Kristina Reviews

Written on May 3, 2008 – 2:11 pm | by Mom on the Rise |

We signed up for Verizon FiOS in November of 2007. We are still trying to get it right. Everything started out so well- we signed up and they sent a tech out on a Sunday to hook us up. He was there about 4 hours and when he left we had a better phone service and a faster internet connection. And the cable, well let’s just say that I now know what the Backyardigins actually look like. We were told that our free HDTV Television would be in our possession in 6 weeks. I thought all was well.

But then the trouble began.

Around December 15, 2007 I noticed that we were getting an obscene number of calls, all around 2-5 in the morning. They were for a “Nya Perez”. During the day we were getting even more calls for “Seven Brothers Video Store”. Now the calls for Ms. Perez did not bother me much because with the recycling of numbers, someone is bound to be receiving calls from Columbia House for Kristina Brooke. But the calls for the video store seemed weird because they had been out of business for a good 2 years. a Quick search using Verizon’s website Yellow Pages showed me that my phone number was registered to this video store even in the updated 2008 list of numbers.

We decided to just wait. After all, people would get the hint and the calls would stop.

On Febuary 12, 2008 my husband called Verizon Customer Service to explain the problem and request a number change. The rep told my husband that she would be more than happy to change our number for a price: $60. I told him to give me the phone and I explained to the rep that we are changing our number because Verizon still has my number listed to a business despite that fact that they have been out of business for 2 years. This was an error on their part and we should not have to pay for their mistakes.

She got really nasty with me. “That is the cost,” she snapped.

I tried explaining the situation again just in case there was any misunderstanding. “But your company gave me a product that is in a sense, defective.”

“Well if you let me finish…” Her voice was loud stinging.

I asked to speak to a manager who was just as rude and told me that I needed to listen to her. I asked her if she graduated high school because she apparently had comprehension issues. I also asked for her rep number and office location so that I could report her to the Escalation department.

With all the information in hand, I called Verizon Escalation Department ready to rip someone’s head off. Luckily, I did not have to go postal. This woman listened as I struggled to tell the whole story without getting upset. She checked the number and confirmed that it was in fact listed for my family, Ms. Perez, the Video Store, and a Pizza place. She told us that she would change the number and, send us a gift certificate for our troubles.

I was satisfied and impressed that it was settled that easily. And despite that fact that the two previous reps were asinine and ignorant, I was happy.

But then a month later my phone stopped working. After four days of back and forth with various departments, I found out that my number was changed in one office but not another. Verizon has way too many offices and for some reason they keep everything separate but no one department communicates with the others. Again I called the Verizon Escalation Department and this problem was fixed in a day.

By April 5, we still had not received our Free TV. In fact, our neighbors who signed up in February received their TV at the start of the month. We were still awaiting it’s arrival. I knew things were going to get difficult because we were moving at the end of the month. I called the Escalation Department again and “Mark” help us get our TV ASAP.

But now we have another problem. We moved into a new place and set up a transfer of service. The Rep put it in as a new order with the same phone number. This past Monday was the move and Verizon was to come between 8-12. We were told that day that they would be there by 9:00 AM but he did not come until 1 AM. After a problem getting into the garage (see my main blog for a post about that), he set us up but plugged into the neighbors electrical outlet. We called and a tech was sent out to check it out. He said that they should never have installed it because the overhang of the house, where our apartment is located, is not conducive to placing the battery pack. The only option would be to have the landlord agree to let them drill a lot or make a deal with the neighbors.

While this last problem is not %100 Verizon’s fault, I am a little annoyed with our experiences with them. If not for the quality of the product, I would have canceled a while ago.