What’s worse than Verizon not showing up for you appointment? Verizon techs showing up for you appointment, only to set fire to your home.

On Aug. 8, a Verizon tech lit fire to the home of one Patrick O’Malley after drilling into the electrical wiring of his house. The fire caused a small power outage in Needham, Mass., a suburb of Boston.

“I noticed my TV was flickering off and on, something was wrong,” said Thelma Papetti, who lives next door to the fire at 60 Pine Grove St. “Then the fire trucks came.”

Paul McNamara at Network World’s buzzblog investigated further:

Needham Deputy Fire Chief Al Deiulio tells me that the Verizon technician “was drilling on the outside of the house when he hit an electrical main” and started the fire.

“He’s lucky he’s not dead,” says Deiulio.

The damage to the house was minor, but it’ll be a few more days before they can return. Wherever the O’Malleys are, we’re sure they have a serious case of “Verizon Face.”

No word on when their next appointment will be!

We’d like to take this moment to remind you to submit your “Verizon Face” to the Consumerist Flickr Pool. Tag your photo “Verizon Face.”

Verizon tech sets fire to home — accidentally [Networkworld]

(Photo:Getty)