Verizon: The Anti-Christ of Utility Companies

I moved into my new apartment on March 15th. My original date for the installation of my phone line was March 17th. By the time I picked up a phone and got a dial tone it was April 1st.

While that might not sound so bad, you first need to understand the constant stream of bullshit that I got for their CSRs. Every day I would call and inquire to the status of my order. EVERY DAY, I would be told the same thing: We’re sending someone out [this evening,tomorrow morning]. The next day would come, there would be no dial tone, and I would call back and repeat the process. It became a running joke in my apartment and at work.

Eventually I flipped out and demanded to speak to a manager on Monday, March 31st. This was a day after I got a voice-mail on my cell phone from an Verizon cable tech telling me: There are problems with the lines. Blah blah. We fix the issues, and have your service on in 24 hours. So, the CSR tells me no manager is available at the moment, but she’ll have one return my call by 7pm. 7:01pm rolls around and I call back. By some chance I get the same lady. She recognizes me and puts me through to a manager. I strongly voice my displeasure, and he explains to me they’re doing the best they can, etc. He promises to have someone out the next day.

I got home from work yesterday and, purely out of habit, checked to see if there was a dial tone. Indeed there was! Of course, the hilarious part is that I still need to get DSL. I’d say the over/under on that would be June 1st.