Breaking the silence

Hello. I'm back.

Let me first point out that Verizon are a bunch of irritating swine who know nothing about customer service and who have conspired to make what should have been a two day break in my service into nearly three weeks.

I call VZ up on 9/8/04 to tell them that I am moving within New Jersey, and to request (1) that they cut off service to my current place when I move, on 22nd August and (2) that they set up service (phone and DSL) to my new place in time for me to move in. I don't object to paying for an extra week of service to give things time to settle down.

Of course, obliging souls that they are, they decide to cut off my DSL on 10th August instead of the 22nd. And, as mentioned below, whilst cutting me off takes a mere flick of a switch, getting it back on for the remaining 12 days is beyond the abilities of any mortal.

Oh well, never mind, at least things will be working when I get to the new place.

The move goes as smoothly as can be expected, modulo meeting the neighbors via damage to their property. Unload everything, plug in a phone and... no dial tone.

So on 23rd August I call up Verizon, and get put on hold. And wait... and wait... and wait... I give up after 25 minutes. Using a cellphone to call is damn expensive. I'll use a payphone. So, later in the day, I use a payphone to call them. I finally reach a human after 35 minutes on hold. This is while standing at a payphone outside a 7-11 with traffic going past and the sun beating down. Fun. They do a "line test" and tell me that it looks OK to them, but they can send a technician over to look at it... only $100 for the privilege.

Since VZ have a virtual monopoly on local phone service, I relent after whining a bit that they promised to give me service, and it's not my fault that it's fucked. So they send a guy... scheduled in for a week later, "between 8am and 12 noon on 30th August".

Fast-forward to 1.20pm on 30/8/04. I've been on hold to VZ for about 20 minutes to ask them where the hell there tech is, when a van pulls up. After a lot of running up and down to the basement, a small amount of damage to the basement ceiling, and more running up and down, I finally have a dial tone, and with it DSL. Of course, VZ are still going to stick it to me, with $50 fee for moving my service, $100 for the technician, and, I don't know, about 2 hours of my life on hold that I'm not getting back any time soon.

I shall probably write them a letter. Or better still, see if they have a complaints form online.

Coming up: about a fortnights backlog of whinge posts, including the impossibility of getting a computer to talk to a TV. So don't go away now...