Verizon Horror Stories
Plain Facts & Common Sense
Verizon Horror Stories
by Joan C. Browning
Mountain Messenger, Saturday, October 24, 2009
I’ve heard from many of the 500-600 telephone customers in southern Greenbrier County who were abandoned by Verizon. They related horror stories about Verizon’s callous contempt during a week-long telephone outage.
A 94-year old woman lives alone because her life-line devise connects to the telephone. If she needs help, the devise tells the telephone to call for help.
My life line batteries are good so I’m okay without the telephone; she told neighbors who checked on her. The neighbors did not have the heart to tell the elderly woman that without a functioning telephone, even good batteries made her lifeline useless.
Callers connected with Verizon meaningless mechanical voices. They got Verizon people who poke unintelligible English. Most Verizon staff were downright rude. None were helpful.
For example, one customer finally yelled “agent, agent” at the mechanical voice long enough to get a live human. The Verizon human didn’t understand the problem. “It appears your phone line is out,” the human said. “There is a problem with your line. I will dispatch a technician. The first available technician will be there eleven days from now.”
Verizon does not have enough repair people in the whole state of West Virginia to repair one telephone pole. They would have to bring in people from Texas. A Verizon truck that finally parked on Maplewood Avenue was labeled “Durham, North Carolina.”
Sometimes Verizon suggested that customers route their phone calls to cell phones. One customer did, and it cost her $50 in additional cell phone minutes
Some callers discovered that Verizon does have a West Virginia Customer Care Center. That telephone number is 304-351-4000. The Verizon people there were, one caller said, plain—well, in a family newspaper, let’s use the word rude.
Tricia Cunningham is the best source I heard about for helping customers not pay Verizon for telephone service they did not receive. Call her at 800-483-7988 between 9 am and 5 pm. Ask for Option # 3. Or write Verizon Customer Relations, Attn. Tricia Cunningham, PO Box 1804, Marion, Ohio 43302.
What did government do about these horror stories from Verizon customers? Verizon is, after all, a publicly regulated company.
West Virginia government was no help. The West Virginia Attorney General sent citizens to the Public Service Commission.
The Public Service Commission was lacking either the will or the authority, or both, to force Verizon to treat customers with respect. The PSC Commission staff could only send complaints to Verizon. PSC regulations gave Verizon thirty days to respond.
Why, many of us asked, wouldn’t the PSC require Verizon to automatically issue credits to everybody whose telephone went dead? We can’t do that, the PSC staffers told us. The legislature does not allow the PSC to protect citizens against defrauding utilities.
The West Virginia Public Service Commission will serve the West Virginia public only when the Commissioners increase from three to at least five.
And the Public Service Commissioners must be accountable to us, the public, instead of to the Governor and the utilities. We must elect Public Service Commissioners.
We have had enough of these horror stories. Let’s turn our righteous anger into determination to make our government work for us. Let’s support those Delegates who are trying to reform the Public Service Commission. See last week’s Plain Facts & Common Sense commentary for their names.
Don’t Pay Verizon for Nothing
Plain Facts & Common Sense
Don’t Pay Verizon for Nothing
by Joan C. Browning
Mountain Messenger, Saturday, October 17, 2009
Last week, I reported on Verizon and the West Virginia Public Service Commission responses to inquiries about the area-wide Verizon telephone outage.
This week, I tried to find a human at Verizon who could tell me that Verizon would not charge me for the week without service. Machine voices and a couple of human beings didn’t know.
Since this was not an individual telephone problem but rather one that affected a whole area, wouldn’t Verizon just automatically reduce everybody’s next bill?
Finally, on late Thursday afternoon, a Verizon person called and said that my next Verizon bill would show a credit for nine (9) days without service.
Fine, I said. And is that true for my neighbors? All 400-500 of them?
Well, no, the Verizon person said. Each person needs to have called the Verizon 1-800 line as soon as they discovered that they had no dial tone.
(This person finally said that the “major area outage” was caused by damage to 1,200 pairs of cables. He suggested that I call my “local manger” at the “repair center.” I asked for a name and phone number, which he didn’t have!)
So once again I turned to the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Although presumably the “public” service commission exists to serve all of us in the “public,” in 1981, the West Virginia legislature authorized Public Service Commission to set up the Consumer Advocate Division to advocate “ primarily on behalf of residential customers, striving to obtain the lowest possible rates for gas, water, telephone, and electric services.”
What, I asked Mr. Byron L. Harris, Director of the PSC’s Consumer Advocate Division, will the PSC do to assure that Verizon does not bill customers for a week of no service?
Mr. Harris wrote back: “Verizon submits Abnormal Service reports to the Public Service Commission. I believe this may be the report for your area. Location: Lewisburg’ Exchange: 645; Date & Time of Initial Report: 10/3/09 @ 5:00A’ Nature of Event: Auto Accident; Approximate Number of Customers: 517/236; RESTORAL: 10/11/09 @ 10:57A.”
Mr. Harris wrote: “Verizon will provide credits on customer bills for extended service outages, but I believe the customer has to request the credit, it doesn’t happen automatically.”
So there you have it.
If you did not telephone Verizon to report your telephone outage last week, Verizon will not reduce your next bill.
And in the legislature’s wisdom, the West Virginia Public Service Commission, even its Consumer Advocate Division, will not help you.
This is outrage piled on top of outrage. .
If your do not want to pay Verizon for a week when your telephone was dead, register a complaint with the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Call 1-800-642-8544, or write to the West Virginia Public Service Commission, 723 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Union Building, Suite 700, Charleston, West Virginia 25301.
All this dealing with Verizon and the Public Service Commission is a lot of work. It demonstrates the need to change the Public Service from a government agency of three utility persons appointed by the governor back to its original purpose of serving the public.
Members of the West Virginia House of Delegates who are trying to make the PSC serve the public are: Delegates Linda Sumner (R-Raleigh), Robert Beach (D-Monongalia), Stan Shaver (D-Preston), Barbara Evans Fleischauer (D-Monongalia), Linda Longstreth (D-Marion), Tim Manchin (D-Marion), Mike Caputo (D-Marion) and Larry Williams (D-Preston), and Joe Talbott (D-Webster). Let these Delegates know you support them.
