But
Verizon sucks in every other way. I have been very unhappy with them for a number of years but have largely felt that I had few other options. Here is the litany:
- For years, every time we had a spate of rain--say for three or more days, our phone line would go on the fritz. We could call out, but we were not receiving calls. And every time, I would call, they would schedule a service call for several days later, the first available appointment. More than once, this was an eight hour window! Of course, as you might imagine, since the ground had several days to dry out, there was no problem found during the service call. So, I'm thinking I should be able to bill THEM for wasting my vacation time.
- Next, My cell phone bills have been through the roof; they were my largest discretionary income expense. My daughter's fiancee lives in Ireland. Repeated efforts to allow her cell phones to text Ireland failed, despite the fact that when we had AT&T, she could do so. So her calls to Ireland have added up. Let me repeat that last effort: Dear Verizon, please enable my daughter's phone to text Ireland...Nope nuthin, nada, despite phone calls AND a visit to the Verizon Store (iJustine--you're slam on cell phone companies, actually reminds me of VERIZON!!!)
- My problems with the landlines going out ended when we had a fence put up. Despite the line markings that you get when you call Miss Utility here in Virginia, the fencing folks cut right through the phone line. Verizon, rerouted that line and we've not had any problems since.
- My spouse works from home and her company told her they would pay for a separate phone line for a business phone. She called Verizon and asked them to activate the secondary line that we had in the house. Actually we found that we had several other lines previously wired in the house, as for a number of years the previous owner had rented this house out. Several calls and hours of time spent on the phone with Verizon, on my wife's part, she finally asked me to call and cancel the line. I did.
- My daughter got an apartment with some friends from school. I called to set up the phone--we just wanted a landline for an alarm, and occasional calls home, and perhaps even to Ireland so no need for fancy-dancy FIOS. I spend 20 minutes on the phone, not bad. Appointment set up--uh oh.. Well, we can do it for this day between this four hour window, or that day during this EIGHT hour window...I schedule for the weekend day in the four hour window. It's a Sunday, not the best, but hey, not a real problem. The Friday before, we get a call confirming that we wanted FIOS. WTF!?!?! If we didn't want Fios, since the business office was closed, I'd have to reschedule. I told them to cancel the weekend visit. On Monday, before I could call to set up an appt to just get an effing copper line-- Verizon calls my home and leaves a confirmation for a future appointment to set up FIOS. I returned the call, and of course the office was closed. I left the message to please cancel the entire order. (There were other things going on in our lives at that point that made setting up a phone line pretty low on the priority list.) Two weeks or so go by. And this morning, I get a call to confirm the Tuesday morning set up of Fios at my daughter's apartment. Again! I had never rescheduled. I told the representative this story, and she apologized and canceled the order. Hmmmm....
- Finally, for many years I have been paying Verizon for an unlisted phone number. Obviously, we had some vague idea of the importance of Verizon. This weekend I discovered 411.com. Guess what, my name and number are there. And the give away, it lists my land line provider as Verizon. Dear Verizon, just how did 411.com get that information? I think I want a refund for every penny I've paid you to have an unlisted number. I call this Fraud, what do you call it?
