Have you signed up for Verizon’s new FIOS service yet? The latest offer I saw in my area was for a free flat panel television if you sign up for their combination phone, Internet and television service. They call it a Triple Play. I think it’s more of a Triple Threat!
Wait a minute, you say you didn’t get the television and you just signed up? Well, give them a call and I’m sure they’ll get one right out to you. You know they understand that the relationship they have with their customers is their greatest asset. WRONG! Verizon doesn’t have a clue about how to treat their customers. Everything they do is focused on the short term bottom line. It always has been and it always will be.
So what prompted this latest rant? My phone service went out yesterday afternoon – that was Sunday. After checking the network interface and finding no dial tone, I knew the problem was on their end so I called repair and reported the outage. It’s now after 11:00AM here Monday and my phone line is still dead and I hadn’t heard from Verizon – so I called them. After asking me the same exact questions I already answered yesterday, the Verizon employee informed me she would dispatch someone on Wednesday and would someone be home to let them in? (By the way, she had already established with me that everything was outside and nobody needed to be home – but I let that question go by). It was the Wednesday comment that stopped me dead.
I said, “Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you can’t have someone repair my phone line until Wednesday, three days after I reported it as being out of service?” “Yes, we’re very busy and that is our first available slot.” I told her that three days is unacceptable. She repeated that they are busy and she can’t have someone there until Wednesday. I told her I would call the Pennsylvania Utility Commission to see what they said about waiting three days – which I did. The PUC told me that Verizon needed by law to have responded to me within 24 hours and three days is unacceptable for no service – unless there is some special reason. He then told me that usually when someone calls and files a complaint with the PUC, Verizon has someone there that day to make the repair. He couldn’t guarantee it, of course, but he stated that is often how it works as the fines Verizon may be liable for are greater than the cost of getting one of their repair personnel on the job.
So, do yourself a favor and before you make that big switch to FIOS, think about having your phone, television and Internet service all in the hands of Verizon. Think about how their customer service and ask yourself who you are going to call when they tell you they can’t get to your problem for three days.
The line went out once again since this posting. It also took several days to fix. The PA PUC tells me Verizon has been fined twice now.
The line went out again last week. I got an entire level of service. The automated voice immediately switched me to a person who apologized and promised to have someone there TODAY. And, they were. They even asked if I wanted my calls routed to another number.
It was exceptional service. Why can't they do that for everyone - every time?
Posted by: Bob Poole | May 15, 2008 at 11:33 AM