VERIZON rant!!! They are the pits and a monopoly.

[cantstandbush]

I am so frustrated with this company. Moved my dad into a senior place on Wednesday asked for phone service to be connected by Friday. They promised service to be connect on Friday between 8 am and 6 pm. No connection. No business hours on week-ends. Called all kinds of numbers, menu driven, and finally talked to someone out of the country and could get no help. I was told that all they had to do was connect from the office on Friday. WTF is up with that? I long for the good old days when there was another monopoly (Bell telephone) but at least it was customer friendly, it worked and you could speak to a real person and it costs much less and everything was included in the bill which you could understand at a glance. F deregulation!

[meegbear]

1. They're a prize alright ...

I had signed up DSL from my local internet provider - don't run too well. I decided to drop them and called Verzion for their DSL. While signing up, they said they would send me a package with software, modem, etc. I mentioned that I have a DSL mdoem, so just send me the rest. They said it would take 21 days to be enabled.

More than two weeks after the call, I haven't receieved anything in the mail. I called them back to see what was going on. The woman said I should have received something and checked the records to see that nothing was shipped at all. She said "OK, I'll have it sent out today." "Great! I'll need it when they connect me this Wednesday." "Ah, no sir. By putting this in, a new order was put in. It takes 21 days to enable the service." "I have to wait another 21 days?" "Yes sir." "Cancel it."

They shipped the package anyways and sent it back. Called Time Warner cable for their service. Setup and running in 48 hours of the call.

[sshaw1980]

2. errrrrrrrrr

i too believe verizon is the pits !!!

my issues >> not gettin' a signal or dropped calls, it was terrible... said goodbye and went with

yes..................the sprint guy

impeach the chimp :thumbsup:

impeach the chimp...

but, nothing beats a good ole land line "yet" and the support it got !!! i agree...
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[demnan]

3. Yes but MCI is even worse.

n/t

[WePurrsevere]

4. Just an FYI: Verizon is basically "Ma Bell". My late FIL

worked for NY "Ma" Bell, NYNEX & Verizon although he never switched "jobs". Bell basically changed it's name to reflect growth (Basically, upon deregulation, what was "Ma Bell" (in "sheep's clothing) set out to reunite all of the "Baby Bells" as well as buying up and taking over other small local companies). They've kept this all rather quiet I guess but amongst all the stuff we have from the old family house there's probably every letter he received letting him know of the change "with no change in benefits". (DH's family are members in the Packrat Hall of Fame). Up until recently we were still getting his Bell "Pioneers" newsletter for "Bell" retirees even though by the time he died it had been Verizon for a few years.


You certainly have a right to be upset. It's unfortunate that you had to deal with this nonsense in addition to the stress of helping your Dad settle into a Senior home. For future reference if you want to get a REAL person quickly, with Verizon & many other companies, try pressing 00 every now and then. I detest the darn computerized phone loops and that trick works for me most of the time. I think the biggest problem is they're too big (again) and that they DO have a rather real monopoly where there is very little REAL competition. The power company is much the same way and IME they're much worse with customer service.

Goodness knows I'm no fan of Verizon, et al. (especially after being lead a wild "hopefilled" ride about getting DSL and then after months going back and forth having my hopes dashed and NOT being able to get it here). Lately I've reached the conclusion that almost all BIG companies have had their service in general go down the tubes drastically (some because of the darn outsourcing crap). We have Verizon dial-up and have had all sort of problems with the lines because they're old, in disrepair and the company won't replace them (with the fiber optic lines they've had sitting around in storage downstate for years) because they "can't afford it". :grr: In all fairness though the customer service and repair/install personell up here at least have all been as good as they can be working within the restraints they now have to work under. Since DH has a telecommunications background and grew up learning this stuff from his dad (a lineman) he talks the same lingo so he'll often get the service guys talking and many are very frustrated, especially those who are either close to retiring and remember the "old days" or whose father worked for the company and they heard the stories.

Oh and if you want at least a Long Distance or Wireless telephone company that's friendly and helps out good Liberal causes try: http://www.workingassets.com/ B-)

I'm a bit under the weather today (MS brain fog & sinus') so I hope this ramble makes some sense. :)

TTFN!
~Purr

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. I have Verizon wireless, and it's a rip-off

I'm on their cheapest one-rate plan ($40 a month with taxes), and it's still way more minutes than I ever use. (I don't use up 500 minutes per month in my landline and cell phone COMBINED.)

I asked about switching to their pay-as-you-go plan, and they said that they did have one, BUT you have to pay $1 a day for "access." So...I'd have to pay $30 a month for "access" and still pay for each call. Right.

Right now I'm living for the day when my Verizon contract ends so I can go with Virgin Mobile, which has a REAL pay-as-you-go plan. I don't care about the other stuff, since I actually use the phone three or four times a week max.

[linazelle]

6. Don't buy from U. S. Cellular either.

I paid $300 to end my contract early because I couldn't get reception on my phone after moving to a new address. When I tried to remedy the problem with them, they told me they don't guarantee reception. So I was going to pay them whether I used the phone or not. That's also when I realized that buying more than one phone is no bonus--when you have to pay $150 to cancel a contract for it too. Cell phone companies are the biggest ripoff today. I'm considering Cingular or T-Mobile in the future, maybe Virgin.