My Cable/Internet Company Nightmare -- Grrrrr

How on earth do they get away with this crap? I’m so sickened by the BS I have been dealing with because of this company. They employee the biggest group of rude incompetents I have ever experienced.

I will post below the email I sent to Verizon and the 2 replies. PLEASE feel free to tell me about any similar situations you have had with any of the cable/internet providers you have had.


Here goes:
On Wednesday afternoon I called Verizon to find out how much I need to restore service.
A male agent told me I needed 230 dollars. I told him there must be a mistake, and that I had just paid 150 less than a week ago. He said ‘No, you need 230’ I told him there must be something wrong, that I’d never had to pay that much to get service restored, and I asked him to please see what he could do. He was rude and very short with me. He didn’t want to hear what I had to say. He told me in NO UNCERTAIN terms, repeatedly, that I’d need the 230 to be restored. I asked him to connect me with a supervisor. ((((I’d like to know if my asking for a supervisor was also noted on my account. Why on EARTH would I ask to speak to a supervisor if he told me I only needed the partial payment of 109 and not the full 230?))) After arguing with me about it he said ‘Sure if you want to wait fifty minutes?’ I said ‘no problem’. He connected me to a busy signal which was followed by a dial tone.

At this point in my day I had 150 dollars in my bank account. I would have called right back, but I had to go to work. My sister called me there with an emergency; she needed to borrow some money until Friday. Knowing I wouldn’t have the 230 for the cable bill until Sat anyway, I lent her the money.

When I got home late that Wednesday evening, I opened my computer to see the Verizon page. It said I needed 109 dollars to restore service!! You can understand my frustration at that point because I no longer had 109 dollars. I thought to myself ‘boy, that agent really messed up. Not only was he rude, he was dead wrong. As I went to sleep that night I assumed a call the next day to a Verizon Supervisor would be helpful. I was sure that when I told a CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPERVISOR about the tone of the short spoken agent and drastic misinformation I was given the day before, he or she would be at the very LEAST apologetic; and I had hoped he’d be willing to work with what I had to restore service after considering the circumstances that were the FAULT of the VERIZON agent that he SUPERVISES. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!!

The next day I called back to Verizon. This time the agent was female. After giving her my information I immediately asked to be connected to a supervisor. She told me I needed to explain why before she could connect me. I told her about the horrible customer service call the day before, the misinformation I received, and the dilemma I was left in because of it. She told me there was nothing that could be done about it. She DIDN’T apologize, and she said she could not connect me to a supervisor. I WAS FLOORED!!! She said, ‘You can give me your phone number and a super will call you back in twenty minutes.’ I, now very irritated, explained to her (even though she should have known) that my phone was off due to my service interruption. She then HAD THE NERVE to say to me “Well most people have a cell phone we can call.” WELL I’m not ‘most’ people, and I do not have a cell phone. That conversation went NO WHERE, she was zero help, and she also was rude.

I hung up, and called right back. The next female agent listened to me, was VERY polite, and was happy to get me the supervisor on the line. I thanked her wholeheartedly for her EXCELLENT SERVICE. The male supervisor was on the line shortly after.

I immediately asked him to forgive my tone and explained that I was very frustrated at that point, and I explained the situation. I told him about the 2 agents whose customer service was nil. He told me that the first agent I talked to told me I needed to pay 109, and he had noted that he told me that in my account. I was outraged that he was insinuating that I was lying and told him so. He went on and on very long winded about how he doesn't insinuate things and how he says what he means. He interrupted me EVERY TIME I tried to reply to what he was saying and then accused me of not letting him talk. He told me that I must have just misunderstood the first agent. AGAIN, I’M FLOORED!!! Now he is insinuating that I’m not capable of understanding plain English. I couldn't believe that instead of being apologetic to me he was basically calling me a stupid liar. I could not believe how much arguing he was doing with me.

At one point I tried to put the conversation on a lighter note and actually complemented him on his eloquent speaking skills. It did no good. He was NOT listening to a word I was saying and I was soon laughing… but not from anything funny. I was laughing because I could see the conversation was going nowhere and he was the third Verizon employee that I’d dealt with who ABSOLUTELY does not deserve the title ‘customer service agent’.

I knew what I was asking for (I offered to pay 50 that day, and could pay the remainder in 3 days on Sunday) was a bit of a stretch but I’m pretty sure it was doable. EVEN if it wasn’t, the VERY LEAST he could have done was apologize for the mishap or offer me a free movie or ANYTHING to make up for the mistake…instead he (in a roundabout way) accused me of lying and not being able to comprehend the simple difference between the numbers 230 and 109.

The last part of the conversation went EXACTLY like this….
ME: I’m soo done with Verizon.
Him: So you want the service disconnected then?
ME: I’m just done with it.
Him: Ma’am, are you saying you want me to disconnect the service?
ME: ‘CLICK’

NO!!! I didn’t want the service disconnected just yet, and that’s why I didn’t answer his question. I have 2 teenagers who use the internet almost every day for their school work so I knew I’d need my service on until I could make other arrangements. I paid the 110 Thursday night at 730 p.m. It’s now 2:30 a.m., and still, no service.

While the supervisor I spoke with displayed great speaking skills he lacked something that is far more important in the world of customer service (as did his employees) and that’s LISTENING.
I admit I was probably a little difficult to deal with, but had ANYONE listened to me and/or assumed any responsibility for the first Verizon agents gross mistake, they would have understood my frustrations. A simple, genuine I’m sorry would have gone a looong way to ease my tension.

I would like the names of all four of the representatives that I spoke with. I would also like to discuss the issue pertaining to the bold faced lie I was dealt. One of your representatives flat out lied, in what seemed like an effort to make it look like I was either lying or sub intelligent. Either way, it’s BEYOND wrong, and leaves a VERY bad taste in the mouths of anyone who can understand the deliberately shady tactics used by Verizon employees to undermine their customers.

The above portion of this letter was written a week ago and was sent through Verizon’s web page email. I received a reply to my Hotmail account that said I need to go to myverizon and view the profile and would see a notification of the reply. I did that, there is nothing there.

In continuation of my Verizon experience:

At 730 pm Thursday the automated telephone service had no problem finding my account and taking my 110 dollar payment. It assured me that my service would be restored in up to four hours.
At 930 pm I walked to a friend’s house to call and check on the restore. I don’t really remember what was said but I think it was along the line of ‘wait out the 4 hours’.

At about 12 am I used my emergency minute cell phone to put a call in to a tech to see if they could send out my signal. I was only able to stay on the phone for about 5 minutes and that wasn’t even long enough for the agent to find and pull up my account. (I think he couldn’t find it because it was cancelled at that point)

The next morning around 1030 am my son walked to a phone and called Verizon. He told me I had to call because the agent couldn’t find our account.

At 11 am I AGAIN walked to a friend’s house to phone Verizon. This time, my friend had my 3 year old and I as her company for the next 4 hours while I tied up her phone line the whole time.
The first agent told me my service wasn’t restored because I had requested to discontinue my services. I then explained the entire situation to her and described the call with the supervisor. She told me there was nothing she could do for me, and I needed to sign up for new service. I asked to speak to her supervisor.

The supervisor got on the line, and I AGAIN gave her a detailed description of ALL of the events leading up to that point. She said the same thing!! “There isn’t really anything I can do for you. You’re accounts gone. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. You’ll have to sign up as a new customer. At this point I was mentally broken and crying. I asked to talk to her supervisor. She said one would call me back in twenty minutes.

She did call back in about 20 minutes. I EXPLAINED THIS LONG story to her, and she said there was nothing she could do and asked me if I’d like to be connected to the sales department to start up new service! I could not believe my ears! I was talking to a Verizon customer service agent’s supervisor’s supervisor… I told her of the numerous phone calls, the misinformation, the rude attitudes, the accusations, the blatantly malicious disconnection of my service by a supervisor and all she could do was TRANSFER ME TO SALES????
I was almost livid at this point and delirious with confusion and exhaustion, I asked to speak to her supervisor. She told me they would call me back in 20 minutes. That call back never did come.

After waiting for 30 minutes, I was running out of time, so I called back. I work very long hours all week end and DID NOT want to leave my kids home with no phone to contact me in an emergency. So I decided to try to sign up for new service and deal with the issues later.

This kind agent informed me new service would be no problem after I come up with a 250 dollar deposit because now I’m a credit risk with an outstanding balance due($120). I explained the whole situation to him and he tried like heck to do what he could for me. He was getting on and off the line talking to another department trying to help me out but in the end the best he could do was put my phone service on the following Saturday.

On Sunday I was told by my children that a Verizon computer had called, so I called back to find out why. I ended up on the line with Linda the agent who set up the rest of the service. The security deposit requirement had been lifted. And I went ahead with the process of new service. She said she couldn’t restore my service that day and eventually convinced me to get all new equipment that I didn’t really need. It was a huge hassle, and the 100 dollar gift card she assured me would be in with the equipment is nowhere to be found. I told her I wanted everything back to the way it was, but I don’t think that’s what happened. She did talk me into upgrading my internet speed for ten bucks a month, and honestly, I see ZERO difference, I don’t think I needed it. I don’t have all the channels I used to have.

I called back again to see if my ALL of my activation fees had been waved, and I was told they were. I guess I will see. I also asked about my dvr staying free for life like before, and it is.
AND lastly, I had to call 2 more times to tech support to get my newly installed tiny boxes working….


I am a proud restaurant server. After twenty years in my business I can perform my job almost flawlessly, mostly because I listen to my customers. Everyone makes mistakes, when I make a mistake I do everything in my power to make sure my customers are happy and treated fairly. When things go south, I go tell my boss myself!! My customers NEVER have to ask to speak to a manager because I make it my business to make sure each customer’s service is a success. I make sure they are addressed by my superior because I don’t want my mistake to look like a refection our normal day to day business.

I strongly believe your corporation needs to take a long hard look into its entire customer service system. While most of the telephone reps I have dealt with over the last couple of weeks have performed at a level far beneath what I would consider polite and informed, there were a few who did a great job. It seemed to me, though, that even those few good reps had hands that were VERY tied which made it difficult for them to do their jobs correctly. I would bet if the people in charge of the customer service agents and their procedures would take the time to LISTEN to the few agents who know what they are doing, they could probably work together to come up with some solutions to this fiasco you call Verizon customer service.

Now as I’m sure you probably cannot tell, I’m no fan of typing complaint letters nor is it easy for me. The second portion of this letter has taken me over five hours to type. It’s taken me that long because I have a loose battery cord on this old laptop and I lost almost the whole thing two hours in and had to start over. I also have carpal tunnel syndrome and my wrist is swollen up like a balloon at this point, but I refuse to call there again. I’m done talking to these reps, but I feel I need to be compensated. After almost 2 weeks of dozens of phone calls, being misled, being lied to, being accused of lying, being made to repeat myself over and over, being made to feel like an idiot, being reduced to crying, uninstalling and reinstalling equipment, boxing and returning equipment, the hours and hours of my precious time wasted quite literal hours and hours of pain and suffering (in the end). ALL for that cord coming out of the wall? A service that I pay more for than any other utility I have ever had.

So you know what I want? I want a new TV or computer to stick that cord into! Why not, right? I want to join everyone else this century and replace this 150 pound box with a flat screen, or have a laptop that doesn’t randomly shut off if you bump it. I know that may sound crazy, but it’s what I feel I deserve and after what I’ve been through, I’m not afraid or ashamed to ask. This goes for broke approach isn’t normal for my character, I’m actually quite reasonable.

Any compensation that displays that careful consideration was given to this fiasco of a situation that has been my life for the last 2 weeks and is still ongoing would probably satisfy me. Please make sure my plan is put back the way it was. Please make sure I am not being billed for ANY of the different activation fees. A sincere apology, my TV channel plan and price returned to its original state or LOWERED, my promised self-install 100 dollar gift card, and MOST OF ALL access to my email account to retrieve my address and a few important emails that NO ONE there seems to want to admit is possible.

here is the email reply i received:

Thank you for choosing Verizon. I have received your email dated 01/28/2013 regarding some concerns with your Verizon account, and I can certainly understand wanting to have these issue resolved quickly as possible.
We apologize for the delay in our response and regret any inconvenience to you.

According to our records, it appears that your inquiry was addressed by our Consumer Sales and Service department on January 29, 2013. We show that your services have been placed in a new bundle.

If your original request has been resolved, please disregard this message. If you require further assistance with your account, please feel free to respond to this email and we will be happy to assist you.

Thank you for using Verizon. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,


And my reply:


Dear Cheniqua,

I'm glad you 'received' my email dated 1-28-13 regarding my 2 week long fiasco of time wasting, pain causing, emotionally draining Verizon customer service; yet, your reply has left me wondering if you thoroughly 'read' the email.

Your records are correct, my plan was changed on the 29th.

That was just another day of me waiting for someone from Verizon to contact me in regards to the reimbursement that remains unsettled, when I saw Verizon on the caller I.D. I assumed it was that call. It wasn't; in fact, it was a Verizon agent calling me to find out who was providing my cable and internet service asking me if I would like to sign up for service with Verizon.

After hanging up annoyed with yet more incompetence, I decided against my better judgment to call back in. I wanted to find out when I would be getting my 100 dollar gift card. She asked me if I'd received an email in regards to my GC. I told her i hadn't, The agent said I would receive an email in 9 days. I guess I will see...

I also told the agent that my television still wasn't getting some of the stations we had before your Verizon rep (maliciously, without my consent or request), disconnected and trashed my old account. I asked her to please pull up my old account for reference and set up my new one the same exact way. I assume by her tone throughout the conversation( that I URGE you to listen to in the recordings) that this wasn't easy for her, at one point in the conversation I actually had to ask her why she was talking to me in said tone and asked her to please stop. I have ZERO confidence that she actually accomplished this simple request correctly because the underhanded agent tried to trick me into a contract, and almost succeeded. After that scam you can understand my reluctance to assume she made my account the same as before, IF NOT WORSE. ( I had intended to address getting back into my old email account to retrieve my address and a few VERY meaningful irreplaceable emails but was so disgusted by her tactics that i just let it go to end the call)

Now, that being said, you should be able to see where my confusion lies concerning your reply to my previous email (that I will place at the end of this for your convenience). It frankly appeared to me as further dodging of the issue accompanied by more shiftiness. I don't see how you can read that email, then look at my account, and find ANYTHING there that would indicate to you that my 'inquiry' (as you have described it) has been addressed and/or resolved.

I thank you for your empty reply, and hope that the letters that I sent to the Presidential Complaints Department and the Corporate Office will be followed up by a representative more willing to genuinely address the email accounts of the nightmare that has been my Verizon experience.

Yeah , I'm not gonna read all that and I'm a little suspicious that you're just trying to get your novel read .
I will tell you that I started off with Verizon , which was unfortunate because the computer I started off with ran on Linux and most of Verizon's phone flunkies didn't know they even supported it , if it wasn't Windows or Mac they were lost .

Last time I lost connection I argued with them for two days that all I needed was a modem reconfiguration , finally told them to go away and went with the cable company , been happy ever since .

Well buddy, as long as you don't do any gaming and aren't expecting the best speeds on the face of the planet here's what you do.

You go to Boost Mobile(if they're in your area), you get a Android based phone - I'd recommend the Transform Ultra(it's cheap, fast and will come in use in a variable amount of situations), root it, and get wifi tether. As long as you're not using extreme amounts of bandwidth(streaming movies,music etc.) all the time, they won't care.

And, it's 50$ a month!

No late fees. No contract. No problems. Welcome to the world of budgeting

If you ever feel like you'd like to do this, just ask me and I'll point you in the right direction.

Also, AT&T and Verizon are the biggest scam artists alive, they're probably worse than banks.

reply to post by thudpuddy

Verizon's phone flunkies

No, i don't want my 'novel' read. I really wouldn't care if no one read it, I just felt like sharing...

Thanks for replying though, glad you are happy with your new service.

reply to post by b3l13v3


aww man that's sounds good, but my boys use the ps3 and xbox online so i don't think it would work for me, right?

God YES they are soooo super shady.

Thanks for your advice and understanding, i appreciate it!

Let me tell you, I can't sit and read all of that, but I will lend to you some advice and I suggest you consider this if you want to save money for yourself and get away from contract phone services. This is exactly what i did:

Ditched the HTC, went to walmart and bought a tracfone. Just a basic tracfone and a calling card. No hassles, no contract, and no monthly bill to freak out over. I pay for exactly what I use.

Got hooked up with basic internet for $19.95 per month 8mb. That's enough to do surfing and downloading and meet whatever needs.

Dumped satellite service and went to Roku. Now my monthly dish bill is gone, and all I do is pay exactly for what I want to watch through amazon.

Break free and I promise you that you'll feel 100% better to get out from beneath these blood sucking companies.

No one, and I mean NO ONE needs a freaking internet phone. I'm old school you see, I remember life without the internet and I can go to the store, go out to eat, see a show, etc without having a burning need to whip out my phone and check my email right there. No, I can wait till I get home and get on the computer or kindle.

Also, check into GMAIL phone. It is FREE unless you call out of the country. I use that when I need to make a quick call somewhere or to have long chats with family. Anything to save the $$$.

Everything happens for a reason.

You weren't able to get your service restored the first time so you could help your friend out.

Life's what you make it and when it comes to customer service I have often found that if you start with a good attitude and pretend the other person is your friend, you get what you want because they WANT you to be happy for making them happy.