dcblueman

Verizon's business practices are terrible! I live in Long Beach CA where we just got our new and improved (?) IMG. It seems that Verizon is trying to screw everyone into paying more money for essentially the same content.

Yesterday I noticed that ESPN News is now in HD but when I went to the channel, it says I am not subscribed. So I call the geniuses at Verizon and after being cutoff twice (a normal occurrence with their phone system) I am told that the "new" HD only has 14 HD channels and I will have to upgrade to Premier or Extreme.

Today I tried to call billing to verify the “upgrade” and it took me an hour of being cut off three times and put on hold for 30 minutes because they couldn’t locate my account. Finally I was able to verify the upgrade and credit. Now I will have to endure another pro-rated billing cycle.


When I added the "new" channels, the person I was speaking with didn’t even have access to the current program guide. In addition, the program that Verizon sent me in the mail doesn’t say anything about the new “Extreme” or “Premier” packages. If I wasn’t locked into my contract, I would seriously consider quitting and going back to DISH where I never had billing or programming issues related to the provider’s lack of communication or confusion.

If you are thinking of getting FIOS but don’t have a Verizon phone number (i.e. a land line) you may want to reconsider. I have had FIOS internet since January, 2007 and FIOS TV since September, 2007 when they first became available in my area. At that time I dropped the Verizon land line and got the Verizon Voicewing service. Although Verizon owns Voicewing, they don’t recognize my number as a Verizon line. Trying to get to the correct place through the 888-553-1555 number has been nearly impossible and takes a long time because their phone system has numerous bugs and customer service (?) personnel have inadequate training and resources.

Because Verizon does not send information to their customers or train their customer service people, getting a straight answer is almost impossible. Verizon changed my billing in May and it took them three months to explain it to me and straighten it out. Don’t trust them! They are incompetent, unfair, and do not treat their customers well. To call themselves Verizon Communications is an oxymoron. They can’t even communicate with their own employees or customers!

The only reason I endure this torture is because I have an HD TV and have been told that FIOS quality is far better than DISH or DirecTV. At the time I got the HD TV, DISH wanted a huge amount to upgrade to an HD receiver (as did Direct for a new installation).

So how do the other providers compare as far as quality goes? I am willing to switch once my contract is up so that I can switch without paying the exorbitant cancellation fees. By the way, the city franchise is Charter who will never get my business. I’ll go back to OTA before them!