FiOS Customers Beware

[jonnythan]

Fair's fair. This is a discussion about FiOS, and fiosmeup is a representative of the company/service.

This isn't spam. I'd personally want to encourage him to speak about FiOS complaints and issues. He's not advertising, shilling, or selling the service to us.

 

[bandphan]

sure he is answering questions, but in the capacity of sales rep not cs. If he wouldnt list prices, and packages but pertanent information as to who and how to go about rectifing problems that would be better. If it is important for a municapality to get invovled, obviously its a problem. Im glad he is an audioholic, but take it to pm level. Just may 1/2 cents.

 

[Halon451]

Okay, I also digress - I may have been a little harsh in my last post, as I too do not believe he is actually selling the service here, but he is defending it nonetheless, and not providing any real answers to very real questions that are being asked. It is apparent that it is clouded from the Sales POV, and not Customer Service, so I will give fiosmeup the benefit of the doubt, and invite him to PM me with an honest, candid, personal opinion on this issue and what he sees from behind "enemy" lines. In return, I promise not to re-broadcast any information on this website or any other, as I understand that being in Sales he may not want to reveal his own thoughts if they are in any way contradictory to his typical sales pitch for the service. I am merely genuinely curious (keep in mind, I am not affected by it, because I do not subscribe).

 

[fiosmeup]

Fiosmeup is no longer selling the Fios!
Now the real story.
I believe Fios is the best product but they do have some problems with customer service- but from what I see in the field The other providers have much bigger problems.
Fios pricing is legit- The lawyers spend way to much time approving any advertising we used in the field. The one thing that I have seen is that customers that have had big problems have taken 2-3-4-5 billing cysles to correct but they will correct them and most of the time compensate with $$ off or a gift card. The biggest problem is that Fios/cable is a retail product and Verizon is not used to the retail market.
Most of my customers are very happy with thier product, the ones that were not were mostly billing issues and not product related.
Fios has a lot of new interactive products coming out with fios, just hope they can do them right.
thankls

 

[jamie2112]

Same crap as verizon cell phones. Lock you into a 2 year deal with hi fees to buy your way out of the mess. Comcast is bad enough and you don't have to sell your soul to the devil for 2 years.

 

[Waveform]

I have got the "$99" plan, and man do I regret it.

I have three cable boxes but they charge me for five boxes every month. This means I am on the phone for one and a half hours EVERY FRIGGING MONTH pleading with them to fix the problem. Every time someone finally comes on the phone (usually tech support after being bounced from one person to another for 1 hour) and says "Yeah, youre right, you've only got three boxes, and here's your 10 dollars back." Next month, it's the same story. For 6 months and counting.

To top it all I'm getting billed for VOD movies ordered from the two phantom boxes that I don't have (confirmed by "tech support"). I have even had to demand that VOD be disabled for my account from their end so that when I call the next month, I would have grounds for saying that I did not order the movies.

This has become a special hell that I am locked into for two years.

Update:

I got a call from the "escalation" department today. The lady said that everything was taken care of. Needless to say, I have heard that may times before and I'll believe it when I see my next bill.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Update:

I got a call from the "escalation" department today. The lady said that everything was taken care of. Needless to say, I have heard that may times before and I'll believe it when I see my next bill.

Did you take notes, get her name and number, time stamp the conversation, with a Swiss certificated clock?

 

[moggi1964]

Well I am changing to FIOS on Monday and if it doesn't pan out Optimum said they will pay to get me out of the 1 year contract and give me a really sweet deal for two years with no contract.

Seems like I can't go wrong really.

I will of course let you know if I have any issues of course.

 

[fiosmeup]

Make sure you get the $200 rebate offer, You do have 30 Days to cancel and if you go beyond the 30 days the cancel fee at Most ( 3 services) is $199.00 so you will still be ahead.
Good luck I hope everything works out for you.
D

 

[Waveform]

I have got the "$99" plan, and man do I regret it.

I have three cable boxes but they charge me for five boxes every month. This means I am on the phone for one and a half hours EVERY FRIGGING MONTH pleading with them to fix the problem. Every time someone finally comes on the phone (usually tech support after being bounced from one person to another for 1 hour) and says "Yeah, youre right, you've only got three boxes, and here's your 10 dollars back." Next month, it's the same story. For 6 months and counting.

To top it all I'm getting billed for VOD movies ordered from the two phantom boxes that I don't have (confirmed by "tech support"). I have even had to demand that VOD be disabled for my account from their end so that when I call the next month, I would have grounds for saying that I did not order the movies.

This has become a special hell that I am locked into for two years.

Update:

I got a call from the "escalation" department today. The lady said that everything was taken care of. Needless to say, I have heard that many times before and I'll believe it when I see my next bill.

Update 2: To fiosmeup or anybody who thinks that everything is OK about FIOS service except Billing, here is a further update, the saga continues.

In their (screwy?) efforts to fix my account, my HD set-top box is now showing "SERVICE UNAVAILABLE" for every channel, although the program guide comes up fine. This happened immediately following the call I got from them that everything was now OK with my account. So I go back to playing telephone pinball until I can talk to tech support, (which is located near DFW). He tries everything he knows, tries to re-boot the box and finds the box to be completely unresponsive to his commands, although apparently he can "see" it fine. So after 30 minutes or so, he gives up, says that the box should be replaced. But he needs approval before a physical visit can be scheduled. So we wait in line for another 15 minutes before the "approver honcho" can finally comes on line with my tech support, and goes through all the motions again. Finally I am set up for a technician visit Friday afternoon between 12 and 4.

I take the day off work and wait. 2:30 rolls around and I am worried. So I decide to call and check whether somebody is actually going to come. Tech support in Dallas again, pokes around for 15 minutes and says "the trouble ticket has been closed" because of "insufficient information". I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Some a'hole at Fios decides he's pissed about something and closes the ticket, no one bothers to check with me, or even inform me.

Comcast is offering $100 to switch back, I think I'll bite.

 

[Halon451]

Fact of the matter is, and Strat once again has hit the nail on the head - you can have the best product in the world, but unless we're talking ice cream cones where you eat it and forget about it forever, customer service is going to be the critical component in what drives your company's success. As far as I've seen Verizon's FiOS (as previously stated) is vastly superior to standard digital cable service, but who the hell wants to put up with the crap that Waveform is dealing with?? Seems like the "Head honchos" up at the top need to seriously regroup and re-think their strategy to me. Here they have something that has revolutionized the way we watch television (or at least bring it into our homes), but they can't extract their collective heads from their collective arses long enough to understand that their valued bottom line is going to be derived not only from the immediate gratification of seeing a high quality HD picture on the customers TV, but also the long-standing reassurance that any issues will not be so grossly mishandled, billing or otherwise.

 

[moggi1964]

FIOS guy was not the brightest button and got a pale look when he saw my Tivo HD but the installation went okay. He couldn't drill through brick (I shook my head in disbelief as, being from the UK, we only really have brick houses and I drilled through brick all the time) so he routed the cable another way.

I had to call once to get the 1st cablecard working and again to get the 2nd working but within 15 minutes each time the issue was resolved.

Picture is astonishing though I do have a little pixelation on some channels but that is a Tivo issue (resolved hopefully with some soon to arrive attenuators). I know it is a Tivo issue because I don't get the pixelation on those channels when I plug straight into the tv and the Tivo forum has tons of info on it.

I am going to call tomorrow to confirm they have exactly the right info for billing purposes and then we'll see how that aspect works out.

So I have to say I'm pleased.

 

[Halon451]

FIOS guy was not the brightest button and got a pale look when he saw my Tivo HD but the installation went okay. He couldn't drill through brick (I shook my head in disbelief as, being from the UK, we only really have brick houses and I drilled through brick all the time) so he routed the cable another way.

I had to call once to get the 1st cablecard working and again to get the 2nd working but within 15 minutes each time the issue was resolved.

Picture is astonishing though I do have a little pixelation on some channels but that is a Tivo issue (resolved hopefully with some soon to arrive attenuators). I know it is a Tivo issue because I don't get the pixelation on those channels when I plug straight into the tv and the Tivo forum has tons of info on it.

I am going to call tomorrow to confirm they have exactly the right info for billing purposes and then we'll see how that aspect works out.

So I have to say I'm pleased.

Wait until you get your bill...

 

[moggi1964]

Oh yea of little faith

I'll let you know

 

[Halon451]

Oh yea of little faith

I'll let you know

Faith's got nothing to do with it hombre. I've seen it take place right in front of me. Best of luck to you though.

 

[Waveform]

Update 2: To fiosmeup or anybody who thinks that everything is OK about FIOS service except Billing, here is a further update, the saga continues.

In their (screwy?) efforts to fix my account, my HD set-top box is now showing "SERVICE UNAVAILABLE" for every channel, although the program guide comes up fine. This happened immediately following the call I got from them that everything was now OK with my account. So I go back to playing telephone pinball until I can talk to tech support, (which is located near DFW). He tries everything he knows, tries to re-boot the box and finds the box to be completely unresponsive to his commands, although apparently he can "see" it fine. So after 30 minutes or so, he gives up, says that the box should be replaced. But he needs approval before a physical visit can be scheduled. So we wait in line for another 15 minutes before the "approver honcho" can finally comes on line with my tech support, and goes through all the motions again. Finally I am set up for a technician visit Friday afternoon between 12 and 4.

I take the day off work and wait. 2:30 rolls around and I am worried. So I decide to call and check whether somebody is actually going to come. Tech support in Dallas again, pokes around for 15 minutes and says "the trouble ticket has been closed" because of "insufficient information". I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Some a'hole at Fios decides he's pissed about something and closes the ticket, no one bothers to check with me, or even inform me.

Comcast is offering $100 to switch back, I think I'll bite.

So suddenly a tech drops in (unannounced and unexpectedly on a Sunday afternoon), and after much calling around, re-establishes connection for my HD set-top box. He then logs in on his laptop and shows me the screen with all the details of my account. Sure enough I have three SD set-top boxes, not five. So it appears my problem may be fixed, just as the lady in the "billing escalation" department had said.

My new bill arrives, dated one day after the day I had my last chat with the billing department. STILL BILLED FOR 5 SD SET-TOP BOXES.

I think they may be incapable of fixing the problem. So I have decided that instead of wasting time calling every month, I'll call every 4 months or so and get a bulk refund.

 

[niget2002]

I feel sorry for all ya'll having all these problems. I did have a little problem, but everything's fine now.

Here's the whole story:

I signed up for the $99 FIos last August when we moved into the house. The previous owner already had Fios, so it was just a matter of the service tech coming out and hooking everything up.

When we signed up, something went screwy in their system, so our install date got dropped without notice. I went home from work that day not knowing the Verizon guy wasn't coming. I called and the guy on the phone couldn't find any record of my signup or setup. After looking for it for 2 hours we set it up again. This time the sales rep took my name and number and He called me back the next morning when he got to work and verified that everything went through correctly. While we were on the phone I joked about me missing half a days work for a service call that their systems threw away, and I said I thought I should get a month's free... he asked his manager, and the manager agreed (must of had their coffee already).

The next month rolls around and I get the first bill... no reimbursment. I call Verizon back... I give the date and time of the previous call and the name of the guy I was talking to. They looked up the call and said there was no note of a reimbursment on the call. Then they surprised me. They said that a tier 2 rep would have to handle it because it was more than the "normal" $35 or so they're "allowed" to reimburse. I figured I wouldn't hear from them again, but I agreed.

An hour later I get a call. The lady has the other rep on the phone with her when I pick up. She asks the othe guy about the $99 reimbursement, and he said yes, and then gave his supervisor's name who agreed to it. She had him hang up, then she told me that their system can't go over a $50 reimbursement, so she'll have to break it up into two.

The next day I check online and there's a -$50 on my account... the following month, the bill had another -$49... giving me our one month free

So, My bill with 2 SD boxes and 1 HD PVR is $151 after all the extra taxes and crap. For me, this was the same I was paying for Analog cable, cable modem, and separate phone line when I was at the apartment.

I must be special, because I've had no other issues with FIOS at all. I've also been using Verizon Wireless for almost 10 years now and have had no issues with that either.

I hope all ya'll get your bills straightened out.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I feel sorry for all ya'll having all these problems. I did have a little problem, but everything's fine now.
Here's the whole story:
I hope all ya'll get your bills straightened out.

Thanks for your great story. Yes, there are bad ones too but so are some good ones as well, like yours.

 

[moggi1964]

After having it for a week I thought I should say:

what a picture

Called billing today to make sure they have the right details for my first bill. I was a little concerned as the tech had expected to be installing to three TV's when it was actually two cablecards to one TivoHD.

Billing said they have two cablecards and that is it! Phew!!

When the first bill comes in we'll see what happens and of course I'll let you know.

Boy, the picture is just so much better than I had with Optimum. I'm impressed.

 

[Waveform]

After having it for a week I thought I should say:

what a picture

Called billing today to make sure they have the right details for my first bill. I was a little concerned as the tech had expected to be installing to three TV's when it was actually two cablecards to one TivoHD.

Billing said they have two cablecards and that is it! Phew!!

When the first bill comes in we'll see what happens and of course I'll let you know.

Boy, the picture is just so much better than I had with Optimum. I'm impressed.

I am sure that a vast majority of FIOS customers have no problem with their bill; so I don't think there is cause to worry. The lesson of my story is not that Verizon messes up most bills, just that there can be peculiar and apparently intractable issues sometimes.

I had a similar issue once before with Cingular in California; I had asked them for DSL installation. They came to my house, tested the line, and told me that I could not get DSL because I was too far from the exchange.

But from the next month onward, I kept getting a DSL bill for $40; I kept getting charged for many months for the service they had not even installed; just like my current FIOS issue, nothing I could do would make the billing stop.