OK so last year I was in college and I was moving into an apartment with two other roommates. We signed up for phone service for our new apartment in FEBRUARY even though we weren’t moving in until August. Come August, Verizon decided to go on strike and no one could get new phone service. Fine. When the strike was over, my roommates and I thought, “Hey, now we’ll get phone service”. Nope. It seems that our order for phone service was “lost” and we would have to get at the end of the line of all the backlogged phone orders. Finally after THREE MONTHS, they finally got around to hooking us up. That was after our cell phone bills piled up because we all were from out of state and we had to use our cell phones just to order a fucking pizza or call someone for homework.
Fine, I thought. The strike fucked them up and surely they will do better. Now fast forward a year, I’ve graduated from college and am now living in Virginia. Of course I need a phone and of course the only company to turn to is Verizon. Assholes. They lost THIS order for new service three times. Three fucking times. And then after my order surfaced it still took them two weeks to come out to my apartment and install the line. Every time I called to inquire about my service, I got people that were progressively ruder each time. Verizon must go out of its way to hire rude and uneducated people because no one I talked ever knew anything nor did they want their busy Verizon phone answering lives to be bothered with my problems. I mean they all have phones, why should they give a fuck if I do.
Ok, I feel better now.
I will come out of lurkdom to commiserate with you. My husband and I recently moved out of two Ohio cities into one Pennsylvania one. We switched our Verizon cell phone plans to be local to Pennslyvania…or so we thought. So now we are double billed, the Ohio and Pennsylvania markets both claim us. Every person we talk to says something different or worse, says: “Megan is your account representative, let me transfer you.” Megan is never at her desk although she is “in the office.” I think Megan is a Verizon code for “let’s screw them again!”
So now we owe almost a thousand dollars to the idiots and get collection calls the morning after we transfer money to them.
So Verizon is evil on all fronts-- domestic and wireless. Ironic thing is, we are stuck dealing with them for both.
I wanted to post a rant on Verizon, but I thought it wasnt hateful enough for the BBQP. I was going to title it “I thought we were thru this already”
Basically I was moving and wanted Verizon to move the phone service. Everything was going peacefully, when I heard the other guy say “That will be $48”. “What???!!!” I am just moving; I am still a verizon customer, I am still going to paying bills, but you are going to charge me just flipping some wires around??!!
But then I became curious and asked what if I cancel my account and start afresh. “That would cost you $48 connxn fee!!”
I thought we went thru this in 1984 when FTC split ATT. NO MONPOLISTIC practices!!! There’s no way you are going to convince me that moving is going to cost the same as starting a new account!! Its just daylight robbery. And Verizon goes totally unquestioned when it fleeces its customers cuz there absolutely no competition.
(Obligatory BBQ swear) Fuck.
YEAH!
Those assholes NEVER get my paycheck right!
hmmm… nevermind 
Ha!
Quityerbitchin!
You may think you have it bad, but you should have to deal with them like I do.
I work for a major telecomunications company and when we lose service because of their stupidity, it can affect thousands of people. Luckaly, I don’t have to deal with the angry people that call in, but I do have to work with the Verizon Techs trying to restore service and let me tell you…it aint pretty…
I mean you’d thing that Verizon went out of their way to hire really, really, idiotic people…it’s pathetic
I usually end up telling them how to do their own job.
I have to work with local telcoms all across the country, but without any doubt I can say the Verizon is the worst.
Yes well here at work we have been begging Verizon to come install a DSL line for 5 weeks now. We are practically throwing money at them but they won’t come out here and install it because, you won’t believe this, they say they don’t have our business number in their files. HELLO? YOU SEND US A BILL EVERY MONTH AND YOU DON’T HAVE OUR NUMBER?
Fuckers.
Oh and they keep transferring me the bitches who work in something called the “vertical department”. They never call me back. Of course not. Why should they? They’re the only game in town.
Yep, Verizon sucks big hairy goatsacks. I moved…and had to pay $46…not $48, just to move, and then they fucked up connecting me, so I didn’t have a phone for another 3 days, then they fucking lagged on my DSL line and Bah!..
It’s not as bad as some of you, but they still suck a mean ass.
Sam
I think I’ll go lie down now…
::transferring my calls to Megan::
Sympathy here.
I work for a major pager company, and we have to deal with them as well. When Verizon has the best coverage to meet the needs of the customer, we use their frequencies. Let me tell you, when our reps have to call them, they put it off as long as possible. Most of our CSR’s dread talking to them. Usually it goes like this…
Random CSR - “Are we online with Verizon?”
Me - “Nope.”
Randon CSR - “Oh, GOD… you mean I have to CALL them?”
There is a rule here. Verizon is only to be used if it is the LAST choice. We’re trying to cut ties with them completely. It’s not pretty.
I’ve got Verizon stories too…
First, I, like many others, moved. For me, it was from Wisconsin to St. Louis. Asked to have my cell phone switched, told it would be no problem. Hey, I didn’t even get the $48 fee, right? Nope, I got the $175 early cancellation. And my voicemail wasn’t activated. So I try to call them. But it turns out that the customer service numbers are different for different markets. I keep having to call different people, and of course, no one knows what’s going on. Finally, I get those problems fixed, but there are still services that don’t work here that used to work in Madison (#bal, anyone?).
Plus, just when I was beginning to forgive them for their earlier transgressions, they send me a text message announcing that they are discontinuing their text messaging service. Dammit. I use text messaging. I like being able to be reached via text message. And how much can it possibly cost them to shoot a couple of text messages to my phone each month?
Cheap bastards.
That’s incredible! That’s almost the same advertisement I answered to get hired at Verizon!
I agree with most things said here and I am not trying to make excuses as to why these things happen. However the problems that you are experiencing are not always because of the reps you deal with. Verizon policies often make it hard to serve the customer in the fashion they expect and deserve to be treated. The only reason I mention this is that it seems that everyone is intent on mentioning that the people they talk to on the phones are idiots when quite possibly they are intelligent people with their hands tied.
Just my .02 cents.
Signed,
Pezpunk
A Verizon Employee
[slight hijack]
I have to take issue with this. Two words: McLeod USA. Never, in the history of the world, has there been a more incompetent business, telecom or otherwise.
I made the mistake of switching my local phone service to them a couple of years ago. I had two lines. I wanted to keep two lines. They did the switch, and I only had one. We called. They said they’d fix it. Nothing happened. We’d call about once a week, and about once a week we’d be assured that they were working on it, or they would try to blame our previous company.
The original switch took place just before Halloween. Now, Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Years. Valentines Day. St. Patrick’s Day. Now, some five months later, they finally hook up the second phone line. Unreal.
Hmmmm…where in the country are they located? I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of them…
After nine months of paying for DSL service that I didn’t actually have, I hit upon the solution:
I wrote them an e-mail stating that I was about to submit testimony to the House Commerce Committee, and would they care to review the facts as I indended to present them?
A mere week later, I got my DSL. That’s light-speed for these guys. They’ve also called me to make certain that everything was going okay.
Heh, heh. I think I scared them.
When I moved to my current apartment, I called them to get the phone turned on. No problem, it just had to be activated at their end. They said it should be up later that day. Nonetheless, they gave me a service date two weeks hence. So, I call them the next day and say my phone’s not working, and they say that they can’t report it as a problem until the official start of service, two weeks hence. After two weeks pass, the phone still doesn’t work. Three appointments to fix the lines are missed, resulting in unnecessary days off work for me, etc…
Finally, I call up the supreme executive complaints council (or whatever its called). I am livid. I insist that they are going to pick a day, get my phone set up, and as a bonus for being such bastards, they are going to wire every room in my apartment (roughly $300 service) for free. I finally convince the person on the other end that this WILL happen.
So the service date shows up and… the technician shows up! Not only that, but the technician is a jaw-dropping, balls-to-the-wall, hot sexy mama! Waist length blond hair, heart-shaped face, lush body. Watching her work was a pleasure. She doesn’t finish the job, though, because of some problem I can’t recall. So we set up another appointment time the next day (at an actually convient time).
And the next technician shows up. Also female. Tall, black Grace Jones-ish tough dyke GODDESS. Yum. I asked her, offhand, how many female techs there were, and she said she only knew of a half dozen or so, in the entire NYC area.
So I want to know, did the fact that I threw such a huge hissy fit have anything to do with the fact that they sent me two incredibly hot chicks to do the work?
[sub]I’m female, and MOSTLY straight. But these women… damn.[/sub]
I realize that you all have your horror stories about “The Phone Company”, or “The Electric Company”, or “The Bank”… and they all have employees that aren’t as with it as we are, but really…
With all the billions of bits and bobs needed to make the phone network work problems will happen.
Give them a break… Do you have dial tone so that you can can friends near and far? Yes I thought so.
Do you know how many Verizon employees risked life and limb to maintain and restore service in NYC in September?
I wish I knew where each one of you worked, and what you did so I could fuss at you all.
$48 to move your service across town? My company charges $45 for an internal phone move!
I inquired of my paging company when they were going to realize that our area code changed SIX MONTHS ago… First they heard of it! Incompetent Bastards!
You are bashing Verizon, but they sweat blood and tears last month and their employees deserve a standing ovation!
[yeah it is a WTC reference, so sue me!] Sorry boys and girls the day of personal service is gone! Competition is the name of the game… You want your phone moved? Pay for it. You place an order 6 months ahead of time with a phone company you despise? Expect it to get lost! For God Sakes in this day and age in six months they could have been purchased and sold 3 times!
And let the record show that in my area the Verizon (C&P) folks
I deal with are the most competent, professional, and helpful individuals a body has a right to ask for.
If you think you can do it better than them, go for it!
Sorry Pezpunk, it had to be said.
I am done now.
NOT A VERIZON, BELL ATLANTIC, NOR GTE EMPLOYEE.
I feel better…
“Operator6, How may I help you?”
Sexcuse me, but if my business, a lobbying group, ran its business like Verizon does we would have no customers. Period. People would fire us if we offered to provide a service, lost their orders CONSTANTLY and then on top of that were rude to them. See but I can’t fire fucking Verizon, because believe me, I would. I have to use them if I want a phone and since I need a phone, I have to put up with their bullshit.
You got me there, old bean… I’ve never had to fuss at my lobbying group…
But if they presented arguments like you did, I would be as upset with them as you are with Verizon.
Hey Pezpunk, I’m sorry you took offence to what I had to say. But what I said still stands - of all the phone companys I deal with Verizon is the worst. Sorry, it’s just the truth.
However, I was in no way comming against you personally - after all if Verizon didn’t have talented, commited employees such as yourself, nothing would work at all.
I do.