Apparently some things never change with the ol' phone company.
Argh. Verizon's customer service may be just fine, but getting through to someone that can handle your order and deal with you is darned near impossible.
First, they aren't available at all on the weekends. Considering that I can call up DirecTV (my favored TV provider) 24x7 and get a CSR (Customer Service Representative) that can assist me, I'd chalk that up as a big strike against Verizon and their fledgling TV service.
Second, when you try to contact them via their 888 number you go through providing your home phone number so they can look up your records, but then you get passed along about 4 more times (if you are lucky, it might be more, or it might be less, but you'll lose count as you get disconnected about a half dozen times anyway...) and will get asked for the same phone number/account number when you do finally get someone that is supposed to help you.
But wait, there's more. Like I said above, 'when you do finally get someone that is supposed to help you...' you will invariably not connect to the right people the first time you get to speak with a human. Instead, you'll find out that you were forwarded through to the wrong department. Ooops. Another big strike.
What sets off this minor rant is that I signed up for Verizon's Triple Play offering (phone, TV and Internet) because their VoiceWing voice over IP (VOIP) phone service sucks rocks. Since getting the Triple Play offering going at home I've had the fun of apparently not being able to login on Verizon's web site where I could check my account, billing, programming choices, etc., and had my phone service turned on but not been provided with any instructions on how to use the calling features and such (including the built-in voice mail) that is part of the package. It took a batch of calls to get through to anyone that could tell me how to fetch my voice messages. Thankfully that was resolved after hitting a helpful CSR. But, as I apologize for digressing here, my latest issue is with the TV service. Apparently when the order was placed the sales tech put me in for the wrong movies package. Trying to get that resovled and get the channels I want turned on is proving to be an exercise in futility as I sit on perpetual hold listening to the most frustrating hold music ever. I've been disconnected a few times when waiting for a CSR and my ear is tired of being held to the phone waiting....
If Verizon is serious about being in the cable TV business, they seem to be taking well after their friends from Comcast {mad smiley} when it comes to service.
Hmmm, perhaps I should tell my son to try to get a job with Verizon. They clearly need the help. Then again, he might never be able to get through their system in order to turn in the job app/resume. Bleh.
