Dear Verizon

[aorzecho]

Dear Verizon,

I remember the day like it was yesterday.  The brilliant sun, the clear sky, the cool breeze rustling through the leaves.  I had arrived home from work at my normal time and was somewhat surprised to see a brightly colored sign hanging from my door knob.  I walked up to the door and the sign simply read “FiOS is coming”.  The back side explained that crews would be laying fiber in my neighborhood over the next few weeks and that I could sign up to be one of the first to get the service when it became available. I had heard of FiOS and knew we were on the build out plan so I raced to the phone and called to sign up.  I guess I was a little too excited on that first call because the Verizon system wouldn’t even let me order yet since the fiber installation wasn’t complete, but I kept checking and calling and eventually I was signed up, installed, and was happy with my FiOS service. I told everyone I knew about the service and convinced them to sign up as well.  That was probably ten years ago. 

Since that time my family and I have moved from that neighborhood but before we did, we ensured that our new home would have the same great FiOS service we had become accustomed to.  Moving anywhere that did not have FiOS was not an option. That was two years ago.

My family has changed over the last few years.  We don’t consume services the way that we did before.  We get most of news and information from the internet, we use our cell phones more, we don’t watch nearly as much live TV, and we watch more streaming.  So with my two year commitment coming to a close I started looking at my various options so I could choose the best services to meet my family’s needs.  After looking at the various options and their costs, we decided that we would drop the rarely used television service and keep the phone and internet services.

I had contacted your customer service while I was doing my research and had been given a quote for the two services as part of a two year commitment.  Your quote wasn’t my cheapest option but it was competitive and I had enjoyed my FiOS services in the past so I called customer service a short time later to agree to my new contract.

When I called I explained my situation and asked for the agent for the offer that was presented to me a few days prior.  They politely explained that offer was no longer available but they had a new offer that was about 40% more expensive.  I inquired about the “annotation” on my account that the previous agent told me they would make but I was told that no such annotation could be found.  I was shocked when I heard this.  The agent continued to tell me there is nothing they could do and that the previous quote may not have had the services I thought it had.  I begrudgingly accepted this answer but explained that while I will pay a small premium for FiOS I will not pay that much of a premium. 

After this discussion, I decided to move my phone service to a new provider.  Once the port process had begun I received an email saying that I needed to call to make sure my other services were not disconnected.  This sounded urgent so I immediately called, discussed my situation with the agent, and was given a price for only internet service.  At that time I was told that until the port process was completed no changes to my services could be made.  A few days later my new phone provider informed me the port was completed so I called customer service and asked to arrange for a new contract.  We discussed the price, which was the same as I had received a few days earlier, but I was told the Verizon system still indicated that the port process hadn’t been completed so my account was frozen.  The agent explained to me that it may be a while before the system released the lock and that I would be called on my cell phone when the lock was released. 

I awoke this morning to a notice on my web browser that my remaining services had been disabled and I needed to contact Verizon to reenable them.  I called Verizon within a few hours and spoke to another representative that told me my services would be reenabled in the next four hours, that my account was still locked but would be unlocked when the services were reenabled, and that I would receive a call at that time so that I could renew my contact for internet services at the price discussed.  This was great news, I thought this process was just about over.

More than four hours passed and I did not receive a call so when I arrived home this evening I called customer service yet again to discuss renewing my contract. The first time I called the agent (who thought the port was still in process until I was able to convince her otherwise) gave me several service options all of which we were more expensive than what I had agreed to the day before but wasn’t allowed to commit to since the “port was in process”.  I called back and spoke to a separate agent, who confirmed what the first agent had said.

At this point, with the second agent, I was getting upset.  I don’t understand how a company can give me a quote for services, confirm the quote, and then not let me sign up for services until the price goes up.  I was able to send and receive phone calls with my new phone provider two days ago, yet the Verizon system froze my account (conveniently?) until the price of the service increased. The agent put me on hold several times to “check for the best deals” but the result didn’t change. 

How is this in any way ethical?  Is this really what you as a company stand for?  The same thing happened twice to me over the course of a month, how many other customers has this happened to?  Is this a standard practice?  It seems that you put so much emphasis on getting new customers while treating your existing customers so poorly.  The internet rate offered to me was 25% higher than what is provided to new customers.  Do I need to leave and come back to get your best deal?  Over the course of a few weeks I went from being willing to sign a two year contract at a higher rate than I could get elsewhere because of my history with FiOS to canceling all of my services because of how I was treated as a customer.

It is a sad day for me.  I have enjoyed FiOS services for the last decade and I am sorry to see it go.  Lucky for me I have other options for my internet services. I have been working with a single sales representative from one of your competitors who has spoken with me with phone and email, several times, understands my situation, and has been working to get me a good deal on the services through his company.  I can only hope that someday customer service at Verizon improves to the point where I can again use your services and recommend them to those I know.

[DM_Karen]

Hi aorzecho,

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you. Please go to your profile page for the forum and scroll down the page to an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name located above your post, or at the top right of this page.

Under "My Support Cases" you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. The title of your post is the link. This should be checked on a frequent basis, as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions. To ensure you know when they have responded to you, you may subscribe to the case. At the top right of your support case there is a gear icon which provides a drop down menu with support case options. Click that and choose "subscribe". Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.