Sunday, September 04, 2011

Verizon Landlines and DSL suck

Jim Gerace
Verizon President - New York Region
140 West Street
New York, New York 10007


September 3, 2011 
DEAR SIRS:
I am writing this as I sit home all day and wait for my SECOND REPAIR APPOINTMENT for my local DSL service. It has been a month since I can maintain a connection to the internet. 
I need to tell you how far your company has fallen. Your service sucks. Since I moved to Fort Greene Brooklyn in 1998 your landlines have only deteriorated from a bad situation (with constant noise on the line), to NO CONNECTION AT ALL. My backyard is a mess of wires, a fact I have pointed out to every single repair person who has ever been here (Note: there is a lot more on this later), and yet you constantly blame MY IN-HOUSE WIRING for the problems I have experienced since 1998. And you want to charge me $150 minimum to come here and check out my wiring! AND It is at least a :15 minute wait to talk to anyone about anything (except as a new customer). 
On August 3 my DSL went out. I can connect only in short periods, and have to restart everything 20 times a day.  (Did I mention that I am an independent web developer and designer who depends on internet access to be employed?) I unfortunately called the first day of your selfish strike, which has only further damaged your credibility. I suffered for weeks until my first ”available” appointment last Monday August 29 from 10am to 2PM. I took off from a job and waited home all day, and spent at least :40 minutes on hold on two phone calls just to find out if the day I HAD TAKEN OFF FROM WORK was a total waste of time & money, or not. (It was.)
At 6:30PM a Verizon technician named Shawn arrived. He went into my backyard, and using the switch box he determined that there are indeed problems on the line. Your office had told me repeatedly that there was no trouble on the line. 
He then asked ME FOR A LADDER TO CLIMB MY FENCE INTO THE WEED-CHOKED, INACCESSIBLE NEXT DOOR YARD WHICH HOUSES YOUR MAIN TELEPHONE BOX FOR MY BLOCK. He nearly broke my fence climbing over and back. 
This ladder/fence operation occurs every time ANY PROBLEM OCCURS ON OUR TWO BLOCKS - TO ANY CUSTOMER. The lady next door never lets anyone in and I have been constantly bothered FOR YEARS with your technicians wanting to climb over my fence. And I have to supply the ladder (or two ladders, which one would need to NOT DAMAGE MY FENCE - which was not constructed to hold the weight of 200 pound man). 
I want something done about this. A PUBLIC UTILTY POLE SHOULD NOT BE LOCATED IN A LOCATION WHICH IS NOT ACCESSIBLE, NOR MAINTAINED. (I am referring to #40 South Oxford Street next door). I want to be paid for access every time a Verizon worker goes through my private home and borrows two ladders from me from this point forward (and why don’t your service-people have their own damn ladders?). 
And more importantly, why has nothing been done about the deteriorating mess back there, seeing as how I mention my extreme displeasure about the situation EVERY SINGLE TIME A VERIZON SERVICEPERSON APPEARS AT MY DOOR ASKING FOR ACCESS!? This whole section of Brooklyn has shoddy, antiquated lines probably from the 1920s. Yet you have sunken not a dime into repairing this “infrastructure.” 
IT IS NO WONDER THAT YOUR LOCAL LANDLINE BUSINESS IS FALLING OFF IN DROVES AS PEOPLE LIKE ME DUMP THEIR LANDLINES. In many cases this switch is not a question of price - but of extremely poor quality service. You and all your people will soon be out of a job if something is not done immediately to improve this situation.
AS FOR MY DSL: My first visit was a total waste of time. After waiting all day Shawn did not repair my DSL. It worked for an hour and then went out again. And he did not even wait around to check it or test it before he ran off to another appointment (at 7PM!) I have never dealt with a more inept major firm.
I am writing this on Saturday September 3, my second full day of waiting for a repairperson, and it is now almost 5PM and no one has come. My window was 8 am to 6 pm. 
I just called the dispatch phone number again for the second time today (the first was at 1:29 pm) and was told that a repairperson had come out and determined that it was a “CABLE” problem shortly after noon. BUT NO ONE TOLD ME THIS DESPITE MY LATER PHONE CALL!  And your people just told me I should have been informed of this then, and I did not not have to wait at home all day!? Thanks for nothing. My window was 8 am to 6 pm. I expect MUCH MORE from a supposedly-reputable company like yours. And as far as I know NOTHING HAS BEEN REPAIRED.  If my DSL is not fixed by 8PM I am canceling my lines and getting a Cable Modem -- like every other sensible person I know!
And I expect more then just a simple month credit for my pain and suffering from your inept service and subsequent screw-ups. I wasted two full days, waiting. Time Warner gives an additional month free for missing an appointment time slot. You missed TWO. I also want my backyard situation resolved immediately. I want all the excess sloppy wiring removed and I want that Utility Pole moved and my fence repaired. I also want a free upgrade to Business Level, or at at least three months credit to my current DSL account.
I can promise you that: if another company offered a landline service here I would be using them. And if this DSL issue is not resolved completely to my satisfaction I will surely be dumping ALL MY VERIZON SERVICES - something I apparently should have done a long time ago.
Thank you for your time in reading this letter. 
In closing I ask you: what is an appropriate amount of time a long-time customer should have to wait for repair to their service? And what is an acceptible waiting period for a repairmen to arrive at a scheduled appointment? Four hours? One full day? Two full days? (MY TIME is obviously worth NOTHING to you and your company.)
Sincerely,
 Abbot Weissman
Verizon customer since Bell Atlantic in 1983.
Verizon DSL customer since Bell Atlantic first offered it (2000?).
Home Phone and DSL/Fax Line
Moved to current address in 1998.
First job ticket # from August 4, 2011: nyhm631947

Cc: Lowell C. McAdam, President and Chief Executive Officer;
Ivan G. Seidenberg, Chairman of the Board;
Anthony J. Melone, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer