Verizon DSL

Verizon DSL

Well, I know there are many unhappy people out there with Verizon or who have just LEFT Verizon DSL. I was a happy camper. I’ve had Verizon DSL now for years, with no problems. Suddenly, my mother’s ISP, Starband.net couldn’t get through Verizon’s spam filter. Having it never happen before, we gave it a few days. Then I emailed from the Verizon Online Tech Help page. You’re limited to 70 characters, so you must be concise! Nothing. Emailed again. Nothing. And again. Next my husband tried calling. They told him they were doing nothing, must be the other ISP. Then I called. I was told that Verizon does not have the technology to block email. Except for spam. Then you do block. No, we can’t block. You ARE blocking and I have the response to prove it. She insists that they aren’t doing anything, it must be STARBAND. Few days later I call again. These are people who clearly speak English as a second language and I’m spending quite a bit of time saying “excuse me?” “what was that?””I’m sorry I can’t understand you”. At any rate she tells me that I should go to their whitelist and they’ll let her email through. I did that. Again and again. Now during all this, her email gets through about 30% of the time, so I’m not impressed with their filtering, either. Then for a couple of days, great. Then stops. Luckily, I have a second email that I can check, so she has to send to both every time, never knowing when it’s going to go through. This second is really for work, though, so it’s not convenient to use it, even though I can check it from home. Well, then they call us (YES! Actually call). My husband explains – again- and she tells him she’ll get her techs right on it. Then we get 2 messages on the answering machinel the first telling us to call them back with the exact email address that is being blocked and do it fast, before the ticket is closed. And the second telling us to go to whitelist and request the block removed. We’ve done BOTH of these a million times. I call Verizon again. I ask for a supervisor. I stay calm and collected and explain my difficulty. I explain my elderly mother and the fact that email communication has become essential, and we need it to be dependable. I explain that I’m frustrated, but don’t bore her with every little detail. She doesn’t say anything. So I prod “what would you suggest I do? How can I get my mother’s email unblocked?” She tells me the ticket is closed. “why is that?” She tells me that well, everything they would do, they’ve already done. I’m saying, but it’s still blocked. She says “there are lots of free emails out there, I’m sure she can use one of them”. For a variety of reasons, I explain, she really can’t. But I guess I can. I am really disappointed, I tell her, I’ve had no problems with Verizon DSL for all these years, and now am going to have to change providers, most likely to Comcast Cable, as we have limited options in this area. She replied “ok, is there anything else I can help you with?”

Clearly, Verizon is so big, they just don’t care if they lose customers – or not! I will be checking out their competition and although I’m not happy about changing my email address in dozens and dozens of places, I’m feeling like I have no choice.