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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I was thinking of switching to verizon. Did you have a hard time canceling the service even though you had a work order number. I am a little weary, but my present provider optimum is going up like crazy. I want to have the option of canceling.
thanks for any information
@Roberta: As a testament to their poor service, canceling was very painless, they didn’t seem to care. When I told the person trying to reschedule the appointment I wanted to cancel he said “if I make the appointment sooner will that change your mind?” I told him it was about the service and he said, “I understand, thanks for your time.” Other than an installer calling last week trying to confirm an install date I had not agreed to, I have had no contact from them. When I told that installer we had canceled he said, “oh, ok, sorry.” Their agreement says they don’t bill you until service is installed. This isn’t legal advice by any means, but if they don’t ever install it, I would assume the contract isn’t worth much.
I am terribly sorry to hear about your ordeal…that really does suck. You can’t really blame VERIZON for this. I honestly believe that you had a bad “batch” of people working with you. I have had FiOS internet and TV for 2 years this month, never a problem. Even at the initial startup, when we first wanted it installed there was abolutely 0 problems. If you find it in your heart to give them a seco…alright 3rd or 4th chance you will not regret it!! The speed is fantastic, and no one offers the quality of service that they do. I live in Dallas, TX. If we can get good service out here in redneckville, then trust me, you should be able to get it anywhere:):):)
I have to disagree with you Will, Verizon is the company I was dealing with and I was not choosing to cancel based on quality of the product, but quality of the service the company provides around the product. If their service is that poor trying to GET the customers, what can I expect when I need help?
I just switched to comcast. Their tech/sales people were very nice. I have been trying to cancel my Verizon fios service, but I actually waited 72 minutes on the phone during work (ahem) and no one answered. Finally, I hung up and I’ll have to try again on Monday, but holding the handset that long to cancel made me furious. The new comcast service is way faster and priced lower than Fios internet. I’m glad I switched. I tried to stay with them if they had a competing internet pricing/performance, but the sales person basically said take it or leave it. So, I left. I love the Comcast speed. 22/9 mb. WOW!!!
whats the two comparisons, i looked up the internet services offered in the area of zip code 21093, comcast cable costs 60+5 dollar for the stupid modem per month, while the speed is still slower than the 55 dollar from fios (without the home phone)
I’m sorry to hear your experience with Verizon. I actually love them, it just all depends on who helps you. Some reps are out there to really do their job and some are there just because they have to. I work in a retail – bank environment and we’re all very different. I actually had an assignment for my Economy class so I was surfing the web for an answer and came across this story. I hope everything is fine now!
I had a scheduled appointment for installing FIOS (i’m in NYC) on the past thursday (08/27/09) from 8am to 11am. So here i am.. waiting.. 8am passes, 9, 10, 11, 12… no one showed, or even called for that matter, to tell me if everything is okay or not. I assumed they’d install next morning but no luck, no one showed up or even a made a simple call telling me there’s a problem.
wow Verizon…
today (saturday morning) i come to see my TV service is discontinued so i’m stuck here without any service. I assume my phone and internet will be terminated soon as well, as it from the same cable company, Cablevision (Optimum). I’ve been a Cablevision customer (tripple play) for about 7 years now.
I’ll be rescheduling for another appointment date today..
thank you, Verizon customer services
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FIOS Rules. You are a complainers. Comcast is a rip off and if you can’t figure that out you are really inept. They HD quality is poor, the speed is throttled back on the internet and the costs are ridiculous. I have called Verizon 20 times and never had any issues as I have moved many times. There are people waiting for FIOS and willing to pay double and you complain about mud??? You are a fool.
I am a fool, but all you got from my post was mud? riiiiight.
Yes you dont work for verizon, Your just a regular customer, wink wink
I have never personally had FiOS but i can tell you that the cell phone company is the exact same way. I don’t have time to go into the whole thing, but i wouldn’t go back to verizon if you paid me, the whole company seems to be uncapable to take care of it’s customers, and has poor business sense.
Springfield, VA:
I am having an almost identical experience right now, today November 4, 2009 as the author wrote about 11 mos ago.
As I type I am listening to ‘hold music’ waiting for Verizon to explain why they failed to show up on their 2nd scheduled appointment date.
I received no less than 20 confirmation phone calls from Verizon between my TWO scheduled installations. I confirmed over and over and over…and wanted to scream THIS WAS MY IDEA!! I CALLED YOU for heaven’s sake–I’M GOING TO BE HOME for the INSTALLATION ALREADY!!
And then after all those crazy calls they have been a NO SHOW 2 outta 2 times.
If this is an IQ test then I FAIL if I choose to pursue a business relationship with Verizon. I will stay with Cox Communications and pay more. It’s all about service. You get what you pay for.
I guess, I am not the only one who was treated badly by Verizon. Several months ago I requested FIOS service for Internet. Received an automated reminder for the appointment a day before. After taking a day off from work, no one showed up on the scheduled date and no phone call or email notification. Apparently they haven’t finished running the fiber cable from the street yet. You would think they knew that on the scheduled date they would not be able to do the installation. After a long wait on the phone finally they found out that the street installation was not even complete due to some city permit. 3 weeks later, an independent contractor showed up at my house and told me that they will do the outside fiber installation from the street to my house. Note: My house is located about 300 feet from the street. They did major digging with heavy equipment for a week through the long drive way and finally reach the house.
After this was completed, I called back Verizon indicating that the cable has been installed and ready for inside installation. Apparently my order has been canceled because it was after 30 days. I guess their left hand did not know what the right hand is doing.
I reapply the service again through an agent. For the second time, they did not show up for the scheduled installation. When I check with the agent, they can’t find the order. Apparently that my order has been canceled … AGAIN and they can’t tell me why.
After my anger subsided, yesterday I decided to try again for the last time. Fill the order online. It indicated that I need to call for verification. So I called and everything was fine and the order will be passed through for installation schedule. Again, the scheduling agent can’t find my order number and told me he is going to call me back.
Late last night I receive a message indicating that they want my credit card information again even after I entered it online. When I called this morning, they can’t find my order number, they told me that my order has been canceled…AGAIN.
I guess they don’t care about the customer and the amount of investment that they have put in, to have 3 people with heavy equipment, digging my 300 feet driveway for a week. So I have fiber optic cable wound up on the side of my garage but no FIOS service.
I give up! I am very frustrated with Verizon. This has been a very painfull process with absolutely no result. If this is the way Verizon treat new customer, I am afraid how they are going to treat me after I become a customer.
I was supposed to have a fios installer come to my house today from the hours of 8:00 Am and 12:00 pm. They never showed up and they did not call me. I spent close to 2 hours on the phone, dealing with the automated answering thing. I would be put on hold for several minutes listening to a mixture of static and music. Then I would get a recording saying,”If you would like to make, a call please hang up and try again”. When I would finally get a human voice, They would put me on hold and then after several minutes, I would be cut off again and again. I could hardly understand what they were saying because of static. I spoke to supervisors at verizon.They said “There is nothing that they can do”. One supervisor gave me a phone number to call the corprate office in New York. I dialed the number and a recording said that I had dialed a non- working verizon number. Then I tried to cancel the installation and I could not reach anyone to do that. What kind of business treats people this way?
Stay Away from Verizon Fios/Direct TV if Possible!!!!!!!
A week ago me and my roomies decided to get Fios/Direct TV because it would be cheaper and faster internet speeds.
We signed up online. On the day we were told the installation would occur, no one showed. Called Verizon, they never heard of my online confirmation number before.
After digging more details, the sales person says our building doesnt have Fios, so we’d have to get DSL. Not only that, its a two year contract with a $20 a month cancellation fee. Also they scheduled the installation date for 1 month in the future. That didnt make any sense.
If the installation person setup the cable boxes and we didnt like the service, they would immediately charge $480 cancellation fee. I confirmed this with three reps. Seriosly, WTF!!!
Also online confirmation was different that email confirmation and different that phone support. WTF. VERIZON FIOS SUPPORT SUCKS!!!!!
My roomy cancels the installation, next day she receives eight phone calls, three before 8AM on *why* we cancelled.
If it wasnt for the sh*tty support and unprofessionalism, we would have gone with them.
I guess it all depends on the independent contractor because my installer showed up right on time and took less than 3 hours in a neighborhood that only recenlty got FiOs. I love it and am angry I was stuck with Comcast for so long.
Recently when Cablevison lost the rights to show Fox, I looked into Verizon and ordered it online. My appt was to be 10/27, Verizon called me(Mon.10/25) and told me there was a service block on my number and had to call Cablevision to have it removed. I then called cablevision and had the block removed. Tues 10/26I called Veizon once in the morning and was on hold for 50 mins….finally I hung up, and tried calling back later on, this time I could not even get thru and the automated system said there was a high call volume, to call back. I then received a email changing my install date to 10/29, I called Verizon again the next 2 days with results the same as the previous day, waiting on hold or told to call back. Now my new appt is 11/4. I can not get thru to verizon, dont u think they could make a cal back and ask was the situation resolved, nope…they just change the installation date. Finally I tried a email, nothing but jibber jabber, how they are the best…
Needless to say I cancelled the order.
So anyone out there who is considering switching to Fios, please give a 2nd thought, I could not reach Verizon to talk to them about my issue, I can only imagine what would happen if I really had a problem….
I am on hold with Verizon trying to resolve the same issue!!! 35:33 so far and I already talked to 3 people. They couldn’t do an installation at my house due to the strike, now I get 2 messages left at my machine a day (same ones as above) telling me I need to call them to reschedule. The original appointment was a month ago, I got service from another company since then and only want to stop the phone harassment. The last person told me I need to talk to someone in the “elite department”. Seriously? My order number is MA00112019434, if someone in Verizon is reading it, just cancel it and stop calling me!!!
I think they are descent sure a few hitches like in pricing but nothing insane like with cablevision the install problems are due to restriction from d.o.t. Local utilities and half assed surveys as well as poor grid marking on utility work performed plus living in out skirts of town would also make install a challenge to figure if area is actually prepped and all based on a computer screen and when its all in motion they rather stall and try to get it done then to say they can’t offer u service. In all i’m happy with them just becareful what u ur children or visitors do while on ur ip cause not sure if they aid in prosecution of infringement but they will 86 u for it as an associate told me they did it to him cause his son downloading music from all over.
Although most of this is an old thread I sure can believe it. I’ve had nothing but trouble with FIOS. The DVR systems is completely unreliable. It takes forever to get anyone on the phone. They send me a replacement DVR but I can’t activate it. After an hour on the phone it shows as still being in their warehouse and not on my account so it takes another 30 minutes to fix that.
Shows show as being recorded but when you play them they play for 1-2 minutes and then no more will play even though it shows as being fully recorded.
I plan to cancel it and I’m sure that will be a fun task. The only good part is that I haven’t been billed for anything and have no plans to pay anything until they cancel the tv and phone portions. It has been a 6 week disaster.
I was in a local Verizon wireless store last week getting a case for my phone when I saw the Fios guy and started asking questions…. He really didn’t answer the questions to my satisfaction but said that the deals they were offering ended the end of May and that he could put in an order and schedule the date out to July which would give plenty of time to look things over… I see this is June 2nd and they are offering the same promotions and I can’t get the sales rep back on the phone. Now sitting almost 9 minutes at the 800 number I see in your article to make sure I get this cancelled. If I get it I want to have all my questions answered, not to have some sales punk rake in another sales for his paycheck.
Old thread but Verizon deserves all the negative publicity anyone can give them. They signed me up for FIOS phone with a special deal of $10 off the regular rate for two years, because the package was that much more expensive than what I was paying for the same services separately. Then they billed me for the regular rate anyway, and the person responsible for the deal never would answer the phone number she gave us to check back if there were any problems. It took over a year, including a call to the state utility commission, to get them to honor the deal they made. If you ever do anything with Verizon, get the details in writing because otherwise it’s just your word against theirs and they don’t necessarily tell the truth.
One of the reason I got the FIOS package was because it included web hosting. Then I got an email a year ago saying that I wouldn’t be able to access my files on their server after a month, so I have to move them. The problem with that is that my wifes’s web page, which I created for her for a Valentine’s gift, is ranked number one in Google and I’d probably lose that if I moved it without putting forwarding on it first.
I didn’t realize they really meant they were going to cut off access in a month, because no web hosting company would ever do that to their customers. But they did. I tried multiple times to work out something with their support people for temporary access, but no luck so far. I’m in process of moving the files right now, but it’s way harder than it would be if they’d give me access. And I’m still going to need access to put up the forwarding after I get them all moved, or I’m going to lose the high search engine rank on my wife’s and several other pages.
I have just experienced the same about being rescheduled over and over again. I definitely said no after they tried to schedule me for the fourth time. The supervisor even told me that they have difficulty contacting me because my phone is not Verizon, what in the world is he talking about? They have my phone number, landline and email. They are not professionals! These people are bunch of nonsense, quantity over quality. Not good.
Add on…. I end up writing a complaint at the public services commission of the state of new York. I let the commission deal with this kind of dangerously poor services from Verizon.
wow..did a quick search while I have been on hold. VERIZON FIOS INSTALL PROBLEMS and you came up first..
4th time working to do install..now they say internet is NOT on my order..what a joke. Can’t get through to anyone.
Customer service sucks!
I don’t have verizon fios but have been a cell customer for about 15 years. Sometimes the customer service sucks and sometimes it’s great. Not consistent at all. But don’t get hung up on customer service….in the end you have to ask yourself do you have a better product. If you’re losing out on a better product just because of bad customer service the only one losing is you. What matters is the product you use on a daily basis not the customer service you may contact infrequently. Yes, companies should excel in both but sometimes you have to put up with bullshit to get the best product.