. Otherwise, your comments will basically go unheard.