Customer support

[ScottGW123]

I had Fios for internet and phone since 2020. I remember a few headaches with customer support, but nothing like I have been through the last two weeks. 

On November 25, 2023, I added Fios TV. The person who signed me up never should have mailed me equipment, as I eventually discovered setting it up myself would not have been possible. Even the eventual service technician said expecting me to do it myself was absurd.

Anyway, the package was lost by UPS. It took me several days, communicating entirely with overseas call center reps who were not even remotely fluent in English, and who had no idea what they were doing, to finally get a service appointment. I must have spoken to half a dozen incompetent, bumbling, untrained reps before I got everything squared. The technician who came to my home was great.

As part of my deal, I was offered a $100 Amazon gift card. I have proof of this in the Verizon Fios email of my original order. It was not appearing anywhere on the My Verizon App or the internet - both using Chrome and Edge. I felt entitled to this reward simply for going through the torment of customer support to arrange my initial TV setup.

After going through another half dozen customer support reps who were all clearly working in overseas call center, and hearing or reading "rest assured" over and over again, I was told there was an issue with the offer, it would be re-issued to me via email in 2 to 3 days (it never came), was told I was being upgraded to the "Verizon Engineering Gif t Card Department Tier 3 Escalation," - if this is not made up word salad, nothing is - and given various other forms on nonsensical directions to navigate the website that in no way matches the actual website view.

Finally, I got a customer support rep who made a point of mentioning she is a stickler for pronouncing names correctly, and henceforth commenced in mispronouncing my last name a half dozen times. Apparently, Verizon Fios, Engineering Department or otherwise, is wholly unable to get this Amazon gift card to me; not online, email or physically mailing it to me. So now, I have to wait 15 to 30 days for a third party company Verizon uses called Hawk Marketing, likely a low budget way for Verizon to further lose their customers in a vast void of no assistance, who will allegedly send me an email with a link to a replacement $100 Verizon gift card.

Assuming I ever get this email, this last customer service rep told me I could use it to credit my monthly bill, which I doubt is true, or to purchase items online. My hope is I can do so on Verizon's regular website at least, as I have no trust in some third party company I have never heard of.

So I return to my questions from the Title of this post. Is it possible that Verizon offers its customer support reps absolutely no training at all and uses people from countries not fluent in the language the customers speak as a means to cut their costs and build company profits? Or does Verizon train these reps specifically to make it as hard as possible on a customer to get any satisfaction or assistance?

[kh_jenn]

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Please check your Private Messenger Inbox for a message from a Verizon Support agent. You can find your Inbox by clicking on the envelope icon next to your avatar at the top right corner of this page. Response times may vary. Please continue to check your Inbox for a reply from a Verizon agent. Please direct all correspondence concerning your issue to the agents who will be assisting you privately. Thank you.