Consumerist
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bureaucracy
Everyone Knows How To Handle A Stolen Checkbook Except For Verizon
Yesterday I was musing that Time Warner Cable was passing the cost of customer care off to other businesses, by requiring customers to take half-days or full days off of work just to wait for a cable repairman. Today I think I stumbled upon another hidden economic impact of bad customer service: it's responsible for generating a lot of the "free" content online. The next time you're reading an IMDB entry about "Damages" or "Big Love" for example, you can thank Verizon's collection of angry, confused, and possibly insane employees, and all the idle time they create for a customer who has to deal with them. More » -
interviews
Verizon C.E.O. Ivan Seidenberg Reveals The Telecom's Future
The future of Verizon lies in bundled apps and global domination, according to C.E.O. Ivan Seidenberg. Verizon's head honcho appeared last week on Charlie Rose to chat about a range of things, including FiOs, the decision to build a CDMA network, and the future of your cellphone service. If nothing else, it's nice to put a calm, seemingly rational face to the grotesque anti-consumer corporate monster that we all loathe. Hit the jump for the full interview. More » -
csrs
Verizon's New Marketing Pitch: Squirrels Eat Old Phone Lines So Upgrade To FiOS For Guaranteed Service!
Verizon told Debbie that upgrading to FiOS was the only way to guarantee uninterrupted phone service because apparently, Verizon's old copper lines are no match for the insatiable appetite of copper-munching squirrels. Never mind that FiOS doesn't work during a blackout for more than a few hours, or that Debbie's problem had nothing to do with hungry squirrels... More » -
tragic
Man Dies Trying To Stop Verizon Van
The Washington Post says that a 79-year-old widower died after trying to stop a Verizon technician from pulling out of his drive way. The man was apparently extremely frustrated with his service, in addition to being quite lonely since his wife passed away from a stroke. More » -
tips
AT&T Wireless Customer? Turn Off Phone Purchasing Power To Prevent Unauthorized Charges
If you're managing cellphones for a family or your parents, or let's say hypothetically you have a boyfriend who says he reads Consumerist but really he doesn't or else he would have known better, you'll probably run into stupid subscription and content fees from time to time. You know how people are when it comes to fake "free" offers. More » -
refunds
Update: Verizon Changes Mind, Says It Will Give Refunds To Storm Victims If They Ask For Them
Since we first posted this, Verizon has changed its mind and announced that it will provide service credits to storm victims in Southern Illinois who were without service for most of the month. The credits won't be automatic; to qualify for them, affected residents must call 800-837-4966 (1-800-VERIZON) to tell the company that they were without service. More » -
verizon
Verizon Willing To Let 62-Year-Old Man Die Unless Cops Pay $20 Of His Overdue Bill
Ohio police are pissed with Verizon after the company refused to help them find a missing 62-year-old man unless they paidhis overdue $20$20 of his overdue cellphone bill. More » -
comcatastrophe
Comcast Credits Your Payment To The Wrong Account, Disconnects Your Cable
Reader Adam wrote in to let us know that he's switching to FiOS after Comcast credited his payment to the wrong account number, accused him of not paying his bill, disconnected his cable, lied about it, then couldn't get it back on for several days. More » -
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verizon
Verizon Loses The Broken Phone You Returned, Suspends Your Service
Luis dropped his busted LG EnV in the mail at the end of last year and tracked its progress as FedEx delivered the package to Verizon. Verizon, apparently unfamiliar with tracking numbers, doesn't believe that Luis ever returned the phone, and insists that they're owed a $320 replacement fee. Luis disputed the charge, but rather than investigate his claim, Verizon decided it would be easier to suspend his service. Now they want Luis—a customer of seven years who pays over $350 across six phone lines each month—to pay another $15 to reconnect the service they should never have disconnected in the first place. He writes: More » -
executive customer service
Reach Executive Customer Service For Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T
Say you got a problem with your cellphone company and you want it solved, pronto. You've already called regular customer service and they're either unable or unwilling to help you, or you're just sick of waiting on hold. You've got things to do! That's where executive customer service comes in handy. Just about every big company has a pack of these people who can basically walk on water within the company and get any problem solved. The key is reaching them. Naturally, you won't find them in an overseas call center at the end of the 1-800 number. Rather, they're attached to the corporate headquarters executive offices. Don't worry, we did the hard part for you. Here's up-to-date phone numbers for the executive customer service departments for Sprint, Verizon, T-mobile, and AT&T: More » -
car warranties
Here Are Some Of The Companies Behind The Car Warranty Robocalls
Verizon continues its recent campaign of turning robocallers into charitable contributions, this time by settling a lawsuit against two of the companies behind those awful car warranty calls. Last time it was for $25,000; this time it's for $50,000, all of which is being donated to the Joyful Heart Foundation, which Wireless Week describes as "a nonprofit devoted to empowering survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse." More » -
verizon
Got A Verizon Installation Problem? Tell Us Where It Took Place
A Verizon employee read our recent post on the drilled wedding dress and wrote in with some advice for future tipsters, or really for anyone who's trying to solve a Verizon-related problem in the future: More » -
fios
FiOS Installer Drills Through Wife's Wedding Dress
A Verizon FiOS installer showed up yesterday to install the service in Sam's house, but misjudged the location of the laundry room by 4 feet and drilled directly into the closet where his wife kept her wedding dress. More » -
cellphones
Teenager Tries To Bankrupt Family By Sending $4,756.25 In Text Messages
Here's an idea, don't use your phone to send 300 texts a day at school. Not only will your parents not get a bill for $4,756.25, you won't go from As and Bs to Fs and you also won't get your phone smashed with a hammer. More » -
verizon
The Verizon Website Is Surprisingly Honest About "Upselling" You
Reader Beth is impressed with the honesty Verizon displays in the title of the webpage where they try to sell you bundled telecom packages. More » -
good news
Verizon Gives Customer $50 Gift Card To Apologize For Taunting Her With Unavailable FiOS
It's strange, the way some customer/CSR encounters go so well when others seem headed for failure before the first sentence is finished. When Nix called to complain about being mistakenly sent a $100 gift card offer that she can't take advantage of, the Verizon rep on the other end not only addressed the real issues, but later sent a $50 gift card to Nix as a goodwill gesture. More » -
time warner
Time Warner Cable Expands Metered Billing To Four More Cities
If you live in Rochester, NY, Austin or San Antonio, TX, or Greensboro, NC, your broadband access from TWC is about to be capped. The company is expanding its trial run from Beaumont, TX to these additional four cities, where TWC broadband customers will have to choose one of the company's tiers of service—anywhere from 5GB to 40GB per month. DSL Reports notes that all five markets lack Verizon's FiOS as an option, and TWC faces little to no competition from other providers.
"Time Warner Cable Expands Metered Billing" [DSLReports] (Thanks to pezhore!)
(Photo: Willrad)
verizon
Verizon
New York, 6:18 PM
Sun Jul 5
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