My experience is not unique. Not even in my small office.

I assume that reading this far is akin to waterboarding itself, but if there is just one person who can hear my story and change their mind about switching to FIOS, then I win. Funny thing is, my story does not seem all that atypical...

My torture has become a thing of legend in our office, as the 20 or so people who work near me couldn't believe how I could possibly be spending hours a day, week after week trying to accomplish the simple task of getting a phone installed. However, my conversations brought to light the fact that I am not the only one who thinks Verizon should be ashamed of themselves. Other horror stories I have heard THIS WEEK. Keep in mind, this is 3 different people, other than me, in an office of only 20 folks. And not a single person in the entire office has a single nice thing to say about Verizon. So without further ado...

1) The intermittent, although extended, internet outages that I and my co-worker have experienced. Verizon tech support continues to say that there is no issue. However, the other night, my coworker buddy bumped into a Verizon tech in his neighborhood and asked him about the problem. He confirmed that there has been a problem in that area for some time, and that it is a hardware-type issue with no ETA for resolution. Typical Verizon.

2) Monthly rates not as agreed upon when Verizon convinced one co-worker to switch from another local provider. In typical Verizon fashion, he has not received a copy of his bill (despite repeated attempts) but they were nice enough to charge his credit card. He has spent hours on the phone, and was ultimately given the email address of a Verizon employee who promised to resolve the issue. My coworker emailed him two weeks ago, and has not received a response. Typical Verizon.

3) Yet another coworker had said the hell with Verizon and their shitty service. He scheduled the appointment for the tech to come out and take back the cable boxes, etc. Yet two weeks later, Verizon debited his checking account for over $900. Again, multiple phone calls, bounced around from department to department, and he finally gets the answer that he didn't return the boxes. THE DAMN TECHNICIAN PICKED THEM UP TWO WEEKS AGO?? To make things worse, Verizon indicated they couldn't credit his account directly, and would have to send a paper check. It's been about two weeks, and he has not received his check.