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Verizon FIOS Tease
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It's amazing how difficult it is to get Verizon FIOS installed. As you may recall from my first attempt at getting FIOS, it was a less then stellar experience. I was finally able to get a rep on the phone the following week. We talking through various options and pricing and right when I thought things were headed towards an install date, he politely informs me that he can't sell me the "Freedom Package". Rather, he is only able to sell the TV, Internet, and Phone services as seperate items at a higher total cost.
Now here's the best part. He doesn't bother to tell me how I can get the Freedom Package. The irony of this Freedom package is not escaping me at this point. Instead, he just pauses as though I am supposed to direct the conversation somewhere else. Naturally, I pause thinking that he's looking something up on the computer to see why on earth he can't sell me what I want to buy. After several moments of silence, I finally say "how can I get the FIOS Freedom thingy?" He then tells me that I would have to call my local Verizon office. I didn't wait for him to pause this time and directly asked him if he had the number for the "local Verizon office". He did and gave it to me.
At this point it's about 7pm or so. I call the local office and, as I somewhat expected, they are only open from 8-5, M-F. I call them the next morning from work and after about 10 minutes on hold, a very kind gentleman answers and seems more than happy to help me get the FIOS Freedom package.
I am no fool (at least I don't think I am). I've done my homework on the Internet and know that there are many reports of Verizon not having any HD DVR STBs (set top boxes) in stock. He confirmed that they were out of stock, buy he was happy to offer me a standard definition STB for free for 4 months while I waited. I politely informed him that I was not interested in that offer even remotely. He insisted that it was my best option and I told him to forget the whole thing and I might call back some day when they were actually capable of selling me what I wanted.
He back-tracked and said that the HD DVRs should be available the first week of March. After some deliberation, we agreed to set an install date of Saturday, March 15th... plenty of time after the FIOS HD DVRs were supposed to be in stock. He also agreed to call me the Tuesday before and verify that everything was on track.
The whole process took about an hour, mostly time spent waiting for him to type something into his TRS-80 terminal or consult the yellow pages for which department he can call to verify some thing or another. Despite the overly long conversation, he was very nice.
Needless to say, he never called. I called Verizon on Thursday and the agent said that everything was fine and that I should be all set for Saturday. I asked about the HD DVR stock and she said that they were not in stock. I asked her to go ahead and cancel my order. She offered me the same crappy standard definition box as the other guy. I told her that I wasn't interested and she finally said, well I do see a small stock available. She does a bunch of typing and says things like "looks like I might be able to pull some strings for you" and "the system is letting me do it, so there must be some available in your area".
We chat some more which mostly consisted of me asking her to double and triple check that the install time was actually happening and that a HD DVR would be coming on install day. To make it clear, I told her that I would tell the installer to go away if he didn't come with it. She said everything was looking great.
Saturday came and went and no one showed up of course. No call, no nothing. Yay. I call the Verizon repair line a couple hours after the scheduled window and the rep said that there is something wrong with the order. What the heck went wrong with my order since Thursday? She has no idea and said that she has to open a ticket with another department. That department will then call me back. When? She doesn't know.
I get a voice mail on Monday from a fellow telling me that Verizon can only switch phone service with Comcast during business hours, so I need to schedule a new install time during the week. I call the number he gave me and spoke with another rep and schedule a new install date. I was hoping for something fairly immediate, but to make matters worse, they never even bothered to place the 5-day advance notice to Comcast to authorize the transfer. Sigh.
My install date is now scheduled for Monday the 24th.
Mood: Nervous about having my ingrown nail prodded by the doctor this morning.
Listening to: John Williams (the classical guitarist, not the film composer)
Watching: American Gangster (was pretty decent)
Reading: Snowcrash
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