Very poor Verizon FIOS customer service

[KMR17]

My FIOS plan is up for renewal, so I went on to look at options for my 2yr contract. 

First of all, the "deals" are very misleading. Showing a price of $124 a month, which after taxes and fees becomes $199 a month. While I was looking at that, a service rep (Jessica)  began a chat offering to help me renew my plan.  I explained that I wanted to stay in the same price range as  my current plan. She took my information and offered to look into my options. She emailed me an option to review where the total was $217 a month, a $40 per month increase. I said that was too much. She then looked at another plan which was $236 a month. When I referred back to the $217 plan she said that was now $229. ( this is only a few  minutes later). She then said she was having technical issues and kept asking me what was included in the $217 plan.   She tried to tell me that the $217 was before taxes and fees, but taxes and fees were clearly listed in the price.    This confusion over the two plans that Jessica emailed me continued for over an hour. Is this a strategy to get people to agree by talkng in circles ? I am very unhappy about the options I was given. Any advice on how to get some resolution? Seems like you should be able to renew your plan without having to spend $40 more dollars per month!

[jonjones1 · Accepted solution]

That Jessica is the automated attendants name on the verizon site.

i would call in from 8 am until 5 pm EDT to speak to a live person. Agree to nothing and sign nothing. In fact going month to month would be a better idea.

new customer pricing is lower than regular customers. However you could look into other options for service and have a firm price commitment from say cable or satellite service and then make sure they know that. You should do ok with you in the drivers seat. If you threaten to cancel make sure you really can do so.

[mshreck]

I'm with you. Contract is up in 16 days and what is available online and via chat is unacceptable. There should be no logical reason why a customer with over a decade of loyalty can be charged double for the same, or lesser, services. It's like going to your long time car dealer to buy a new car and someone off the street with no history pays 1/2 for the same car...but, they let you know that they can put you in touch with someone who has access to "better deals"...like, "let's talk to the finance manager"...this should not be as scummy as buying a car. 

[mshreck]

btw, yesterday while trying to either cancel or renew, they shut off my services and it took 2 hours on the phone to correct...very poor experience. And, even today it shows that there is a pending order yet cannot access what it is, even though they "cancelled" all tickets yesterday.

[KMR17]

I did manage to speak to a live person today and explained my experience with Jessica yesterday. The woman was helpful, and looked at what she could offer, but it was more expensive  than the online offer. She suggested that I go back online and try again.

I did, and I started choosing my options in a plan being offered on the My Verizon site. Jessica again came on and I told her I had a plan in my cart that seemed reasonable ($30 cheaper than her offer yesterday). She checked and found one a little better. BOTTOM LINE: I did renew, and the plan is $20 more a month, but I am upgrading my internet, new router and got exactly the options I wanted. My advice: know exactly what you want and don't want and do your homework. Why the prices vary from minute to minute and day to day seems ridiculous!!!

[mshreck]

glad it worked out. I'm on 1 hour 49 minutes in queue, which was supposed to be less than an hour, to try and talk to a "human"...not feeling hopeful since I can see them running out the clock at the end of the day. 

[mshreck]

yep...gave up after 3 hours in queue...nice work 

[LawrenceC]

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