Should I switch from Comcast to Fios - based on Verizon Customer Service?

[Should_I_Switch]

How is the Verizon customer service?   Comcast customer service is so bad that we're considering switching to Verizon -- but not if it's service is worse.  Is it  easy to speak to a person at the tech support group?  Do the technicians show up when they say they will?   Here's what happened with Comcast:

We have the triple play feature.  Last week, our Telephone and Internet service went down.  A technician was supposed to come over on Wed.  My wife stayed home that day and was available for 12 hours.  The tech never showed and told his managers that he was here, but nobody was home.  Another appointment on Saturday.  Both my wife and I were home all day.  The tech never showed and told his managers that he was here, but nobody was home.  We pitched a fit on the phone, got an appt. on Sunday and told the manager he needs to keep an eye on the technician to make sure he comes.  I sat outside the house and called Comcast to tell them I was waiting outside, so the tech had better not blow us off again.  This time, the tech showed up and fixed the problem.  We had no phone service for almost 5 days.

Other times when there are problems, the tech does show up, but doesn't have the right equipment on his truck and needs to set up another appointment.

[tsauter1]

I have never had a problem with customer service or tech support. The few times I have had an issue they have solved it remotely. Only once have I had to open a ticket and it was resolved within the 24 hour time period specified. They also called before they closed the ticket to make sure the problem was solved. The only time I have had to have a tech come out was ont he install and they showed when they were supposed to.

All this being said, the support is done by region and not all regions support are equal.

We have a very good support team in the Northwest.

[whaleburp]

Hiya,

i have never had a problem with Verizon's Customer Service!

 As far as the Tech Support never had to use them! This's a GR8

Thing:}

So good luck,  if you get a bundle ask alot of questions:}.....BAMBAM320

[Fiosed]

When you get the bundle ask a lot of questions.  I was assured when I switched from Comcast/Verizon to Fios and bundled I would get the same service.   We discussed channels and it was always prefaced by HD.  Turns out, the box I got doesn't support HD.  Its &11.99 more per month.  ....Not the same service!!

And good luck finding a live person with Verizon.  Least I can drive down the road see a Comcast person.

Grrrr. 

[swanscn]

 Just my 2 cents, calling Verizon is a big pain {word filter avoidance}, always has been and it seem that it always will be. We refer to the Verizon phone system as being a new level in Dante's inferno. But the good news is that you do not need to call them very often. I have had FIOS service for more that 3 years and the number of calls I have placed that were service related, I can count on the fingers of 1 hand with some fingers left over. This past Monday I had to call since all of my services dropped out at the same time. It turns out that a Comcast installation crew cut through the Verizon conduit in front of my house. They were there still trenching out front when this occurred. After waiting through the Verizon phone system for 30 minutes, I spoke to a tech who logged the problem and opened a ticket. This occurred at 12pm, by 3PM a tech was at my door looking into the problem, he called in additional resources to locate where the cut in the cable occurred, turned out Comcast crew cut it in 2 places. THey located the two cuts and repaired the damage I was back up and running by 6pm. I think this is pretty good service considering the cable went under the street.

 Other have stated problems with the router, I have the same router since I started and have never had to re-boot or reset the router. Rebooting the router or cable modem is always the number 1 thing the techs at Comcast will tell you to do. When they problem goes away they call it solved but it will be back. I have never had a internet outage with FIOS but I had them too many times to count with Comcast.

 Things I hate about Verizon Phone system they put you through.

 Things I love about Verizon: FIOS system overall availability and performance

 Things I hated about Comcast: Internet service is spotty and not reliable, and I was one of the ones who caught them in the bandwidth limiting when they said they did not so that

 Things I do not like about both: Neither of them gives the true price of the bundle, why not all  of the necessary pieces into the total, while I am aware that it will change from customer to customer there are some constants. Like in a HD package include at a minimum a HD box (you will need at least 1).

 Treat existing customers better give us similar options to what new customers get. For example Verizon I would come off month to month if I could get the same deal as a new subscriber with a 2 year contract.

[Meme329]

Don't do it!  Verizon customer service is awful.  They sound confident when you are speaking to them, but the truth is most of the reps are really guessing the correct response.  If you were to hang up and call back and ask someone else the same question, you will get a different response.  Definitely don't do a bundle!  They screw you and get you to sign up, then you end up paying a ton of money because they don't put you into the package properly.  I do not recommend Verizon AT ALL!!!!

[woyala]

The thing is VZ Customer service is a hit or miss type of thing like with any other company customer service.  I have not had a bad experience with them.  Only thing I hate is the credit check to apply for service and that they don't give new bundles to existing customers, so you'd have to cancel and sign up with someone else name.

[GaryDoug]

I have only used Verizon Fios for a few weeks and have experienced some problems with support in the Tampa Bay area. My old Verizon phone number would not transfer and it took a week and a team of techs to finally fix it, but they never gave up and made several follow-up calls to confirm that the issue was resolved.. They seem to have a good attitude and are very friendly compared to a cable service that I used before; but Verizon techs seem, to me, to be using a difficult and unwieldy system. It appears to me that everything they try to do is stymied by something or another, so you will have to be patient and pray for no problems I guess.

As for the performance of the TV, internet and phone service, so far it's clearly the best I have experienced.

[El13]

They have excellent customer service as long as you don't use it.

But when you need it..

Tech support example:

-Verizon Actiontec router has to be rebooted several times a day to work as expected - 2 new routers and 3 years - never solved (solved myself by using my own and by doing that having unsupported configuration)

- VOD feature not working on DVR - apprx 12-15 hours spent on calls with tech support. Each after 2-3 hours will fix issue for next 20 minutes. Then you have to start all over again. Solved after a year by switching to unsupported configuration (see above) and insisting on getting DVR replaced. (Just to have your DVR replaced you have to talk to 4 different people and spend couple of hours)

Account support example:

- most likely at some point they will sell you  'A' for price of 'X', but you will end up having 'B' and paying 'X+Y'. There is no way out of this unless you will pay termination fee of 'Z'

Other than that it is perfect

[BenFrankliniii]

Until yesterday when my FIOS phone failed with no dial tone, FIOS customer support[Only called for Internet] has been very good. Today I can't get through to a real person.

FIOS phone service was down for over 2 days when power went out in a storm.

If you can keep regular old fashioned phone service called POTS stay with Comcast. If you have already lost POTS permanetly [Verizon should be able to tell you that] Verizon's VOICE PHONE FIOS service is better than COMCAST VOIP, but both may fail if power is lost.

My router continues to work even though my FIOS voice does not.

FIOS TV has been excellent for almost 2 years now.

My choice would be based on Phone[voice]reliability not customer service even though I have 2 cell phones.

[CapnCrunch]

I would not make a decision based on customer service alone.  So far, based on having FiOS for about a year, I've had to call customer service a couple of times regarding channels blacking out.  Usually it was a quick fix, most of which I've found you can do yourself from your own box and remote from the tools they now provide you.  I was a former Comcast subscriber and my experiences with them was not as good.

[WETWHISTLE]

If you ask me this now, I would say do NOT switch. They lie. They do not care about their customers. I LOVE the actual product (FIOS) but right now it is not worth the hassle I am going through.

[DoveLove]

I orginally didn't think it was to bad. The products were descent, but then I noticed my bill was nearly $100 over what I agreed to. Then I find out that I was lied to when I signed up for services and told services would be free that were not, and charges were more than I was originally told. I had virus protection on my bill, but was never sent an email for the download or told to download. I assumed the virus protection was in the internet receiving box as with a previous provider. I got a virus on my computer that locked my computer up the day my final was due. I had 2 hours to get another computer, redo my final and turn it in. Needless to say, I didn't get it turned in on time. Being that I have a 4.0 GPA this was a major problem to me. Thank God my instructor was understanding and accepted my final late. I rarely get the confirmation emails after conversions as they say they are sending. I am now having an ongoing issue with my phone service in which is going on the third week. Orginally, I was unable to receive calls, call out of state long distance, or 1800#s. A tech came and made it so I could receive calls, told me it was done and flew outta here. I realized my phone service wasn't fully fixed but because I can't call 1800#s I can't call Verizon to complain. The live chat keeps telling me to call the 800#s regardless of how many times I tell them that is my problem, I can't call. The emails keep telling me to call the 800#s. What part of I can't call 1800#s they don't understand is beyond me. {please keep it relevant}

If I was you, I would save yourself the heartache. The techs at Verizon don't come when they are supposed to either. The reps lie to the customers and they are full of empty promises. Then they act as if you are obligated to them and obligated to refer your friends and family. I am veing robbed by Verizon while they have no sham in the fact of the matter. I would NOT make the switch! Matter of fact, I am about the make the switch from Verizon.

[lasagna]

Anti-virus protection in the "internet box",  really?  Perhaps you could enlighten the rest of us, because I think you are likely misrepresenting (or were misinformed by that other service provider) about what exactly they offer.   If not, we'd certainly enjoy being enlightened. 

I fall clearly on the other side of the satisfacton matrix ... my bill is correct every month, my service has been steller, by and large the tech support folks have been very helpful on the few occasions I've had to call them (notable exception being the "chat" services which many have discussed on other threads as being in need of some major rework), and the price is reasonable if not cheaper than other offerings in the area.  My only complaint is in the TV package selection -- whch I think need to be more compartmentalized to allow one to choose more easily those channels they would like.

My advice would clearly be biased as would those on this thread spewing forth with vitriole about issues which may not be representative of the experience of others overall.   With most ISP's now offering no commitment month-to-month offerings, I would encourage the OP to try it for themselves and if things don't work out, choose another provider until they find one which meets their needs.     Once you settle on a provider you like, then engage in a longer term contract which may reduce your month to month expenses.

[pl626]

FIOS is great as long as you don't need customer service or tech support..  When I was first provisioned, it took more than 3 visits to provision me.  They even had to change out the ONT before I was finally connected.  I had to take three days off to wait for the V* techs to provision me.  They were all very nice, but it's ridiculous that they couldn't provision me the first time.  BTW, they told me that they needed to connect me to an overhead connection that was more than 1800 ft away and I told them there was an underground drop 30 ft from my house.  I knew that because they dug up my yard to lay the fiber. 

I had one of the earlier Actiontecs which had the NAT size problem which required me to reboot it at least once a week.  The power supply died on this and they told me they would overnight me a new one, which never came.  Fortunately, I had a spare with the same voltage.  That bought me about 3 months, then the router itself died.  This time they did send me a new router, but instead of one, they sent me two. Both without any return information.  Two months later, they billed me for two routers.  I've been trying to get this cleaned up on my bill for almost two years!

Their tech support also told me that I could only use the Actiontec router, which was not correct at all.  Since I insisted on an ethernet connection to the ONT, I was able to place a d-Link DIR 655 in front of the Actiontec.  Because the d-Link has more bandwidth than the Actiontec, I no longer have the NAT file issues (though I understand Actiontec finally fixed that with revision E and newer?), I also still have VOD and the EPM, and I'm getting the full bandwidth that I'm paying for.

If I didn't have a techinical background, I would really be up a creek...Why is this experience acceptable to V*?

To the OP I'd say, unless you're prepared to be your own tech support, stick with Comcast and suck it up with the inferior picture quality.  But if you absolutely want the best picture quality, it's hard to beat Verizon (I can't get the DirecTV HD signal), just know that you have to scrutinize everything from your bill to tech support.  And stay away from the V* chat, it's just poorly implemented, you're better off calling into the FSC.  Oh and forget about convenience in ordering special packages like ESPN Gameplan, you'll end up in a crazy loop.  With DirecTV, this was just a simple point & click or phone call.  With Verizon, they'll put you in a circle...BTW, you can't use their website with IE8, even in compatability mode.  I always have to use Firefox.

[b5mittis]

Just try calling 1-800-VERIZON and see how long it takes to get connected to a billing rep in your state.  I spent three hours last night trying to do just that.

[sparkie]

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@DoveLove wrote:

I orginally didn't think it was to bad. The products were descent, but then I noticed my bill was nearly $100 over what I agreed to. Then I find out that I was lied to when I signed up for services and told services would be free that were not, and charges were more than I was originally told

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WOW!!  That sounds exactly like my scenario. They must teach this to all their sales people.

[britishrich]

I'm sure some have had ''good' experiences but I couldn't even call my experiences hit or miss, as every time I have dealt with them it's been miss, miss miss across the board.

From a missed install appt costing me a day off work, to a bad install when they did do it, to low grade DVR boxes, to digging up my lawn seemingly every other month and backing their truck into my mailbox they haven't missed a single opportunity to disappoint from a service standpoint.

When the product works, it IS very good, fast internet and crisp HD, but it does not always work and has glitches that I simply have to live with.

[sparkie]

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@Should_I_Switch wrote:

How is the Verizon customer service?  

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Up until the time I purchased a bundle package great. Since that time...absolutely abysmal.

[oldfashioned]

To Should_I_Switch, at least your problem is now resolved although of course that doesn't excuse the additional inconvenience incurred with the tech person not showing up.  It actually sounds similar to some horror stories which have been posted here from time to time.

My only advice to you is to take your time and weigh all the factors before switching providers.  Remember that there is the additional time that you would have to be at home to uninstall Comcast and then get the Verizon Fios installed, which I imagine could take a few days.

I've had Verizon Fios for a long time and it's a very good, reliable product which is far superior to cable for sure.  There is also the advantage of renewing your contract every two years to keep your monthly costs down with discounts and incentives and a reward card for your loyalty as a Verizon customer.  For the most part, the customer service for me has been pretty good and even at certain times when I was dealing with someone who handled my problem poorly, I would just end the call and call back later to speak to someone else.  I have always been able to get these various tech issues resolved without much inconvenience during the few times I needed tech support, whether it was about getting the TV or phone service up and running again.  The remote access tech support for any Verizon Internet issues has also been very good for me.

I myself have stopped doing business with certain vendors because of their poor customer service so I can very much relate to the frustration of that. 

Good luck in your decision!  I just hate the way this whole thing has become so complicated over the years.  Analog antenna TV was much easier.

[LawrenceC]

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