Monday, June 11, 2007

Verizon FIOS - the Nightmare!!!

do you know why this guy is reading the newspaper? Cause he cant get FiOS installed at his house! so no internet or TV like me.... that is the image off the verizon fios website ..where the USA today raves about it..as impressive Data services that can be "delivered" I dont know how much I can believe that when they cant seem to just get me hooked up..getting FIOS reinstalled at my house and FIOS TV has been a nightmare..how is it that a service provider like verizon and with all the SPAM marketing about being ready..and there for you 24-7 be such a disaster..

-Back in May..yes MAY! I got a letter to sign up to receive FIOS TV priority installation?! ha what a joke.. I signed up and never heard back..for the last few weeks Ive been trying to call to see the status.
-My roommate who moved out had FIOS internet which couldnt be transfereed to me..I had to start a new account.. but when I called it showed my address as not being FIOS ready..I guess Ive been living a dream for the last year and that FIOS Box in mybasement has been an imagination..what a disaster..! they were able to pull up his old account but couldnt figure out why the other system said I was not FIOS ready.. this was thursday..the chick who said would call me back friday by noon never did.. made me feel like I had a bad one night stand
-Ive called a few times and today was no different, the guy said i was not FIOS ready, transferred me to tech support then eventually ended in the right department and now supposedly I have a confirmation and install date for thursday.. we shall see how this goes..
very dissapointed in verizon for the lack of knowledgeble customer service.. if they think because they are offering FIOS speeds and TV for a bit lower than Comcast they can get away they are wrong.. at this point Im about this close on just getting broadbandconnect from Cingular and no cable.. I got Joost, and torrents to watch TV ..as Ive said it before internet TV will be the downfall for these suckers who think they can overcharge for a simple service and suck at it...


UPDATE6/13: I was supposed to get it installed tomorrow. I was told I would get a call today to confirm my between 8am-12pm installation time.. its 5:30pm and have not heard from them so I called and apparently they have now changed me to June 22nd..it was so nice of them to notifi me.... I asked to speak to a manager but apparently they dont take calls..so they are going to call me back..this is going to get good..stay put.. verizon sucks..
i guess Im not the only one.. it took 6 months for this person to get it! just browse around the internet..
UPDATE 6/14: the 14th is here and I'm FiOSless .. supposedly I am now scheduled for June 25... I'll defnately be reading the newspaper for the next few weeks! I've become so diaspointed th:at I just dont care.. if they screw one more time.. I will go back to comcast.
UPDATE 6/25: its monday June 25 and I have a FiOS tech in my home working on the install.. he has been here since 930am but its a pretty easy install he says since I already have half the job installed.. the cable is running straight into the second level where my G4 resides, the wireless router will also be here..thank god for my neighboors unsecured wireless network
UPDATE 6/29: Ive had FiOS for a few days and I guess it was worth the wait and suffering.. but nevertheless it shouls not happen like that.. internet speeds definately bumped up.. I now have the wireless router in my office on the 2nd floor (it was in the basement before) and I have an "excellent" connection even when Im in the basement when before the signal would be only "good"when I was on the 2nd level.. TV quality also seems to have improved..the quality is more clear and crisp.. and the widgets are nice too..

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sam,

To bad you had a bad experience - most folks experience with FIOS have been positive and its installation has been positive. Hopefully you will find the massive bandwidth capability of a FTTH network will more than make up for any problems with installation. I live in Atlanta and have terrible broadband options from AT&T and Charter. Unfortunately, I don't have any municpaliities or Verizon deploying FTTH here. I would pay the $1,000 or whatever it is to lay the fiber to my house if one of these antiquted monopolists would at least offer a FTTH service. Consider yourself fortunate to have it. I am interested to hear how your 15 Mbps (or 30 Mpbs if that is what you selected) furhter enables your pursuit of Internet TV.

Yukkione said...

To those who are excited about this there are things you need to know about Fios and verizon. If you use any phone service such as Vonage you will receive terrible customer service. When you call them, the first thing they ask you is for your phone number. If you do not have a verizon phone then you will likely get shuffled around from rep to rep and put on endless hold. Also they give you the speed but don’t want you to actually use the bandwidth, they traffic shape and will cut you off if they detect torrent traffic, even if it's legitimate. Over a year ago they mis-billed my account; after they caught the mistake my service was restored. (After hours and hours of getting shuffled around and getting disconnected) Then two weeks ago I woke up to check my email and found the service was off again. After several hours on the phone, I finally get told that the billing error had resurfaced; it would most likely take a month for fraud services to resolve the issue. No apologies for the mistake or the terrible service. I had to sign up for RR just to get service back and my home phone working again.

bowerr said...

Fios has been a nightmare around here too. If it's not the constant harassment by sales and customer service "just doing their job of informing you" of their "cutting-edge" product, it's long wait times, loss of other phone/media venders, or failed connections. It seems that once you've gone fios, you can never go back because Verizon just won't let you go.

Anonymous said...

I like FiOS for some parts but not all.

Internet is fast, TV goes black for a few moments every now and then that is okay. Phone is a BIG NO.

I have ended up paying for it but using my cell phone all the time.

Anonymous said...

I ORDERED VERIZON. 8I WAS TOLD THE YES CHANNEL WOULD GIVE ME YANKEE GAMES. IT DIDNT. SO I ORDERED THE mlb PACKAGE @ $199 AND WAS TOLD IT COULD BE SPREAD OUT OVER A 12 MONTH PAY PERIOD. IT CANT. SO I CALLED. TRANSFERS ABOUNDED AND FINALLY I WAS TOLD NO WAY, PAY IN FULL. I WONT. I SUBTRACT THE BALANCE DUE ON THE mlb PACKAGE AND SEND IN AN ADDITIONAL 16 DOLLARS WITH MY PAYMENT. THEY DO NOT HONOR WHAT REPS SAY. AS SOON AS THEY CUT MY SERVICE I WILL JUMP BACK TO COMCAST...WHERE PEOPLE ACTUALLY ANSWER THE PHONE WHEN YOU CALL. I WISH I NEVER WENT TO VERIZON. IT SSUUCCKKKSSSSSSS

Larro said...

Verizon lies and does not honor agreements they make. I received an insert in my bill that FiOS internet is $55. That is faster and cheaper than my current landline to carry the DSL. I called and was told if I only want internet it is $60. I figured OK since it costs about the same as what I was currently paying. They tried talking me into phone and TV. I wasn't interested. I already have good, cheap, VoIP with all features. Ultimately we agreed to internet and TV for (you had to make a contract then) $65/month the first year and $75 the second. I had no plans to get nickled and dimed. It was confirmed numerous times that that is all I have to pay except for taxes. No box fees or anything else. Again, I made sure this was confirmed numerous times. I would not have taken the service otherwise.
They sent me an email saying that it will cost me triple than the agreed to price and someone will come to install it next day. I called all day and night to get confirmation of the agreement I made. I spoke to numerous people. They would tell me not to worry about it. Nobody would send me an email. The next day I did not let the service person install the service. I kept calling for 3 days until I finally got someone to email me confirmation of the agreement. It took so much effort to get someone to send me confirmation that unfortunately I did not realize they did not write the part about not charging for boxes. Prior to that people from Verizon would keep calling me and tell me that the people who made the agreement with me were not authorized to do so and I should get the 3 for 1 package.
Of course they initially charged me more than twice what I agreed to. Again it took numerous calls and several months to almost get this resolved. If I did not have the email confirmation they would be charging me their original price. They say they gave me the money back but I am not sure because it is impossible to figure out their billing system. Of course they do not have a straight forward, comprehensible billing system. Of course they do this on purpose so you cannot figure out what they are really charging you for.
I regret that even to this day, even after making numerous complaints to Verizon, the FCC, the Attorney General, and some other agencies, contrary to the agreement made with me, I am still being charged for boxes. Also, I feel greatly insulted and deceived because if I did not hold out and wait for written confirmation I would have to pay more than double as per their original email. I would not have a leg to stand on to dispute their rigged practice if I did not wait for confirmation.
Unfortunately it took a lot of perseverance, patience, and time that many people do not have to get Verizon to finally honor most of the agreement.

Larro said...

Verizon lies and does not honor agreements they make. I received an insert in my bill that FiOS internet is $55. That is faster and cheaper than my current landline to carry the DSL. I called and was told if I only want internet it is $60. I figured OK since it costs about the same as what I was currently paying. They tried talking me into phone and TV. I wasn't interested. I already have good, cheap, VoIP with all features. Ultimately we agreed to internet and TV for (you had to make a contract then) $65/month the first year and $75 the second. I had no plans to get nickled and dimed. It was confirmed numerous times that that is all I have to pay except for taxes. No box fees or anything else. Again, I made sure this was confirmed numerous times. I would not have taken the service otherwise.
They sent me an email saying that it will cost me triple than the agreed to price and someone will come to install it next day. I called all day and night to get confirmation of the agreement I made. I spoke to numerous people. They would tell me not to worry about it. Nobody would send me an email. The next day I did not let the service person install the service. I kept calling for 3 days until I finally got someone to email me confirmation of the agreement. It took so much effort to get someone to send me confirmation that unfortunately I did not realize they did not write the part about not charging for boxes. Prior to that people from Verizon would keep calling me and tell me that the people who made the agreement with me were not authorized to do so and I should get the 3 for 1 package.
Of course they initially charged me more than twice what I agreed to. Again it took numerous calls and several months to almost get this resolved. If I did not have the email confirmation they would be charging me their original price. They say they gave me the money back but I am not sure because it is impossible to figure out their billing system. Of course they do not have a straight forward, comprehensible billing system. Of course they do this on purpose so you cannot figure out what they are really charging you for.
I regret that even to this day, even after making numerous complaints to Verizon, the FCC, the Attorney General, and some other agencies, contrary to the agreement made with me, I am still being charged for boxes. Also, I feel greatly insulted and deceived because if I did not hold out and wait for written confirmation I would have to pay more than double as per their original email. I would not have a leg to stand on to dispute their rigged practice if I did not wait for confirmation.
Unfortunately it took a lot of perseverance, patience, and time that many people do not have to get Verizon to finally honor most of the agreement.

Larro said...

Verizon lies and does not honor agreements they make. I received an insert in my bill that FiOS internet is $55. That is faster and cheaper than my current landline to carry the DSL. I called and was told if I only want internet it is $60. I figured OK since it costs about the same as what I was currently paying. They tried talking me into phone and TV. I wasn't interested. I already have good, cheap, VoIP with all features. Ultimately we agreed to internet and TV for (you had to make a contract then) $65/month the first year and $75 the second. I had no plans to get nickled and dimed. It was confirmed numerous times that that is all I have to pay except for taxes. No box fees or anything else. Again, I made sure this was confirmed numerous times. I would not have taken the service otherwise.
CONTINUED ON NEXT COMMENT

Larro said...

They sent me an email saying that it will cost me triple than the agreed to price and someone will come to install it next day. I called all day and night to get confirmation of the agreement I made. I spoke to numerous people. They would tell me not to worry about it. Nobody would send me an email. The next day I did not let the service person install the service. I kept calling for 3 days until I finally got someone to email me confirmation of the agreement. It took so much effort to get someone to send me confirmation that unfortunately I did not realize they did not write the part about not charging for boxes. Prior to that people from Verizon would keep calling me and tell me that the people who made the agreement with me were not authorized to do so and I should get the 3 for 1 package.
Of course they initially charged me more than twice what I agreed to. Again it took numerous calls and several months to almost get this resolved. If I did not have the email confirmation they would be charging me their original price. They say they gave me the money back but I am not sure because it is impossible to figure out their billing system. Of course they do not have a straight forward, comprehensible billing system. Of course they do this on purpose so you cannot figure out what they are really charging you for.
I regret that even to this day, even after making numerous complaints to Verizon, the FCC, the Attorney General, and some other agencies, contrary to the agreement made with me, I am still being charged for boxes. Also, I feel greatly insulted and deceived because if I did not hold out and wait for written confirmation I would have to pay more than double as per their original email. I would not have a leg to stand on to dispute their rigged practice if I did not wait for confirmation.
Unfortunately it took a lot of perseverance, patience, and time that many people do not have to get Verizon to finally honor most of the agreement.

Anonymous said...

The incompetence and disregard for someone’s time at Verizon is beyond ridiculous. I've been trying to move my FiOS from one unit in the same building to another. I called in the first time to have it transferred and the agent said they will be out the next day… I thought wow! So fast! I took the day off and no one showed up. Called in to find out what was going on and the agent said there was no record of my request. I rescheduled another appointment for five days later. The day before the appointment both my phone and internet were shut off. I called in to find out what the deal was and they told me that I was scheduled for transfer for two and a half weeks later. I said that is unacceptable, please transfer it back until you guys get this sorted out. They said it can't be done... once it has been transferred there is no way to revert it back. "Unacceptable!!! I work from home and I need the service... I went through a process of being transferred to tech support and back to billing and being put on permanent hold and eventually cut off. Call back in one agent will say the service will be restored in the morning, morning comes no service, next agent say it will be restored in the evening... nothing.... This has been going on for three weeks now. I try to cancel and the agent will say their system is slow... nothing they can do. Try to escalate to a supervisor and I get put on permanent hold and cut off again. Once I did get to a "supervisor" and demanded that they restore my service. I asked "what if I need to make a 911 call... she said knock on your neighbors door or use your cell phone, I said “what would the FCC say about that?” She said “hold on” and put me on permanent hold again. Finally today a tech showed up today and got the internet transferred to my new place but can't get the phone to work. He says he will be back at 8pm and I give him my cell #... no show and still no phone.

Suck it Verizon… you’re the “phone” company and you can’t do a simple phone transfer