Verizon Sucks BIG TIME

Verizon Sucks BIG TIME

So… we got a new house recently as you all know. I was the diligent homeowner and called Verizon to hook up a new line. I was put through and got the phone service to be hooked up. Nothing different than in past years. In 12 years, I have stood by Verizon and never switched to another company through all my moves. This story made me switch to the cable company.

Our new line was to be set up on May 24, 2004. On that date, I excitedly plugged in some phones into all the jacks in the house. Not one of them worked. Granted, in two of the jacks, there was some static but we couldn’t hear anything when dialing out nor did it ring when we called it from our cell phones. When we closed on the house, we checked a phone line to see if it worked as the former owner didn’t shut down the phone until May 20th. We even dialed our cell phones to see if it truly worked. They worked beautifully – no static… nothing…

I waited a couple of days to call Verizon as nothing ever improved. I called them today to see what they could do for us... armed with information from my friend (who shall remain nameless for now) who used to work in the telecom industry. He knows his stuff.

I was starting to wonder more about my problem when I opened up email this morning… my DSL connection date got pushed back a week this morning. It was supposed to go in today... now... not until the 9th. I am thinking it is all related.

I politely called Verizon this morning and spoke to someone in Customer Service who quickly informed me that they would charge me close to $100 just to come take a look at something that I was having trouble believing was my problem.
I was armed with useful information about the NID device which you should all learn about. Just in case you have an emergency and your power goes out… you can always call from that central box. Old houses may not necessarily have an NID. Just keep it in mind.
Regardless, Verizon kept telling me that my signal was fine from their end. They told me that their signals were going through so the problem must be inside the house. I believe that one. There are over 30 jacks in the house… one of them has to work. I mean damn… there are THREE in the sun room…what do I need even one in there for?

As a side note… I took a picture of what I thought our NID device looked like… I showed it to my telecom friend who had this to say about it….. “This type of equipment is used in business applications. You have the main line come in from the NID to this, then you run all your lines from this piece of equipment to all the locations…cool, after that I'd love to visit and look how they ran these lines, whether they ran them serial or in a star topology as this appears to be…” ok… now I just feel F’ed.

So… now Verizon tells me that it is all our fault and that we will be charged an S load of money to fix all the problems inside the house. They don’t even ask if we have an NID in order to check the lines. Their little computers have all the answers. How could I have been so mistaken? There were many things said by them that made me feel like an uneducated jerk. Oh well. I feel as though the following comment is one of my best. It was said in response to the manager telling me that they have been providing me with service since May 24, 2004 and that I am going to have to pay for it.

“You keep saying that you are providing service and that your company thrives on good customer service. I even have a letter from you welcoming me to Verizon and it states there is a customer satisfaction guarantee, but let me get this straight...you are a telephone company… your sole purpose is to provide me with service... Service - to me -equals a dial tone. A dial tone that I can use to call other people with dial tones...I do not have a dial tone. How are you providing me with service?” They didn’t like that response and became more argumentative.

After 45 minutes on the phone with them… I hang up with them without a thing resolved and I decide to research other phone options. I discovered a slightly higher plan through Cablevision that will supply us with phone and internet and at a price that is approximately $16 more a month than the DSL and phone service Verizon was going to charge us. Aside from that… Cablevision isn’t going to charge us anything to hook up the jacks or the modem. Good Cablevision…goooood….

FYI -- This is what a NID looks like… it can be much smaller than this though.
http://www22.verizon.com/customerhelp/cgi-bin/smarthelp.asp?env=www22&new&kb=consumer&varset_statename=NJ&varset_coast=East&case=7476

Just for my own edification, I went home and checked out the NID when I got home. There was a very staticky dial tone. I could barely hear it. It wouldn’t let me dial out either. Stupid Verizon calling me a liar (in so many words.) How the hell do I have service!?!?!?

I don't...

So… we now have Cablevision coming out in a week to hook us up.

I also called Verizon to cancel our plan and it was such a pleasant conversation. We were cancelled in 30 seconds... just like that…. So nice… why couldn’t they have been that nice earlier on?

I am going to write a letter... it was just not satisfying. I hope they bill me… it will make it all better…. Another great old man letter from Brian…. I want it.