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Monday, July 28, 2008

Verizon is OK

UPDATE: So, when the front office finally got around to sending the linemen (a man and a woman, actually) out, everything was cool. They worked their butts off, scaling ladders and clambering around the pole and the roof and all, and got everything working.

It's interesting- I've never had a complaint about the line workers for the cable company, phone company or UPS- the people in the field are always friendly, knowledgeable, diligent, hard-working and get the job done, no matter what the weather or circumstance. It's the folks in the office who are dirtbags. In all 3 cases. I could tell you stories about dealing with the office staff at UPS, boy...

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We had a big storm blow through here around 3 pm yesterday. Took out a bunch of trees, power and phone service around town. Took a big limb of a tree out front, and one of our phone lines with it, one half of the line dangling in the street, the other half dangling off the porch. It also bumped our other phone line down to about 8 feet above the street, where the first big truck that goes by is going to rip it down (and that's the last you'll hear from me).

So, we called Verizon yesterday afternoon and used their automated message system to leave a problem report for "line down". We knew they had a lot to do, so we waited until this morning to call back and check the status of our job. The computer told us we had reported a problem with our phone jack inside the house, and they'd check it later in the week.

no no no. That's NOT what we reported.

So we called them up, and got a live person. Told her the wires are down in the street and hanging low over the street. She said she'd change it, and somebody would call back within the hour.

No call back.

So I went online and used their website form to fill out a report, and checked the box that said "line down or in street".

Waited about 6 hours, went back up to check the status and saw the report now said "no dial tone" as the problem, and we are scheduled to be visited in 2 days.

have now sent off a somewhat tense email to Verizon, and sent another message back through the website. We'll see what happens. Not sure what part of "line down" they are not picking up on. They were friendly and attentive enough back when they were selling us services...

Did I mention Verizon sucks?

9 comments:

Mike said...

We had a very similar issue with AT&T a few weeks back. These companies spend millions in advertising telling you how great they are. I wonder if they would just spend a few extra dollars of some basic service issues if they might actually live up to their own hype?

I don't want to scare you, but it is entirely possible you will never get your service back.

Catalyst said...

Reminds me of my battle with the New York Times. It took about six weeks to finally get my overcharged money back. Then a week later, the issued another refund. I should have kept it but being a good honest lad, I called and informed them of it. They had their money back in 24 hous!

Funny how that works.

FreeOscar said...

Do you use Verizon's DSL?
What do you think about it?

I have to decide between Verizon's DSL or Cox Cable Internet.

The cable tends to be faster, but DSL cost is a lot less.

Commander Zaius said...

With all the razzle-dazzle advertising all those companies do you would almost figure their service would be up to par. My wife's boss just got back from a trip to China where he lost his cell phone and was having problems getting a normal replacement for reasons I never understood. His other companions told him just to buy a pre-paid cell phone and use it but he figured the service would be sorry like pre-paids are here in the States. But he did anyway and found the service to be excellent with better sound quality than his high priced phone from the US.
Maybe all the US companies suck.

Forrest Proper said...

Mike: I'd have agreed, but we're a-ok, for now anyway...

Catalyst: ok, I've got a story about dealing with the office at the Boston Globe I'll have to blog about (the Globe is owned by the Times).

C.Rag: yes, we have Verizon DSL. I've been perfectly happy- it's always ok, and fast enough for anything I want to do, even with several of us on the wireless connection at the same time watching por- um, I mean, working.

Beach: It is possible that all US companies suck (and not in a good way). Actually, we are using a pre-paid cellphone of a sort at the moment and its way better than the plan we were on before (AT&T).

Malach the Merciless said...

That is why I use Comcast

Phoebe Fay said...

This is why we don't have landlines. Cell phones and cable modem work just okey-dokey!

*lurks over her shoulder and knocks on wood*

Malicious Intent said...

Comcast baby, Comcast.
Usually if I have a connection error, I have to go through the mind field of automated phone shit. But I eventually get a live person and problem is usually solved pronto.

Give it a try, can't hurt.

here today, gone tomorrow said...

They all suck. All of them. They have us by the short hairs and they know it.