I too worked for verizon in NJ and was so disgusted too with all those emails and calls from customers that we were unable to help.

Let me also respond to NOW to this comment that John Bonomo, Verizon's director of Media Relations wrote about this article:

"The employee who anonymously faxed the "mysterious" letter to your headquarters is doing his or her colleagues a disservice and dishonoring the work that they do on behalf of our customers. It's more appropriate to cheer for thousands of our customer service representatives who are helping our customers every day.
Even worse, this self-described employee's letter contains a number of inaccuracies, and readers here should be aware them. For example, we've stated publicly that customers who qualified for the free TV under our recent promotion will receive one. We also acknowledged that delivering the set would take some time, and we said that as a part of the promotion."

"This employee did not do his colleagues a disservice; he's merely pointing out the TRUTH". As far as dishonoring the work they do on behalf of the customers, you should even be ashamed to say that you even have such representatives as to call them "customer service representatives", when what he is doing is informing the customers again of the TRUTH. And in regards to the TV's and going public, why don't you go public about all the other TRUTH'S behind the story: such as the blizts credits & promos, refusing to give customers credits, even if it was VERIZON'S error . . . WHY DON'T YOU GO PUBLIC ABOUT THAT? The truth still remains that despite your attempts to "go public"; the job is not being done right.

I was recently let go because I was still in my "probation" period and had to miss work one day for medical reasons (legal doctor's note - reason - asthma). Then I had to miss work again due to other health issues that had me in the ER. I was told by the head of tardiness/absenteeism, that no doctor notes, or er documentations would save me. I had my final warning and if I missed one more day, I would be fired. This issue is about to go to grievance. I recently read an article here re: people getting sick due to the stress of the call center's work conditions. After experiencing the chest pains, horrible headaches etc that I experienced while working there (which I no longer have), I would definitely agree that verizon is the cause of those issues.

All they care about is making that next sale. I'm starting to believe that part of their marketing technique is to screw up your bill, so when you call, they can "trick", convince you to order something else. As my supervisor told me, and I quote: "if they are not going to buy anything, get them off your line, this is not a customer service position, this is a sales position". But people have you ever looked at your bills and noticed that there is no longer is a "customer service #"; it is now a "billing #". So where is verizon's customer service department? Oh but wait, this is funny . . . . One of verizon's values is CUSTOMER SERVICE & INTEGRITY. Yeah okay, what's that number to reach this department?

I was also reprimanded for being on the phone "too long" with customers explaining their bills because they just couldn't understand them. The problem came when they didn't buy anything, now I've wasted valuable time. What verizon has failed to realize is that with sales, comes customer service. They go hand in hand. I mean the issue is so bad that employees do something called slamming' and cramming', all to make their numbers, look good to upper management and save their "ass" oh I mean job. They expect us to resolve the issue and offer (upgrade to triple, double play, wire maintenance, DSL & DSL broadband essentials, Direct TV, International calling plan, wireless) through questions . . . oh and all this should take place in less than 6 minutes. The system alone takes a good 2-3 minutes to get the customers info up. There's just so much that can be said about how things are being done, that a book could be written and a class action lawsuit from both employees/ex-employees and their customers should take place real soon.

I was told not to speak out this way, cause I would be called the whistle blower too, but you know what customers and other verizon employees need to stand up for themselves and show these large corporations that without these employees and customers, there'd be no VERIZON.

I will remain anonymous for now. I still haven't decided if to take other legal actions against verizon.

Advise to all:

Customers: beware of your bills, especially after making a call to "customer service" department (what a joke to even call it that). Review your bills carefully as you may never notice the smallest "add on", without your permission.

Future Employees: be aware of the company that you are dealing with. The pay is great, the benefits are great, but at what cost? Is that weekly paycheck worth more than your mental well being, health, and your integrity? Do unto others, what you'd like done to you.

lase170

While you're at it, maybe also "publicly state" that all Verizon customers who have not received their TVs should not pay their bills since Verizon isn't holding up their end of the agreement, so their customers shouldn't either?

NewYorkNewYork10001

batgirl51

You don't even try to dispute some of the most damning - and potentially criminal - allegations in the employee's letter. And then you respond with the powerful retort that customers who have been waiting months for their TVs... "will receive one."

John, your response should have been: "Under no circumstances would AT&T authorize not crediting a customer that has been mischarged through our error. While we vigorously deny the information in the alleged employee's letter, AT&T takes seriously any information that suggests any impropriety by any of its employees and activately investigates any circumstances that suggests an employee violating our code of conduct."

That you didn't say this is really eye-popping and only adds credence to the letter writer's validity.

snowpuff

Even after I signed the TOS in Feb. Still no tv.

Sarcasmo48

So that is what the Verizon rep meant by the anonymous writer doing a disservice to his co-workers!

tmlfan81

mike1731

In all honesty the Verzion Fios TV services and internet have been great so I can't get on that. But customer service and bill has been awful.

If anyone cares to read here is my experience.

We bought a house in September and we knew Verizon was running fiber on our street, I was excited because I'm a geek and I hate Comcast. We signed up for DSL which we had at our apartments for about 3 years with no issues and never a loss of service.

After signed up we went to a one bill service with cell phone and everything. The DSL didn't get working until about 3 weeks after we moved because they needed to add repeaters, it sucked but I stuck with them. Then the Fios group came to our door at the end of November and we signed up. Triple play with 15down 5up service, and the free TV. They told us this would be around $120, sounds good to me.

So they installed the service and everything seemed to be good until I noticed I was only getting 5down, I called up and they flicked a switch and I was up to 15mbps.

Next our bill came it was about $250, a little bit higher then the $120 I was told. I called and come to find out we weren't getting the discount because we didn't sign the TOS agreement. I was confused because they never told us about it, nor did they send us and email about it like they claimed they were supposed to. So they gave us a rebate and I signed the TOS. Of course the TV doesn't come until 6-11 weeks AFTER you sign the TOS. So now a month has gone by and I have to start all over. The rep that I talked to this time, after 45 minute son hold, asked me to sign up for some like Platinum package, land line, fiber, tv and cell. Sure what the heck 1 bill right? (we had issues with one bill before.)

In the mean time my service gets dropped back down to 5mbps. This has to do with the service we signed up for, I asked for 15 but the woman who signed us up VIA phone gave us 5. (After months of this I told them screw it and stayed with 5.)

Next bill comes and it's $200 and the cell phone bill isn't on there. I talk to them and they aren't giving us the land line discount plus they screwed some other things up. The land line discount is almost $20. So they tell me it is fixed and that I shouldn't have any problems. I ask to speak to a supervisor, they claim one will call me back in 24 hrs. That never happened.

This again happens next month, my wife calls and she isn't as calm as me. They tell here we can't do the one bill with the cell phone because we have triple play. And they are having a hard time working with the cell phone company. Wait, what? Aren't you both Verizon? Well apparently they are having issues with combining billing with both companies. We had this issue before about a year earlier when they tried to get us to do one bill. So warning to all, stay away from one bill.

My wife asked for a supervisor when she called and again they said 24 hrs with no response.

So late last month the next bill comes, the stupid land line discount is not there. And this is my last call. So I tell them to transfer me to a real manager or I am canceling. I got a woman who claimed to be a supervisors and she tells me that the rep that handled the case before never added the discount in, they just were discounting me my money back. They gave me a $60 rebate and I told them that my next call is me canceling if this isn't fix. So far the March bill was fixed, but it seems like this is a common problem with them.

I did get my TV earlier this month and to my surprise it had a built in DVD player, sort of nice. The one issue I noticed is that I did get a fedex shipping number about 3 weeks before we actually got it and it took 2 days to ship. So it sat on a loading dock in Tenn for a few months.

That is my story and I just wanted to share it, hopefully it will help someone out.

untruehero

b612markt

BlueStar_AllStar

Sorry I don't want to sign up for 20 more months of punishment. Why on earth would I subject myself to 12 more months of abhorrent customer service? At least my bill is right.

But its true. Marketing people change promotions so often that the reps can't keep up. The mentality is definitely "Get as many people signed up as possible, if "a handful" are pissed, who cares? We got 100k extra subscribers".

It was the same with Cox, though. There was ALWAYS a promotion going on. I called just to see if they would lower my bill to keep me from leaving for fios and the guy got me the lowest possible promotional rate just for asking. 6 month deal and I saved 65/MONTH(!) on my bill. I never thought i'd miss Cox.

Sarcasmo48

Verizon's new moto: We never STARTED working for you.

verucalise

mduser

It took some work - calling up to make sure I did all I had to do - but it finally arrived.

Pissed off that they didn't include the price of the set top box in the $99 price though - $10/month for each one.

dorkins

yetiwisdom

LatherRinseRepeat

Lack of ethics? Surely you jest!

rmz

and the cleaning staff. Basically everybody, really.

m4ximusprim3

valarmorghulis

Hahaha.

rmz

NightStalker3

cybercjh

We now have a whistleblower trifecta in play. Maybe this guy could upload some of those emails to wikileaks and add fuel to the fire.

sleze69

rnkoneil

BuzzDar

Murph1908

Now, if the tv would actually WORK for more than a day without going out for no apparent reason, I'd be a happy camper.

As it stands, I'm pretty pissed with them at the moment. My tech appointment is this afternoon.

Murph1908

Aladdyn

Aladdyn

The Count of Monte Fisto

I gave Verizon a chance and they dropped the ball each and every month...3 months is all it took and I was sending back their equipment...

outinthedark

I wouldn't have lasted one sentence without going there.

Zimorodok

nursetim

Raignn