"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: ... " (from Romans 13:8)
I know I drove a lot of you crazy a few weeks ago talking about all the confusion and stress when I signed up for Verizon FiOS. Well, I've had it for over a month now, and overall I'm happy with it.
I couldn't have been more surprised than I was at lunchtime today when I opened up a letter that came from my old cable company. It was a bill. As far as they were concerned, I was still a customer. They showed I had only paid my previous balance in part, and that now I owed a significantly larger balance.
I called the old cable company, and had to go through probably at least 6 voice mail prompts before I could get a "real" person.
On January 15, just a few days after we had FiOS installed, I went to the office of my old cable company. I asked them how much I owed to close out my account. I figured I owed at least $120 because I was about a month behind in my payments. I was quite surprised when I was told I owed $80 and change. I was perfectly happy to turn in the old equipment; then write out a check to "settle up" with them and that was that. Well, this new bill showed that I had actually owed far more (like I thought) and NOW they were billing me for my usage from Jan. 15-Feb. 15, as well. WHAT USAGE?
The kid I talked to (he didn't sound very old) was confused. First I owed one amount...then he checked, and found I owed another amount....then he checked and found I had a credit balance of 2 dollars....then he was all confused and did not understand why I got the bill and what my status was.
I was put on hold so he could talk to a supervisor.
After a while on hold, the kid came back and said they were going to leave things that I was owed a credit balance of 2 dollars, and they'd mail me the check. Honestly, I DO think I owed some money, going back to the fact that I was told I owed too little on January 15, but I was totally truthful and honest with them. I think the supervisor figured that since I'm no longer a customer, well, what were they going to do? Threaten to shut off my service? But I don't have any service. Take me to court? For around $200? It's just not worth it. So, it was a win/win for all.
Ya know what- switchin' to FiOS was probably the best thing (television-wise) that I ever did!
EMMYS 1966: The Dick Van Dyke Show (season 5)
4 years ago
3 comments:
woohoo for $2 checks!
Bob, I've been considering switching to Verizon FIOS myself. I have Verizon for my phone service and my internet. But I know I'm going to have to go through something like you did when you switched from your old cable company; was it Comcast by any chance? I take Consumer Reports and they rate Verizon FIOS very highly, while Comcast is somewhere down at the bottom of the list. Dealing with Comcast and talking to people who really don't know what they're doing half the time is what has stopped me from doing the final switch.
So after reading your blog, I'm going to take the plunge, no matter how many incompetent people I have to talk to before it's done.
Thanks,
Jennie
Jennie, Yeah, my old company was Comcast! I didn't care for the Verizon SALES approach. However, the installation went very well. I love the high speed internet. I also enjoy the Verizon FiOS television. It IS rated very well by Consumer Reports. I wish I hadn't had Verizon throw the whole sales thing in my face on Christmas Eve, but after that little incident with Comcast a few days ago I was especially glad I made the change.
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