Verizon DSL

I will never again subscribe to Verizon, DSL and strongly encourage others to never use this service again. I think Verizon is one of those companies that is the definition of a corporation that has gotten so big that it doesn't know its head from its asshole!

My experience with Verizon DSL is as follows:

Around the beginning of 2004, I subscribed to Verizon DSL because a) it was cheap and b) it was easy to hook up with my phone line and all the equipment came in the mail. In July of 2004, I was moving to a new residence in the same city. I called to transfer my service 2 weeks before my move and gave the date that I would have liked the service to be switched to my new address. That night, while attempting to access the internet service at home, I came to find out that they turned my service off THAT DAY rather than the date I had given. I was offered free dial-up service for a month and chalked this mistake up as human error. Until I went to access my dial-up...3 phone calls later I was informed that I was given the wrong log in information AND that my account was being charged for the dial-up.

I moved to my new residence in July and the DSL service was not working. When I called, I was told that a signal was not detected for the DSL service and that it would be 8-10 days before this would be complete. That was understandable and beside that fact that I would have liked to have this information prior to moving, I was satisfied enough to continue with Verizon's service.

Until June of 2005 when my DSL service was abruptly shut off while my fiance was working from home for his new job, which we were preparing to move for. Upon calling Verizon, I was informed that my account was shut down due to payments not being received and my account was in collections. I had been paying the bills received, so I was unsure why this was occurring. I was transferred to another line and probably another one (I have been transferred through Verizons customer service line so often, that it's hard for me to remember which phone call I was transferred 5 times or just 2), regardless I never quite found out where the error was - I just know that my service returned eventually in the next 5 days (it was shut off once more, but that was just because the customer service line never contacted collections to let them know why it had been turned back on).

We moved again in August of 2005. Knowing that I was no longer going to have Verizon DSL, I waited until 2 days before the move to call and disconnect my service. I requested a shut-off date Saturday. It wasn't shut off prior to then, so I was feeling pretty confident that my service would be shut off properly. I received a bill soon after I moved (at my new address) and thought that it was a final bill. I paid it, not really looking to closely because I was just hoping it was the last communication I would have with them. Until I received another bill...I looked closer at it and realized that I was being billed for the coming month. I set it aside and just decided to deal with it later. Which occurred when I received a statement from a collection agency looking to collect the amount due. I contacted Verizon at this time and was informed that although my file was noted to have service discontinued on the date requested, it was never shut off. I was assured that after I spoke with the DSL billing department and canceled my DSL account again, I would be refunded the bill paid earlier and that my service would be extinguished. And they would contact the collection agency and have the matter erased from my credit report. Yesterday I received a postcard asking me to update my email address associated with my account. I laughed because I don't have an account with Verizon DSL anymore. Today I received a notice from different collection company regarding the same account. Monday I will be on the phone once again, battling it out with Verizon regarding the DSL account that I haven't had since August.

I strongly encourage anyone who is happy with their Verizon DSL service to never move. My brother moved from the 3rd floor apartment to the 2nd floor apartment in the same building and they never switched his service over as he had arranged with them to happen. Their customer service has never been rude to me but it is ineffective. This is one case where I would have taken rudeness in return for knowing that a job was going to be done and going to be done right.

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Just as an update - the only reason why this issue was ever resolved was because I located online the email addresses of several Verizon big shots in NYC. I emailed a complaint very similar to this one and received a phone call that night from the assistant of one of the people I emailed. This issue was resolved quickly after this point. This experience has taught me that these companies are too big and if you want anything done about the problems these too big companies cause, you have to go to the top.