One day after work I pull into my apartment complex and notice that there are quite a few Verizon trucks and vans parked outside of our apartment office accompanied with “SIGN UP FOR FiOS TODAY” signs plastered just about everywhere you can see. At first I shrugged this off because I am not, and have never been, a fan of Verizon. Then my girlfriend gets home and suggests we at least check it out. So we go over to the little reception they are having and talked to a nice girl about the speeds of their FiOS internet (which is what I was interested in) and the HD TV (what my girlfriend was interested in).

We were sold on the 20up/5down internet package and just the normal TV with HD service. We were passed to a salesman with at least two cell phones in his hands at all times who was constantly having either us or someone on the phone wait while he paced around the place. Very odd to say the least. Once we had filled out the paperwork we were then given one of his phones to speak with a Verizon rep. I explained that I wanted a weekend install and the rep on the other end said that just was not possible as they do not install on weekends. So we settle on the following Wednesday, I would just take off of work.

Before I knew it a week had gone by and I was waiting for the Verizon tech to come and install my lovely FiOS package. Around 8:30 a man looking like someone that just got off of a three day crystal-meth bender shows up at my door. He comes in, has me take down ALL the clothes in my closet so he can get to the access panel that is right above the inside part of the door…. This did not make any sense to me either, but whatever.

I leave the room and go to my computer to do some work and about 5 minutes later he walks out without saying anything and then comes back after a 10 minutes absence. He does this about three more times until he comes back with a woman. This is when I realized they were either going to use my bedroom for something immoral or there was a problem with my install. They both go in and I hear muffled voices. They both come out and he explains that he broke the ‘pull string’ that is used to get the FiOS into the apartment and says “You won’t be getting FiOS today.” I understood that problems happen and asked what would happen from here. He and the woman explained that they would need the contractors who originally routed the Fiber to come out and snake it through again. I then asked if they did weekend installs because I can’t afford to miss another day of work. Both the man and woman said “Oh absolutely! Did they tell you we don’t?” He then said I would have someone call me very shortly and then they left.

I immediately called Verizon and informed them of the mishap. They were very pleasant and noted everything I had said (or so I thought) and the rep told me that someone would contact me by the end of the day. This did not happen, go figure.

Two days later on that Friday, I stayed home from work because I was under the weather and I get a call from what I imagine was the foreman and he says that he only has an appointment for the following Wednesday and that he “absolutely promises it will be installed that day!” because he was going to have a team in the basement (where the fiber comes in) and someone in my apartment. I reluctantly agree to the date. I then informed my girlfriend of the plans and she said that I should not have to take another day off of work because of their screw-up and I agreed with her and called Verizon to demand a weekend install. I spoke with another polite rep and said that I do not care how long I have to wait, I need a weekend install. He said they only have one for December 1st and that is the closest date he can get me, I agree and being to wait over a month for my tech to arrive (again).

Before the December 1st install date an actual real, red blooded, person called me to confirm the install. I explained to her what had happened the first time and she said that she had notes on it but was going to make more notes on it (wtf?). I did not understand why she would make more notes on the exact thing she had notes on but I confirmed the install date and got off the phone.

Come December 1st a tech showed up promptly at 9am and he comes in and to my shock, he did not ask me to remove all the clothing from my closet (thank god) and he goes to the access panel. He then comes out and says “Did someone come to re-route the fiber up?” and I told him that I had no idea and that no one besides him and the first tech had been in my apartment.

He then leaves to have someone go to the basement to snake it up. He comes up and goes back down about 4 more times and informs me that the fiber is stuck on something and that he needs to get the contractors out there to get into the walls to get it out… So basically said what the first tech had said! He was baffled why they even let him come out since this had not been done yet. He then tells me that when Verizon is giving someone the ‘run around’ like they are doing to me, they usually offer a 3-month free service package and possibly an lcd tv. He gets on the phone with the foreman and the foreman suggests $100 worth of gift cards for my troubles. I just laughed when the tech told me this. He then told me that the foreman would definitely call me on Monday the 3rd (yesterday) but could not give me a number to contact him. So the tech leaves and I have wasted yet another day of my time but this time was worse because I needed to drive to central New York from out here in Boston so leaving without having my FiOS installed left a rather displeasing taste in my mouth.

While in New York (on Sunday) I get an email on my iPhone that my Verizon FiOS install has been rescheduled for Monday the 3rd of December between the hours of 8am and 5pm. At this point I lost it. Not only do these incompetent people not know what the hell they are doing, but they are scheduling ALL DAY appointments without even seeking approval from the customer! At this point there was not a phrase in the English language that could express my utter disdain for the ineptitude of this company.

On Monday morning I make yet another phone call to tell explain the exact same thing I have to everyone I spoke with. The rep said that I did indeed have an appointment for Monday and I demanded the number to the foreman in my area to which he was unable to provide. He did however put in a (completely f*cking useless) “Trouble ticket” to my local dispatch for them to call me. Keep in mind, the foreman was supposed to call me this same day too. Come Monday night no one has called and I am still FiOS’less.

It has been about two months since I originally signed up for service that was supposed to be installed within a week. I have no clue who to call to not have wade through there completely useless automated machine garbage (although I find it cute how every time I call it tries to connect to my set-top box… the set-top box that I don’t f*cking have!). Excuse the poor grammar, sentence structure, etc… and feel free to clean up the expletives I’ve included in this rant about the sh*ttiest company on the face of the f*cking planet.

-Thomas

No worries, Thomas, we added a few asterisks in there for you. If we were you, we would cancel this install. If this is how they treat you when they are trying to get your business, imagine what it will be like once they have it?

If you’re not into that, try sending this email to Verizon’s CEO. We hear that gets results.

(Photo:wsh1266)

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