My quest for better phone service began when I started working from home this January, after I left Tom’s Hardware. I have been a Vonage customer for the past several years, and up until I started working from home and placing demands on the service, was pretty much a happy camper. But now I am caught on the short end of the cable modem, and I suffer on hold for several hours a day as I try to get through to customer disservice. What are the problems? In a word, Adelphia’s cable Internet service sucks. Rarely does a day go by when I can reliable service throughout the day. This has nothing to do with Vonage, but without a decent Internet dial tone, I don’t get any benefit with having Vonage VOIP. (I won’t bore you with the number of times that Adelphia has been out to rewire this and that in my building to get service to a decent enough level.) Lately I have been having problems with some of the IVR systems responding to my touch tones — this never used to happen to me. I don’t know if my phone is going bad, or something odd is happening with Vonage. Now I do a lot of conference calls, and almost all of them require you to input a call ID number via touch tones. Sometimes I get connected. Sometimes I don’t. It has been very frustrating to say the least. One of the reasons I went with Vonage was because of the ability to change my call features using Vonage’s Web site, without ever having to talk to a customer disservice person. But Vonage made some changes that make the site harder to use, and that also has reduced my voice service reliability. So after all of these issues, I thought I would be smart and switch back to a good ole fashioned Verizon land line. They have an all-you-can-call package that isn’t much more than I pay for Vonage. Boy, did I not realize what I was getting into. It took me no time to order the voice and DSL service online on Verizon’s Web site. Might as well just get everything from one place and pay one bill, I thought. What was I thinking? Then the trouble started. When I placed my order, I knew that I wanted a Verizon tech to come into my apartment and make sure that the interior wiring was working correctly. I hadn’t had land line service since we moved in here and didn’t want to take any chances. So I specifically asked for this service, for the tune of about $100. Verizon promptly told me my service would be available the day after I placed my order, and that is when I began to smell a rat. I thought: they probably think, because I am in an existing location that their computers know about, that all they have to do is turn on the dial tone at the central office and I will be good to go. Wrong! Now, the wiring inside my apartment is like a lot of old apartment buildings: in short, a mess. There are jacks with bunches of wires going here and there. I needed that tech to come visit with his tone set and get things connected from the wiring closet downstairs. First I got an email from Verizon verifying my order. Everything was great, I thought: they get the Web and are sending me email. But a careful read through the email was my next frustration: nowhere in this message was the key phone number that my order had assigned. I had chosen the number during the Web ordering process, but of course didn’t write it down. Why was this important? Because without the phone number of my line, there was no way I could track my order via Verizon’s Web-based customer care system. So I waited. The next day, I got a paper confirmation via good ole USPS. This had all sorts of information, including my eventual phone number. Hooray! Now I can sign on and figure out what is going on with my line. But when I did, I got this message: Our records indicate that the account you entered is no longer in service. Please contact your local business for assistance. Okay, so I call the business office and tell them that they still need to send a technician out to hook me up. That was two days ago. No tech came. Today I call and finally get through to someone who can schedule a tech. He comes out, spends about an hour fooling around with the wires in my apartment, and eventually gets me dial tone after rewiring a few things here and there. But that is just half the story. Now I need to find out what happened with my DSL order. Today, I get another email from Verizon, telling me: Our records show that you recently placed an order for Verizon Online DSL. Due to a system malfunction, your order is not complete. We invite you to return to our Web site … I ask Jim, my Verizon tech buddy that I have since bonded with, about whether his order shows that my line has been configured for DSL. Nope. I have to re-order the DSL service. Incredible! Do they really want my business? So I go back online and spend a very frustrating time trying to do this, only to find out that the Verizon Web site thinks my DSL is already a feature on my voice line and I can’t re-order it again. I gotta call their customer disservice line. After waiting on hold for a live person for 30 minutes, I give up. Can they make this any harder? Jim tells me that the DSL guys are a bunch of losers (not in so many words, but I get his drift). So do I really want to give Verizon my business? I think not. While Jim is finishing up with his install of my voice line, I surf on over to Earthlink, and order my DSL package from them. I figure since I know the CEO, I might be able to get some traction in case things don’t work out. (Note 4/24/06: nearly a month later, and I just get a call from Earthlink. Seems that there is some problem with my order. Still no DSL here) How do normal people deal with this stuff? Anyway, I have a new voice number, which I’ll post on my strominator.com blog but here it is in case you need to call me: 310 829 4742. And the funny thing is, when I go to Verizon’s Web site and key in this number, I still get the “account is no longer in service” message. Maybe one of these days Verizon will finally figure out how to really use this new-fangled Web-thingie. A month later, 4/24/06, I get this email from Verizon: <tt> This email is being sent in reference to your contact with Verizon by email during the month of March. We identified a system issue that caused a delay in the receipt of our response to you. We have since corrected the system issue. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by clicking on the link below: </tt> Sigh.
Wow, David. Reading your message I couldn’t help but be reminded of the myriad of technical and customer service snafoos me and my colleagues go through. I can’t tell you the number of times me and my IT friends say “How could a normal customer make it through this?”
The flip side of this is when you find a company that really has their act together, you tell everyone you know. And they are interested in listening, because its so rare.
Harry Rogers
You may enjoy this:
http://www.crankycustomer.com/
I, too, wonder about the phone companies… We have POTS lines from XO Communications and one day last year they ALL disappeared… Six lines gone; No dial tone; no nothing… Because we do not have a fast response contract, they sent a tech out the next day… The tech could find nothing
wrong, but then he remembered that one of his other tech friends had a work order to disconnect six lines for another customer the day before. The coincidence and timing was suspect, so he called the central office and asked them to open the database (not the work order) and see what lines had
actually been turned off for that other customer. Sure enough, the computer operator had selected our six lines for deletion instead of the other company’s. If the tech had not been aware of this other service order and put two and two together, the problem would have never been solved.
AAARRRRGH!
Well, cheers to you, anyway!
John Sweney
I am happy to report that while I am in a similar situation to you (working out of my home with a cable modem as the source of my Internet service), I am having slightly better luck. My cable provider is Comcast, and I use the ATT CallVantage VOIP service.
A couple of weeks ago people starting complaining that they were only hearing 1 out of ever 3 words when I was on the phone with them. I called ATT CallVantage and got a very helpful and surprisingly knowledable person on the line. He ran a test and said that in my upstream service I was losing packets like mad so he convincingly made the case that this was Comcast’s problem. He pointed my to a very cool web site that runs VOIP tests for you for free.
I ran the tests, and my results were just aweful. I called Comcast and they immediately scheduled a tech to come out the next day. However later that day I got a phone call from Comcast saying that my problems had prompted them to do an analysis of the cable plant in my neighborhood that that they had corrected two issues. They wanted to know if my problem had been corrected. I ran the VOIP test and it was a lot better. I told them that it looked a lot better and that I would call back if the phone service was not as much better as the VOIP test indicated it would be.
I was able to use this data to convince Comcast that the problem was theirs. Good with Adelphia. There is a neighboring county here in Atlanta that has them, and they are awful here as well.
Bernd Harzog, CEO
Applications Performance Management Experts
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April 14, 2006
To whom it may concern (which at this point I am convinced is nobody),
This is the second letter I have written regarding what I feel is a combination of the worst cable and customer service in the industry.
I have been a customer for over 2 years. Over the last several months I have had my service disrupted about twice a week. The problem is never the same. Sometimes the picture is pixilating. Sometimes my VOD isn’t working. Sometimes it tells me my channel will be available shortly. It has been one T.V. and all TV’s. Half of the time I don’t call in my issues in a hope that they will correct themselves. Even with me not calling in half of the issues I have with my cable service, I still call about once a week and spend any where between 15 and 30 minutes on the phone trouble shooting with a customer service rep. This usually ends with me trying to wedge myself behind my cable box to read the numbers off the back. Unfortunately for me, I happened to be 8 and 9 months pregnant for the worst part of my service problems, so I had the joy of doing this awkward task, balancing on top of a step stool, trying to navigate past my belly. They’ve sent out a tech twice to check my signal. Nobody seems to know why we’ve had this many interruptions.
Now, let me take a moment to say that I am an EXTREMLY patient person. I am not the kind of person who is rude to representatives. It takes ALOT for me to write a letter. When I began to get a little frustrated with the repeated problems and I mentioned this to the customer service reps, there was a general disregard. They did their jobs as far as walking me through the trouble shooting but I don’t think anybody ever apologized or even seemed concerned that this was the 6th time in 6 weeks that I was calling. It occurred to me that I was paying $100+ a month for something that required me to maintenance it more then I maintenance anything else in my home and nobody seemed to care. I received the same lack of caring from every rep that I spoke to in my last couple of calls.
At this point I decided to write a letter. I sent an E-mail as I am doing now. I got 2 confirmations sent to my E-mail address saying that my letter was received and that I would be contacted within 24 hours regarding my feedback. That was over 6 weeks ago. I was never contacted in any way.
Then, last Friday, I was contacted by a very nice woman who called to see if I was getting the current promo packages. She asked me towards the end of the phone call if I was happy with the service. I paused for a moment and then said yes, everything was fine. I didn’t even want to get into it because I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to matter to anyone anyway since my dissatisfaction doesn’t seem to be a big deal. This woman however sensed that all was not well and actually seemed interested. She listened, looked at my account history and confirmed my run of bad cable service. She was pretty surprised at the lack of customer service that I had received, especially since I had sent a letter that was ignored. She told me that she was going to submit my complaint to be reviewed immediately and that I should be contacted no later then 48 hours. I couldn’t believe that somebody who works for Adelphia actually had training in customer service. I was shocked. In fact, I would be even more shocked to find out that Adelphia even has a customer service department. I know you have 24 hour tech support. I’ve confirmed that personally about 15 times.
Unfortunately, I am writing this letter because of course, 48 hours have come and gone and (surprise) nobody has contacted me.
At this point my husband and I are looking into Direct TV. I’m told that bad weather can cause service disruptions (but that would be different from Adelphia service how??).
I was told by several of the reps I talked to that my poor cable service was highly irregular. Now I suppose this complete lack of customer service is also highly irregular. Lucky me.
If retention is at all important to this company, you defiantly need to get your act together. I have never felt so under valued by any service provider. I was disappointed at first. Now I am absolutely livid. I intend to tell every person I know about the special treatment they can expect to receive from Adelphia.
Abigail Jimenez
I have Vonage. I am so frustrated. I takes hours to get through to a customer service rep. When I do get throught to them, I have hard time understanding what they are saying. I saveral time they put me on hold and hung up on me. I think Vonage has the worse customer service. I think congress and BBB should look into this problem. When you ask for the customer representative name, they always give me bogus name. Next time when you get through to a Vonage customer service rep, the guy sound like the guy earlier when he said his name is Mike. This time he says his name is Ryan. This is crazy!! Vonage sucks!!
VERIZON – NIGHTMARE!!!
Here’s what I wrote to Verizon (because I couldn’t get through on the phone) and sent to the BBB:
I have been a long time Verizon customer for several years. I had no problems whatsoever. But…
In November of 2006, I moved to a new construction home and ordered Verizon dry loop. I was told I’d have a service ready date sometime in late November. 1) I didn’t get my DSL until February 2007.
The phone/modem that was sent to us was a Verizon One phone which when I received; I thought was the new “thing” that comes with new orders. Eventually, I saw the huge bill for it and told Verizon I didn’t want it. 2) I found out that it was sent to us by mistake. I received the mailing label to return it and followed all the instructions. I also told the woman on the phone that I needed a modem with wireless capabilities as I have a second computer that needs to be connected. She told me it was on its way. 3) I did receive the modem but it was not wireless. I had to contact Verizon again to get the correct modem sent to us. Finally, we did receive a wireless modem which is what I have now.
In the mean time, 4) I received a collection notice from an outside collection agency associated with my Verizon account! This is serious business as we all know especially since my bills had all been paid and I had no previous correspondence with Verizon in regards to this issue. I called the collection agency and they weren’t sure what the $150 collection was for. I called Verizon and they couldn’t figure it out either, until finally a representative figured out that it was for the Verizon one phone which they said they never received. 5) I told her I had sent it back immediately and she did some research to find that the “receiving department” had received it but never recorded that they’d received it! 6) Please keep in mind that all of the above issues take many, many man hours on the phone when you calculate hold time and operator time. Finally the issue was resolved by Verizon giving me a credit for the $150 collection. It then took the collection agency (more phone calls) another month and a half or so to remove the “debt” from my file. But it wasn’t over. 7) I received bills for the extra $150 as if the whole issue had never been solved. 8) I spent more time on the phone to get it all cleared up. Turns out the Verizon representative didn’t go through the proper procedures to issue me the credit. Now, I do have the credit but no service…
9) Since I received the last modem, my DSL service has probably been interrupted about twenty times. Of which half of those times I reset my modem/reset my account and fixed myself. The other ten or so times I spent with Verizon tech support. (15 hours? 20 hours?) Even though I had been through the “trouble shooting” process, the techs made me go through the redundant tasks of restarting my computer, resetting the modem, trying other phone jacks, etc. 10) Eventually, a tech figured I had to reset my DNS code because my new modem, which he said as well as many others, are not compatible with Mac’s which was never told to me when ordering it. It was not recognizing that I had an account and was kicking me off line.
Then for a while, I had no problems, figuring all my DSL nightmares were over until, 11) June 6th, we lost our internet connection again. I spent many many man hours on the phone trying to trouble shoot until eventually a technical supervisor recommended that we disconnect and reconnect the account altogether. She gave me a service ready date of July 22nd and told me to wait a couple days until the order cancels out and then ask for a technical supervisor in order to expedite the order. (Her having a general idea of everything I’d been through up to this point.) I did as she said, but when I called and was connected to a new technical supervisor, 12) I was told that she had contacted the “provisioning department” who said that it takes five days in order to process an expedite order which would be the same day as my service ready date. I tried to explain to the woman everything that I’ve been through up to this point but she told me that is the policy and there is no way to move my order up in the que or anything. I asked if I could speak with someone, a manager, anyone who could help but there wasn’t anyone! At this point I was, understandably, upset and asked to be connected to the cancellation department. (I was hoping that someone in that department would hear the story, recognize the ridiculousness of the situation and transfer me to a “higher up.”) But that is not what happened. 13) The lady “pulled the plug” on my order and cancelled my account without my final authorization. 14) This caused my service ready date, after many more phone calls fixing the cancellation, to be moved two weeks later, to July 2nd. After only twenty minutes since the cancellation in error! I tried to get the July 2nd date expedited with a new technical supervisor who was very rude and was acting as though he was doing me a favor as a new customer. His listening skills were very dull. He said there was no such expedition process and that there was nothing he could do to help me. He said he’d try, with a dry and sarcastic manner, to write an email letter to the provisioning department but that he couldn’t promise me anything. 15) (Please note that every phone call, takes an incredible amount of time out of my day. Half the time, the voice recognition software doesn’t recognize my voice prompts or once I do get a live operator, they transfer me to the wrong extension. Once I am transferred, if the Verizon phone system does not drop my call, I sit on hold for an hour at a time.)
Presently, I am still waiting for my service. 16) I’ve received a few emails from Verizon, which is a really dense policy, considering my DSL is down! A phone call would be much appreciated. I have to go to the library, and wait an hour, in order to check my email and do all my online business within an hour window, the length of time they allow a user to use their computers at one time. 17) (I am an independent contractor and the lack of DSL connection has cost me money.) 18) I’ve received an activation kit in the mail. With new filters, etc. For one, I am not a new account. Two, why would a dry loop customer need filters? And I’ve just checked my email. 19) I am being charged a $5 activation fee! I was also told that my contract with Verizon will start anew. From the new activation date! How is that fair? Also, the cost of my monthly bill has risen to new rates!
20) I’ve made 6 attempts to contact Verizon (by phone and email) to no avail, (maximum callers kicks me off the phone system and the “contact us” portion of your website returns an “error page” when I try to submit the issue and the instant chant window does not work.) I want to expedite my DSL service as quickly as possible, to have the $5 activation fee removed from my bill, confirm the $158 credit is transferred to my new account, get my old contract rate & begin our contract date from Feb. 07 (not July 07).
Verizon tech initially set up our service wrong and we were advised the only way to fix constant DSL difficulties was to “disconnect and reactivate.” In doing so, we’ve been without service since June 6th with a service ready date of July 2nd!
These are not isolated incidents. It leads one to believe that Verizon is doing their best to have me cancel my service as they do not want dry loop customers? Or has something happened internally at Verizon to cause such horrible customer service?
I would cancel my service and go to another company, but of course, you are a monopoly and therefore I am stuck. Nevertheless, is this a way to run a business? If I were to blog, and send reports to the BBB, customers in other communities with access to other internet service providers might be appalled by my situation and choose another company. Would you blame me for actively sharing my troubles with other would be and current customers? I also would call to your attention the very simple marketing fact that each complaint represents seven customers. Additionally, if there are others who are going through similar situations ( 21) my next door neighbor is because we went to his house to borrow his internet, but lo and behold, he is on Verizon and repeatedly cannot establish a connection) when they get a chance to use a newly emerging competitive business, they will jump at the chance. For example Blockbuster – high priced, rude customer service vs. Netflix – fast service, great prices, friendly service.
I vote for Verizon for the very worst service EVER. I have beeen waiting one month to have my service working while paying in full tehe entire month. Oh I get it – I pay but VERIZON ddoesn’t deliver. What’s wrong witht this picture??? Verizon DSL service stinks
I’ve not heard good things about either, but more complaints about Verizon. I’d recommend going to http://www.measuredup.com and posting about your experiences there, and reading other people’s posts – it’s a consumer website where customers share their stories about shops and services in their area.
hi
don’t know if i am in the right place or not. adelphia was & still IS a disaster. i have not had it since 2005. today when i tried to sign up for a great deal w/ time warner. they said i still have a 176.00 bill from 2005& will therefore will not hook me up until i pay this. that would be ok if i hadn’t already paid it.. i no longer have any checks. no proof. i am trying to find out which collection agency adelphia had in 2005. the address where we had service is a summer address, after i had it turned off. i never got a final bill!!!! the next corespondance came from a collection agency. i remember paying it because i have very good credit& didn’t want it ruined for a bill i was paying on.. does any one know what i can do. i called my bank who wants a ridulous amt. to find the checks & then a fee for the checks . time warner really dosn’t care BUT I DO!!!
I have experienced Adelphia (now long gone), Time Warner and Verizon and there is no doubting that Verizon has the absolute worst customer service. In fact, I can think of no other company, especially a communication company, that offers worse service. I never thought I’d return to Time Warner after the disregard for customers they showed when they bought Adelphia, but I now think they are a better company than Verizon.
Here’s a letter I sent to Adelphia just before canceling my subscription.
You guys suck so bad, it’s actually hard to believe. I’m watching television at normal volume and all of a sudden you start blasting a freaking siren in my ear. I change channels and the siren is on every channel. I try playing back a recording on my DVR and the siren is there. There is no way to turn off the stupid siren telling me crap I don’t care about.
Then, your wonderful cable minions crash my receiver, a Scientific Atlanta DVR, which by the way is the WORST DVR EVER CONCIEVED BY MAN!!! This, of course, happens as it is recording one of my favorite shows. The piece of crap DVR then tries to reboot itself — and before you try to blame a power spike or outage, the DVR is connected to a 750 UPS — but fails to boot for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I’m waiting on hold after calling Adelphia at 1-888-683-1000. As I use a cell phone exclusively, I really appreciate wasting minutes on hold with periodic annoying messages telling me how wonderful Adelphia is. After 20 minutes, I finally hung up. Great freaking customer service. You know, maybe you wouldn’t need customer support if you guys just didn’t suck so bad. If your service just worked, we wouldn’t have to call you up so often. I never had to call up Direct TV because their service just freaking works.
Finally, my crappy Scientific Atlanta DVR boots after dozens of failed attempts and several swift kicks. Five minutes latter I try to catch the last part of my show. Two minutes after that the siren from hell starts blasting at 10 times the volume the show was playing at. Thanks again. I really didn’t need to hear out that ear.
Why do I hate Adelphia cable. Let me count the ways.
1. Every week without fail the audio for HD ABC cuts out during at least 5 minutes of the show Lost, almost always during a critical piece of dialog.
2. During the three years I used Direct TV I lost the satellite signal only twice, both times during extreme thunderstorms. Living in south Florida, I expect that. During the first month I used Adelphia, I’ve lost individual channels or all of them a dozen times. For the past year, I have never gone a week without losing at least one channel for hours, and this happens during all weather.
3. There are frequent Internet outages due to “planned” maintenance that Adelphia never tells its customers about. It’s great when your doing something important on line and all of a sudden, BAM, no warning, you lose your connection. Thankfully, I would never run my ecommerce site with Adelphia. Anyone who does that would lose many sales due to network outages.
4. The picture quality of the digital channels is poor compared to Direct TV.
5. Most of the channels are not in digital. Oh sure, the basket weaving channel is in digital, but the SciFi channels ISN’T? WTF were you thinking? The VERY FIRST channel that should have gone digital is SciFi. That’s a no brainier! Do you realize that the most expensive special effects are on SciFi shows?
6. The crappy Scientific Atlanta DVR, hereafter affectionately called SAD, always cuts off the start and ending of the Simpsons and many other shows. It’s supposed to allow the user to adjust the recording start and end time by individual minutes, but that function simply does not work (much like Adelphia TV and Internet doesn’t much of the time).
7. SAD also had the WORST user interface that was ever crapped out of a drunken programmer’s ass. As a computer programmer who has created many good user interfaces, I am ashamed of just how BAD SAD’s user interface is. If you gave me a thousand years, I could not possibly create a user interface worse than SAD’s.
When my lease expires, I will move someplace where I can get Direct TV. That’s going to be a non-negotiable condition on my next lease. I’m counting down the days, nay, the hours until I can get rid of cable — this time for good.