Verizon - Your opinion

[roark]

I get coverage all over the place with AT&T (formally Cingular). Yeah, I'll lose it here and there, but it usually picks up within a short distance.

US Cellular seems to have the best coverage I've found in NE. Verizon has no towers in my local area (but roams on either US or unicell, I forget).

 

[hardline]

verizon is a pian in the ass for customer support but my fios rocks.

 

[Paul]

You've got more angst than my 15 year old cousin. You lighten up before you have another ulcer.

As much as that may have sounded like a rant, there was really very little vitriol behind it. A fairly big dose of sarcasm, but that's really how the industry works. Having been a part of it for 13+ years has taken a bit of a toll, making me pretty jaded, but certainly not angst ridden. I'm way to old for that, kiddo.:wink:

 

[Warp Daddy]

Does it really matter? Its all a vicious cycle. Big corporations suck because they are entirely focused on the bottom line. The first thing that suffers is customer service because to have good customer service in a large company you need a large, content workforce, and you need time. Two things that most CEOs, COOs and CFOs feel hurt their bottom line numbers.
The bigger the corp gets, the worse their service gets. The worse the service gets, the more customers leave for the smaller companies that provide the better service. The more the big corps see that their losing their customer base to the small companies, the more small companies the big corps purchase and assimilate into their vortex of sucktitude. So, they customer who was happily using the services of SNET, finds that one day his bill says "SBC" and his service gets worse. So he switches to ABC telecom of greater Eastern Bumblefark and is happy, until his bill suddenly says "at&t" and he's farked again....

Lather, Rinse, Repeat....

Unfortunately this is scenario is probably true to a greater extent than we realize. .

One wonders that given this type of cynical outlook and underwhelming performance by major corps could this be the Achilles heel for "the system of capitalism " as we know it in the long run when folks get tired of being had.

Then again NAH ya gotta wake them up first and then get them to DO something

 

[Marc]

As much as that may have sounded like a rant, there was really very little vitriol behind it. A fairly big dose of sarcasm, but that's really how the industry works. Having been a part of it for 13+ years has taken a bit of a toll, making me pretty jaded, but certainly not angst ridden. I'm way to old for that, kiddo.:wink:

That's dissapointing. Anger is far more entertaining.

 

[Marc]

Unfortunately this is scenario is probably true to a greater extent than we realize. .

One wonders that given this type of cynical outlook and underwhelming performance by major corps could this be the Achilles heel for "the system of capitalism " as we know it in the long run when folks get tired of being had.

Then again NAH ya gotta wake them up first and then get them to DO something

Go read some Milton Friedman on the subject, you'll feel better.

 

[ERJ-145CA]

When I moved in January my landline company changed from Verizon to Embarq. When I called Embarq to get my phone connected they signed me up for DSL even though I told them I didn't want it (I got cable). When I called to get it corrected they said it was fixed, the next bill had a charge for the DSL disconnect plus a charge for every month of the DSL contract that I didn't sign up for. Needless to say I had to call them back and they removed all the charges, since then I haven't had a problem with them. If I didn't move I would have signed up for Verizon FIOS though just because Cablevision was worse than Verizon. Now I got Service Electric for cable which I have been happy with so far.

 

[ERJ-145CA]

assimilate into their vortex of sucktitude

Ah Ha Ha LMAO

 

[Warp Daddy]

Go read some Milton Friedman on the subject, you'll feel better.

Been there done------ that !! Have an undergrad degree in Economics.

You know what THEY saY -Line 'em all up ( economists ) ask 'em ALL the same ?? and NO 2 willl Agree .---------------------

 

[WJenness]

More suckitude from Verizon this morning.

I'm supposed to have a conference call with them at 10:30AM ET for implementation on a project... 10:42AM and I'm still waiting for the leader (verizon rep.) to activate the conference.

Things never change.

Kill me.

-w

 

[WJenness]

And... the automated conference call system just hung up on me because my leader hadn't activated the conference.

Kill me.

-w

 

[WJenness]

So I just had a conference call with Verizon on another project.

Turns out, the folks I was supposed to conference call with on Tuesday are located in Baton Rouge, LA... which if you didn't notice, got hit by a hurricane last weekend.

The verizon building in Baton Rouge is offline (no power, no phones).

They didn't have any contingency plan for the building going offline.

Their work has now been transferred to San Antonio, TX, where 2 people are trying to get up to speed to cover for the 50 people who are offline in Baton Rouge.

Hooray Verizon!

-w

 

[Moe Ghoul]

At least they're consistent and predictable........at blowing.

 

[WJenness]

Bumping this thread...

More verizon pain for me.

Quick snapshot:

We got new circuit connecting our office in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands to our HQ in Woburn, MA... We started using the circuit as soon as the install was completed by Verizon... this was 12/8.

12/15 I come into the office to find my new circuit is down. I call Verizon... they tell me my circuit was suspended for non-payment. Non-payment? I asked... this circuit just came up a week ago. "I don't know, you'll have to call collections...."

So I called collections, talked to my Verizon project manager, found out that the dispute ticket my boss had opened (because they started billing us for this circuit in August) had been auto-closed by verizon's system because the circuit wasn't functional, and then when the circuit came up it got re-submitted for non-payment disconnection... And I can't open a new dispute ticket because the circuit isn't up.

What do I need to do to get my circuit back? I asked... I was told "Pay this invoice and we'll turn it back on, open a dispute ticket for the rest of the bill and move forward from there." I consult with my CFO and we decide to go ahead with this route. Overnight them a check call them to inform them of that.

The next day, I come in, circuit is still down. Check FedEx... yep, they received the payment. Call the collections dept, "Hey, you got my check, what's the deal?" "Oh, check payments take 7-10 days to clear and we can't turn your circuit back on before it clears." "That's bullshit." I say... no way it should take that long for a check to clear. I call my verizon project manager, "Please help me." He calls collections and sends me an email "I just talked to someone in collections, your circuit has been submitted for reinstatement, it should be up within a few hours, but could take up to 72 hours." Call this guy with any problems.

Fast forward 72 hours... circuit still down. I call and leave voice mails, send a few emails...

Fast forward to today... circuit still down, never received a call back or response to my emails... Call the guy in collections again, he looks at some stuff and tells me 'your circuit was never turned off by us, because of the dispute ticket the suspension order was put on hold. Call the repair team and check with them, i'll transfer you.' He transfers me and disconnects... automated Verizon phone attendant comes on 'we were unable to transfer your call... Goodbye.' and hangs up on me. I call the repair department manually and they tell me "This has been suspended by collections. You need to speak with them." "I just talked to collections, they told me to call you." "I can't do anything," she says. "Apparently, neither can I," was my retort. "I'm going to conference in the guy I was just talking to and we'll see if we can figure this out." The collections guy gets on the line and then the two Verizon employees proceed to tell each other that they can't do anything and that their ticket says something different than the other's ticket. (Why they don't have uniform ticketing I don't know)... this proceeds for about 15 minutes with me sitting in silence on the line when they finally ask me if I'm still there. "Still here" I reply... "Are you sure your circuit is down?" me "Positive" and then they go back at each other for another 10 minutes. After a while the woman from the repair department mentions a "tracking number" she has that allows the collections guy to figure out some more information.

"Wayne, call me back in a couple hours and I'll have some answers for you."

My next call is going to be:

Is my circuit back up?
When will it be back up?

This information is being forwarded to our corporate attorneys as you guys are costing us serious amounts of business by your sheer ineptitude.

Arrrrgggghhh.

-w

 

[andyzee]

I've been there, I feel your pain. If you are serious about attorneys. Get names and document each conversation.

 

[RootDKJ]

That's one of the best Verizon stories I've ever heard. Sorry you have added stress around the holidays over this though.

 

[tjf67]

Bumping this thread...

More verizon pain for me.

Quick snapshot:

We got new circuit connecting our office in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands to our HQ in Woburn, MA... We started using the circuit as soon as the install was completed by Verizon... this was 12/8.

12/15 I come into the office to find my new circuit is down. I call Verizon... they tell me my circuit was suspended for non-payment. Non-payment? I asked... this circuit just came up a week ago. "I don't know, you'll have to call collections...."

So I called collections, talked to my Verizon project manager, found out that the dispute ticket my boss had opened (because they started billing us for this circuit in August) had been auto-closed by verizon's system because the circuit wasn't functional, and then when the circuit came up it got re-submitted for non-payment disconnection... And I can't open a new dispute ticket because the circuit isn't up.

What do I need to do to get my circuit back? I asked... I was told "Pay this invoice and we'll turn it back on, open a dispute ticket for the rest of the bill and move forward from there." I consult with my CFO and we decide to go ahead with this route. Overnight them a check call them to inform them of that.

The next day, I come in, circuit is still down. Check FedEx... yep, they received the payment. Call the collections dept, "Hey, you got my check, what's the deal?" "Oh, check payments take 7-10 days to clear and we can't turn your circuit back on before it clears." "That's bullshit." I say... no way it should take that long for a check to clear. I call my verizon project manager, "Please help me." He calls collections and sends me an email "I just talked to someone in collections, your circuit has been submitted for reinstatement, it should be up within a few hours, but could take up to 72 hours." Call this guy with any problems.

Fast forward 72 hours... circuit still down. I call and leave voice mails, send a few emails...

Fast forward to today... circuit still down, never received a call back or response to my emails... Call the guy in collections again, he looks at some stuff and tells me 'your circuit was never turned off by us, because of the dispute ticket the suspension order was put on hold. Call the repair team and check with them, i'll transfer you.' He transfers me and disconnects... automated Verizon phone attendant comes on 'we were unable to transfer your call... Goodbye.' and hangs up on me. I call the repair department manually and they tell me "This has been suspended by collections. You need to speak with them." "I just talked to collections, they told me to call you." "I can't do anything," she says. "Apparently, neither can I," was my retort. "I'm going to conference in the guy I was just talking to and we'll see if we can figure this out." The collections guy gets on the line and then the two Verizon employees proceed to tell each other that they can't do anything and that their ticket says something different than the other's ticket. (Why they don't have uniform ticketing I don't know)... this proceeds for about 15 minutes with me sitting in silence on the line when they finally ask me if I'm still there. "Still here" I reply... "Are you sure your circuit is down?" me "Positive" and then they go back at each other for another 10 minutes. After a while the woman from the repair department mentions a "tracking number" she has that allows the collections guy to figure out some more information.

"Wayne, call me back in a couple hours and I'll have some answers for you."

My next call is going to be:

Is my circuit back up?
When will it be back up?

This information is being forwarded to our corporate attorneys as you guys are costing us serious amounts of business by your sheer ineptitude.

Arrrrgggghhh.

-w

Very entertaining story. I am certain I would have blown a gasket already. I would call the CEO directly. You never get them on the phone but there secretaries carries some weight. For some reason when people get an email from the CEO's secretary things move quicker.

 

[YardSaleDad]

There are few options for point to point T1s where I work as they've paid an extorsion fee to the landlords allowing them to be on the short list of providers in the landlord's buildings (Cummings properties, owns most of Woburn).

Try http://www.towerstream.com/ for a wireless link.

 

[wa-loaf]

Your poll is missing the "swallows" option. ;-)

Doh! I'm a dope and posted the same lame joke twice.

 

[WJenness]

Email I just sent to every verizon email address I could find as well as my higher ups: (Names deleted to protect the guilty):

AAA,



My circuit is still down.



I just called BBB in collections again, and he reported to me that we owe another $3k on this account before the circuit can be turned back on. Even though we have a dispute ticket open for everything that was billed prior to the circuit being activated on 12/8.



I left a voice mail for his supervisor (CCC).



Right now, as we’ve already paid a $7k bill, Verizon basically wants us to pay $10k for one week of service.



This is getting absolutely ridiculous. I no longer know who to talk to or who can help me get this circuit back online.



The circuit has now been down longer (12/15-12/24) than it was ever in service (12/8-12/15). At this point, it is more cost and time efficient for me to transcribe the bits we want to sent to Holland onto a piece of notebook paper, fold it up, put it on my pocket, drive to Logan and buy a first class ticket to Holland and repeat as necessary.



My superiors are getting quite itchy on this, and before long, I’m going to be forced to remove all of our Verizon equipment from our network rooms and have another vendor come in.



To recap this has been my experience since last Monday (12/15):



12/15AM: I got a call from DDD saying that they can’t get their email.



I run some tests, find the problem is somewhere in the Verizon equipment. I call in to open a trouble ticket and am told that there were already two tickets open in the system for this circuit: ####1 a duplicate ticket which refers to ####2 a ticket in the system for a non-payment disconnect. I called collections to get more information and was told that there was a dispute ticket opened on this circuit (###3) but that it had been auto closed by the system due to the circuit not being up. When the circuit came up, it got submitted to collections for disconnection. I was told that because the circuit was currently down, we couldn’t open activate another dispute ticket yet, but instead, we had to pay the $7,685.12 that was past due in order to turn the circuit back on (information given to me by EEE in collections).



I consulted with my CFO and we decided that paying this invoice was the best course of action to get our circuit back up as quickly as possible. We had our accounts payable department cut a check and it was sent overnight via FedEx (tracking number: ###4). The check was received on 12/16 and I spoke again with DDD in collections, got her email address and forwarded her the tracking information from FedEx. She informed me that she had opened a new dispute ticket (###5) and that we’d here from the dispute team before we had to pay anything else on this account. At this point she told me it would be 7-10 business days before the circuit would be reactivated as it takes this long for the check to clear.



At this point I called you (AAA) and you got in touch with BBB in collections who stated that he submitted the circuit for reinstatement, and that it would likely be up within 2-3 hours, but could take as long as 72 hours.



Monday (12/22) morning I left a voice mail for BBB in collections asking for a status update as I was still seeing the circuit as down. This voice mail was never returned.



Tuesday (12/23) I was out sick.



Today (12/24) I called BBB when I arrived in the morning and the circuit was still down. He stated to me after looking through his ticket that he didn’t see anywhere that they issued the actual disconnect order. He said that it was pending disconnect but that the disconnect order got suspended because of the dispute ticket (###3) and that I should call the repair department at 1-800-264-1000 for more information. He offered to transfer me, but when he did, I got the lovely recorded message that informed me “Due to a technical problem, I was unable to transfer your call… Goodbye.”



I then manually called back in to the repair number and spoke to FFF who informed me that she did in fact see a disconnection order for non-payment order in her ticket and that I needed to call collections. I informed her that I had already spoken with mike this morning and that he told me to call the repair number. She informed me that “Because it is a disconnections order from collections, I can’t do anything until they clear that.”



Sick of the runaround, I asked her if it would be alright if I brought BBB from collections in on a conference call. She consented and I called BBB. FFF and BBB went back and forth for about ten minutes about what information was in each of their tickets and how neither could do anything. After a while of this, Michael asked if I was still on the line, and when I responded in the affirmative, he asked if I was sure that my service was down. I told him that I was indeed sure. The two of them then continued to exchange information while I listened. FFF eventually gave BBB a tracking number (unfortunately I do not have it) and BBB seemed like this would be helpful and he informed me that he was going to do some more research with this number and that I should give him a call back in a few hours to see what he’s found out.



I called BBB back shortly after noontime today and asked what he had found out. After putting me on hold he came back and informed me that there is an undisputed amount of $3k+ that needed to be paid before the circuit could be turned back on. I asked him why I was given the $7,685.12 figure last Monday, and if it was just made up. He told me I shouldn’t have had to pay that much and that he’ll check with his supervisor. He put me on hold again and when he came back he repeated that the $3k+ amount was indeed an additional amount that needed to be paid. I asked if I could speak to his supervisor as this was getting pretty out of hand.



Michael transferred me to CCC’s voice mail where I left her a message giving her a quick rundown of what I’ve experienced and asked for a call back. I left her my cell phone number so that she can get me no matter where I am. As of this moment (12:51PM EST), I have not received a call back.



This situation is so far beyond my comprehension at this point that I’m simply left wondering how Verizon stays in business.



Please let me know what I can do or even who I can talk to in order to get my circuit back up and running.



I’m sorry for my long winded rant, but to say I’m frustrated would be a gross understatement.



Thank you,



Wayne Jenness

Unsurprisingly, my Verizon project manager called me back almost immediately.. "Sorry, didn't realize it was still down..." I'm now talking to GGG who is a manager in collections, he's out in Colorado, and he's assured me that collections didn't take your circuit down and repair should be fixing it. I'll make sure they get it done.

I'm relieved that someone in Verizon is finally taking ownership of this and helping me fix it, but I'm frustrated at the effort it took.

-w