Eric hates Verizon DSL. All he wanted to do is switch around his contract to save $8.00 a month.

That was simple enough.

After the change, his connection was a lot slower. He’s tried mightily to get it back up to the level he had before, only to be told by several reps that it was impossible to get that rate and he had either been “imagining” the rate or was “lying.”

His chronicle, after the jump…

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Eric writes:

“Hi guys. Long time listener, first time caller.

I have Verizon DSL, I’ve had it for about 3 years. There’s never been any problem, every thing has been chugging along without a problem, and I have 3.0 speeds pretty consistently. Or rather, I HAD 3.0 pretty consistently, until recently. Here’s the story.

About a month ago, I called Verizon billing to get put on their 1 year contract (I thought I had BEEN on the contract already, but that’s another story). Let me tell you, I HATE contracts. Verizon likes people being under contract, as it makes it harder for them to leave, but I figured I wasn’t going anywhere, and I’d be saving $8.00 a month. So,
why not, right?

The rep was pleasant, and switched me to the yearly plan, boom bap, done. I still had my 3.0 megs and I was saving $8.00 a month. Great.

Except, the next morning my speed was down to 1.5 megs.

After rebooting the modem a couple of times, I realized that Verizon screwed up and cut my speed. I spent about an hour on the phone with a tech who, after doing all their usual testing told me that INDEED Verizon screwed up, and they would have my speed back to 3.0 within 24 hours.

Except that it wasn’t. The next morning it was down to 768 kb.

I again called tech support, and was told that I was too far away from the central office to get 3.0. I explained that I had already HAD 3.0 for over 2 years. I was told that I did not. My line was only provisioned for 1.5 megs, so I could not POSSIBLY have had 3.0. Apparently, I had been imagining it. Or lying. The rep actually told me that.

It only got more ridiculous from there.

I have spoken with billing, tech support and presidential appeals more times than I can count, and each time the answer is the same: “You will have your 3.0 back within 24 hours”, only to be told the next day that it is impossible to give me 3.0. No one can explain why it is impossible to give me something that I had ALREADY HAD FOR OVER 2
YEARS.

Frustrating? You bet.

SO, I’ve been able to get back to 1.5 megs, thanks to a very hard working and conscientious 3rd level tech from Ontario, who stayed on top of it far longer than she should have had to. I appreciate her help.

Most of the other Verizon reps could have cared less, some were actually hostile towards me and my problem, flatly telling me that the problem that I was describing was “impossible” and NVF, or “Not Verizon’s Fault”.

Prologue:
I am a computer repair guy, I fix home and small business systems. I’ve been asked recently by a few customers, to recommend the best high speed internet service. Up until a month ago, my answer would have been Verizon DSL. Now, the answer is different. Verizon has lost at least 3 prospective customers, and unless something
magically changes, will be losing me shortly. As I’ve been a happy Verizon customer for the last 3-4 years, this really sucks.

Thanks for listening,

Eric”

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