Why I am canceling Verizon FIOS before it was ever installed…

This account is a true story, the names and dates have been left in tact to further shame Verizon.

So once upon a time this not so bright contract sales person comes by my home to try and get me to switch from Comcast to Verizon FIOS. I talk to him for a few minutes, and when I realized that they did not provide any basic cable over the copper, which would render my Microsoft Windows Media Center PC useless for recording the shows I like to watch, I declined.

The plucky sales rep came back a few days later to tell me he had talked with his technical people and found that I can connect it up with S-Video and RCA cables and use an IR emitter to change channels on the box. As it was a workable solution, the channel guide looked much more usable, there was more HD to view and the internet access was faster, I said “sign me up!” This was in November. I was given an install date of December 24th, Christmas eve.

A few days before Christmas I saw some guys walk past my back sliding glass door and I walked out to see what was going on, neither of them spoke English. They smiled and said something I didn’t understand. One walked around front and got what I assume was the foreman and he told me they were just running a temporary fiber cable that it would be buried in a few days.

Two days before the install I got an automated voice call saying my install was scheduled and if I had any problems to call them.

Christmas eve, I woke up to a phone call from my installer, 10 minutes after the scheduled appointment saying it had been cancelled because of the snow. Now I will admit, there was a LOT of snow, so I can let them slide, I was told someone would call me shortly to reschedule an appointment. The only problem is nobody called me, I got this generic email:

We’re sorry that we couldn’t complete your Verizon FiOS Internet and FiOS TV installation on the originally scheduled date below.

• Original Installation Date — 12-24-2008
• FiOS Service Order Number — 0N8018368

We are very excited to get you up and running with Verizon FiOS Internet & FiOS TV and need to speak with you as soon as possible to select a new installation date.

Please call us at 1-888-553-1555

The sooner we’re able to set up a new installation date, the sooner we’ll be able to bring you the nation’s largest fiber-optic network straight to your home! After you’ve scheduled a new installation date, be sure to visit What’s Next to get all the information you need to know about your FiOS installation.

Don’t delay in giving us a call at 1-888-553-1555 so you can start the countdown to Verizon FiOS Internet & FiOS TV. Verizon FiOS is the network of the future delivered today.

Thank you for choosing Verizon!

This message was sent from a notification only email address that cannot accept incoming email messages. Please do not reply to this email.

Now I have been cancelled, and I have to call them back to get a new appointment, I waited till the day after Christmas and called back to find out that I couldn’t get a new appointment until January 9th. I begrudgingly accepted the new date as I had hoped to not have to deal with Comcast prorated bills, etc. But what to do but accept it, right?

Tuesday this week, someone came while I was not home, and buried the fiber cable, while they also buried my driveway in mud. In case you didn’t notice all the rain, it’s been a nightmare keeping it from tracking in the house because I have to wade through it to get in and out of my car.

The 9th came and luckily for us my wife works from home on Fridays, so she would be able to wait, unless it went over 11am, in which case I would come home and cover her hour at the Optometrist and then come back to work.

Dawn messaged me at 9:30am (the appt was scheduled 8-9am) and told me no one had shown up yet, so I called Verizon, and after sitting on hold for a few minutes got a rep who looked up the information and told me, “I see that the installer has your order out, he is probably just running late, I am sure he will be there shortly.”

So around 10:30 I ran grabbed some food on the way home and took over the wait. By 11am I was getting a little annoyed (ok, a lot annoyed) so I called back and sat on hold for 51:24. That’s right 51 minutes and 24 seconds. I thought that was really strange because I had always gotten through in a few minutes, so I picked up my cell phone and called the same number, and got through while my other line was on hold. WHAT??

So I get bounced through 3 people until a 4th says he will help me get it all figured out. The gentleman stays on the phone with me while I drive back to work (realizing no install would take place today) and I finally had to let him go because I would be driving into the garage and losing signal, he tells me he would call me personally as soon as they had an idea when they could come and do the install, and he would get it expedited as soon as possible.

When I in the office I opened my email and had an email from Verizon, it said:

We can’t wait to bring you blazing-fast FiOS Internet and an overall experience that will blow you away! This e-mail confirms your revised installation appointment for Verizon FiOS Internet Service.

• Scheduled Installation Date – 01-22-2009
• Scheduled Appointment Time — 08:00-17:00(Hrs)PST
• Product Package – Verizon FiOS Internet Service
• Verizon FiOS Internet Service Order Number — 0N8018368

Don’t forget to visit What’s Next to learn everything you need to know to have a successful FiOS installation! We look forward to revolutionizing your home with Verizon FiOS. If you have any questions, please call 1-888-553-1555.

This message was sent from a notification-only e-mail address that cannot accept incoming messages. Please do not reply to this message.

The 22nd is a Thursday by the way, not to mention a cool two days short of a month past my original install date. So I would have to take another day off from work to sit home and hope they show up, no thanks. I only considered leaving Comcast because there was a significant cost savings and I thought the HD options would be nice.

UPDATE: While writing this email, I just received another email from Verizon, 10 minutes after the first that says :

We can’t wait to bring you blazing-fast FiOS Internet and an overall experience that will blow you away! This e-mail confirms your revised installation appointment for Verizon FiOS Internet Service.

• Scheduled Installation Date – 01-16-2009
• Scheduled Appointment Time — 08:00-10:00(Hrs)PST
• Product Package – Verizon FiOS Internet Service
• Verizon FiOS Internet Service Order Number — 0N8018368

Don’t forget to visit What’s Next to learn everything you need to know to have a successful FiOS installation! We look forward to revolutionizing your home with Verizon FiOS. If you have any questions, please call 1-888-553-1555.

This message was sent from a notification-only e-mail address that cannot accept incoming messages. Please do not reply to this message.

Such a nice gesture, but too little too late, again nobody has bothered to call me and tell me of the change and I don’t want to deal with a company that is too lazy to call it’s customers and work with them directly. I won’t communicate via automated phone and email messages.

I want to say thank you to Robert @ Verizon for being helpful at the end and trying to get the issue resolved, but as I told him, and I am saying now, I am offended with the way you, and I mean you as in Verizon, not you personally, do business. I don’t want to work with a company that tries to handle my account with automated phone calls and emails, it’s just not how I do business.

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