Service charge for phone outage not my fault?

[jeromed1]

I recently had a no dial tone issue with our landline.  When I called Verizon for support, I thought they stated that as I don't pay for inside wiring insurance (8.95/month), if the problem was found to be inside wiring, I would be charged for fixing/servicing it.  They found the problem was between the external termination box (outside of house) and their telephone exchange.  After multiple service calls they changed out the wiring pair, connections at exchange, and finally serivce splice at the curbside box.  When I received the latest phone bill, I saw that I was charged $87 for this.  When I asked Verizon about this, they stated that because I do NOT have the insurance plan, that regardless of whether the problem is inside my house our with their wiring, I have to pay the "truck roll" fee.

It just doesn't seem right that I should have to pay for a problem at their end.  Just one more reason to drop the landline.

Does this correspond with other people's experience?

[PJL]

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@jeromed wrote:

I recently had a no dial tone issue with our landline.  When I called Verizon for support, I thought they stated that as I don't pay for inside wiring insurance (8.95/month), if the problem was found to be inside wiring, I would be charged for fixing/servicing it.  They found the problem was between the external termination box (outside of house) and their telephone exchange.  After multiple service calls they changed out the wiring pair, connections at exchange, and finally serivce splice at the curbside box.  When I received the latest phone bill, I saw that I was charged $87 for this.  When I asked Verizon about this, they stated that because I do NOT have the insurance plan, that regardless of whether the problem is inside my house our with their wiring, I have to pay the "truck roll" fee.

It just doesn't seem right that I should have to pay for a problem at their end.  Just one more reason to drop the landline.

Does this correspond with other people's experience?

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@jeromed wrote:

I recently had a no dial tone issue with our landline.  When I called Verizon for support, I thought they stated that as I don't pay for inside wiring insurance (8.95/month), if the problem was found to be inside wiring, I would be charged for fixing/servicing it.  They found the problem was between the external termination box (outside of house) and their telephone exchange.  After multiple service calls they changed out the wiring pair, connections at exchange, and finally serivce splice at the curbside box.  When I received the latest phone bill, I saw that I was charged $87 for this.  When I asked Verizon about this, they stated that because I do NOT have the insurance plan, that regardless of whether the problem is inside my house our with their wiring, I have to pay the "truck roll" fee.

It just doesn't seem right that I should have to pay for a problem at their end.  Just one more reason to drop the landline.

Does this correspond with other people's experience?

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You should NOT have to pay this charge.  Don't mess around trying to get it reversed by calling -- contact the CEO.

[jeromed1]

Well I finally talked to someone from the CEO's office.  Turns out that because the service man said I had a short in the phones inside the house, I'm liable for the "truck roll" fee.  I remember talking to service man at the time about it and I immediately went out and bought new cordless phones.  It still didn't solve the problem and they continued to work on it including redoing the wiresplices at the curbside which finally solved the problem .  Now I'm told that my "shorted" phone was the original cause of the problem and thus we are liable for the "truck roll" fee.  I don't buy it but I seem to have hit an immovable wall with customer service.  Seems like it would be in Verizon's best interest to write off this charge to keep a very lucrative customer happy (over $200/month in charges).