Verizon Sucks, part *I've lost count*

I'm liveblogging this, baby...



I am on hold with the fourth person I've spoken to this morning. Supposedly, she finally found the "active" erroneous bill. She has placed me on hold--mind you, by this point, I know every song on Verizon's hold music--in order to speak to billing and find out which way this account needs to be corrected.

She just lost me. The call shipped over to another rep at sales and service. She shipped me back to billing, and the person there shipped me to FiOS.

Patience is a virtue, right?

I have just asked the latest CSR to hand me to her supervisor. When she told me she would need to take my call-back number and have the supervisor call me back , I patiently explained that she was the eighth person I had spoken to this morning and that I very much needed to speak directly to a supervisor at this point.


12:20 p.m. Update

I'm on with person number 10 now after the last rep refused to put me through to her supervisor directly.

Oy.


1:02 p.m. Update

The FiOS account rep I was "walked to" by number 10 has found the whole cycle of bills. It's possible (knock on wood quickly) that she may be able to resolve this mess. Fingers crossed.


1:36 p.m. Update

After three and a half hours, we have a partial resolution. And in theory, I'll be receiving an email confirmation of the partial credits. The rest of the credits will be sorted out--supposedly--over the next few days, and the latest (very nice) CSR has assured me that their "special team" will be resolving any credit issues from this.

Fingers still crossed.

Verizon sucks, pt. 7,001

I shouldn't have to write this post, particularly after the last round we had to go through on this saga. But I do. Because I got another letter from a different collections agency seeking to collect the $505.91 bill that was supposed to have been wiped out in the summer, and then again in October. But somewhere down in the system it wasn't.

This means that I have been trying to get this mess cleared up since July. And that's just the billing portion.

This kind of inattentive idiocy is simply unconscionable and unbelievable. Even the CSRs who have actually tried to help me navigate some of this mess have been befuddled by the complications that seemed to start with a poorly recorded move order and a subsequent call to clear up the billing foul-ups related to that order. Every fucking part of this saga stems from those two phone calls and the inability of those two CSRs to record correct changes.

To wit, and to repeat... for the hell of it:

• I placed the initial order to move my service from my old house to my new house the week before Memorial Day. When I had, in fact, moved and called to find out why the tech hadn't come out to make the switch on the day I had taken off work, I was told that there was no record of the change order. To their credit, they had a tech out on that Saturday to do the install. That tech decided not to install a new router or set-top box because I already had the right ones. Fast forward six weeks...
  
• I receive a bill for service at both my old house and my current house. The bill also includes charges for the equipment. I get on the phone the next day with the business office to clear up the issues. The CSR is very nice and assures me she understands the situation. She understands it so well that she turns off the service at both locations. Madness ensues as I get on the line with CSR after CSR to resolve the situation. This process takes nearly two weeks.
  
• As part of the resolution, I am guaranteed that all of the outstanding bills—including any outstanding bills from before the move—will be closed. I am also given a month's free service. Yet here we are seven months later and the situation is still dogging me.

Words don't cover the absurdity of this. The pity is that I very much like my service, but the inability of the various levels at Verizon to deal effectively with a clear and documented screw-up on their part is patently absurd.

Anybody know how to get up the chain with Verizon FiOS corporate to resolve this?

Oy.

Verizon sucks, pt. 4,732 - the update that shouldn't happen

So, the Verizon mess was resolved in August, right? The service issues were resolved in July. The billing issues--namely double-billing for the period they thought I had two accounts, billing for the wrong services, and billing for equipment that had moved with me--were resolved in August. At least that's the way it was left with Aaron O'Connor, my local CSR who was dealing with the situation. In one series of conversations in mid-August, he eliminated more than $500 in erroneous charges and knocked off part of my next bill.

Or so I thought.

Until I got the bill from the collections agency today.

As it turns out, the main billing at Verizon apparently never got the message that I didn't owe them this money. Somehow, though, I never got notices or statements about the fact that this was still active. The sick irony is that I do remember the official notice on the billing site that my account had been credited--and I can no longer pull up this documentation because the account is closed.

I spent 15 or 20 minutes on the phone with the collections people earlier. When she described my payment options, I blew up. Not a good idea. Thankfully, she let me calm down and listened to my description of the whole stupid saga. Sadly, there is nothing she can do unless Verizon admits their error and pulls the account. This means I have to get back on the phone with them tomorrow and try to resolve this. Aaron O'Connor gave me his cell phone number during the earlier chapters of the saga. That may be my only saving grace in all of this.

One can hope, right? One can also hope that at some point this whole saga which began because two of their CSRs fucked up--first, the guy who processed my initial move order, and second, the woman who screwed up when they needed to shut off the other account retroactively. Those are the names I'd really like to have. They owe me apologies.

Oy.

Verizon, the saga continues

We are into day 7 of the Verizon comedy of errors now. Miss Green in Maryland has been working hard to get the situation wrapped up. She has involved her managers. A tech in Richmond assured me today that he would get things cleared up.

File this under "Computers are great until they're not" because apparently the only hitch is that the turnover of service has to pass through "the system" before the matter is fully resolved. I envision "The System" as some sadistic robot out of a sci fi novel, laughing at the mounting frustration of his human nemesis.

Meanwhile, I think I'd like an apology from the CSR who started all of this.

Verizon sucks, pts 5 and beyond

Note: I am still using poached wireless.

Ms. Green, my kindly CSR, assured me on Friday evening that everything was in place except for a final go-ahead on the TV. This would happen Monday morning, she assured me. I wasn't happy about having to go the weekend without service, but since the weekend promised to be busy and Banana would be with mommy, I dealt with it. I also had no choice.

Today--Monday--I left a couple of kind messages for Ms. Green, asking for updates. There was no return call this time. By 6:30 when we returned home from grocery shopping and what-not, I called again since the router still indicated no service. This time, Ms. Green's direct number was busy. Not a good sign.

I got on the phone with FiOS again to try to clear up matters. Or at least get a status update. The first CSR I get listens patiently, finds the account, and puts me on hold. a few minutes later, there is a click and the hold music changes drastically. I wait a few more minutes until I hear a recorded voice asking me to hold for a representative. Amazing that they managed to lose me as I'm trying to clear this up--again. I call back and explain the situation again. The CSR goes into another system and finds no records since the disconnect on 6/12. I rant. I really rant. Then I apologize when I remember it's not his fault.

At the end of the call, it is left that I need to call back in the morning again and speak to one of the account representatives.

And to think: This all started a week ago because I wanted to pay my bill.

Verizon, pt. 4

The latest CSR spent 45 minutes on the phone with me this morning trying to resolve the issues. She managed to track down and figure out where all the various orders happened. She also learned that the CSR yesterday understood me to say that I wanted to cancel all of my service--which is hard to believe. As the call ended, she gave me her name and direct line with the assurance that she would get the new account set up. She also agreed with my request that I not be billed for my service between May 29 and yesterday as a courtesy for the trouble. She also said she would call back when it was all resolved. (Where have I heard that before?)

Those were the assurances. Anybody want to place bets on whether this is, in fact, the resolution of it?

UPDATE: She actually called back! The situation isn't thoroughly resolved yet, but at least she called with new information.

Verizon, pts 2 & 3

Note: I am writing this from poached wireless access.

Pt. 2

So, I called Verizon after I got to work this morning to resolve the matters. After several minutes of explaining the problem to a FiOS CSR, he contacted billing and transferred me to them.

The CSR in billing asked me to explain the situation again. I did so, at which point she told me that I had never ended my service at the old address. We went around on that issue for a few minutes until she understood what had happened. At that point, she assured me she would issue the cancellation for my old service. I carefully asked her whether that would mean the billing issues would be resolved and my current service at the new house would remain intact.

She assured me it would.

Pt. 3

Banana and I arrive home, and Banana wants to watch Angelina Ballerina. (She has just come from her first ballet lesson.) I flip on the TV, and realize that there is no service.

I get on the phone with FiOS, go through the story again, and the CSR finds my account easily this time. Unfortunately, both accounts had disconnect orders issued. At this point, I am just as amused as I am irritated. He puts me on hold for several minutes, comes back and confirms the service I should have (data and TV) and where I should have that service. He tells me he is going to resolve it, and that he will call me back.

fast forward two hours

I call back to find out the status of the issue. I go through the story with the latest CSR, and he is very sympathetic. He goes through the various accounts and orders that now exist, but can find no record of this afternoon's phone call. Great. Just fucking great.

This phone call, the latest phone call, ends with him telling me to call in the morning when the billing office is open.

Stay tuned...

customer service, verizon, billing... and fun

When we moved, the FiOS moved cleanly and the install was relatively painless. Six weeks in, however, there are some fascinating billing issues coming up.

First off, they are billing me for phone service I no longer have. Second, they are billing me for a wireless router, except that the tech used my old wireless router. So I am being billed for a service I am not using and a wireless router that I already received for free. Brilliant!

I called into FiOS customer service this evening, even though I knew the billing office was closed, to find out what they showed for services and accounts. Apparently, there are two accounts still open for me. Stay tuned whether the billing people can actually get this wrapped up in the morning and remove close to $250 in erroneous billings.