"So that's it, it's over?"

Unfortunately, it very well may be the end, and it is certainly not the grand finale I was expecting. Four months after scheduling my phone installation, I seem to have arrived at the end of my journey with no FIOS (hooray), no final bill (oh well), and no real explanation (kinda surprising). All I have to show for it is countless hours of time on the phone with Verizon, never a single promised returned phone call through the call center, a bunch of different quotes for my final bill, and finally the admission that they can’t even bill me for charges I owe. A complete disaster.

During my experience with customer "service," there wasn’t a single person who was able to help re-schedule my installation, provide the “promised” shipping labels to return my equipment, or provide me a final bill. Hell, those folks couldn’t even transfer me to the right department most of the time – I spoke with more irrelevant departments than I can count. The few times I did seem to get through to the "right" department, no one could help me. Every person I spoke with was useless. Even when I escalated my concerns significantly up the corporate chain, it took nearly two weeks to determine that their billing system couldn’t spit out my final bill.

The good news is that the message really got out. My blog appeared on the Sports Guy’s “Links of the Week,” received over 26,000 pageviews, and I got lots of emails, almost all supporting my efforts - except for the one guy told me to “Jump off a bridge” – thanks for that. But best of all, perhaps, is that over 90% of poll respondents said that my blog will “affect [their] decision to consider Verizon FIOS.” Plus, the blog will live on indefinitely for those folks that stumble here. I have a hard time believing that my story would have a positive influence on readers, so hopefully lots of other people will be able to avoid the torture I endured, too.

Verizon can spend all the money it wants laying fiber optic cable, buying up the majority of the wireless spectrum auctioned off by the FCC, and trying to woo FIOS customers with free TVs and digital cameras, but if they can’t provide even the most basic customer service, it’s not going to be worth a damn in a few years. Hell, if they can’t even bill legitimate charges, maybe they should establish themselves as a charitable organization and enjoy the tax benefits.

So thanks again to everyone who kept up with my story – I appreciate all the readers, commenters, and emailers. I am sorry it ended with a thud, but I hope you enjoyed some of the stories along the way. If anything does happen, I will be sure to update the blog, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. And speaking of charitable organizations, I took the $23.65 I should have paid Verizon plus the meager $2.23 I earned through Google Ads, and donated it to my favorite charity – a small victory for the good guys.