Reader Jacob says that he’s been getting the runaround for months after signing up with Verizon during their free $200 Circuit City gift card promotion, but he finally reached his breaking point when a Verizon rep told him that the promotion never even existed. Too bad it did exist, and we wrote about it.
FIOS
Dear Verizon: I Am Canceling FiOS Because Of Your "Ridiculous And Unacceptable Billing Practices"
By 9.15.08
Reader Rob has cc’d us on the Executive Email Carpet Bomb that he launched on Verizon due to the fact that he has been unable to get them to send him a bill. Each month (for the past 3 months) Verizon has been deducting random amounts of money from his checking account, and when he asks them to send him some sort of bill (electronic or paper) they assure him they will — and then they don’t. By his calculations, Verizon has overcharged him $117.68 over the last three billing cycles.
Most Verizon FIOS Installations Violate National Electric Standards
By 8.30.08
A two-year investigation has concluded that most Verizon FIOS installations fail to meet national safety standards, and could cause fires or electrocutions. FIOS is famous for house fires, but New York’s Public Service Commission first started its investigation back in 2006 after several inspectors discovered improperly grounded installations.
Comcast Disconnected My Verizon, What Should I Do?
By 8.18.08
Here’s an odd situation: Reader Stephen says that Comcast (his old cable company) disconnected his new Verizon cable. He’s not sure what exactly he should do about it and would like your advice.
Time Warner Cable Customers Can't Play World Of Warcraft
By 8.12.08
We don’t play World of Warcraft, but if we did, it looks like we’d have to cancel Time Warner Cable and install FIOS in order to guarantee a connection to Blizzard’s servers. That’s what some East Coast WoW players are saying—they’ve been suffering disconnections and game-killing lags for months now, and Time Warner Cable seems unable to solve the problem. They swear they’re not doing anything to disrupt or throttle gamers, and say that “customers who are having problems on the local level should contact customer service.” Based on the 24-page thread on Blizzard’s forums, TWC’s customer service has yet to resolve the issue.
Call The NJ Verizon Landline Escalation Hotline
By 7.23.08
908-717-3115 is the number for the NJ Verizon Escalation Hotline. This is the number they’re giving out to Verizon customers in NJ who signed up for FiOs and are still waiting for their free LCD TVs. Leave your name and number and they’ll call you back.
Upgrade FiOs Speeds From 5/2 To 10/2
By 7.21.08
Verizon FiOs recently doubled its download speed for consumer and small businesses from 5 to 10mb, but reader Lindsay says she wasn’t automatically upgraded. Luckily, if you’re in the same boat, you can upgrade by calling 800-688-2880, entering the phone number on your account, pressing 3, then 5, then 2. Lindsay writes, “I got to a rep very quickly and she got everything switched. It cost me $3 more due to a rate change since I signed up, but that’s not too much to ask for double the download speed.”
4 Confessions Of A FiOS Support Agent
By 7.2.08
A FiOS Support Agent has kindly written in to share some insider tips to getting the most out of your FiOS support experience. Of particular interest: Make sure you know (and approve of) where they’ve buried your cable so you know wherenot to dig in your lawn!
Verizon, It's Been 4 months, 16 days Since FiOS Was Installed. Where's My Free LCD TV?
By 5.27.08
Reader Chris had Verizon FiOS installed back in January, and like so many other Verizon customers, he’s been unable to get the free LCD he was promised. Chris sent us a timeline of his struggles with Verizon. It’s a long, frustrating read…
Verizon Infuriates Baseball Fans With "Misleading" Blog Post "Announcing" MLB Extra Innings On FiOS
By 5.2.08
Back in February of this year, Verizon posted the following message titled “MLB Coming to FiOS, Mom and Apple Pie Rejoice!” on their Policy Blog:
James At Verizon Fiber Solutions Center Deserves A Cold Beer
By 4.21.08
James at Verizon Fiber Solutions Center, this is The Consumerist calling to say that you deserve a beer. One of our readers shared with us a story about how you went above and beyond the call of duty to get his router fixed. You could have just left Jeff with “the tech should arrive,” but instead you took a personal interest in Jeff’s case and got his problem solved. You rule. Jeff’s story, inside…
Verizon Sues Time Warner Cable Over "Egregiously False" Advertising
By 4.10.08
Verizon has had enough of Time Warner Cable making fun of their fiber intake and has sued the cable company, claiming that their advertising is “egregiously false” and is causing “immediate and irreparable harm” to Verizon.
Verizon CSR: My FiOS Bill Is Always Wrong, Too
By 4.8.08
The Tampa Bay Tribune has a fascinating article about the sales-centric culture at Verizon’s customer service call centers. The CSRs are given large bonuses (sometimes thousands of dollars) for selling services to people who call in looking to correct their bills.
Union To Protest Verizon Ignoring Its Copper Phone Lines
By 4.3.08
Florida Verizon workers are going to picket Verizon HQ on Monday because, in their quest to lay down the fiber, the union says Verizon is neglecting the copper, reports DSL reports.
“Verizon is not letting us do our jobs, and not letting us take care of the customer,” said Doug Sellers, president of the union that represents Verizon call center and repair workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 824. “Customers are waiting up to 10 days to get their phone lines fixed … If you have something as simple as static on your line, that could be out 10 to 15 days.
Customer complaints have gone up, and union workers says preventative maintenance has been largely forgotten about in some places, an accusation supported by the findings of several state public utilities commissioners. Are you a Verizon landline customer? Have you noticed things getting worse? Let us know in the comments.
FiOS Is Great, If Verizon Ever Manages To Actually Install It
By 3.25.08
Ben is getting some crappy customer service from Verizon in attempting to get FiOS installed. His phone is disconnected, they made a half-assed install, don’t show up for installs, don’t call, oh, and he still doens’t have FiOS. He writes:
To file amongst other I hate Verizon articles. Typing and summarizing while on hold with Verizon for approximately the 8th time…
Customers Will Get FiOS Optical All The Way To Their Apartments, Verizon Plans
By 3.25.08
The AP made a major correction to a Verizon FiOS story we posted about yesterday. In that story, Verizon’s head of FiOS stuff for apartments said that Verizon wouldn’t be able to run optical cable up to all the apartments in two Manhattan apartment complexes and would use coaxial for the last leg. Verizon said not all apartments have the specs needed to install a necessary wall-mounted box. After the story came out, Verizon now says that it does plan to run optical to all the way up apartments that order FiOS. You may have to give up your medicine cabinent, but hey, you’re blazing with the speed of FiOS, baby!
On The Radio, FiOS Free TV Promotion Changed To Free Gift Cards
By 3.17.08
Further distancing itself from its problematic free TV promotion (which for some customer has so far been lacking in free TVs), a reader in the Bronx reports that Verizon FiOS triple-play bundle ads on the radio are now offering $200 gift cards for Circuit City. As previously noted, the TV ads are now touting free Samsung digital cameras.
