What the ?????

Hi Everyone,

Sometimes things happen to us, that we didn't see coming. Then when it happens, sometimes you scratch your head and ask why? Well that kind of thing happened to me yesterday. Mind you, I did have another topic for today, but yesterday's experience moves it up the ladder to the top rung. So this is what happened and you will want to remember this, just in case it happens to you..

I have an elderly friend who just returned home, 2 days ago, after an extended rehab stay for his knee replacement. The day he returned home, he discovered that his land line phones and TV didn't work. Verizon was called to report the problem. Yesterday, his neighbor called me and asked me to check the phones and TV. I went to his house and lo and behold his phones and TV all worked fine. I said that  since he had triple play, the problem was most likely connected to the fiber optic line where it connects to the inside. Or it may be a problem at the connection station. I left and at around 3:00 PM, right at the start of another snow storm, I called him to see if everything was OK. The line was busy, so I hung up. Around 4 PM, I called again and again the line was busy. Now I thought that was strange. He had call waiting and instead of getting a busy signal, you should get a ring until either the person answers or it goes to voice-mail. But that didn't happen. Now I suppose it is possible that one could be talking with someone, while having someone else on hold and then you get a busy signal. So I called again, a few more times, but I always got a busy signal.

By around 6:30 PM, I decided to call the Verizon Operator to have the line checked. The Operator put me on hold and then the computer system picked up. The system did not understand that I wanted to have a line checked. After 15 minutes on hold, after pressing "0" a bunch of times, a real person came on the line. I told her that I needed to have a line checked. She asked me for the PIN number for my friend's account. I did not know it and told the Operator such. She then asked me for his account number. Which again I did not know and I told her. She then asked if I at least knew the amount of the last bill. Wow, strike three I thought to myself. I told the Operator that I also did not know that answer. The Operator then told me that she was unable to test the line without my being able to answer any one of the 3 questions. I asked why? She replied that it was due to privacy concerns. I responded that, where we live, we were in the middle of a snow storm and I didn't want to chance driving. I asked her what were my other options? The Operator told me that I should call 911!? I told her that I had no knowledge of any emergency and that I thought calling 911 was not the appropriate thing to do. She then said sorry that she couldn't help.


So what has this world come to, that one can't even have a phone line tested without some kind of personal info about the account? This just makes no sense at all. This is definitely one of the most absurd Verizon policy's that I have encountered. How is someone supposed to have a phone line checked, especially if there may in deed be an emergency? If you don't have the info, don't even try. Call a neighbor like I did and all was fine, except for the phones.

Til next week.

Peter