We had a recent run-in with Verizon. See, we’d been running Vonage off our cable modem for well over a year, but the phone quality was really starting to deteriorate. Maybe it was the cable connection, maybe it was Vonage, I don’t know. But when Verizon came at us with DSL and phone as a combo, we were ecstatic. See, for years I’ve wanted DSL but it is not available where we are. Too much space between homes, too far from the phone company’s nearest station or whatever. But technology came to the boonies…or so we were led to believe.

I jumped on a combo offer that would have gotten me phone and high speed internet for a bit less than my cable modem/Vonage setup. Fantastic!

 Or not. A month after I placed the order, when Verizon was supposed to hook up our high speed, they let us know they couldn’t offer the service. I was informed by email, sent after 9pm the night before it was supposed to be installed. Needless to say I was pissed because my cable was due to be shut off, Vonage was already cancelled, and I was stuck.

So I called Verizon and got a grudging apology from a kind of bitchy customer service rep. When I explained that they were really screwing me she said, “yeah, like I said, sorry.” When I related that the package I had selected offered some substantial discounts, I asked if they would still honor those discounts.

Rep: No.
Me: Excuse me.
Rep: No. There’s no discount for the phone package if it is not bundled.
Me: But I was supposed to get phone and internet for $55 a month. Now you’re telling me I get phone for $50.
Rep: The high speed and phone bundle has never been offered for $55 a month. $59.95 is the price.
Me: O…K…I mean I have the email right here…well, that’s neither here nor there. The point is you totally did a bait and switch here. You offered me a deal on services you can’t provide and now I’ve cancelled my other services and you won’t even offer a discount.
Rep: The bundle discount must have been on the price of the high speed service.
Me: So, that’s it?
Rep:……….
Me: You realize you’re forcing me to cancel my Verizon service.
Rep:……… 

So…talk about being total douche bags and NOT doing the right thing. I realize that Verizon has a total monopoly on all the lines in my area. In the past I got around them by using other phone companies. It always astounded me that I could get cheaper (and better service) from a company like MCI that was leasing the lines than I could get from Verizon…who owns everything.

Well, in the end I went with the cable triple play offer that brings phone and high speed through a new cable modem and so far so good. We’ve also got TV back to the great joy of the kids…but that’s another post.

Did I hurt Verizon by cancelling my account? No, not really, but it did feel good. And ultimately, if they keep screwing up in the servicing world, and if they keep squeezing their customers to keep the shareholders happy, they won’t last. It would be a huge, long fall, but I’ve seen it happen to a number of other telecom giants for all the same reasons.

By the way – just to throw some more chum in the water, I am not the only person who experienced the old bait and switch at the hands of Verizon. A friend who runs a small business went through the exact same thing. He got the same promise of service, switched his phone and committed to switch his internet to Verizon (and he, too, was offered all for $55 incidentally) and they never showed up for his connection date. When he called to question them about it, he was told they couldn’t provide service and he never should have been allowed to sign up. Nice, huh? Now he’s in a fight with Verizon, and in the process has discovered several of his customers who’ve gone through the same thing.

 So maybe our numbers aren’t that small. Maybe the bait and switch and screw the customer mentality is a standard Verizon business practice. Who knows? It looks pretty bad to me. All I can say is I’ll be happy to sign on to the Class Action when it comes around.