This company comes to town and asks me to sign up for their service after tearing my property apart and leaving an unsafe mess with wires on the ground.

I will NEVER NEVER EVER do business with Verizon.

I have been charged $300 for a couple of international calls that I made. The effective rate is almost $3 per minute. Verizon fios would not budge. This is clear cut rip off and taking advantage of unsuspecting customers. I have always used third party calling services for international calls. Somehow this time it went through verizon network.

I never wanted international dialing facility on my plan but I guess this is how the evil corporations make money; by giving you something you don't want/ need or request. Then they wait for one ocassion when you fall in their trap; which I did.

Well, this is to alert lot of other unsuspecting folks. I have already started my process of getting Direc TV, Vonage and comacast to replace the useless fios bundle I had.

Hope I never have to be a verizon fios in my life; as long as there are choices, I am staying away from verizon.

They can have my $300; as if their stock would shoot up! no way with such evil practices and customer service would they thrive.

They have proven to be penny wise pound foolish...they have my $300 but would lose $185 a month that I paid them each month for the triple play bundle.

After an entire day of waiting for my verizon fios installation and two hours of frustration, disconnections, misdirections, and bad information on the phone trying to find out when the installers were going to show up...I decided that if it is so difficult to get it installed, it must be a nighmare to get it serviced...I've decided to go back to cable t.v.

Verizon FIOS customer service is an absolute joke. The company is completely unregulated and argues that regulations aren't necessary because the competitive marketplace for Cable TV services is sufficient to enforce the company to have decent customer service. But Verizon's argument fails if for the simple reason it competes with the cable industry!! An industry with an equally horrible reputation for customers service. Well, if Verizon FIOS' customer service is being policed by competition, then I guess Verizon FIOS is doing everything it can to match the Cable industry's lackluster reputation.

I've had FIOS for about 3 years. Love the service, but if there's a problem -- WATCH OUT!!! Better grab a bottle of Xanax, a tall drink, and make sure you take the day off of work. Why? Because you'll need patience... lots of patience... and you'll need time... lots of time. Don't have any loaded weapons b/c after the 3rd of 4th or 5th time you repeat your problem to a different "department, " you'll want to blow your brains out. That, or put a hole in your flat screen TV with the blank void staring at you.

Mind you, this isn't the first time I've experienced a problem with FIOS over the past few years. I actually say prayers at night hoping not to have any technical, billing or other issues with FIOS because I dread making that call.

Here's a recap of my most recent experience earlier this evening...

Come home from work at 5:30 to a blank screen with the following announcement --

THIS CHANNEL IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE... CHANGE CHANNEL OR CALL THIS NUMBER - 1-866-962-1946...

So I make the call.

After going over my telephone number, name, rank serial number, mother's maiden name, and showing them a picture of the mole on my ass to confirm my identity because I had the misfortune of NOT also having a "Verizon Telephone Number" on my account (yes, I of the audacity to choose a competitive telephone provider over Verizon), I finally get ahold of someone who can access my account.

VZ: What's the problem sir??

ME: Well, I don't know, you tell me. My TV tells me to call this number.

VZ: It looks like your account is suspended.

ME: Really? How did that happen? I'm on auto-pay and the payment has been deducted every month for 3 years, without fail.

VZ: I can't say, sir. I'll have to transfer you to the billing department. We don't handle billing issues.

ME: Ok. Can you transfer me to a human being account rep [cue on hold music] resentative!!!

... ON HOLD MUSIC CONTINUES FOR THE NEXT 25 MINUTES... good, gives me time to eat dinner as I sit in front of my blank TV screen.

Enter Billing Department representative.

VZ: Sir, can you provide the Verizon Telephone Number associated with your account...

Oh God, here we go again... 10 minutes later and I've once again provided the rep with a picture of the mole... finally, my account information is up in front of her... finally, I can get this issue resolved and get TV service restored... finally...

VZ: Sorry, sir, yes this is the Billing Department, but we don't handle payments... that's another department... and I'm sorry to say that the payments department is only open from 8AM to 6PM and it's now 6:30 PM, you'll have to call back in the morning to have your service restored.

ME: Wait, you mean there's nothing I can do to identify the cause of the suspension this evening? Possibly have you restore my service??

VZ: No sir, even if we could, service wouldn't be restored until tomorrow during normal business hours.

ME: Well... thanks for wasting the past hour on the phone with me... had you bunch of idiots provided me with the right damn phone number from the get go, I would have been in touch with someoene during NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS!!!


And mind you, this is not a rare occurance. I'd say I've had to contact Verizon around a dozen times in 3 years. Each time the service experience gets worse and worse and worse. And no matter how many times I call, it takes 10 minutes and all the personal information in the world for them to even access my account information... and that's 10 minutes every damn time I'm transferred to one of Verizon's infamous "Other Departments."

How many Departments does Verizon have??? It has as many Departments as are necessary to make sure 90% of the complaining customers who call them get so fed up being transferred to a different Department they simply give up!!

Please... FCC... Virginia Corporation Commission... Attorney General... someone... please help!!!

I was watching a Christmas special on ABC Family (HD) with my children (3 and 11 years of age). At approximately 8:40 p m a commercial appears advising that "Drag Me To Hell" is on demand this month. I thought this was very inappropriate. Enough said.