The Communications Company That Is No!t

Hi Everyone,

Today's blog is a real event this happening to me and continues even as I type. The communication company is none other then Verizon. We have had Verizon FIOS for years now. Every time our 2 year contract is up, I have to negotiate with them to keep our monthly fees reasonable. Part of my newest deal with Verizon was to accept Digital Voice. Digital Voice became effective 3/27. That is the day when our problem started to occur and still has not been fixed and this is where our story begins. The first problem that occurred on 3/27 was what we call ghost calls. Every half hour, on the hour, 24 hours per day, seven days per week we receive ghost calls. Our ghost calls work like this: first the phone doesn't ring, but all the phones light up and the caller ID states, incoming call. You answer the call and all you get is dead air. Caller ID gives no further info i.e.: name and phone number. I called Verizon and explained the problem. The first service tech that I spoke with told me that the problem was with the actual switch that didn't switch us completely to Digital Voice. I was told, someone from Verizon would call me withing 24 to 48 hours.

Three days later and no call back from Verizon led me to calling again. By the time I called, there were other newer problems, including inability to call out of state, not receiving calls from people we know and no caller ID on our TVs. I told the second tech about the problems and he told me that the problem was internally, with our phones. I thanked him and told him that I knew what I had to do. I subsequently disconnected all our phones and reconnected one phone to each phone jack and waited. Sure enough the ghost calls continued. So I had to call Verizon again. I made many calls after each attempt to reboot my phone system (2 times) and work supposedly done on the infamous switch, (5 times) all to no avail.

By this time I knew Verizon's internal chain of command. When you call for a repair, you get a tech who is level one. When that person is unable to fix your problem, you request a Supervisor. When the Supervisor can't fix your problem, you request a tech to come to your house, level 3. Be forewarned though, Verizon will tell you that if the problem is in your house, meaning your wiring and/or phones, they will charge you for their visit on your next bill. So on Friday, 4/12 a service tech showed up at our house. After I described the problem(s), he told me that he had never heard of such a problem. I had him wait and see for himself when the ghost call happened, right on cue. He then went through our entire FIOS system and determined that the problem is indeed at the local, central switching station. He finally told me that he would call me and give me an update after going directly to the central switching station. No call back.

9:30 Saturday morning, 4/13 a second service tech arrived. I greeted him and asked why he came? He told me that I had requested a tech to come and that was why he came. A told him that a tech was here the day before of which he had no knowledge of. He also did the exact same thing as the tech did the day before. He waited and witnessed the actual incoming ghost call. He also told me that he had never since this problem. Then he told me that he would call me when he returned to the central switching station. Again, as usual no call back.

Sunday, 4/14 I called Verizon for the umpteenth time. Keep in mind, each and every time you call Verizon regarding a problem, even though it is hopefully detailed in their computer system, you will talk to a level 1 tech and you have to painstakingly have to repeat the history of the problem. This includes answering the same questions each time, very frustrating. So I spoke with another level 1 tech and his level 2 Supervisor. By this time, I was livid with Verizon and demanded that I be given the name and phone number of their complaint department. I was told that there was no such name and phone number and that I would have to register my complaint online. I certainly wasn't going to go to the end of the line and start the process from the beginning. Again I demanded to speak to the Supervisor's, Supervisor. I was told there was no one higher than him at the location that I called. I told the Supervisor that he had to  have a way to contact the person he reported to. After about 10 minutes of the BS going back and forth, he said that he could text his Supervisor. I told him to. FYI, almost every time Verizon put me on hold and/or tried to transfer me to another department I would get disconnected. So I always told the person I was speaking with, to make sure they wrote down my number so they could call me back. So as usual, I was disconnected and no way to call back and speak to the same person. Again, as usual, no call back.

Monday, 4/15 around 9:30 AM, a third tech showed up at my house. I asked if he knew that 2 other tech's were just here. He wasn't aware and all he was told was the install a new something or other in the main FIOS control system located in my basement. He said this would solve my problem. He installed it and left. Five minutes after he left, the ghost call happened right on cue again.

I waited until Tuesday, 4/16 to call Verizon back. The level 1 tech told me that the next department that I had to call was the Unlawful Call Center. FYI their number is 800.518.5507, if you need it. So I called them and had to again explain the problem. Right away, this Supervisor told me that they would be unable to trace the ghost calls since the calls never actually connected. I then told the person that I was sick and tired of having to speak with a different tech/supervisor each and every time that I called having to repeat the same story with the same questions posed to me. This woman told me that Verizon did have an Action Line to File a Complaint @ 800-483-7988 and that someone there would take ownership of my problem until it was resolved.

I couldn't call that number fast enough. The prompts gave me 2 options, either residential or business. So I went for residential. And who do you think I was connected with? A level 1 tech. I was furious when I found out that I had to repeat me story again to a level 1. Her Supervisor also couldn't help, put me on hold, was disconnected and I called the same number again. Same problem happened for a second time. I called the same number a third time and this time one prompt was for escalation department. I had mixed emotions, were they actually going to help me? The woman told me that yes, an Escalation Dept. employee would own my problem until it is fixed. She then told me to expect a call within, yes 24 to 48 hours. I said fine and hung up. Around 4:30 PM that day, a man called, said his name was Rick and that he is now my point person until the problem is fixed. He also gave me his direct, no prompts needed, phone number. He said that the first thing they were going to do was to trace the ghost calls. I told him that the Unlawful Call Center was unable to do that since the calls never actually connect. He told me that they had special equipment that the unlawful call center didn't have. Twenty minutes later, he called me back, (which unto itself was a minor miracle) until he told me that they were unable to trace the call since it never connected, DUHHHHHH! I already told him that. Then he said he would send a 4th tech to my house tomorrow to test the signal strength of the call from the interface box located on the outside of our home. Whatever that is going to do.

The next morning, I received another call from the Escalation Dept. The woman said that she was my point person until the problem was fixed. I asked her if she was aware that I already received a call the day before from her dept. and that I had already been assigned a point person. She replied that she was not aware.

So here we are, 26 days later and our problem is still not fixed. I have spoken to 19 Verizon employees and 3 techs, so far, who came to our home all still to no avail. I am flabbergasted regarding the total lack of communication between departments and employees in Verizon. And they call themselves a communication company? I THINK NOT. Their internal system is totally dysfunctional and has no common sense what-so-ever.

I do apologize for the length of this blog, but there was no other way to let you know what has happened and continues.

Please write down the number for the escalation department, since they do not give out the number easily, 800. 483.7988 and good luck.

Til next week.

Peter