This is actually a happy story, despite my inability to write cheerful-sounding headlines, so pay attention if you’ve ever been told that your whole apartment complex can get cable/FiOS/whatever, but you can’t because you are special and not allowed to be happy. You’d be surprised at how many letters we get from people who have this problem. One such person, Andrew, Consumerist Reader, decided to email the CEO.

Here’s what happened:

Thanks to Consumerist, I was able to get Verizon FiOS installed in my apartment. You may be asking yourself, how is that possible? Well here’s how it happened…

I am moving apartments and currently have Verizon FiOS in my home. I love it and did not want to go back to Cablevision, so I went on Verizon.com to check if it was available and it was not (tear). After some research I found out that the my new apartment was the only apartment in the entire complex that Fios was not available for. I called Verizon and posed this question, and every service representative I spoke with said, “that is impossible, if your complex has Fios, you should have FiOS.” However, no one could figure out why my apartment did not have it. After countless calls and hours wasted, I finally got an answer saying the apartment “structure” was not conducive to FiOS and thus will not be able to get it.

I literally could not believe the service rep said my particular apartment “Structure” was different that every other apartment. But alas, I just gave up and ordered Cablevision.

Then yesterday (4/21), I was reading Consumerist and I opened an article about how a person contacted the CEO of Verizon to get his bill fixed. So I sat in my office thinking, maybe I should contact him; so I did. I did not think I would even get a response and if I did, it would be rather late.

However, sometimes you underestimate large corporations. I sent an email to Ivan Seidenberg (CEO of Verizon) at 11:01 AM EST yesterday and got a response from the President of the Mid-Atlantic Region of Verizon (Thomas) at 12:30 PM EST. I was literally in a state of shock at how quick the Verizon CEO delegated this minuscule issue to his subordinates. I was not signing up an entire company for internet use, I was signing up 1 apartment for cable and internet. The fact that a president of a region of Verizon, (the 13th largest corporation in America) took the time to email back and forth and then follow-up with a personal call to me really speaks to their customer oriented business model.

So after 1 email, Tom said we would be sending a manager to the apartment complex to check the apartment. He was not blowing smoke, within 1 hour Tom sent me an emails saying that FiOS manager went to the building and determined that Fios is available in my apartment, and that I will be able to sign up for Verizon and leave Cablevision (Thank GOD!). I signed up and got a window of installation from 12-5, however Verizon wanted to make sure I was happy and they said the technician will be at my apartment promptly at 12pm to install. Literally AMAZING!!

Due to reading Consumerist, not only was I able to get FiOS installed in my apartment, but as cliché as this sounds, it makes me feel like I am not just a number or a wallet, but that my issues matter.

I hope this makes it up on your website as I want your readers to know that Verizon is a corporation who cares about their customers and not only about the bottom line.

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