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Hazardous Dangerous Conditions Verizon has caused us to be living in.
Posted Mon July 27, 2009 8:13 pm, by PhyllisAnne P. written to Verizon Corporate Headquarters
In regards to Complaint for .......
Sunday July 26th at 3pm I tried to go out only to find that the telephone pole was laying across the road and blocking it. No one could/can get in or out in a vehicle. I immediately went back to the house and called Verizon Repair. I was assured that the pole would be moved within the next 4 hours. At 7:15pm, I called back as no one had showed up. I spoke to a second person. They informed me that the first person had put it in the computer to be removed by 7pm on July 27th.
This is and was not acceptable. I asked to speak to a supervisor. A supervisor could only be reached through e-mail and a supervisor was needed to process the removal. A supervisor would call me withing the next 2 hours I demanded no more than 10 minutes. Around 8pm, I called again, getting a third person. She informed me that there was a 24 hour hold on my ticket. She did not know why and again I was told this is a hazardous condition that should have been addressed within 4 hours of my original call. The best she could do was put it back in the system and have it removed by noon on July 27th. There were no supervisors on duty.
Today July 27th at approximately 9:20 I called the Customer Resolutions line. She said she would call local. I then called the Office of the CEO and they got someone from Dispatch to call me. I was notified at that time that my ticket had been cancelled at 6:18 am. No one knows why. Back and forth with Customer Service and Dispatch they are sending someone out right away. At 11:50 the repair person calls to get directions and informs me he is only coming to "look at it" then he will let his supervisor know. I was not happy - I then called Customer Relations back and they told me "You have called 4 times this morning and there is nothing else we can do." and hung up. I called the Local Paper and notified them. They are also looking into it. Then I called Corporate Headquarters they in turn sent me to the Presidents Hotline who then switched me to Customer Advocacy. They in turn spoke with Dispatch and then transferred me to Dispatch. Dispatch again informed me the order had been cancelled at 6:18am and it was done from another office. They also explained that due to safety precautions someone had to look and assess before they sent anyone out to do the work and that "hopefully it will be moved by close of business today". At 12:25 they came out and assessed the pole. It is now 3:25pm over 24 hours after the initial call and the pole is still there. I was also told it could take longer.
Emergency Services cannot get to us if we need them - this is a highly dangerous situation. The only way in and out is on foot. We are a half mile up a hollow with no neighbors close by and have no vehicle access in or out. If we move the pole ourselves or have anyone else do it and damage is done Verizon will bill us for damaging their property.
No one has been able to tell me why we did not get service yesterday, why the ticket was put on a 24 hour hold, or why it was cancelled early this morning. Nor can they say exactly when they will have it removed from the road.
Yes, I lost my temper. Most definitely. I also told them that they need to do some retraining and the Corporate Office did ask if anyone had told me a supervisor would contact me this morning. My response was that I had not been told that. At the time I initially talked with Corporate they also said that I should have already received a call. l
also told them that I didnot appreciate being lied to by the two Customer Service Reps and then I changed it to being given misinformation.
I have not been able to lodge a formal complaint with Verizon itself. I have notified BBB yesterday and now need to add to my complaint.
I have been a long time customer of Verizon both land and cell phone. I also threatened a lawsuit.
Based on the above information and the fact that Verizon has not handled this matter in a timely fashion and as a result placed our lives in jeopardy should an emergency arrive I am requestiing free phone service both all landlines and cell phones.
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by Kelshir Posted Thu July 30, 2009 @ 10:39 AM
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Does Verizon actually own the poles or do they lease the right to use them?
That might be the issue, if they do not actually own the poles all they can do is pass on the information to the company that does own it.
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My first call would have been 9-1-1. Emergency dispatchers should be made aware of the situation.
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that I agree with Pepper on this one - your first call should have been Police/Fire, not Verizon.
I am guessing that this downed pole was the result of a storm, so I'm guessing they may have been overwhelmed with calls about poles to be moved. Not that it excuses all the mistakes that were made, but chaos tends to result in more mistakes than usual.
& its just my own personal opinion, but these were phone lines, not power lines. With the exception of being inconvenient, they weren't hazardous or dangerous to you or any of your neighbors. You obviously were able to still USE the phone lines, so if your concern was that you were unable to leave the area, emergency personnel are trained to deal with situations like this and had something tragic actually happened, things would have been handled just fine. Certainly not worthy of free phone service, landline or cellular and definitely not a lawsuit.
Inconvenient and inefficient? Sure. Catastrophic and hazardous? Not even close!
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by jeishere Posted Tue July 28, 2009 @ 5:09 PM
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Were there also electrical lines on this pole or just the phone lines? I never noticed a pole with just phone lines on it, but I guess it happens.
I would have called the non-emergency police line and have them come out to access the situation and the could have probably sped things up, unless this was a private drive.
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Couldnt you just drive around it?
OR maybe grab a few buddies and pull it out of the street. Of course, the side without the wiring?
Maybe get a chainsaw and cut it in two?
Good Day
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by Donno Posted Mon July 27, 2009 @ 10:22 PM
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Free service for a year? Two years? Lifetime?
The service you didn't receive is very similar to the service I have not received with Verizon. Here I was thinking that if *I* hadn't jeopardized my own life several times to cut trees off the street phone cable, Verizon would have eventually come out if the cable snapped altogether. After reading your letter, it appears not even that would have garnered a response.
You wrote a good letter, but your request is way over the top. They aren't going to give you free phone service.
I believe there is a government entity that you can lodge a complaint with. The Verizon people should be able to provide that information to you (they have offered it to me, but I just wanted my darned phone line fixed). Someone else here will probably point it out.
Verizon doesn't give a darn about its wired customers, and this letter makes that clearer than ever. I am sorry this happened to you, but not at all surprised.
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