Verizon must be an insane asylum, not a phone company!

[Ronshere]

I simply cannot understand how this company even stays in business.
2 weeks ago I ordered DSL service for my phone from them over the internet.
I was supposed to receive the modem, etc from them within 7-10 days.
Nothing came so I spent most of this morning trying to get someone on the phone to see what happened.
It isn't possible to tell you everything but I had to first go through their phone answering software and when I entered the button to connect about a DSL inquiry I would be asked for the DSL phone line number.
Since the service has not been installed I could not enter my number without being kicked back to the starting point so I called to speak to a representative.
I connected with some lady in India and all she could tell me was that she did not have access to any orders(?) and referred me back to the same number I had been calling.
And so on, and so on. In a circle!
I remembered that I had a special number written down for Verizons Help center (in Dallas!!!) and called that.
I actually got an intelligent lady on the phone. She was able to look and there was no record of my order even though I had a tracking number, etc.
All she could do was put me through to their DSL tech support and they bounced me over to sales to start over.
Problem is that I would start talking to them and the sales rep would tell me that if I had an order number then I needed to talk to tech support and they would switch me, and so on, and back and forth.
When I tried to just put through a new order the guy said he had to first run a check of my line to see if DSL was available. during the check I was disconnected.
This happened twice. I haven't tried again today. I am just disgusted with them!
This company is a looney bin, I am sure of it.
2 years ago i moved over to where I am now and called Verizon just to get a phone hooked up. I had installed the line myself and ran it outside and labeled it clearly for the installer so he would not have any trouble at all.
So I thought at the time!
I should mention that I was a switchman (es5 and 6) for NY telephone years ago and know phones inside out.
Anyway, about 2 weeks went by and I had no phone service.
When I called I was told that they had no record of my order!!!
I am not kidding!!!
So I reordered service and was told that they were so busy it would now be about 3 weeks before someone would come to hook up my phone.
The time went by and no one hooked it up!
When I called to find out what was going on they had no record of my order, again!!!
Believe it or not this went on for 5 months!!!!
finally I called the Dallas help number and a woman there promised to stay on the line while she called the manager of the verizon office that handles the installations in my neighborhood.
He promised to get someone out within a week and it would be hooked up for sure! he even said he would call me the morning the installer was coming to do the work.
He called the next week and told me he was coming and understood that the line was labeled so I did not need to stay home from work. It would be hooked up, guaranteed. He was sending out his best man!!:rofl:
Hah!!!
By the way. labeling is (or used to be) a common practice.
when I came home the phone was still not working.
I called and was told that it had to be. They ran tests and it was working perfectly, I was assured. I told them I know the difference between a dead and live phone!
I was told the phone checked out so I would have to wait for an installer to come and see what was the matter. And I was supposed to pay for the visit!!! And It would be at least 5 (Yes FIVE) weeks before they would come!
I complained and complained and a week went by before the manager sent a supervisor to my home to check it out. ( at no charge since it was a new installation and I am supposed to be covered for service anyway))
Naturally, they thought I was an idiot and didn't know what I was talking about.
I showed the supervisor the phone and it was clearly dead. so he said lets go outside and check the line there.
What he found something incredible.
The installer idiot had come to my home and you will not believe this!
My phone line needed to be connected to a block outside my house.
The block is on the side of the house facing a street. Its a corner house.
The idiot ran a line from my block around the back of the house, up the side and across a narrow alley (10 feet) to the house next door and then down to their phone block and connected my service to a phone in my neighbors home!!! He had concealed the line under my homes siding so I could not see this. He had completely ignored my line with its label and just bridged my service over to the neighbors house!!
I am not kidding.
Well, the supervisor didn't know what to say. He promised they would send someone ASAP ( That's a week in Verizonese language!)
When the manager called one morning to say the man was coming I deliberately stayed home.
Who shows up but the idiot that had put in the lunatic installation in the first place.
I knew it was him because he was trying to hid the fact at first. But he mentioned that he had to go check to see which line outside was mine. I told him that I had put label on it and it had been there for months.
W went out and that is when he saw the tag (only about 4x6 inches with my name clearly written on it and positioned about 2 inches from the bock!!) and he mumbled that he wondered why he hadn't seen it last time. So that's when I knew I was looking at Verizons best installer!! :rofl:
So I told him that I had been a switchman and all I needed was for him to connect the wires to the block and make sure there was a dial tone!!
He did, he was nervous but he managed to do it. When he finished he asked off handedly, if I wanted to check for myself.
I said yes and took his phone out of his hand and ran my own check!
he was plainly embarrassed. And he should have been.
Unbelievable.
Oh! Did I mention that when I received my first phone bill it was for 3 months service?? 2 of which was past due!!!!
And the bill had come several days before the supervisor had showed up and found the trouble.
Getting the bill straightened out is another story!!
And how was your day?

 

[Ragnarok]

All that I can say is "You poor poor thing!" My brother had trouble with Verizon over the Christmas holidays and AOL regarding his DSL. Aol said it was Verizon's problem, Verizon said it was AOL's problem! The poor man was stuck in between the cracks. We finally uninstalled everything, then reinstalled programs and got it up and going again.

This is a funny and true story.....back in November, I was busy cooking dinner, so, I had my seventy-six year old mother call the eight hundred number for tickets to Colonial Williamsburg Virginia. We had used that number many a time, and, no problem. Mom came in with the most horrified look on her face explaining to me that someone had asked her about sex etc!!!! At first I laughed, and, told her to redial, which she did and still could not get through. The next day, I dialed out (I have Verizon) and got put through to some phone sex line!!! I spent four hours with Verizon's customer service department, their repair department, phone abuse supervisors, some other supervisors. Finally they agreed to send out a repair man. He arrived and found that Verizon was somehow rerouting my calls out of my house and that the poor folks in Colonial Williamsburg were having trouble in their "trunk lines" as well!!!!!!! The long and short of it all.....I HATE VERIZON with a passion! :mmph:

 

[eabu]

dang, no wonder people go postal

 

[superppl]

I think it would at least be worth a shot to have competition in public utilities. But oh yeah, it's not about the customer, it's about how much you can fatten your wallet.

 

[DanC]

I think it would at least be worth a shot to have competition in public utilities. But oh yeah, it's not about the customer, it's about how much you can fatten your wallet.

You forget, the phone companies are 'deregulated' and 'competing'