Verizon DSL Consumer Reviews - Page 2

Do employees at Verizon have 12 hours to sit around the house waiting for a technician who may or may not show up? Starting from the beginning, when we moved into the apartment, Verizon DSL was the only option for internet service. So they have a captive audience, why try to satisfy them. In addition, we were required to purchase and pay for unwanted Land Line service, not as part of a money-saving bundle, but because we were told that it was technologically necessary. Does anyone know if that is true, or were we just lied to?

DSL service was basically acceptable, with the usual outages and spotty quality, but no major problems. Until last Thursday morning, 6/10/10, when the land-line phone rang. Apparently a technician was working on something and testing the lines. Since that time, our Verizon DSL service has been out and we can hear other people's conversations on the Verizon land-line.

We called Verizon that morning and went through the hour-long process or being put on hold, transferred, asked to unplug and reboot the modem, etc. Eventually we were told what we already knew, that the problem was on Verizon's end and we were assured a technician would be out. We waited. And waited. And waited. At 4 PM, we received a text message that a technician had been dispatched. We waited. And waited. And waited. At 8:30 PM we called, and were told that the problem was at the Central Office, and that no technician was being sent. Umm, couldn't they have told us that rather than make us wait around?

Meanwhile, we made a new friend, ** in India. Apparently Verizon is unable to pay a technician in the U.S. to come solve the problem, but is more than happy to pay ** in India to call us every few hours to let us know he cares that our service is down. While it's always nice to have overseas phone-buddies, we'd really rather just have the service back. ** assured us again that the service would be restored within 24 hours, and that we should call him if it wasn't.

So when the service was not restored by Friday night, we called ** in India. ** very politely read us the script that says how sorry he is, but that the appropriate department in the U.S. is closed for the weekend. I've never heard of this service model -- since we continue to be billed over the weekend, can't they schedule technicians over the weekend? But ** in India cares and would like to follow up with us the following week. Except that he's on holiday Monday and Tuesday. But if it's not fixed by Wednesday, we should call him. It's good to know ** in India cares that much, even if our local service operation doesn't.

Sunday night, we decided to call again to make sure a technician would be out in the morning. Sadly, caring ** was out, but one of his colleagues cheerfully walked us through the same script. Eventually, the realization dawned that a technician needed to fix the problem. So we were told that a technician would be out Monday. And we were then told that we must remain available and ready to immediately answer the door for the technician during the service “window” of 8 AM to 8 PM.

How thoughtful of Verizon to let us know that they will not be sending a technician out at 3 AM, although we would actually be home at that time. This is the same thing they said Thursday, and never showed up or let us know. One wonders why a Technology and Communications company can't schedule its technicians better, including proving service on the weekends, and can't even inform customers when the technician visit has been cancelled. Clearly, Verizon just doesn't care.

Fortunately we're moving in a few months. One of the first questions to ask about a new neighborhood will be “Who provides internet service here – are there choices other than Verizon?”

Let me tell you a little story, Mr. Seidenberg. My Verizon business DSL line was disconnected for lack of payment.
This happened because, contrary to the billing address I gave the representative who took my order, my bills were sent to the office where the DSL line was installed. This office happened to be in a federal building in Florida. My company has a suite there were we have four people working. This is a temporary facility that has no mailing address.

The folks in the mailroom had never heard of my company because our job site was the Federal Courthouse across the street from our field office. They sat on the bills or threw them away. There was no reason to be concerned because we assumed the bills were being correctly sent to an address in Tennessee where our AP department resides.

It took 3 weeks to get us back online. I called Verizon and got the usual treatment: A search for an appropriate phone number that turned out to be incorrect. A bunch of automated messages that had no relationship to my needs. A series of confounded requests to speak to a representative. A representative that put me on perpetual hold so I could start again. Finally a representative that would listen to me but only fed me the line that Verizon was sorry for the apparent mix up but they couldn'€™t reconnect my service until the check showed in the system as being cleared.

It was three weeks until that was resolved. I had to call to get the service turned back up again even though the checks had cleared. We needed to move offices. Literally 2 weeks later, my project manager tells me there is now space to move into the building across the street where the project is underway. I dread having to call Verizon to get this in the works but I do so and am pleasantly surprised to get a woman who actually seems to want to help me. I explain how I want to move the service across the street.

She is pleasant but it takes 3 days to get the new location €œprovisioned€ because there is a discrepancy with suite numbers in Verizon'€™s records regarding the Federal Courthouse. She however was able to get an email into my inbox saying this new order was in place. Another email said I would be seeing a Verizon technician on March 5th which is a Friday. The email said that I could call a number to change that date if it was inconvenient. It was. We have no employees there on Fridays.

I called to change the install date. I called the first time and explained that the technician couldn'€™t do the install on Friday because no one would be there. They rescheduled it for the 8th. It was in the notes in the Verizon database. The 8th was my day. The next day I get another email, not a bit unlike the first email. It said to expect the technician on the 5th. I called back to reschedule. Again. The representative assured me that the 8th was in the notes and that I was all set for that day.

I get a call from a technician on the 5th wondering why I am not on site. Really. I know it's hard to believe, but the word never got to the guy performing the work. He called me and was confused by the fact that he was supposed to be there on the 8th. He even called me back to verify he needed to be there between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM on the 8th. I told him that was correct. The 8th was my day. On the 8th, the technician never showed.

When I called Verizon (again going through the usual phone gyrations trying to get to the right department and getting put on hold, disconnected, calling back, yada, yada) I was told that my install date is set for the 11th. Thursday the 11th I am out of town.

I pleaded with the representative that a technician needed to be there today to get this accomplished this week. She assured me that "€œProvisioning"€ told her the 11th is the soonest date for install and that a technician couldn'€™t possibly be out today. In all the annoyingly redundant emails I got from yet another automated Verizon service, not one told me the 11th was the real date I would get my service installed. Two or three of the emails warned me that I would be charged $199.00 if I didn't show. None of the emails consoled me into believing I would get a credit if the technician failed to show.

I wish I could say this was an anomaly but I can'€™t. Every experience I have ever had with Verizon has been an unpleasant one. Even the ones where the install occurred on the scheduled day. I will make sure that I exhaust all possible opportunities to get an Internet connection at the many field sites I setup each year from another source before I call Verizon again. You have no grasp on customer service. You have designed your customer-facing systems to insulate your employees from the customer. You have gotten too big and arrogant to care about anything or anyone.

With regard to my own finances, I made it my personal quest to never spend another one of my dimes on your company and am glad to say I have kept that promise since 2004 when I dumped my home phone service. Mr. Seidenberg, I would be ashamed to have my name associated with this company. I can only pray that you will actually see this post and recognize that your company needs to change its ways. I assume, though, like all your customer-facing systems at Verizon, this email address is just another frustrating facade to true customer service. .

I do NOT want to take any time out of my life to do this, but what has happened with Verizon is so ludicrous I have to get it off my chest or I will feel insane. I'll try to be brief about the multitude of mishaps: 1) I was offered 3 free months, my bills were over 200 due to not well explained "pro-rating" (on which I DID NOT GET A REFUND ONCE THE INTERNET WAS CANCELLED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION (SEE BELOW)) and other misc. charges. 2) I called to find out why the bill was so high, it was not well explained, I agreed to pay the last high bill and was told I'd drop to $70 a month (outrageous) and I'd be at 0 balance.

3) Went to the website a few weeks later, tried to log in, requested the PIN which never arrives, I see another charge for 225. I call, I ask why I have another 200 charge, am transferred all over, I ask to have my phone line reduced to the minimum amount (which was done properly) and start researching net zero and cox. I'm finally told that the horribly done website is out of date and that is an old bill I am looking at, that my account is at 0 balance. I am reassured that the only change to my account is the phone line reduction.

4) Note on website: it would not accept an Amex or a Visa gift card, will not allow credits in your account if you try to pay early, and shows out of date info is confusing and asks for a pin which never gets texted. 5) A week later I get an email stating my internet has been disconnected (without my permission). I call. I am told a) I must not have paid my bill (apparently their computers are out of date too). that I must reconnect and incur more connection fees and a 12 month contract (my lease will expire before then).

I ask for a manager. I am transferred back to the MAIN MENU. I wait, confused, it sends me to the technical dept. I ask for the manager three times, he continues to talk. He gives me a phone number to the CA Verizon. I am transferred properly. I am told that I must re-connect for a new 12 months. I will supposedly only incur a 19 dollar connection fee. I ask if the 175 dollar fee is being applied, he does NOT KNOW.

This is what I KNOW. I'm now on a Verizon contract which lasts longer than my apt. lease which does not make me happy. IF VERIZON charges me the 175 disconnect fee, I am suing them in small claims court no matter what it costs me. In my opinion it is unethical to place ANY FEES AT ALL ON MY ACCOUNT for their mess up and their disconnecting my service without reason, without notifying me, and without my requesting it. IN MY OPINION a good company would have actually offered me something free to recompense for the trouble and mess up. I DO NOT SUGGEST VERIZON, EVER.

WEIRTON, WEST VIRGINIA -- I have been a Verizon customer in one area or another for 14 years for home service and currently have several Verizon cell phones with my family that we have maintained for around 6 - 8 years. Until this point (March 23, 2009) I have enjoyed outstanding customer service. On the evening of March 8th or 9th (I'm not sure) I spoke with someone in the sales department and wanted to upgrade my DSL service from 768k download to the 3Mb download speed. He was very nice and explained everything to me including that my service would be active within 24 hours.

The following evening I checked my internet speed and I was still at the slower rate, being a computer tech I restarted my modem and router to no avail. I then called the tech support number and checked on the status of my order. To my disbelief the computer told me I would have to wait until today, March 23, 2009. I then called and spoke with a representative who did her best to assist me and in the end filed a trouble ticket for me. The following day I was notified that my service activation date could not be increased any faster. I accepted this and expected my service to be activated on the 23rd.

The following day I called and spoke with ** and expressed my dissatisfaction with the service I have received thus far and requested a credit because of the many hours I spent dealing with the broken promise from the sales department and the "stone wall"€ of the central office that in their lack of resolution to the matter conveyed this message to me: "€œWe at the central office don'€™t really care what sales promised to you. It will be activated on March 23rd and may take up till 6PM."€

** agreed and gave me a credit of $43.98 and told me that I would have to call a toll number (410 954 6260) to the billing department the following day (because the billing department was closed) to request it because he cannot put the credit on himself. The catch on this is that I work during the hours that your billing department is open and I cannot call at that time. Let alone clinging to the hope that person on the other end doesn'€™t make me jump through hoops or do jumping jacks while singing the National Anthem of some country that is the size of Manhattan Island to get the credit promised to me. I have not called yet for the reasons I outlined above.

At this point I waited patiently until today March 23, 2009, the second date promised to me that my service will be activated. I get home and test my speed€“ still at the 768K speed. I did all the techie things of restarting my DSL modem and router. Nothing€“ just my original service (I even waited until after 6 pm, just like the all knowing central office stated). I then called again at 6:30 pm and spoke with another representative in your overseas call center whose name I could not get (she said it but I couldn'€™t understand her pronunciation). She did all the testing on the lines and stated that my service was showing that I should be getting my 3MB download.

She went through and filed another trouble ticket and forwarded it to the omnipresent central office for review. When it was done I asked to speak with her supervisor. She told me that she had done everything correctly and there was nothing else her supervisor could do to make things go faster and that she was currently in overtime. I again requested a supervisor and after holding she said that at this point she was unable to provide me with a supervisor because her shift was over at 7 pm and it was now 7:30 pm. She again told me that everything was done properly and that I should have a resolution within 24 to 48 hours. So I thanked her for her effort and we hung up.

I promptly attempted to call back and get someone who would be still on their shift to get me a supervisor. When I connected to an agent, they began to greet me and just before they said their name I was dumped back into the main menu. Be it your phone system had a problem or it was the same representative who just didn'€™t want to deal with me. (To my defense I have been in her position previously with AT&T wireless and do not yell or scream at these hard workers because I didn'€™t like it done to me and it'€™s not their fault, but I am stern but polite in my requests as they are no more than what I was promised.) This made me very VERY unhappy.

On my third call this evening I was pleasantly surprised to have a North American call center on the line. The representative was ** and she worked very hard trying to help me. After some more diagnostics she was able to explain to me that for some reason the almighty central office made a mistake and my service most likely had a pointer to both the 768K and the 3MB service and the system defaulted to the slower speed. She also verified that the ticket was correct (which it was) and attempted to try to fix the problem from her end. In the end the ticket stands because there was no way she could fix it.

I thanked her for her assistance and asked for a supervisor to express my dissatisfaction and to obtain your address. She graciously obliged and I spoke with ** for a little who also verified the ticket was correct again. I believe that these two reps deserve kudos for their dedication to helping customers, as we both know without me and the hundreds of thousands of other customers like me who bust our humps to make a living so that we can pay your bills so you can have your 6 and 7 figure incomes.

All we ask for is customer service reps that actually care and are willing to help us in our time of need, it also really helps when you can speak with someone who has a better grasp of the English language so that the problem can be universally understood.

In conclusion I would first like to apologize for the cheap shots that I have taken through this letter. It was my intention to make you laugh as I am trying to at this point, because if I don't I would most likely die early from holding in stress and frustration. I also want to point out that I am not looking for any additional compensation from you. I feel that my 2 months of my previous DSL charge ($43.98) is sufficient (as long as I receive it), however I am also not opposed to you offering anything additional you may feel appropriate. I would also like to express that I WAS very interested in getting the Verizon FiOS when it became available in my area.

However after this ordeal, once I have the service promised to me I am going to keep it that way to avoid all the hassle and just deal with my Cable provider for my TV. I just hope that my letter will inspire whoever reads this to seriously look into having their reps give more realistic timeframes to the customers. Like Scotty did in the Original Star Trek. He would tell Capt. Kirk it would be 2 hours and deliver the repair in under that. It's a bad analogy I know but it gets my point across.

I thank you for your time spent reading this and hope you got a laugh or two about this, but please know that I am very serious when I tell you that I will no longer recommend your services to family, friends, and customers of the Tech company I work for until I receive acknowledgment that the matters I have outlined here are being dealt with€“ most importantly the sales department. Thank You Again.

UPDATE 3/25/09. After I wrote this letter and mailed it my service was still not at the 3mb speed. I spoke with over another 8 or so reps and I was told by the Demi-gods who call themselves the Central Office that I can't get the 3 mb service because I am too far away from the main office (by a little over 1000 feet - yes I asked and that is accurate if you can trust these people) and that I can only get the 1.5 mb service and they would be glad to set that up and still bill me the same amount for the 3 mb service.

After that I went and called the billing department who verified I got my credit from earlier but that they could not help me with the pricing and would not issue any additional credit. At this point I had given up. I called my cable provider (Comcast) who was very happy to assist me in getting 6 mb service for not much more than I was paying for for Verizon at the 3 mb. So my recommendation to anyone is tell Verizon to shove it and go a different route. Please leave me a comment if you read this - thank you.

MARYLAND -- Gee whiz--where to start? The only good thing I have to say about my experience with Verizon is that, once I had their cell phone service, it worked fine. But heaven forbid if you have any issues where you have to deal with an actual person or have a problem solved.

They started out by assigning a second cell phone number to my family plan that is a long distance number. You'd think a phone company could fix this, but apparently not. They said they had no way of knowing it was a long distance number. Well, I knew by looking it up in a phone book where it was listed "Annapolis" which is long distance from Baltimore.

Then, when finally assigning a new number, they gave me a number that still had all kinds of subscriptions attached to it--so I was getting charged for daily astrology texts and similar subscription services to which I did not subscribe. They told me it was up to these subscribers to decide if they would credit these charges. I actually had to block all texts to my phone so I wouldn't get charged for them.

I recently moved but just one floor down, so my physical address had not changed. For some reason that no one at Verizon was able to explain, I was without DSL service for a week while they checked to see if I could get it in my house. Remember, I was in the same house. I was given complimentary dial-up (princes that they are) and was given a local number to connect to but advised to be sure it was a local number as Verizon would not be responsible for long distance calls. Um, Verizon, you're a bloody telephone company. If you don't know if it's long distance, how the heck should I? You gave me the number!

So, of course, I was moving my phone service, as well. The day it was supposed to have changed came and went and I ended up with no service in either location--this was after calling Verizon three times to make sure they were still on target and being told three different times of day that they had to complete the order. Conveniently, the "customer resolution" center was closed by that time.

The next day, after being routed all over their call centers and finally getting through to someone who understood me and who I could understand, I was told the order had been completed and that it must be an internal issue. They set an appointment for me 7 days later. Seven days Verizon expected me to be without phone service. Not to mention to taking a day off from work.

I contacted a friend who told how to tell if Verizon actually had done what they were supposed to do, so I went home at lunch time to be greeted by the Verizon guy up on the pole yelling down at me asking me the questions that should have been answered on his work order. So, not surprisingly, Verizon had not done what they were supposed to have done or said they did.

My latest, ongoing issue is that, for some reason that Verizon can't explain, I cannot connect from my home phone to my second cell phone number. I get an error message and must go through the operator to be connected. I can't wait to see THOSE charges. I may see them, but I will not be paying them. When you do discuss charges, all they do is try to sell you things you don't want or need. In the meantime, I am impatiently waiting for my cell phone contract to expire with them to end my long, painful association with Verizon.

NEW JERSEY -- Mid-December of 2005 I decided to subscribe to Verizon DSL on one of my phone lines. After my initial call I realized that they may have misunderstood which line I wanted the service installed on. I called back and as suspected, they were about to install it on the incorrect line.

Initially the Verizon rep thought that they would have to cancel the order and enter a new order for the correct line, which would mean my shipping the equipment back when it arrived. She spoke with a supervisor and connected me with her. She was very nice and said that she could simply change the number on the order. Great. The start date given to me orally was the 9th of January. When the equipment arrived, the date was the 10th.

On the 7th I received a call notifying me that the service was ready. I did the install and during the "setting up account", I could not connect. I called their tech support and was told that the service was not complete and that the date they had was the 16th. Upon further investigation I found out that the initial incorrect order had not been canceled and that it was activated on the wrong line. I did (I think) get that service canceled and am still waiting for the service on the correct line.

On the 10th of Jan the line that I want the DSL service on went dead. I called repair and was told that the line tests OK. I explained to the repair rep that there was no dial tone at the NID. She scheduled a repair appointment for the 12th. No one showed and the line was still dead. I called them back and was told that the line tests OK. I again explained that there is no dial tone at the NID. She apologized and assured me that a supervisor would call first thing the next day and that someone would come out. No one showed.

When I called back I was told that the repair visit was scheduled for the 16th. When I complained to the supervisor he told me that someone would be out on the 14th. No show. Another call and I was told that the tech could not gain access. The NID is outside! It was raining! Another call to a supervisor and after many apologies, I was told that a tech would be here on the 15th.

I again explained that despite their test, the line is dead on my end. No show again today and when I called I was told that the problem is resolved as the line tests OK. When I seemed rather irate I was simply put on hold. The next possible repair date is the 18th. I think not. At this point I not only do not have DSL service but no service on that line at all. I will cancel the DSL service and seek another provider for my entire service

GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND -- On October 21, 2005 I ordered DSL and some changes to phones that were in my home office that would be moving to my NEW OFFICE. Here's what I did: I asked that my phone ** be moved to the above noted address by Oct. 31, 2005. I also asked that my other phone, **, in my home (formerly used for data/fax) become my new home phone and I purchased Verizon long distance services. I called your DSL sales office and asked if the phone number ** that would be located at the above address would have DSL services. I was told YES! So I ordered the DSL line and signed my NEW LEASE for my NEW OFFICE on October 31, 2005.

I like to state here and now, I asked if I needed another phone number and I was told, NO, I didn't need another phone number for DSL. Here's what happened: On October 31, 2005 I did get my phone in the new office, but I had NO SERVICE AT ALL in my home. Three days later I finally got service (**) in my home, but I didn't have any Long Distance Service. I finally got long distance service 15 days later. I was forced to use my Cell Phone for any long distance calling. This was enough to make me crazy already, but believe me this is only the beginning of this SAGA.

I received a call on November 1, 2005 that my DSL would be “Service Ready” on November 14, 2005. While I wasn't thrilled,…. okay at least I'd have it by mid November. So I had to work from home and not in my new office. On November 14, 2005 I got an email telling me my DSL would now be “Service Ready” on November 30, 2005.

So I made the FRIST of 37 phone calls between November 14th and November 30th. I was told each time that my service was proceeding as planned and they were sorry for the delay. On November 22nd I called to verify again that everything was going to proceed properly this time. Someone in the Tech division told me that he thought my DSL line was going to be canceled. I couldn't believe it. I asked WHY! They transferred me to the Sales Department that once again assured me that my DSL service was NOT CANCELED and would be installed on November 30th by 6PM.

On November 30th I was in my office waiting all day for this service to be activated. You see Verizon had been kind enough to ship me the MODEM on November 10th. So I had my tech people there ready to set up all the PCs and network our office. I was actually on the phone with Verizon several times that day with witnesses asking if they were in fact going to get my service up. At 6 PM, I still didn't have any service. I called Verizon again. In fact I spoke to 6 people that evening for a period of 2 hours.

I finally was told that I needed to CANCEL the order for my DSL service so they could start all over. I spoke with someone in Texas that assured me that if I did this they could expedite the order. So the order was canceled and I was told that it would take a few hours for it to get through the entire system. The person from Texas called me the next morning (a first) and stated that the cancellation had gone through the system. I asked if he knew whether I needed a different phone number or would ** still be okay. He said that he would call me later in the day and let me know. I NEVER GOT THAT CALL.

I did, however, get a call from the Business Office and I was told that I would NOT BE GETTING DSL since the Gaithersburg Central Office did not have any space available for more DSL service. He even told me that this service had been closed since October 2005. I was then told that MAYBE I could get DSL service by mid January.
Well that was the LAST STRAW….!

I was lied to 37 times. No one cared at all that I opened a new business office and needed this service. In fact I SIGNED MY LEASE BASED ON GETTING DSL SERVICE. You see my business is the Internet. I design websites and I own an Internet Marketing company, Shopping Portals, Inc.

Now here's what isn't funny. I pay $300 a month for my sublet space in an office that another company also moved into at the same time I did. Both of our businesses rely on the Internet. But at least the other company could work there, I COULDN'T. So I had to “Call Forward” all my calls back to my home office so that I could work from home. Are you getting the PICTURE YET! Now I am paying for an office I can't work in at all and I have your bill for a phone in my office that I can't use at all. I could have left my phone in my home. It would have cost me MUCH LESS, too.

In fact you OWE ME for the rent I have paid for an office that I haven't been able to utilize. Not to mention all the new furniture and PCs, printers and other office equipment I purchased to be used in my new office. Here's a list of expenses: Rent $600 + $300 deposit = $ 900.00; New PCs & printer = 2500.00; Furnishings = $ 800.00; Construction to build out office = $ 400.00.

I'm sure this list looks like PEANUTS to them, but it isn't peanuts to me. I work hard to make a living and this expense would never have been made had I been told that I could not get DSL service in my office in October 2005. I wouldn't have signed the lease and gone to all this expense.

Verizon has NO BUSINESS doing business in the state of Maryland. They do not provide the services they are chartered to provide. But the worst of it all is the lying! Verizon owns all the LINES. I think this stinks! I have competition which makes me do my job better than the rest. They have no competition so THEY DON'T GIVE A DAMN! For the record, since I have told lots of people and businesses about the unbelievable treatment I have received from Verizon, you wouldn't believe how many of them volunteered their sad stories of your lousy service, too.

HYATTSVILLE, MARYLAND -- My DSL service through AOL was interrupted. AOL did a diagnostic check and reported my DSL line was not receiving any signals and that AOL would send a repair work order to Verizon. After a few days of not having DSL, I called AOL back and the techie told me he would contact Verizon again. This time he gave me a work order number.

After another few days, I decided to call Verizon myself. After being on hold for almost 1/2 hour, a customer service rep came on the line and asked me the number I was calling about. I gave him my name, phone number then he asked for my address-which I gave also. The rep then tells me that I must have given him the wrong phone number because the phone number that I gave him was listed under another name and address.

I gave him my name, phone number and address again, and the rep tells me that this number is listed at another address and under a different name. Then he has the audacity to ask me "Who is paying your bill because this bill is listed under another name?" I then told him that the bill comes to my house and under my name. I gave him the same information for the third time, and he still maintained that this was not correct. I then asked to speak to a supervisor.

When the supervisor came on the line, she asked me for the same information again. I gave her all my information and she said "No wonder, he had the wrong area code." I explained to the supervisor that my DSL line was down and that AOL had contacted Verizon and I wanted to check on my work order. She connected me to repair service and I was told rather rudely that this was an AOL problem. The repair service person said he would connect me to AOL. He did, he connected me to AOL in Toronto, Canada.

Meanwhile I received an e-mail from AOL informing me that they would no longer offer DSL and were referring all customers to Verizon and that AOL customers would get a special deal if they applied for DSL via a link. I ordered DSL through AOL's link with Verizon and received an order confirmation. After a week, I called Verizon and inquired when I would receive my modem and my connection.

I gave the customer rep my confirmation number and was told "There is no order under your name," but that she would gladly take my order for DSL but that the special deal would not apply because I was ordering through Verizon. At this stage of the game, I just wanted my DSL. I received my modem within a few days, but no service. I called Verizon and was transferred from billing to repair to production and then to the DSL department and no one could figure out why my order was pending.

I mentioned that my DSL line had been down, so they transferred me back to repair. This ended up being a four hour ordeal since every department has that aggravating voice message. Repair told me they would check out the problem. Within a few days I received a letter from Verizon thanking me for ordering home line repair at a cost of $3.45 a month. I called the billing department and was kept on hold for another 1/2 hour when someone finally told me that this was a mistake and they would take this amount of my bill.

I explained to the person in billing what the problem was and she transferred me back to line repair. Another 1/2 hour wait and the repair person told me that AOL had never released my line back to Verizon and they could not, and would not check my line until the line was released. I called AOL and explained to the customer service person that AOL had not released my line to Verizon. AOL gave me a release number and informed me that my line had been released two weeks prior.

Called Verizon again and asked to speak to a supervisor. I explained to the supervisor the problems that I had with Verizon and she suggested that since there was a problem with the line situation, I should consider changing my phone number. I decided after not having DSL for three weeks, that this may be the best course to take.

Within a few days, I received a DSL start up date from Verizon. The start up date came and went and still no DSL. I called the DSL folks again and was told me order was pending, but no one seems to know why my order is pending. As it is, if I wait another week to cancel the service, Verizon will bill me $99 for the modem that I cannot use.

For 8 yrs. now we have had Verizon DSL with no voice service. Packet 8 provided our voice line and Verizon was the "dry loop" DSL. On April 18th I spoke to a CS Rep at Verizon and told them we would be moving as of May 14th. Since our move and the change to the account was after the cut-off date of May 6 we would need to have a voice line along with the DSL to have Verizon service.

The Rep said they could "port" my number over and give me local and long distance voice service and keep our DSL. A win/win situation. I told them okay. After all info was given I was to do a 3rd Party Verification. Okay no problem. Or so I thought.

On Monday the 23 of April I was contacted to do ANOTHER 3rd Party Verification as they could not find the one on the 18th??? So I did another. Called in on April 27 and was told the number was now at Verizon and everything was on track for the installation on May 4th... but I needed to do ANOTHER 3rd Party Verification. Seems they could not find the 1st or 2nd one so I said fine... whatever.

So Friday May 4th gets here and 12 noon comes and goes and no Verizon Tech. I called and they said he was running late, but would call me. Not 5 minutes later he called and said he could not put in the service as there was some problems with the phone number. So I called the main number again and the Rep told me the "ported" number was put on the data line and they would have to assign me a NEW number for my phone. I asked what kind of an idiot (ID 10 T error) puts a voice number on a data line when it was coming over as a voice number.

She said she did not know, but I needed to cancel my Packet 8 for them to do anything with the number now that they had it in their possession. I had my other half use his cell to call Packet 8 and cancel our account. I then asked to speak her supervisor and was put on hold for 22 minutes using up most of my cell minutes. I got a fellow in Memphis (her supervisor) and he said "No the number was not on the voice line as she had said it was... it was not even there (VERIZON) at all."

AND because it was a VOIP number, Verizon could not get it from Packet 8. Well the original Rep that placed the beginning order knew it was a VOIP number and if there was a problem with it being a VOIP number you would think they would have said something. So I told him the last Rep said I had to cancel my Packet 8 subscription now that Verizon had the number so they (Verizon) could try to move it from DATA to voice. He said "Oh no, if you cancel it we will never be able to get the number." Thankfully my other half had more minutes than I and called Packet 8 back and asked them to reinstate our number and account.

"NO PROBLEM... and while we are at it let's give you a FREE month of VOIP SERVICE and A NEW high speed adapter too." And Packet 8 Rep stated that at NO time did they ever receive a request from Verizon to "PORT" the number. So I told the VERIZON REP to just cancel my existing order for voice service, leave the DSL and just do a local voice line even knowing I would have a bill that would be about $20.00 more a month that I what was paying for just DSL. He said he would let me think it over, but would cancel the existing order, but would also have a representative call me at my insistence in 15 minutes. FINE.

I waited to hear from the Rep and after 45 minutes checked my emails and there was one from Verizon... thanking me for my "DOUBLE BUNDLE" Voice and Internet order. The email was timed about 10 minutes after I spoke to the last REP while waiting for the next REP to call me. I called back in and spoke to a very sweet young girl "**" who said she would try to help straighten this mess out and she would call me on MONDAY.

Well by mid morning I had not heard from anyone so I called and got ** in Tampa, who was more than happy to look at what the problem was, but I would have to do ANOTHER 3rd Party Verification to get the voice line as none of the previous VERIFICATIONS were showing up. Then as she got into the account she found at the existing order was blocked. AND she could not put any service on our new lot even if she wanted to, as the address was now blocked from any service.

She stated she had never even seen something like this before and had no idea who had the authority to block an account, except that it more than likely came down from the executive level. She would try to find out what was going on and call me back with any information she could find. Still waiting...4 hrs. later. CLEAR COMMUNICATIONS is looking like a good idea right about now as it looks like we will not have any service once they move our house off this lot but I just hate to do a dirty deal to Packet 8 as they have been above board and most accommodating in this whole thing.

HEMET, CALIFORNIA -- I was a customer of Verizon from early 2007 until April 2012 in Hemet, CA. I had phone and DSL. The phone was just outrageously expensive but was still a cheaper alternative than a cell phone at the time. I had nothing but trouble from both the phone and the DSL. Especially with the DSL which would constantly go down. I mean constantly, every few minutes. Every time I'd call, they'd test and say it was OK. It went so far that I had to contact corporate in NY. They sent me to a special department to handle really bad customer service issues and they were awesome and the problem was fixed.

I then lost my job and had to drop the phone and downgrade the DSL. Even with the downgrade, it cost me $10 more for the DSL because I dropped the bundle. I still saved around $30 a month but the lower speed was horrendous. It took forever to download even the smallest things and every time I'd launch a site, I'd have to refresh several times until finally, it would connect.

And it still would go down periodically, too. Way more often than it should (I should mention that during the whole dealing with corporate deal, one of the techs that came out told me that there were dead shorts in all the boxes in the park where I lived and that Verizon was not too interested in fixing any of them because they were pushing Fios). I had to pay for the privilege of this horrible service for another year and a half while I looked for work, mostly because I needed the DSL for job searches and I had already tried the local cable company's internet with even worse results.

I never found a job and I was forced to sell out and move in with family. I canceled my DSL service effective 4/2/12. I stopped the 3/28 payment because it didn't make sense to have to make two payments so close to each other. I decided I would just wait for and pay the final bill. But I still haven't rec'd the final bill. And when I call to inform them that they don't have my new address so they can send me the final bill, they tell me they can't change it because the account's been closed. What?? I can't give them an address to send the final bill to? Really, what?

Today I finally got someone who said that since I was signed up to receive my bills online, the address thing shouldn't be an issue. I should be able to still go online and find out what the final charges are but not until 5/2, a full month past the effective cancellation date. The problem there is after a certain amount of time, the online access is canceled, too.

So, they won't take an address to send the final bill to me. And I have to remember to go online and find out what the charges are before they cancel my access. But in the meantime, I'm considered past due. But not past due for what I actually owe. I'm past due for 2 full months as of the 21st even tho they won't tell me what I owe until 5/2. But here's the good news. As long as I remember to go find out the final charges and pay them within two weeks, they won't send me to collections. Yay!