Can you hear me now?

Posted Tue July 13, 2010 4:46 pm, by M M. written to Verizon Internetworking (DSL)

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I am moving to a new residence on July 15, 2010. I will not have keys or access to the residence until that date.

I went online to research internet service at the new address and placed an order (online) for Verizon high speed internet on Sunday evening, July 11. I received a confirmation number and thought all was well until this morning, when I received an e-mail from Verizon telling me they shipped my modem kit out to me via UPS Next Day Air, along with a tracking number. My order number, should you need to access it, is XYZ.

I called Verizon as soon as I received the e-mail at 1-888-625-8111 and got connected with a gentleman named Hero.

I have now been on the phone with Verizon for over an hour, mostly on hold, or conferenced in to other departments because Hero is having an issue with his phone, because no one at the facility can stop the shipment or reschedule it so that it arrives after Thursday.

Aside from the fact that Hero does not conduct himself professionally on the phone (lots of um... uh.... fragmented sentences and incoherent thoughts) I can appreciate the fact that he's trying to help me. He tried to contact UPS and they have no record of the shipment, probably because it has not yet been picked up. He then conferenced me into a conversation with billing, who told him that we just need to wait until tomorrow to find out where it goes as no one there has the capability to change a shipment date, or cancel one.

Hero tried to tell me to do this, and I explained that since it shipped Next Day Air, the modem will BE HERE tomorrow and that's what I'm calling to try and stop from happening.

At that point, Hero tried to tell ME to call UPS and tell them to hold it for delivery. I've worked in customer service and with UPS myself for many years so I can tell you that first of all, UPS will not change it on my say so as I'm not the shipper, and secondly they don't have a record of the shipment yet as it hasn't been picked up, so UPS would not be able to find the record to make any changes to begin with.

I asked him why no one at Verizon could simply contact the shipping department, whereever it might be located, and stop the shipment. He could not answer me, but put me on hold (again) to check with his supervisor to see what they could do.

Hero came back on the line to tell me that he is going to talk to the billing department to get them to ship me another modem that will arrive on the 15th or later. Then he came back on the line to tell me that they cannot issue an order to ship two modems at once, so I will need to wait for the first modem to arrive and GET LOST because there is no one there to receive it, and then contact Verizon to get a second modem shipped. But maybe I'll get lucky and the modem will be in a box outside my door at my new address. I told him it's an apartment complex and I'm sure any boxes left outside my door will promptly vanish without my ever having seen them. He laughed and said then we'll just wait for that to happen and then reship a new modem to you. He also suggested that if I had time concerns, I should have communicated them while placing the order with the rep I spoke with - and I had to tell him that I actually placed the entire order online and was not given an option or much information about shipping dates. I went on the assumption that ordering service on Sunday would be a good lead time for service to be ready on Thursday.

I know I can't be the only person in the world to find this entire situation absurd.

My total time on the phone attempting to fix this issue before it happens: an hour and 25 minutes. With no resolution. And with me wondering what's going to happen with the internet now at my new location. At the very least, I will be losing internet connection when we move in, or I will end up getting charged for lost modems or something and it will take even more time to fix this.

In this day and age, I understand that sometimes large companies can lose touch with other departments - but for no one at Verizon to be able to reach a warehouse or a shipping department when there are issues is absurd. Either a method exists and the customer service reps are not trained to know how to access it, or no method exists, and that's even worse. I'd like Verizon to fix this, as I'm sure I can't be the only customer out there with a shipping issue.

Training reps in proper telephone etiquette would also be of help, as I was on hold for a long period of time and Hero would come back on just to say "hold" "Hold" "hold" or "hold" and when he spoke with me, he stuttered, um'd, ahhh'd and uttered many incomplete or incoherent sentences and seemed to not know what he was doing. He did try, though, to help me to the best of his ability.

The only other thing I can think of is that I sincerely hope Verizon does not try to charge me for two modems when I saw this train wreck coming in advance and did what I could to stop it.

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Re: Can you hear me now? by Harleycat Posted Tue July 13, 2010 @ 6:44 PM I've had UPS hold shipments at the depot several times when I was not the shipper. I just called with the tracking number and asked them to hold it at the depot. Did you tell Verizon not to ship anything until the 15th? I used to deal with Verizon a lot ordering DSL for various locations around the country. If I knew my customer would not have access until a certain date I would let the rep know to either not ship until one or two days before or have it shipped to an alternate address. I can't say that out of about 300 orders they all went off without a hitch but my requests were usually honored. Reply Here's the thing... by MrsMootz Wed July 14, 2010 @ 1:00 PM I can.. by Harleycat Wed July 14, 2010 @ 7:39 PM got it by MrsMootz Wed July 14, 2010 @ 11:31 PM