An Open Letter To Verizon
Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 2:58 PM | 1 Comment
I included this post in the category of ‘Personal Finances’ because it has impacted my finances. My credit score has been damaged. I hope it has not happened to anyone else.
In my family, we have three cell phones subscribed to Verizon Wireless. We have no major problems with that.
In March 2008, we place an order for Verizon FIOS which included TV programs, Internet services and telephone.
The order did not go too far. It took four weeks for the technician to appear at our 2-bedroom apartment front door.
It took him two-and-a-half hours to make the connection at the old phone system. Verizon calls it POTS – Plain Old Telephone System.
The technician charged us $367. It was almost 5:00 PM. The phone worked fine.
The next day, it was OK but the following day, when I picked up the phone, it was dead.
My son called Verizon. He was told that Verizon does not support POTS anymore. They use FIOS now.
The TV worked for 2 days. Then it stopped working.
The Internet access was on from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM. I had to be up all night to access the Internet. On the fourth day, it stopped working.
We were told that the router might be bad. It was the 7th or 8th week since we first placed an order. I just got tired of the whole deal and asked them to stop fixing it.
I called Cox Communications. They installed all three services in half-an-hour. That was, I think, the last week of April or perhaps first week of May. We have not had any problems with Cox Communications, none whatsoever.
However, we have raised the following issues with Verizon.
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Issue# 1
Verizon was supposed to deliver the services at our apartment address. However, their implementation was a total disaster.
When one of your technicians came to install the phone, he connected the already disconnected old POTS (Plain Old Telephone System.) On the third day of installation, Verizon disconnected the old POTS at their operation center but the technician charged us $367.00 anyway. When we asked Verizon why they disconnected it, we were told that they no longer supported the old system.
We did not have phone service for the next three weeks. The Internet was breaking up all the time. The technician was unable to install the TV part of the service. Verizon tried it for three weeks but were never successful.
We could not take it any more. So, we switched to good old Cox Communications. Since we switched to Cox, we have never had a problem with them – either TV or Internet.
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Issue# 2
Verizon sent us two bills, one in my name and the second one in my wife’s name. We live in a two-bedroom apartment together. The same bill is sent to me and my wife at the same address. The total bill is the addition of the two. What I am saying is that the bills are duplicates of each other.
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Issue# 3
We called Verizon, without any exaggeration, more than 20 times. We have been transferred from one department to another without any resolution to the problem.
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Issue# 4
We strongly believe Verizon is at fault and not our family.
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Issue# 5
We have been asking Verizon to send us prepaid label so that we can send the equipment that never worked back to Verizon. We have not received a single label as yet.
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Issue# 6
We are tired of this whole unjustified affair. If need be, we will go to court against Verizon. We fully realize that Verizon is a big conglomerate and is able to spend quite a large sum of money to win the case. It will be very difficult for us to win the case. But we can and we will try. For us, it is a matter of principle.
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Issue# 7
Verizon has looked only at the placement of the order from us. It never looked at the service that never worked and never successfully delivered.
For more than 20 years, we had Verizon (or different flavor but eventually Verizon) in New Hampshire and then in Massachusetts. We never had any problems with Verizon Internet service nor its phone service.
However, something, and I don’t know what, is different here in Virginia. That is all I can say. So, in all fairness to us as a family and to Verizon, we are unable to pay for the services that Verizon was never successful in delivering.
Account# 781519682-00001
Last invoice# 1881124113
Because of Verizon inability to correct the problem, our credit score has been affected severely. Again, in all fairness, we cannot pay for the services that were never delivered.
I hope Verizon understands our situation. It is the principle, not the money. I like to ask the person reading this letter a question:
Would you personally pay for a service that was never provided. Please look deep in your heart and then answer the question.
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One Response to “An Open Letter To Verizon”
By M Celich on Nov 13, 2008, 12:45 pm | Reply
Hello,
I am sorry to hear you had such a poor experience with Verizon Fios. I will be more than happy to review your account and try to assist you with this. Can you please provide me with some more information to locate your account? Telephone number, address, name.
Sincerely,
Michelle