You know those Verizon ads where someone is trying to make a call and like 100 Verizon people show up to help them do it? Arelene’s story is sort of like that. Except they all showed up to help her change her address. And they were one at a time. And it was over the phone. And it took several days. Here’s her tale, and how she eventually won…

My daughter attends a school in Philadelphia which strangely enough does not provide internet access. She recently had to move from one apartment where she had resided for 2 1/2 years, to another due to school renovations. We helped her move, she came home for a few week break and only upon arriving back did she realize her internet access was not working. She is majoring in animation and will very soon graduate so her work is dependent on internet access. She called Verizon and they assured her she would have service in 6 -7 business days.

After the time period she was given had passed with still no internet access, she called again (Tues) and was given an appointment for someone to come out and look at the wiring. The timeframe was 8am – 8pm (Wed). She waited all day, missed classes and no one showed. She called Thurs only to be told tech people went there, knocked on her door and no one answered either the door or her phone but they rescheduled for Friday, 8am – 8pm. Once again, she waited all day, no one called or showed.

I called in the late afternoon to see what the problem was and was given the same story that no one answered the door or her phone but they would reschedule for Monday…..same deal 8am – 8pm. Now I am sure you can understand that not only were we shuffled around to keep getting shuffled around but actually getting through the 800 “customer service” line, waiting on hold for several hours listening to non music repeating over and over and over, does take its toll.

I asked to speak to supervisors only to be transferred back to the beginning of the press this, press that or simply cut off. I spoke to one person who swore that another tech person was on the way and they would call back to make sure……….still waiting. The other problem and this one I consider to be major is that we were lied to every time. My daughter lives in a building that has security at the entrance, no one came, certainly no one got through to be able to knock on her door, no missed calls nor messages were recorded on her phone.

It was only after I googled the CEO of Verizon and ended up on your website, read through the horror stories of Verizon that I obtained the email for the CEO of the DSL portion of Verizon – Dennis.F.Strigl@verizon.com and sent an email that I received calls from no less than four executive troubleshooters who were falling all over themselves to help me. I must say in the end they were very helpful but how cost-effective is it to have one customer’s problem solved by talking to 30 – 40 people (no exaggeration) as opposed to one person, one problem, one file, one solution? I sent a list of recommendations to Mr Strigl what he does with them are his business.

In closing I just want to pass along this advice to anyone who contacts your site with a Verizon problem –

1) Keep a record of who you talk to and when. They don’t have to give you their last names (for security reasons I was told) but they do have ID numbers which identify whether they are in house people or out sourced. People need to know they are going to be held accountable.

2) Make sure your problem is completely understood, get facts straight by asking questions. Our problem stemmed from the fact that the first person my daughter spoke with put in a change of address, not a change of location. I’m not sure how one can change apartment numbers without actually moving but that is the excuse they gave in the end.

3) Go straight to the top with your complaint. After being on hold for hours, my daughter missing several days of classes and being no closer to a solution, I sent an email outlining the facts to Mr. Strigl and we heard back straight away. More importantly the problem was fixed the next day. I sent him a follow up email thanking him for his help along with thoughts for troubleshooting to prevent future problems. He may ignore my letter but keep in mind that one letter they receive represents many others that people don’t write but would like to.

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