We have FiOS for internet and cable. Most of our neighbors do, and those that do all to a T said “You’ll love FiOS, you’ll hate Verizon. Worst customer service ever. They invent ways to charge you for things. Beware anything they give you for free.”
So we took the advice seriously, and when we signed up my wife vigorously argued with them to remove any and all freebies. We couldn’t get them to not give us some free movie channels (how stupid is that? well we all know why…), but we got them canceled before they good pin those on us.
Well, lo and behold, they gave us a free “backup plan”. That never showed up in any of our description of services, our bill, customer agreement, etc. Nowhere. Not once. Ever.
And it shows up on our bill a couple of months ago. So we call to tell them to shove it, and they won’t remove it, but claim they’ll refund us the $10. Next month, they don’t. And WON’T cancel it. Then there’s a strike and no kidding the dozen times we call we get a “People are on strike, sorry, we can’t help you.”
Finally my wife gets through today and they’ll cancel it, but only refund us for one month and a prorated amount of this month.
So Verizon, I officially say, GO F YOURSELVES. You deliberately hid a “free” service on my account so you could bill me later. Jackasses.
Maybe it’s just my limited experience. But when I had Verizon DSL (it was the only option), tech support was outsourced Indian call centers that were absolutely of no help. My cell is through Verizon Wireless, and I’ve had acceptable (but not out great) support from US-based help. Trying to schedule a US-based contractor to visit my house by calling someone in India who (literally) could not understand enough English to correctly take my home address was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had with any company.
All US based customer support that we’ve gotten to date.
But typically they can’t wrap their heads around the fact that we don’t have a landline. They INSIST on a Verizon phone number to access our account. It takes 5 minutes per call to explain this to them…
Damn, I hated that. I had DSL so they gave me a number, but it was never used as a voice line. So instead of just my account number, I was always scrambling to figure out what the hell that number was any time I needed them.
I think all the cable/internet providers have similarly dismal levels of customer service. I absolutely hated AT&T when I had them years ago; same problem as you, random charges on the bill for things I didn’t order, constantly calling to get them to cancel/refund charges, etc. Then you’d have to sit on hold forever. I currently have Comcast/Xfinity for internet/cable and it’s similar. They’re always trying to upgrade me for free and then bill me later. I actually have to look at every bill just to make sure they haven’t tacked on a random charge. Customer service isn’t terrible, but whenever I have service issues I’m hesitant to have them send someone out. Even though the issue is always on their side, they’ll bill me $50 every couple of visits for the technician and of course the technician never will tell me this, it just shows up on the bill. Then I have to call them and get them to take it off which they always do, but it’s a waste of 20 minutes.
We have FiOS for internet and cable. Most of our neighbors do, and those that do all to a T said “You’ll love FiOS, you’ll hate Verizon. Worst customer service ever. They invent ways to charge you for things. Beware anything they give you for free.”
So we took the advice seriously, and when we signed up my wife vigorously argued with them to remove any and all freebies. We couldn’t get them to not give us some free movie channels (how stupid is that? well we all know why…), but we got them canceled before they good pin those on us.
Well, lo and behold, they gave us a free “backup plan”. That never showed up in any of our description of services, our bill, customer agreement, etc. Nowhere. Not once. Ever.
And it shows up on our bill a couple of months ago. So we call to tell them to shove it, and they won’t remove it, but claim they’ll refund us the $10. Next month, they don’t. And WON’T cancel it. Then there’s a strike and no kidding the dozen times we call we get a “People are on strike, sorry, we can’t help you.”
Finally my wife gets through today and they’ll cancel it, but only refund us for one month and a prorated amount of this month.
So Verizon, I officially say, GO F YOURSELVES. You deliberately hid a “free” service on my account so you could bill me later. Jackasses.
Yeah, definitely. I’d have to pay a termination fee to get out from then, and as you’ve seen from the other comments I’d be jumping back to similar “customer service” elsewhere.
I actually had no issues with Cox the several years with them. However, they never wanted to reward me for being a long-time customer (standard fare).
If you have a better suggestion, I’m all ears. I think my plan is to call them tomorrow and b*tch them out about what they did, how they treated my wife, etc.
Yeah, definitely. I’d have to pay a termination fee to get out from then, and as you’ve seen from the other comments I’d be jumping back to similar “customer service” elsewhere.
I actually had no issues with Cox the several years with them. However, they never wanted to reward me for being a long-time customer (standard fare).
If you have a better suggestion, I’m all ears. I think my plan is to call them tomorrow and b*tch them out about what they did, how they treated my wife, etc.
Well, I don’t and that is why cable and phone companies raise prices 5% - 7% per year without any increase in the product.
It sucks.
I have comcast and they have been ok for internet etc.
The music channels are fucked up for some reason, but I don’t need to waste time trying to remedy the issue with the fucktards that run the phones, etc.
We’ve had similar luck with Verizon…no single person knows enough to do a single task in it’s entirety. A few years back I got a company phone and dropped my line which was on the same plan as my wifes. Somehow in the process they dropped the wrong phone from the plan then tried to charge us the activation fee to put her phone back on…and since she was still under contract, they tried to hit us with an early termination fee as well. After copious yelling by my wife, they got it squared away and somehow we now have the corporate discount on our account for any merchandise we buy in a verizon store…
However… the worst customer service EVER has to be Geico. We needed to send them updated title info on my car, so we faxed it to the number they gave us. Months later, we go to renew our premium and we notice the price has dropped by quite a bit. We look closer and the bastards had dropped coverage on my car… without notice… because they “never got the fax”. The customer service agent even said “we lose that stuff all the time”. The worst part was there was no 'hey we didn’t get your paperwork" or “hey you don’t have car insurance anymore” letter/call/email… I was just driving around for 2 months with no insurance with no clue at all.
I think all the cable/internet providers have similarly dismal levels of customer service. I absolutely hated AT&T when I had them years ago; same problem as you, random charges on the bill for things I didn’t order, constantly calling to get them to cancel/refund charges, etc. Then you’d have to sit on hold forever. I currently have Comcast/Xfinity for internet/cable and it’s similar. They’re always trying to upgrade me for free and then bill me later. I actually have to look at every bill just to make sure they haven’t tacked on a random charge. Customer service isn’t terrible, but whenever I have service issues I’m hesitant to have them send someone out. Even though the issue is always on their side, they’ll bill me $50 every couple of visits for the technician and of course the technician never will tell me this, it just shows up on the bill. Then I have to call them and get them to take it off which they always do, but it’s a waste of 20 minutes.
Dude, don’t even get me started on fucking Comcast… I could type until my fingers cramped and still not be halfway done bitching about all the shit Comcast has done to piss me off…
Since it’s originally a Verizon thread, how about we spread the love: “HEY - FUCK YOU, COMCAST!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW, BITCHES?!?”
Yeah, definitely. I’d have to pay a termination fee to get out from then, and as you’ve seen from the other comments I’d be jumping back to similar “customer service” elsewhere.
I actually had no issues with Cox the several years with them. However, they never wanted to reward me for being a long-time customer (standard fare).
If you have a better suggestion, I’m all ears. I think my plan is to call them tomorrow and b*tch them out about what they did, how they treated my wife, etc.
Well, I don’t and that is why cable and phone companies raise prices 5% - 7% per year without any increase in the product.
It sucks.
I have comcast and they have been ok for internet etc.
The music channels are fucked up for some reason, but I don’t need to waste time trying to remedy the issue with the fucktards that run the phones, etc.
COX was absolutely HORRIBLE. Cable routinely went out, made numerous trips to their kiosks updating my contact information yet everytime I called they had it wrong. I have had no issues with FIOS and although the calls do go to India every issue has been easy to fix. I pay less for my FIOS with more channels including HD than I did for the basic COX. Whenever I am asked about the best on worst service I say COX is the worst and DeSoto Sports is the best
This is classic economics of monopolies and oligopolies where there is little govt intervention to reign them in. They are a utility, and should be managed as such.
I’ve had very good customer service from Cox. When I’ve called them to make changes the hold time is minimal and the reps are american based. I get what I asked for and receive an email confirmation. Never had problems with billing although of course I wish it cost much less.
I once had Cox t.v. and internet. The service sucked and would constantly go out. I called customer service on my cell phone and was placed on hold for so long that I was able to disconnect my boxes, load them into my car, drive into the customer service office in Chantilly, VA (30 minutes) and hand over the boxes before someone picked up my phone call.
I know have FIOS and it’s pricey but I have to have what I have. Don’t get a DVR if you want to save money. DVRs are hard to give up.
Yeah, definitely. I’d have to pay a termination fee to get out from then, and as you’ve seen from the other comments I’d be jumping back to similar “customer service” elsewhere.
I actually had no issues with Cox the several years with them. However, they never wanted to reward me for being a long-time customer (standard fare).
If you have a better suggestion, I’m all ears. I think my plan is to call them tomorrow and b*tch them out about what they did, how they treated my wife, etc.
So you left the business who was providing you what you wanted at a fair price, because they would not give you something since you were a long time customer? Something that is above the long time good service.
Sounds typical, You left the good for the better and got burned. Maybe there was a lesson in it for you.
