Verizon FiOS TV Problems
Posted February 15, 2007, in Apple, Business, Erik's Favorites, Milestones, Technology, TV, Worst Practices by Erik J. Heels (permalink: http://www.erikjheels.com/690.html)
How to spoil a movie night in one easy step.
Last night, my wife and I decided to watch a movie using Verizon FiOS TV's video-on-demand (VOD) feature. About an hour into the movie, the audio started breaking up and the video started pixelating. Then this error message appeared:
"Error
A problem has occurred with your request. Please ensure that the wires are securely connected to your set-top box. If you continue to experience problems please contact Verizon at (888)553-1555 and specify code (CL-14)."
Yes, happy Valentine's Day to you too, Verizon. My wife had fallen asleep on the sofa, so I put on some soft music and used the opportunity to help Verizon debug their problem. I'm such a nice consumer.
Incidentally, in the old days, area codes were optional for local calls, which is why they were put in parenthesis. Most area codes are no longer optional, and toll-free area codes never were, so let's all agree never ever to put area codes in parenthesis again. Mmm-kay?
I called Verizon and waited 18 minutes on hold before getting to speak to somebody. While on hold, I did what every TV consumer would do in the same situation. (No, not go to the bathroom.) I went to the basement, restarted the broadband router (being sure to leave it off for about 20 seconds), came back upstairs, restarted the cable box (ditto), and tried to access VOD again. No luck, same error message. One variant of the error message simply referred to "Error 14" and didn't include a phone number.
Guess what the Verizon representative suggested? Yup, restarting the router and cable box. So we did, same results.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
- Albert Einstein
At this point, my romantic Valentine's Day evening was toast. Maybe the V-Day Blizzard of '07 had knocked out a Verizon server? Maybe VOD was getting hammered by all the romantic couples in New England? I asked the Verizon rep where he was. California.
I was on the phone with Verizon for 55 minutes and they were not able to solve the problem. We verified that FiOS Internet service worked fine, Verizon TV worked fine, everything worked except VOD. Sounds like a Verizon VOD server issue to me. Or maybe I was just imagining the problem. Could be either.
I had to ask the rep what Verizon was going to do to make this very patient customer whole. (Hint #1: good companies take the initiative to make their customers happy and actually have their own ideas about how to do this. Hint #2: keeping customers on the phone for 55 minutes to debug a 2-hour movie and then offering no compensation isn't one of those good ideas.) He asked me to call back and check on the trouble ticket. After my prompting, he said that he'd ask his supervisor about giving a week of service credit (whatever that means). I explained that I had invested 55 minutes of my life on this and was not investing any more time. I said that they could email me to close out the matter. The Verizon rep said he had no means to send email to me. (They should try Verizon FiOS Internet service in California.) "Humor me," I said, "and enter my email address in the file." He did. I'm not holding my breath.
Verizon is making Apple TV look better every day.
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Don't Mix Cutting Edge Technology with Romance!…
Erik J. Heels is a high-tech lawyer whose blog I read from time to time and find very helpful. He's listed in my Blogroll located in the left column along with a few other blogs that I read often. Erik……
We had FIOS installed in Feb. 2007 by Verizon. It has been a hassle and a real time-waster. We had internet connectivity problems that required hours of time on the phone with tech support to be resolved. Ultimately, they came to our home to fix the problem, which is what I knew was needed all along.
A few weeks following the installation, we learned that our burglar alarm system became disconnected. No one from Verizon bothered to mention that this would happen. We asked Verizon to re-connect it but they refused, stating that is isn't their responsibility and they don't want the "liability." Meanwhile, my alarm provider says he has problems getting his system to work with FIOS but will give it a try.
We haven't signed up for TV service through Verizon FIOS but are in no hurry to given the problems we are already having!
Verizon FiOS is an incredible offer by combining cable tv and high speed internet service. Of course there will always be kinks to be fixed, but these problems are negligible compared to the benefits recieved from the FiOS services. It's Verizon, a reputable company, they'll get it done sooner or later.
Robin, I've had the same problem with my security system — an APEX system. What brand/model are you using? It is clear that the FIOS digital-to-analog converter that is installed in our homes does not replicate the signal processing that was present in the earlier analog system, Verizon's representations notwithstanding.
The cable box is a Motorola QIP 2500-3 Set Top Box, the remote is a Scientific Atlanta AT8550 Universal Remote.
FYI, manuals are here:
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/customer+support.htm
We are having the same problem with our TV in the family room. When ever we try to watch any On Demand we get pixalation. We have had at tech come out 3 times. The 1st 2 times they replaced the splitter and it worked. Then within a couple days it would start again. The TV upstairs has no problems. Today a tech came out and said its the cable leading to the tv (which was installed with the house 14 years ago). Told my wife he was just a tech and we need to call and have an installer come to run new cable. Other than this problem we have really enjoyed FIOS TV.
I have all 3 of their services and have been having trouble with no picture on the tv. they keep saying the will fix it from the central office. Well comeon Verizon fix it already. Tjink they put this out on the market before they were capable of handling it.
Just installed Fios TV 2 days ago…what a disappointment compared to the Comcast HD service I had for a year. Comcast offers a vast amount of High Def content on their On Demand Service, while Verizon Fios TV offers none! Not even the pay-per-view movies are offered in HD. Comcast offers loads of HBO, Showtime, Starz High Def On Demand…Verizon none. I just spent hours on the phone with Verizon and most of their agents know little about HD.
I also think the HD picture quality on Comcast is superior and I am seriously thinking of switching back to Comcast…what a disappointment.
We've had internet with FiOS for a couple of years. I jumped on the chance to get TV when it was finally available. I've had a few issues.
1) Two remotes have died in the first two months. The first remote took two weeks to get. The second one is going on three weeks. They just spontaneously quit working. In both cases, all the LEDs on the remote lit up. I disconnected the battery on the first remote, put it back in, and nothing happened at all. It's completely dead. The second keeps all the LEDs lit up, even after replacing the battery. I pointed it at my camcorder and saw that the IR is always on. I thought it might be a stuck button, but the good remote pulses the IR.
2) We haven't heard a peep about our $100 gift card we were supposed to get.
3) The receivers cache the remote presses. So, if you hit the skip button, don't get an immediate response, then hit it a few more times, when the box finally starts processing IR signals, it jumps ahead like mad.
4) My DirecTivo let you switch between tuners, with each tuner having recorded the last 30 minutes of programming. So, I could pause when a commercial starts, jump to the second show I was watching, resume and skip commercials, pause that, jump back to the first, etc.
The Verizon DVR automatically records the last 1 1/2 hours, but it only records when it's powered on (even though the drive continues to spin, so I'm not sure why it's not recording), and it only lets you rewind on a single tuner, not both (though it can record two shows simultaneously).
5) If you're fast-forwarding, then hit pause, you can't frame advance without first hitting play, then hitting pause again. This is a somewhat annoying bug.
6) You can't tell it to record a show, no matter when it's on and no matter what channel it's on. You have to set up a schedule for each channel a show might be on. Family Guy is an example of a show you'd want to record on both Fox and Cartoon Network, since they're different episodes.
7) It frequently records repeats as "new." I suppose it's better than skipping new shows that it thinks are repeats, but still annoying.
8) The installer hooked the DVR up to our plasma TV using the composite inputs, then tried to tell my wife that the reason it didn't look any better was because the movie she was watching was too old. I had to re-connect it to the component input. I would think that if he didn't want to give up an HDMI cable, that he'd at least use some component cables.
9) The installer used all my old cables to connect to our TVs, including the power cable that was connected to our old DirecTivo. Some of these cables aren't exactly in stellar condition.
10) The box is very slow responding to commands at times.
Overall, it's not bad. I like the picture quality and HD selection for the price. Most of the problems are minor. #8 is serious, but it's forgivable. #9 is pretty bad, since cable and satellite both give you new cables when you subscribe to their service. It's one of the perks of getting new service.
#1 is a major, major problem. When I had a satellite box start overheating, DirecTV sent out a new one overnight. Taking 2 to 3 weeks to get a replacement remote is unacceptable customer service. If Verizon wants to compete with satellite and cable, they need to make sure any equipment problems are fixed immediately.
–
Troy
Well – I'm not crazy after all. Others are experiencing the same problem I have – pixelation when accessing on demand. Tech support tries to be helpful but I find it laughable that I had to explain (in vain) to two different support reps what pixelation was. On the whole we have been very satisfied with the bundle we received. On demand is the only piece not working as advertised. You'd think it would behoove them to fix this because it equates to $$$ in their pocket. My suggestion to others with FIOS – before paying for on demand movies first check out their free on demand offerings. If your picture is pixelating on the free stuff rest assured it will do the same for the on demand you pay for. Now – off to Netflix !
We just had FIOS installed. The salesman who came to our house said we needed Windows XP and had to up grade our Windows 98. He said you could get it off the internet free. Wrong!
We have spent $276.00 so far and are not happy.
Our aol email could be kept for free we were told. Well my computer tech. (from Staples) erased all my programs on my computer in order to get enough space to install the XP. Our old aol program as well.
We were told conflicting advise as to whether we needed to have aol installed before we were hooked up with FIOS. We had been dial up previously. Everything was working wonderful.
Now we have FIOS and I can bring up my aol mail page,(using internet explorer) see the messages but cannot open them. Tried calling Verizon and had tech support via the internet. They could not find the problem. We had internet help from Aol and they could not help us. The computer freezes up for 3 minutes when I try to read an email. It does not respond to alt. control delete.
I am so frustrated because of all the time we have wasted on trying to get our computer ready for FIOS, and now cannot look at or send emails.
Any suggestions?
most of your problems sound like inside wiring issues especially those that involve vod,loose connectors,and yes even those nice twist on super special connectors you bought at radio shack.your problem is ingress.and your alarm should work with fios notify your alarm company that your service is not voip,these people are always under the impression that fios is voip.as far as alarm wiring we are not responcible for alarm systems just delivering dial tone.
I tried Verizon Fios for about 3 months. The first 2 months were ok but not really that great with regards to high speed internet. I starterd getting problems on the 3rd month, both video and internet. About 3 in less than 3 weeks. With my old Cable co. I think, I had to call for tech support only about 4-6times in 5 years. Having Vonage (VoIP) for my home phone made matters worst. No internet – no phone. I told tech support about this and he just said there's nothing he can do about it because I don't have phone service with Verizon (I think he has not haerd about internet phone). At one time he told me to reset the modem/router when there is no signal coming in including video. He then told me to connect my computer to the modem. I told him I can do that not as my computers connects to the internet via wireless adapters. At the end he told me that they will try to solve the problem with in 24 hrs. — What??? and someone will contact me. About 3 hrs later, nobody has called me to give an update. I tried to call tech support again but had a hard time getting in touch with anybody. Finally, I tried billing and asked how to cancel the service. The lady that I talked to however, transferred my call to somebody from tech support. This time a more knowledgeable guy took my call. He told me that there (after some test that he performed) seems to be a break in the line (?) leading to my house and he is sending somebody to check it. About an hour later somebody came over and determined that a line was disconnected at the main box (as what he told me) and service was back in about 10 minutes. I did not have to reset the modem, etc.
BOTTOM LINE? Verizon Tech Support Stinks. It was easier to cancel my account than to get tech support. I cancelled my account the very next day. I'm back with my old reliable cable company and at half the price.
VERIZON IS CRAP!!! 23 days and counting w/o TV service!!! I already had Verizon FIOS Internet and Phone. I wanted to get the bundle which also included the TV service. Verizon sent a tech on 6-6-07 the tech showed up, didn't get the tv working, and said he'd be back the next day, leaving wires hanging out all over. 6-7-07 no tech showed up…second day my wife missed work. 6-9-07 another tech came, called Verizon from my house, and the first solutions person hung up on him, because they said he was lying about a problem. He called back and talked to a supervisor, who said our service would be up and running within a couple of hours. Nothing. 6-10-07 my wife stayed home from work for the fourth time, tech came, but said everything was hooked up correctly and it was someone else's problem. One more missed Verizon appointment, and another tech came, but said there was no problem.
40-50 hours have been spent on the phone w/ Verizon, trying to get service. They tell us to call 2-3 times per day to see if it is working. They have reset our boxes countless times. They have replaced our order about 15 times. —-IT HAS BEEN 23 DAYS WITH NO TV SERVICE!!!!! —-It is now 6-28-07, and I am doing my routine calls trying to get service, which they keep guaranteeing me. I knew I should have placed an order for another service about 2-1/2 weeks ago. By the way, my wife has lost out on $900.00—yes, $900.00 if you add up the lost wages for the 6 days she has missed work to meet TV techs at our house…three of those days, Verizon people never even showed up!!! This is the worst run company I have ever seen. I can't even talk to someone who can give me an answer. I'm finished w/ Verizon for good!!!
I just recently switched to Verizon from Cablevision. At first everything seemed great.. I was going to save a good deal of money and get some more internet speed. I got installed a little over a month ago. In the first week I experienced a video outage (nothing too terrible) and I let it go.. Not too much later (about 3-4 days) my internet went out. I called tech support and after about 45 minutes of banter I was basically told that I can't be helped because everything seemed to be working fine from his end. I am still without internet service and my tv's blitzed a few times. What makes me more upset is I recently found out that my copper lines and my junction box have been completely removed so I can't even revert back to a landline phone from this point. I asked two different reps at Verizon and they said "Once you have fios you can't go back to dsl or landline".. I wish they would have told me WHEN THEY SOLD IT TO ME!!!
Now here's the biggest rub… I was promised to have all of my services work out to be around $108 a month.. I asked a few people (including a supervisor) and this was verified. I got my bill and it was over $160!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was an activation fee for my computer of $19.95 – ok, I can deal with that… Even trying to make sense of this bill and minusing out prorates this is working out to be $120 a month.. I just called them a few hours ago and they said that $108 wasn't the amount that I was quoted… ???? !!!! ???? I now wish I had heeded my instinct and not strayed from Cablevision. Let's see how I do with getting out of this Verizon contract.
I apologize for the typo.. I realized it right when I hit the submit button.. What is minusing?? I meant to say adjusting lol
I recently signed up for FiOS Internet and FiOS TV, and have since canceled Dish Network. I must say that overall the experience has been good and the technology is exciting. However it hasn't been without hiccups. I had video playback issues, so a tech came out to fix it. That process was satisfactory, but calling in to customer service is a nightmare. Hopefully any service issues will be ironed out soon. I recently wrote an article on my experiences with Verizon FiOS TV, so feel free to check it out.
The internet has been great for me. I canceled phone service from Verizon and use Sunrocket VOIP without any issues.
Just found this post.
I favor keeping the parenthesis.
Area codes were never optional, except before long distance dialing came into effect. The only thing new is having to dial one for your own area code.
That problem (overlays) could have been dealt with, as Europe did, by adding one digit to phone numbers which would have added nearly 100,000,000 combinations, obviated the need for overlays and even allowed all of NYC to be returned to the 212 area code.
Short of that, there is no need for the "1" before the area codes. Telephone switches are now computers that can easily recognize that the first 3 digits of a 10 digit number are an area code. Cell phones do it. VOIP phones do it. Verizon should be capable.
I use a VOIP provider that allows me to set one area code (my choice and changeable by me online) as only requiring 7 digit dialing.
I too just signed up for a Fios bundle and am very unhappy. I had Direct before and it was expensive but at least there was something to watch! I was promised more channels and that is totally untrue unless I want to watch VOD and spend $3.99 to watch a movie. I call Verizon and after an hour of trying to speak to customer service and tech support it didn't solve any problems I'm having excepting spending more money to get the Max channels. I still can't figure out how to get the closed capturing back on the set as I had before Fios and I can't figure out how to use my DVD player. It screws up the set anytime I try to use it. They reset my tv and turned it off for about an hour trying to get the cc back but it didn't help so now I have to call them back. Also my laptop is running alot slower than when I had dsl. They keep assuring me that it should run so much faster and I can't seem to convince them that it's not and I too am extremly upset that no one mentioned to me that if I was unhappy with FIOS that once you switch over to them there is no going back!! I will not be recommending Fios to anyone – ever.
As far as fios tech support reps on the phone go, the majority of the good ones move on to other things like their internal help desk or start supporting field techs with network issues. A vast majority of their reps are former employee's of call center sweat shops where service level and scripted average handle time is king. Even though verizon preaches customer service in the call center it is all about average handle time. Training gives you a nice over view of the technology and and only some of the back end systems that affect a customers service. Some times you will get reps that seem to know more than others and those reps are usually true geeks that are just interested in technology in general. For example you would figure that a "video trained" rep would know that the hdmi video and audio can be disabled/enabled in the hidden user menu on the hd or dvr stb. But alas that is not mentioned in training or a widely know fact. So you call because you have picture but no sound on your new hd plasma and and wait for the tech on the phone to spend about 10 minutes resetting your stb before determining the box is defective and setting up a dispatch when all you had to do was press power on the front of the stb to turn it off and immediately press menu a couple of times to get the user menu then select hdmi options then enable sound. All of a 3 minute process since you actually have to get up off the couch and go to the stb. Configuring the actiontec's firewall to allow vpn connections, hosting a game server, or even how to suggest changing the subnet mask on the voip router to not have conflicts on your home network, guess what, you either learn that on your own, punt the call of to actiontec if they are open or just flat out give the official company line "that is not supported". It is no big deal to send out a field tech if it is warranted, but at $380 a truck roll you will quickly find out if it is really warranted. The you get ahold of the burnt out rep who just doesnt care because they deal with http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff319/m1k3j0n3s/IMG_0004.jpg and because of that number verizon has a special group of employees who we will call phone nazis that their only job is to snitch you out to supervisors if you are on a long call (calls over 10 minutes, yes 10 minutes is a long call) or heaven forbid you have to put a cx on hold for more than 2 minutes to walk across the floor to video room where the equipment customers have actually lives and breathes to actually use what the customers use and to be able to answer the "little" questions that will arise because face it, fios is new and not every one is familiar with every nuance. Ok, yes I ranted. Fios is a great NEW product and is having growing pains and hopefully it will become widespread and common enough even amongst the actual consumers that it will become common knowledge that if you have no dialtone, just like your pots line try a different phone first, then unplug them all, then try one at a time or if more than one service is not working check that back up battery unit first!
Has anyone else seen this behavior? Fast-forward, and for no reason whatsoever, it either resets back to the beginning or to some random point (in this particular case, 15 minutes into the show). It is soooo annoying!!
Verizon is the worst customer service I have ever dealt with….period. I have logged over 20 hours on the phone trying to get billing issues ironed out and everyone says they will fix it but no one does. Six months and counting still no credit.
We recently switched to FISO I TOTALLY agree that customer service is HORRIBLE!
Every since we had it installed on August 20th, we’ve have nothing but problems. They put a Temporary line from the street to our house (see attached pictures). The only problem is that the line runs across the sidewalk and it’s the same place the bus stops every morning. I’ve called Verizon at least 5 times this week and it’s always the same story. They can’t help me because they contract work like this out. I’ve been trying to get this fixed since August 20th and nothing has been done. My neighborhood has many small children and I am afraid that someone is going to trip over the wire! I just want to warn other people so they do not have to deal with what I am dealing with. I spend at least an hour each night on the phone with them and nothing gets done.
We've had FiOS Internet and 3 phone lines switched over to it for over a year. Overall, the service has been incredibly good – much better than cable modem service from Adelphia/ComCast. We've only had two problems with the service:
1) The ActionTech router died an ignominious death, and it took two days to get a new one, since they had to ship it out rather than sending a tech to replace it. When the new one was installed, a phone call to tech support had to be made to associate the new router's MAC address to the ONT. Not that big of an issue, since I was able to connect up an old Linksys router and make it work in the interim.
2) We've had a major outdoor landscaping/construction project going on since mid-summer, and one day the backhoe going up and down the driveway yanked down all the lines – power, fiber, copper, and coax. The power company was here within 15 minutes! Verizon showed up 20 minutes after that and fixed the fiber and copper. ComCast took THREE DAYS to come out, since they told me that cable TV was non-essential service. Well, if it is, then FiOS TV is going in asap. Our Township just approved the franchise agreement with Verizon, so it shouldn't be long before the service is offered.
Notwithstanding the VOD problems that have been mentioned, I'm very curious to see whether the HD service, especially the local channels, are better than what ComCast offers. Watching Sunday Night Football last night, the SD channel looked better than the HD channel! There was so much macro-blocking (the proper MPEG term for pixelation) and quantization noise, it was nearly unwatchable.
Consumers need to understand – what ALL of these companies deliver to you as 'HD' is nothing of the sort. Native high-definition programming runs at 1.485 Gbps. Obviously, delivery systems do not yet exist that can accommodate that much bandwidth to your home, so the signals are compressed, using MPEG-2, and, in some cases, MPEG-4 AVC H.264 compression. The majority of signals use MPEG-2, and typical compressed bitrates are between 12-15 Mbps. Yes, that's right, ~99% of the signal is discarded along the way. If you were to watch native HD and what you get in your home side-by-side, you would be really pissed off.
Start complaining, to anyone you can, about the poor quality of 'HD' programming.
Peace.
I have lots of the same problems posted here. A quicker way to thru to them is to say "agent" after the recoring starts telling you all the Einstein things to do again.
I have had FiosTV for a number of months now and since having it installed i have noticed some weird behaviour. It will, without notice reset the unit and switch off the televsion. They have changed the box and it still happens. In the end they refunded my account back to the day it was installed. The new box is doing the same thing. I think it is a code problem but is anyone else experiencing this?
Verizon Fios TV is not ready for prime time. It cuts off recorded programs in the middle, does STB software downloads in the middle of the day with no warning, and the remote is very hard to use. Either the remote signal fails to activate the STB (despite the red flashing light) or you hit the wrong key. It has nasty human factor design elements. I cannot understand how a major US corporation that has such a long-term good record of excellent service can offer such junk. And one more thing, in southern California Verizon is providing new customers with recycled STBs. My guess is they were pulled from other unhappy customers.
Simon,
Having the same problems with the resets and cutting off the TV and box. I just had FiOS installed on Monday (10-15). I still don't have one of my phone lines working and am wating for a tech to show up (was suppose to be here between 1 – 5, it's now 5:25 and I'm on hold with "CS"). I was not happy with Verizon not finishing the installation of my 2nd telephone line on the day the service was connected. When I called them, I'm still wating!!!
CS is not in the language of Verizon FiOS.
Greetings,
Here's some more advice if you are watching VOD: put the remote in a drawer where you can't reach it. Because the rewind button works, the fast-forward button works, and the pause button works, but the play button does not work. If you make the mistake if hitting pause, fast-forward, or rewind during your VOD feature, then your only option is to start from the beginning of the movie.
Oh Verizon FiOS TV VOD, how I hate thee.
Regards,
Erik
I’ll save anyone thinking of switching to FIOS TV alot of time and/or money… DON’T DO IT. For the time being, quality is better with other carriers, and don’t even get me started with customer service. At least 10 calls to Verizon in the past 4 months to clear up ONE seemingly simple issue.
I have put countless hours in trying to resolve my Verizon FIOS TV problems. My problem currently is that I cannot call technical support for service because they have it in their system somewhere that my service is disconnected. My Verizon Fios TV, Internet, phone all work fine (mostly). My bill comes every month and I pay on time. I would like to upgrade my DVR but haven't been able to get it to happen in months. I do want to talk to them about the dvr getting automatically reset periodically… sometimes daily… where it then stops all the recordings. I did reach tech support a while back and they said I had a "ghost dvr". It does strange things. Tech support said they need to send a code down. They got strange code and could not send the fix down to the box. So, they must put in an order for Video to fix it in 24 hours. Within 24 hours video calls and says my account is "suspended" for non-payment and I need to talk to collections. I talk to Collections the next day and they say nothing is wrong with my account and transfer directly to Tech Support. Tech Support says obviously nothing is wrong with your account because you were transfered from Collections. Tech Support says they can't fix it. They need to put in an order for Video to fix it with 24 hours and it goes in this loop all over again. Video cannot do anythng they say because the account is suspended but none of the other parts of Verizon see any problems. So, we talked to the Problem Solution Center (his name was Sindey). So two days later they call and say they cannot do anything because the account is suspended again. This goes on and on and on. It's no one's problem. You just get passed on and on and on. I saw a verizon guy out in our neighborhood and tried to fix it that way. I got the phone number for his boss. He wasn't going to put in an "order" but a different way that would get someone out to fix it. He never showed up the next day. I called him again. He appologized… he isn't going to do anything for me, either.
I have recently had FIOS TV installed and it has been a nightmare. I had been getting 'ghosting' on the screen and told: "It's the BX cable in your house being too close to their cables. Moving the BX fixed the TV side on Video 1 and then the problem then migrated to Video 2 (DVD) and 3 (VCR). I was told to disconnect my VCR and DVD. Of course that would eliminate the problem. The next step offered was to get a new TV – my 5th visit is tomorrow. Wish me luck.
We got FIOS a few days back. Everything was fine until we wanted to watch a video (an actual one). First, it wouldn't play. Then when we tried to switch to the TV we found that our sound had gone. Then the screen went blank. So, I called for help. After getting bounced through their automated call system for about 10 minutes, I got a recording that said that their 24/7 help line was closed until Monday AM (it was Saturday night). Sounded impossible, so I did it again and had the same result. So, I called the number for Verizon online support. I burned another 20 minutes until I got a person to speak to, but the person I spoke with explained (understandably) that she could not help with FIOS, but would connect me to someone who could. She was as good as her word. Well almost. This time I was entered into a new automated system that put me through what seemed like endless loops of questions until I finally was directed to an agent. Ended up, however, that to speak to a FIOS technical support agent would entail an additional 25 minute wait. I had already burned more than 3/4 of an hour. The recording offered the opportunity to stay on the phone and wait to speak to an agent or to leave my information and receive a call in the same 25 minutes. I opted for the later, but 25 minutes later the call didn't come in. An hour later it didn't come either. In fact, it never did.
When we signed up for FIOS it sounded like a good idea, but the impression I have is that there technical support services are a mess and it appears as if we will be needing it. We will probably drop the service rather than endure the endless frustration of dealing with Verizon.
We've had Fios for about 8 days and at the moment really wished we had stayed with Comcast (which is remarkable because it was wildly intermittent.) The internet and phone seem fine. The issue is the picture quality. On analog stations, the quality is unwatchable…static, snow, shadows, goasting…we have had service reps here 5 out of 8 days and they can't seem to figure out the issue. They claim that our Fujitsu Plasma, is the issue. Wondering if anyone knows if there are settings, alternative connections or something else that might resolve this issue. It seems to be doing it on all of the 5 sets, but is worst on the best of the panels. The HD channels are OK, but not nearly as clear as Comcast when their service worked. We're not very knowledgeable about the details of the technology, but are trying to learn. So far we've invested an enormous amount of time between trying to get Verizon on the phone, talking to phone reps when we finally have been able to navigate through the myriad of voice response menus, dealing with the service reps and attempting various solutions independently. Any thoughts on how to resolve the fuzziness of the picture would be warmly welcomed. We like the concept of the triple play, but are about ready to throw the whole thing out if we can't get a watchable picture.
Verizon has the worst customer service on the planet. That being said, my FIOS tv died this afternoon. The guide is displayed on the screen. When you selec a channel…………..nothing. Router and cable box have both been reset . No go. Anyone have any ideas before I subject myself to their customer service department?
I have had FIOS triple play for 6 months now and have unresolved problems with each service:
TV – Channel changing freezes, on occassion, for 10 to 30 seconds. Most standard functions are prone to freezing. I am still using my old Comcast remotes because they work better. More functionality and the Page Up and Page Down really now work. The only feature I cannot get is widgets which is a stupid add on to a remote that does not work.
Internet – Also freezing occurs.
Home phone – no freezing but they took away an intercom service I paid for because of FIOS.
Service – This is the worst part of Verizon. They do not seem to want to talk to you and when you get through after hours of dead phone time they have no solutions. They do not seem ready for this business.
I do not know how to get my problems resolved without a law suit.
I signed up for FIOS internet – was one of the first in my area – 3 years ago. Customer service was really good and they seemed to have people who were available for the new FIOS customers. Eventually I got the triple play. A couple of days ago I swiched back to Cablevision – and am even paying a bit more per month – because Verison's customer service is beyond horrible. If you have a problem you have to endure extraordinarily long wait times and then you can never be sure you will be speaking to anyone who has enough knowledge to help you, I was a big fan in the beginning, but now I tell anyone who will listen not to sign on.
I had FiOS installed last week and since then I cannot dial out to local numbers such as 410 or 443. Has anyone else experienced this problem? I'm also experiencing a problem where only some of my email messages are coming through.
Ok,
Here in Portland Oregon FIOS TV was release a couple weeks ago. I have had FIOS interent for several months and have liked it. As soon as the TV version was available I called in and spoke to a rep. I spoke with him for an hour to make sure everything was going to right.
Here is what he told me;
I get three free connects. Any more then that and I would have to pay for the connection. Ok, why they would not want me to have the best experience in beyond me. Then I was informed that I need a converter box (I currently do not need one for my coaxial cable) to see the digital signals. So for my main TV I would get the free box but the other 2 TV's would not need a box and I would only be able to see the first 99 channels. That is fine. So the tech sows up. First he smells to high heaven of cigarette smoke. He then informs me that "no sir, sorry your were misinformed, in order to see any FIOS TV, you need a cable box on EVERY TV." So this means that my TV in the kitchen that hangs from the wall needs a box, the TV in the bedroom needs a box and of course the TV in the living room needs a box. And of course, all this means that I will need to pay to rent an ugly box to sit on my kitchen counter. I DON"T THINK SO. I did not get the FIOS TV. And as I sit and type this out, I have been on hold with verizon "customer service" for 27.52 minutes. oh, and did I mention their hold commercials are broken? It goes in and out like it is not tunned in.
We upgraded to the FIOS bundle package at the end of December. Overall it seems to be working fine however after it was hooked up we found out that our DVD-R and VCR was not able to record different programs other than the one we were watching. After I called the service tech, he was of no help, and told me to call the customer help for my DVD-R and VCR. I was able to rewire my cable into the DVD-R and then the cable box and can record different programs on my DVD-R but only up to Channel 49. Does anyone know if there is a solution to this other than paying extra to rent a DVR from Verizon?
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OK Here in Portland Oregon (as you may have read above) we finally got FiOS TV a couple of days ago in my area (Tigard-Sherwood area) and have had nothing but success with it. Although Verizon absolutely has the WORST customer service (we had a long standing DSL issue with them a while back-dont get me started) the service on the FioS side has been nothing short of spectacular. Now that I've said this, it'll probably adhere to Murphy's Law and the whole shebang will probably blow up in my face :)
But as of now, the internet and TV are flawless. They have done everything as they said they would and the picture quality is great. There have been a coupl eof small hiccups, (channels not changing speedily/properly, guide issues etc) but the dude who hooked up our TV said that those things might happen and they would be resloved within 24 hours of activation and they were (to my surprise!) I can't speak to the functionality of the Verizon/Motorola remote as I immediately set up our Harmony to work with it. Zero issues. I hope everyone else either got what they wanted out of Verizon or got their service fixed. Looks like I was one of the lucky ones…
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Folks. Regarding pixelation with your video on demand, etc. If you have a 611 model ONT on the side of your house you very likely need a low-pass filter put on your coax cable leaving the ONT. If you are having pixelation problems go out to your ONT to see what model you have. If it says 611 anywhere on it you need to check the coaxial wire between the ONT and the video splitter to see if the technician installed a Low Pass filter (it says Low Pass right on the thing). If you don't have one you need to put in a service call to get one. Nothing they do remotely is going to fix the problem. I install FiOS every day, all day and I see this problem regularly. Hope this helps.
FiOS: In Richmond it was marketed before the their systems and staff were ready. Result: a nightmare to set up. Now, tho, TV, Internet, and phones are working well. BUT, as with any technology, there are occasional problems, and the tech support menu is torture. I have found that their installers and local tech people are very good. Have had to replace the Internet / PC router (that should not happen in just 7 months!) and have trouble sometimes with one TV remote.
Question: we had a Pioneer plasma TV installed by Best Buy. Their guy said that with FiOS we cannot use most of the TV features and adjustments (such as color and PIP). Can this be true? The HD pix are great – at least as good as what I have seen on Comcast – but are too vivid. What's the deal?
I had the same exact issue. I finally got them to come to the house. they were there for over 6 hours. first they replaced the router with a newer router. then they replaced the ONT (box on outside of house) then they replaced the battery backup and some of the cabling. Called in another guy, and ended up replacing a $2 splitter and suddenly wala, it works again. it has been working fine now for the past week. yeah!
The FiOS group is trained to say you cannot go back to copper/DSL and no amount of escalation will help you return to DSL; however, it will help if you escalate to another group. For anyone wanting to go back to copper and DSL, complain to Media Relations for your area (http://newscenter.verizon.com/media-contacts/). He/She will most likely refer you to someone in Customer Relations who will let you go back to DSL. VZ has invested a lot of money in FiOS and does NOT want customers reverting back to copper. It doesn't look good in their FiOS numbers reported to Wall Street. VZ is SUPPOSED to tell you you can never go back to copper BEFORE they do the installation and have you SIGN (in writing or electronically) an authorization to pull the copper. I was not advised before installation.
I recently had fios installed in my home. Let's just say it was about as uncomfortable as sleeping in your mother-in-laws dining room. The technician was nice enough but seemed to know more about car stereos than he did about fios. He refused to put up a backboard to mount all of this new equipment to and he kept saying over and over how "hot" he was keeping it. I don't even know what that means. Nothing works right, my internet service has never worked. The technician said he needed to use 2 routers for some reason. I certainly hope that this isn't the best verizon can do. I've cancelled the service–welcome back good old cable tv.
We had FIOS installed on Dec10th"07.I have spend hours on the phone and sent many e'mails to customer service. We have not received our letter from Verizon to get the Advertised free TV. Here it is Feb 12th and every {excuse }or lie you can think of has been told to us. They have gone so far as to say we weren't hooked up until Jan.31st 2008 according to their records in their computer!!! I have all the documents proving day of Dec10. Doesn't seem to matter that I am being billed for Fios since DEC.10th.Talk about dealing with a bunch of stone heads ,I believe Verizon hired them all!!! I wrote a letter to a vice pres of relation's they have been trying to reach me,but every time I call back the number they give me I get voice mail,saying all reps are busy. I leave my number to call back ,You guessed right, "NO RETURN CASLLS!!!
I have had fios for about 5 hours now and all of a sudden a white box with a gray border around it showed up in the center right side of my screen. How do i get rid of it?
Here's a good one for you.. I went to work for Verizon.. While in training I got my fios internet and tv hooked up. They were at my home for 9 hours for install.. To me thats really rediculous.. Anywho.. I was working in customer service for verizon. It was ok.. but when you get on the floor to sell service.. they basically have you lie to the customers to have them sign a 2 year agreement of service. Well I chose to be truthful to the customers because no one likes to be lied to. So my sales suffered. Plus I had to pay full price for my package even though I was an employee. I was paying $124.65 for my 2 services with 2 hd boxes. I thought that was a little too expensive. Well I decited to look for another job and was hired at the local cable company Brighthouse. What a relief!! They train you the way you should be and for customer satisfaction. Plus I get free cable with all premium channels and all other channels that arent ppv, I get ppv's 40% off (events and movies), free internet, and phone for $19.00 a month (employee price) WOW!! And install took about 1 1/2 hours. But of corse I had to pay verizon $179.99 to cancel my service with them. If you ask me.. I think for as big as a company they are.. they could do better. My co workers there knew almost nothing about hd. Brighthouse had hd training for their customer service reps to help customers when they call in. I just wanted to warn everyone about getting fios.. you may have been lied to just so they get you in that 2 year agreement. Oh and if you signed up to get that free tv.. good luck. It taked about 10 weeks after your 1st bill comes out to even think about giving you that offer. Plus if you cancel your fios, you cant give the tv back, you have to pay retail price for it plus you cancellation fee. SO EVERYONE PLEASE BEWARE!!!
I greatly regret switching from Comcast where I had no problems to the hell that is known as Verizon FIOS! Several days without phone, internet or TV service, many, many hours on hold and dealing with incompetent and sometimes rude customer service, along with failure to adhere to promised credits and quoted prices. It's completely unacceptable. They have no solutions or compensation for you. It's like they're begging you to go back to Comcast by their indifferent service. Three times we take off from work and lose money to wait for techs who never show up and nobody ever calls. One support rep told me he would never use Verizon. He says he has Comcast himself! Another rep informed me that I don't have FIOS and never did. Soon I think I won't…
We had Direct TV and loved it. We have had FIOS for over one year and hate it. The VOD is useless it freezes up so much. DON'T SWITCH TO FIOS!
Everybody hating Fios with so many problems. I have had all services for 2 years with no problems at all. Picture is superior to cablevison, internet speed is 4 times faster then cablevision and the phone is as clear as when it was copper. just signed up for 2 more years
Sat down last night, March 30 2008, with some friends and family to watch the Wrestlemania PPV. The PPV does not come on and FIOS is almost impossible to reach. After more than 90 minutes I am able to reach someone, won't tell you how many times my call was cut off, who informs me it is a network wide issue, they don't know what caused it, and don't know how long it will take to fix. You would think Verizon, an hour into the problem, would have more information.
Verizon told me that if I switch to triple play FIOS I would receive a 19 LCD TV free. I switched in Jan 08 and today after many phone calls they said it was a mistake and they are not offering the TV. These guys are criminals and someone has to stop them.
Burned in Oregon: Please contact me at fchrist[at]maccor.org. I work for the local government and regulate Verizon's cable services. I'd like to talk with you about your experience.
We had been thinking about getting verizon fios for awhile since we still had dial up AOL. I have had cablevision for many years and really have had no problems with it. I decided to get the triple bundle package for 95.99/month especially since they were advertising a free 19 inch HDTV which I will use in a spare room. We had it installed on 2/6/08 and everything went well. We had a multiroom DVR which worked well and the internet was great. We had ordered the verizon internet security suite which I installed on 2/10, but becuse it caused numerous problems with my computer including causing it to turn off and go to a black screen I called tech support and after uninstalling, reinstalling and having the same problem, I uninstalled again and everything was fine with the computer. I called billing the next day 2/18 to cancell the VISS and she said she did. The next week I am getting pop-ups telling me that I ordered VISS but it is not yet installed. I called billing on 2/27 and said I had called to cancell but I am getting pop-ups. She said the system is down but she would be sure to make sure it was cancelled when it came back up. March 18 and I am getting a very large pop-up saying to install my VISS again. I billing again and she tells me to call tech support who is very nice and we go through "my account" and manually cancell it on the computer. Now the status says cancelled instead of "active" so I feel as if the problem is really over with. Ha Ha! Needless to say I am still being billed for the VISS and my bill now does not give me the bundle price and is charging me as if I have each service separately. My April bill is $178.00. I call billing on 4/8 and speak to Yvonne. She says she has never seen such a messed up bill and after being on hold tells me she has to send it to an "account specialist" and it would take a few days to fix. She told me she would call me back on Friday and gave me her voice mail number if I wanted to call her. Wow! This seems like progress. I went to work and when I came home I tried the voice mail number. To my surprise it went to "the fiber solution center" and said leave your name and number if you want to order fios or direct tv. My heart sank, why would she offer to give me a fake number, she seemed like she was really trying to help. I waited until Friday and she never called. I even left a message for her at the "fiber solution center" and she did not respond. Why is it so hard to resolve a problem here? Why do they act so nice and just lie?
And now Problem #2. I was told by the service rep and the installer that I would get a letter in the mail for the "free" tv in 3 weeks. I waited and no letter. I called and was told that they are behind and it would be 4-6 weeks. I called back at 5 weeks and was told to wait for my bill to go through. I received my first bill and paid it and called again. This time it was a 2 hour on hold, being transferred, being told about "terms of sevice agreement", talking to tech support, being told a supervisor would call me and no result. I called again and was told to call a reward center which said I was not in their system. Called again to billing and told to call reward center again. Explained everything to the reward system service rep and he put me into their system and give me a reference # (yea – proof), and says in 4-6 weeks I would get a letter. I never got a letter and called back the reward center. The girl said if you did not receive a letter, you can not call here, call the eligiblity number. ARGH! I call the number she gave me and the woman said that I had done everything right and that there was an error on their part and she was going to fill out some forms and have the TV sent to my house in 6-10 weeks. When I asked for an order number she had none. Somehow I do not believe a TV will ever come to my house, nor will any letter. I feel as if this was just a ploy so I will not call back for 6 weeks.
Problem # 3. Finally, I recieved a letter explaining about their go digital campaign and a number to call for free digital adapters if you call before April 30. I called on Saturday 3/29 since I have 3 TV's without a box. I was told I could get 3 free adapters. She put me on hold while she went in to order. I was on hold for 20-30 minutes (this total call took 2 hours), she came back and said there was a lock on my account and that they could not get into it and to call customer service on Monday and that 3 people including a supervisor had tried. I asked to speak to the supervisor and she said that they can not see that I have fios TV, only the phone (no internet either). Well they seem to know that I have them for billing because not only am I charged for them but they are not giving me the bundle price, but they are charging me separately for $178.00. She tried a few things and finally said she would call me back either the same day or Monday by 3pm. She never called! I called Tuesday 4/1, and started from scratch. This girl put me on hold 30 minutes and came back and said I will get 3 digital adapters coming by UPS in 3 to 5 days. Wow! Yea! 2 weeks went by and nothing came, I called again and had to explain everything that had happened so far, she put me on hold (this call was 1hour 45 minutes), she came back and said they can not get into my account and that it only shows I have phone service, but that she did believe that I had fios TV and to call customer service. I asked for a supervisor and got Emily who I had to explain the whole story to again. She was very enthusiastic and really wanted to resolve the problem. She put me on hold and called customer service. They can not see my internet or "video"account either. They told her to call tech support which can see everthing (finally some validation that I exist), but they are unable to order anything from their screen. The tech support tried to help her but to no avail. Still they can not order the digital adapters because they can not get into my account. Emily goes to her supervisor and comes back to tell me they will have scrub or wipe out my account and then put it back correctly and then everything should be fine (Oh my god! This seems like it cause even bigger problems). She tells me that Clemente her supervisor will call me back by 3pm and everything will be fixed. Well 3pm and no phone call. I went to work and I called and asked for Emily. I had to explain to the woman who answered the phone everything again. She put me on hold and came back saying that Emily said she had done whatever she could do for me and that Clemente was in a meeting and would call me at my job before 9pm. He never called but the nice woman who took all the messages did and told me they were working on it and not to call until next Thursday, and that they can not order the free adapters until this problem is resolved because they can not get into the account. SCREAM! I spent hours on the phone for digital adapters and nothing! I am only able to spend so much time calling because I work 4pm-12am! There has to be someone who can take care of this. It seems that if this problem is fixed then maybe I can get the free TV, my bill be be correct and I would be able to get the adapters. The adapters should have taken a phone call of 10 – 20 minutes tops. No one wants to take care of anything there and they refuse to give me a name of a higher manager or executive to talk to. They just push it off to someone else and then you have to call again and start from scratch. I feel like I have accomplished nothing and I have no proof that I called countless times and spents hours and hours with no results. I am still at square one! Can anyone help me! The only address I was given is a customer relations office in NY, but with no one to address it to and no phone number. At this point I just feel defeated. I don't know what else to do. I have called so many times. HELP! My email is Cattin24@aol.com if anyone has any suggestions
I posted on Feb 12th that I had Fios install on Dec 10th 2007. No acknowledgement of who I Iwas etc from Verizon. on Feb 19th 2008, lo an behold they knew me even tho they had been billing me since Dec 12th 2007. Now I could concisely revieve my T V offer in 6 to 8 weeks. Now that that time has pasted, the rules are 10 weeks. It is now April 18th 2008. "NO ONE" should ever believe any Verizon offer!!!!!
I Wish Erik T Heels would send these posts to some Verizon executive who has the Ball- to do something about this complele "FAILURE" of FIOS customer Service
I'm trying to watch my first complete Red Sox game of the season on NESN (channel 65), but no luck. The channel is pixelating, audio is cutting out, video is freezing, and sometimes the screen goes blank (with a "not currently available" screen). Of course, it's only happening to NESN. I called Verizon customer support (using the phone number from the front of my bill) and spoke with a helpful CS rep after only about 5 minutes on hold. Guess what? Lots of Red Sox fans have reported the same problem, and it should be fixed in about an hour.
I have had Verizon for a year now. When I first had the battery backup installed, it failed, due to a bad wire. They promptly came out and fixed it, gave me 3 days credit. I have not had a problem since. I love the service. It's 10 times better than Comcrap and DirectTV. One intermittent problem I have is that I lose my favorite channel settings once in a while. I spoke to a service rep (within 5 minutes mind you) and was told that they have been having problems with the Motorola boxes and Verizon will be using the new Scientific Atlanta boxes, which is great news. Also, I was told that Verizon is dropping all of their anaolg channels and will be adding 150 true HD channels (not compressed) along with the NFL Package, MLB Package and NASCAR on Demand. I inquired about Howard Stern on Demand, but the rep wasn't sure. He said (and, yes, I know he works for Verizon) by the end of '08, Verizon will be the leader in content and the rest of the providers will be scrambling to catch up for years to come. I've read alot of horror stories about installation, but have not experienced any problems myself. And from what I hear is coming down the pipe, even if it was a PITA, it's still totally worth it. Bottom Line : If you can get it, don't wait, it's totally worth it.
Verzon Fios came to my neighborhood in mid 07, (Beaverton, Oregon) and I have read some scary things here. I currently use Comcast for Internet and TV. A friend of mine said that when FiOS comes to our area to GET IT!!! Well, now I am afraid to make the change. Can someone out there tell me of any positive experiences with Verizon FiOS?
I've had Verizon triple-play since January. After four service calls, it almost works. Whenever watching a live sports broadcast, I get a rectangular black picture-in-picture-like (I don't have PIP capability) where I see the show all around it. It will eventually start showing letters like someone is transmitting. There reps have been less than helpful — it goes away for about 10 seconds when I change the audio. Anyone else having this oddity?
I switched from Dish network to Verizon. I had Verizon FIOS installed with a "bundled" package on May 10, 2008. The installer split the Verizon signal between my HDTV and my new high speed Verizon internet router, using an existing 75 ohm cable that Dish used to connect my HDTV.From the beginning with Verizon, the quality of the TV signals were disappointing. Pictures would break up. A Verizon on-demand movie was so bad i turnd it off. The Internet seemed unsually slow for a 15kb connection. On May 16, I had Dish reinstall their service to my TV on May 16, 2008. The Dish installer said that Dish does not recommend splitting a HDTV signal and a digital internet conection. I called Verizon;s "customer service" representative to report that I was electing to cancel the TV portion of the "package" ( under the contract I had 30 dayks to cancel) I asked the Verizon rep if we could make a deal for a slower internet speed (5kb) and local and long distance phone service. We did, but the representative was rude and defensive. Their rep did agree to install a direct cable directly to my computer router as I refused to split the TV signal. When the Verizon installer came yesterday he told me that Verizon gets many complaints about their customer service people. As soon as their was a direct dedicated cable to each component (the internet router and the HDTV), things were find. Watch out for Verizon. I wouldn't recommend VIOS, at least for HDTV. If you do get it, don't let them split the signal.
Here's a follow up to my post of May 22, 2008 about Verizon. I have had two Verizon installers in my house. Neither one of these guys could get Verizon on the phone to assist them in my installations. Imagine it….as consumers we have all kinds of problems contacting Verizon. Even their OWN employees can't get ahold of their technical service people. The installer who came to my house on May 22, 2008 admitted that Verizon has, ironically, all kinds of internal problems with–imagine this–their customer service department!! I felt like I was on the witness stand when I called Verizon's "customer service" department to get their internet service problem at my house corrected. Their rep accused me of "not giving Verizon a chance to correct the poor reception problems." I reminded him I had a 30 day contractual right to cancel the bundled contract with Verizon, and I had no obligation to "give them a chance to correct the problem." He told me he had never heard of a split-signal problem and I told him, "Well, you learn something new every day:)" When he continued to argue with me I told him, "Look, if you want my business, run a separate line, at your expense to the router on my computer. That should solve the problem. They agreed to do it, and the installer agreed that I would not be charged. I just can't wait to see my first bill from Verizon. In the meantime, I am once again again getting great reception from Dish Network for the HDTV, and I backed off to a 5 kb internet connection. I found very little difference between 5kb and 15kb. Don't waste your money on the extra kilobites…not worth it. This company–Verizon–is just too big and expanding too fast to maintain any decent installations and service. Avoid them or, at least, avoid their HDTV service as I have done. I'm surprised they haven't been sued in some class action lawsuit, but no doubt one will be coming at some point.
I had Verizon FIOS triple-play installed early January. I have three computers in a wireless network (with a wireless printer) hooked up to the internet and, apart from a blown router which they replaced quickly and without any arguement (and gave me a months free service because of the inconvenience,) the service has been fantastic. TV is equally as good (much better than DirectTV, except for the channel lineup) and we've had no problems with our two STBs and DVR. And we even received our free tv within the 10 weeks we were told it would take. I'll never go back to DirectTV (despite the daily offers I get from them in the mail.)
I have been reading these posts about fios internet and tv and woww Y ou would think that this is the worst service out here.I just have to say I have had verizon fios tv internet and phone in nnj for year and half and have had no problems whatsoever.I had dishnetwork before this and i liked their service but little expensive for just standard.Also when i need assistance from dish I always got the runaround and their repair guy was someone who did not speak a word of english.Again so far veizon has been outstanding..If u need tech support it takes 5 minutes to get thru…now customer service is another story i agree with that…overall 5 out of 5..My picture quality is outstanding ..even on std with my pioneer 50 inch plasma it looks awesome..just like commercial..I guess what im saying here..i have had no problems and yes verizon is a big company and yes there will be problems but overall they are doing the job.I watch movies in the internet and there is no delay..it just plays…i recommend verizon fios..any questions ask me..a happy customer
We have been fairly satisfied with Verizon. We had a long list of problems with Comcast, but have had just a few with Verizon. We have the cable/internet/phone package. The internet portion works great, and the picture quality seems to have better definition than did Comcast. For our neighborhood in Beaverton, Oregon, the upload and download speeds are much, much faster than Comcast's fastest. The cable TV works okay, but there are a few glitches: the descriptions of shows in the TV listings portion is frequently wrong — a different program being aired rather than the one listed — and the actual description of what any show is about is laughably bad. They might as well just say, "This is a movie". Also, frequently movies stop recording at 2 hours — either recording the remainder as a second movie, or not recording anything over 2 hours at all. The phone portion of the Verizon service has a few glitches: several times a day the phone rings a short, half-ring from a leaking signal in some junction box; and the installation of the converter box with battery backup in our garage has killed both of our remote garage-door openers. The Verizon tech said it is the garage door openers, the garage door company says it is Verizon (hint: the problem started within minutes after FIOS was installed.) Are these problems enough to cause us to switch back to Comcast? Certainly not: Comcast was a nightmare of frequent problems and endless phone trees that led to script-reading techs. I'll stick with Verizon but really wish they would do something about those TV listing errors. And it would be nice to close my garage door.
I have had one of the most horrible expriences getting Fios installed in my home. You can fill in the blanks – I'll spare the long story. However, I know that Fios is the better product so I have been struggling to get it all installed. Later on, it will pay off media-wise. Comcast had issues too that they could never fix for me so that was another reason I have switched. I got it installed yesterday and my plasma blew (UGH!) but my other 3 HD boxes were installed finally. Right now I have no guide information even though all boxes have an IP address. They don't know what to do for me but eventually it will get fixed. They have the superior service, they've just grown too fast to handle it and we are all suffering. It just depends on how much you are willing to endure. As well, from the comments I am reading some of your issues could have been resolved by reading the full documentation on the Fios website. That is not their fault.
I was promised a free LCD TV with my install. I was told this by the rep when I originally called about server… and he knew where I was and told me specifically that the offer was available in my area. We also had an extra TV outlet installed for the TV… which by now you can guess… never should up. For the last 4 months our so we have called asking where the TV was and we were always told it would be here shortly. One person told us they couldn't send the TV until we signed our 2-year agreement… then saw that we already had… and told us again we should receive it shortly.
Finally, today we called and were told that the offer was not available in Oregon. Great. We paid $175 to break our agreement with DirectTV.. were promissed a free HDTV… had a jack installed for it… paid for it for a half year now all while they were telling us that it would show up… only now to hear it wouldn't be coming. And of course… we are stuck with that 2-year agreement with no way out.
russ..maybe i can help you out.Are u saying you have no guide at all.If you dont have a guide that means the technician didnt run coax to your main computer.they should have given you an alctel router..dont know if thats the name but if you do see if there is a coax feeding from the back.the battery and the garage door opener is a strange one.Verizon , all they do is plug in the battery to an existing outlet.as long as it is not plugged into outlet of garage door opener yuo shouldnt have a problem..what you can do is unplug the battery..see if that works…let me know
brad…you should have it in writing about the free tv.they sent out a letter when my neighbors got it.and yes it took along time because they ran out…they usually live up to their promises but it does take awhile.I wiould call them again if you have the contract
shannon..the comment i left for russ was for you with the guide info..let me know what you see behind your router
I want to hook up a tv in my basement like I use to with comcast cable but found out that ever since I got Verizon fios installed I have not been able to do this. Can anyone tell me how to do this?
Thanks!
Junk, junk, junk…
Will spare you all the details. Suffice it to say, I am in the process of trying to get my box replaced for the fifth time in less than four months. Each time it takes about 2 1/2 hours on the phone to get through and convince them it is a problem. I now have had 4 different boxes – all of which have had problems. By the way, when they "replace" the box, you get someone elses used one. Easy to tell. Their recordings are still on the box!!!
Main issues (not all inclusive): picture breaks up, system "freeze", try to view recorded program causes box to freeze and removes all recordings, system reboots itself at random times in the middle of watching recordings, sound out of sync with picture, recorded programs just stop in the middle even though they are recorded for the full time, etc. etc. etc.
NOTE: I have had 4 different boxes at this point. Chances that I just got "bad ones"?????
This system is junk. Avoid at all costs!!!!
FiOS FiOS FiOS. Everyone is so ready and quick to tear up this new technology(to the home user it's new). People need to RELAX, and let the kinks get worked out. I've had the FiOS for just about 2 years now. I've got the TV, Internet and phone. Yes, I have had my fair share of problems, but Verizon has always made good with me. I've had bills credited, several times. People, please learn to talk to the support teams. Don't scream… It gets you nowhere, and certainly doesn't fix your service problems :P Someone above said, "A technology that grew far too fast for Verizon to keep up with…." Exactly. It's aweome stuff.. They will get it right. It blows away cable. Cable is JUNK compared to FiOS. We need to be patient.
As far as people not getting the TV…. Call them. Calmly tell them that you haven't received your TV. They will work with you. Some people have opted for the BesBUY gift card. I waited, and received my TV. Took about 4 months, but I got it. I love my FiOS. I like to put it on my toast in the morning. It's the best. I've got ZERO complaints about it. Awesome picture, awesome speeds, unbeatable deal. I just think that people like to complain too much. Some guys Valentine's Day was wrecked because of FiOS??? HHAHAHAHAHA… Cheap squat!!! You should have taken your wife out instead of staying in and watching a $3.99 movie.. You deserved it!! hahahhaa Waaaahhh!! Sniff sniff… Things could be worse pal.
RIDE THE LIGHT!!!
Chuck, if the alarm worked before fios was installed, it should work after. That's just good service and common sense. Should've went with Comcast.
ed… all you need is a splitter that you can do yourself and run the coax to your tv in basrement.Verizon just went all digital so you will need a digital adaptor which verizon gives for free and you get all the channels in your subscription(lets see cable do that).call 1888 go digital
lee…jusy was wondering what boxes did you change?? was it every box that gave you trouble or just one specific tv?? pls explain..would like to know which box you have.I have heard of some boxes bad but you really have bad luck with four boxes….is the internet working good??/ has to be more to it unless ur exaggerating
Steven-
Have three boxes in the house. Only one with DVR. The DVR box as of my post on June 20th was replaced 4 times. Today – yes TODAY – I have already spent over an hour on the phone with Verizon to get – yes – another replacement.
Why? Well this morning, I could not change channels on the box. Guide displayed and worked fine but could not change to a different channel. Also noticed the red "record" light was on. Looked to see what was recording and there was nothing being recorded.
Tried to reset the box by powering it off. Came back on and could change channels. However, ALL OF MY PREVIOUS RECORDINGS WERE GONE!!!
All of my future series recordings were gone also. DVR showed ZERO recordings, 48% full. This is the SECOND time on a SECOND box that this has happened. Last time, I reentered all of my series recordings and about a week later they disappeared again. That was 2 boxes ago…
When I called Verizon this monring they did a "factory reset" which they said takes about an hour. Well, an hour later – no picture – box just comes on with a "0" in the display. As I am writing this, I am on hold once again trying to contact them.
Exaggeration? NO!!!!
By the way, also have internet service with them and it is EXCELLENT!!! Have never had a problem at all…
lee…have u tried to connect the dvr to another tv?It may not be the boxes at all..could be a bad coax going to the box…let me know..on your tv with the dvr …make sure there is no splitter on the coax cable..it should have its own run ..sorry about the exaggeration..just seems odd all those boxes are crapping out..also just so u know u can go onto the verizon.com and test the boxes urself..instead of staying on hold..its easy..let me know
Lee is doing something wrong….. Lee, are you using the remotes that come with the boxes? Or are you using a universal remote?
If I ever get to know you in person, please don't touch ANY of my electronic devices…It's evident that you have the touch of death.
;)
Happy birthday Erik!!
I had FIOS installed in May. I got the bundle, TV, interrnet, and phone. The TV picture is beautiful, but on occasion, the sound goes out in the family room. I cannot get the sound with my beautiful picture, so I watch TV in the BR on my old set, or set the sound on it high enough in the BR to be heard in the FR. I called Verizon to get help. A recorded voice wants to know if I speak Spanish–_ am an American and can speak German and Russian, but Obama wants French, and Verizon wants Spanish.
The recorded voice wants to know if I want to order service NO, already done that.
Do I want information on my bill? NO, I want help in getting the goddam TV sound to work, but that is not a choice so "Goodbye!"
The only service that interests Verizon is getting my money!!
i have a white box with a gray outer rim on the middle of my right screen for about 4 days. how do i get rid of it?!
ive shut the tv off and its still there
please help meeee
bill…did u call 888 553 1555..if u did all u have to do is hit tech support option after you enter your number.second..it only gives english and spanish as a choice so i dont know if you are exaggerating or not.third..what kind of tv do u have in fr..do u have surround sound set up..i can probabaly help u if u really are having trouble..
kaitlyn…best thing to do is to unplug your set top box from outlet and plug it back in.thats usually solves most problems with stb's..if not let me know…what type of box u have ..do the other rooms work??
thanks steven!
i was just afraid it'd break if i unplugged it
but the annoying white box is gone
thanks aagainn
Tired of telling and writing the whole story. I was wondering what the deal is with the cancellation department. I am on hold now for 37 minutes 19 seconds. Doesn't look too hopeful. I'm even willing to pay the 190.00 that it will cost me for the cancellation fee. Just want my Brighthouse back!!!
yw kaitlin glad i was able to help…b
andy…brighthouse??? why are you switching back? just going to get more channels from fios on july 31st…what type of problems are u having
Have had Vios 3 months…..no problems….technician was knowledgeable, hooked up two laptops, picture crisp, sound is great…just had to update cordless phone for caller i.d., not a problem…love it!
I have had verizon for nearly months now. The remote control problem with my hd dvr box is very irritating. someone mentioned earlier that they never received the item from the promotional offering, same thing here. I was supposed to get a target card but never saw it. I tried calling several times and the tech support doesn't help much or seem to care. Have also had hours on hold (sometimes on ym cell minutes) to get transferred, hung up on, or to finally reach someone who tells me it's another department I need to speak to. The internet speed and tv quality is good though. The service and equipment is very poor. Wouldn't recommend it really, broghthouse sometimes gave a headache, but never anything as bad as fios.
andy..what remote control problem and who advised u of target card..was it verizon or a kiosk that sells fios in amall
it was the offer online when I signed up. I thought I printed the stuff out but can't seem to locate any "proof". The remotes are all fairly sluggish, but the one in the living room (the tv we actually watch) is having problems a lot. If you hit any button, you may not get a response. I usually wait about 20 seconds or so before hitting the button again or it ends up doubling up on the button. This is particularly annoying when your scrolling through VOD or you recordings. You try to look at info and then are on the buy screen, or delete screen etc. I called and had the box reset and remote did better.
Fios issues abound.the transmission medium that Verizon uses may be to blame for the pixelation and VOD freezing up.The deliver pure fiber from their head-end,with absolutely no active device,such as an amplifier to preserve the signal along it's pathway to the homes.There's very little attenuation(reduction in signal strength).this high signal level is hitting your cable boxes a level that is sometimes way above the threshold for the receiver in the boxes to decipher(decode).it is called alaising,and it is akin to talking through a microphone,but projecting your voice over the top portion of it.what this means is that your audience will not hear your entire voice.for this reason the verizon techs would sometimes put what is called an attenuator to drop the signal a bit,but this introduces equal loss at all frequencies,with the most adverse effect being sending out request from you box for vod programmes.when verizon say 20db hot,they mean it."you should see his truck"on the other hand,the traditional cable companies can adjust their signals to required levels from their amplifiers located at every 5-6 feet at each pole location.in a digital domain,pixelation will always be a problem with whatever service provider you choose.some are controllable while others are not such as those caused by the so-called "sun outages"where uplink and downlink satellite signals are affected by the earth's rotation around the sun from March-October.all in all,choose your provider based on how quickly and professionally they resolve your problem.
correction.the cable companies amplify their signal ever 500-600 feet from pole to pole.these are called line extenders,which have automatic gain control that compensate for any signal loss caused by temperature fluctuation.they're not without their set of problems which requires a technician to minor adjustment,and when there's a power outage,they sometimes fail.
i have fios and i get no pixelation whatsoever.The picture is amazing..crystal clear even on std.I agree sometimes the remote freezes but i think thats because i like to scroll alot and i change channels frequently..Im a man what can u say lol..but doesnt bother me
Verizon FIOS: While attempting to do a channel change we must have accidentally hit a wrong key or two on the remote – within 5 seconds a large black rectangular box appeared blocking most of the screen which we could not close. Some of the online help sites mention that this issue could be remedied by simply turning off the "Close Caption" option. This remedy did not work either as we turned the CC off within BOTH the Verizon system and the TV's system itself. Any clue on how to remedy this issue? Thanks!
[...] Verizon FiOS TV Problems – 100 comments [...]
I bet that you have a coax signal booster in your house which amplifies the signal coming in. Since the Verizon signal comes in hot, you don't need this. I had ond with Comcast and I had the same problems you talk about. If you have this booster, your set top box is essentially "swimming upstream". Take the booster/amplifier off and that will fix your problems. Good luck.
the best fix is to unplug the box wait one minute and then plug it back in..fixes 90 percent of problems
FIOS has been one big pain in the butt. I have the TV, internet, and phone bundle. The phone works for 4 minutes and then cuts off. CS says try 3 or 4 different things then call back for the 5th time today. Finally they say they'll send out a teck next week. Glad I have a cell phone. Verizon FIOS is more expensive than promised and phone service is crap
Direct TV is the way to go. I couldn't live without the NFL ticket!
Angela
glyn..first of all if you have a problem with fios they would not tell you theyll send a tech out next week.They have to repair the problem within 24 hours of the call.I dont know where you got that information from.Second you said ..the phone doesnt work…does the tv and internet work?..if it does it may be your phone…and why is it more expensive then promised..wish u would explain.Verizon does have taxes and surcharges added on but thats something they have no control over.maybe you are a cable worker?? or just a verizon hater lol..let us know
The Customer Code and Account ID is 030593106494848007.Friday I was no longer able to receive channels 600, 620, and 664 (and others, but I watch these three frequently. I was receiving them fine until Friday. When I called service they said I needed the "Extreme PKG" to get these channels (I am signed up for the "Essentials" PKG.) When I print out the Essentials and Extreme PKG channel lineup from the Verizon web site BOTH include these three channels. What's going on here? Why was I receiving them previously and now Verizon has disabled them? It is not at all clear what is in the two different packages and in fact it looks like it should not have affected my service. I told the support person to change me over to the Extreme PKG temproarily to get through the weekend, but I see no reason that I should be paying $10 extra per Mo. to get the channels that I was receiving up till Friday.
If there is a major channel lineup difference, please update the Verizon web site to correctly display the differences. It apears to be inacurate.
Dennis Bell
Email me at cs1@sigmaco.com if you are having Garage Door opener problems with your FIOS installation…
I got fios on 8/11 and it has not yet worked properly. The internet goes in and out daily (reboot of the router usually works). the HD channels work about 50% of the time and the rest of the time they are pixelated, or the entire HD TV set goes out. the VoIP works but you can't hear the caller 80% of the time. Hows that for batting 1000. i can;t believe they have got me for a year. I am seriously thinking about paying the $199. and gooing back to Comcast.
from a 67 year old that has used a windows98SE manual to learn to do anything on my computer until I became knowledgeable enough cannot beleive all these complaints. with nothing to do this Sunday morning except Fox news Sunday read everyone of these complaints. I had FIOS hattrick installed about six weeks ago and I will gladly tell anyone, the package was overwhelming to me for about a week. Then I became very determined to figure this new thing out. while I still have not become completely knowledgeable, I have not had any trouble with anything and very excited about all of it. the whole experience, TV;DVR especially, and internet is so fast. I would not have beleived it. could some complaints be buyers remorse.
Verizon picture quality is far from HD!! Grainy and not clear. What's the point of more HD channels if the quality is terrible. I signed up for the triple package about a month ago. Verizon confirmed the install date over the phone, so I took a day off of work to be home for the install. Well, the night before they called and said they couldn't make it, and they were rescheduling for 2 wks later. So one day's pay was lost on my end. They installed everything 2 wks later. When the tv's were hooked up, the installer showed me the picture, and I asked him to show me the HD. He said the channel was HD. I was shocked to see the poor, poor quality. He told me that most channels aren't in HD until after 5 pm. I told him that isn't the case because the Comcast HD channels were always HD regardless of the time of day. I have since called and complained,they are sending another box. Today I found out that are incoming calls are blocked because they had not finished the paper work with Comcast. What? one month and I am still waiting to get complete service. I can't wait to get my bill!
i have no idea how to sync my remote to my tv
I have been using Verizon FiOS for quite some time and I am pretty excited to say it screams and blows away cable. I live on Cape Cod and this is great. I think the service will only get better.
I recently wrote a few articles on my experiences with Verizon FiOS TV, so feel free to check it out.
Well have to add another comment to this list. I have had no FIOS Internet service for 5 days, even though TV and Phone work fine. They keep telling me its being worked on and escalating to next level but really, how hard can it be? I can tell them exactly from my end whats happening (their PPOE server isnt accepting my router sign-on) but I guess they have never seen the problem before. Its Friday night and they tell me maybe by Monday they will call and let me know the status.
I should have stayed on the Cablevision connection, it was 100% solid.
All you people who have problems with HD picture quality.
Check your settings that your tv box is set to transmit in your tvs maximum input 1080p or lower and that you have an hdmi cable hooked up and are on the correct video input to your tv and that you have RG6 video cables. old RG5 dont work very well. if your house wire is old its probly the RG5. rewire it even the short wires between components will mess it up I had one 3 foot wire between the video box and tv, the picture was fuzzy. i changed to an RG6 and it came in perfectly clear. in short, check what your tv can handel and set your fios box to that setting and if your tv wont receive 1080 dont bother with an HD box it wont make any differance.ps dont use the computer check up i did it found 3 viruses ask me if i wanted to fix the prople i clicked yes and my computer promply locked up and cost me 150.00 bucks to fix and lost everything on it they had to reformat the hard drive to fix it.Get norton best not to get a virus than to try and remove one….
I had several bugs when i first got fios, got them worked out and havent had any problems since you got to expect a few bugs in new tech.although the box is still slow to respond to the remote..
The service is worse than the old cable companys. At least they had the decency to not answer the phone. Verizon routes you to everyone that cant help you. Half hour later im so pissed im sweating. Nothing Resolved. Tomorrow ill call comcast.
#Verizon #FiOS #TV Problems… http://is.gd/eIK8
I have had nothing but great customer service with Verizon FiOS. Friendly and Couteous and knowledgeable. I am not sure what other people are saying.
Greetings Joe,
The other people are saying that they have had problems with Verizon FiOS TV service. This is suggested by the title of this post, which is "Verizon FiOS TV Problems."
Regards,
Erik
We are in a dilema (sp?). I live in So Cal and we currently have DirecTV and Verizon DSL. For the past 2 months my DSL has been going down continously say at least 5-10 times a night and very, very slow. So we decided to go with the new FiOS which was scheduled for today. The guy came out, installed the boxes and told me that they have a problem with the box on the pole and can not finish installation today. I am the 4th one in my neighborhood. I talked with my neighbor who had FiOS installed at the beginning of January '09, and he said he now has DirecTV, because FiOS went out every 2-3 days.
So, here's my question to all….in reading the posts, it seems Verizon FiOS TV is not efficient, but is the FiOS internet working as it should be? And should I just go with that? I'm ok with keeping DirecTV, but the Verizon DSL internet is the problem.
Let me know your thoughts
Thanks
After about 6 calls to Verizon regarding "channels not available" and choppy DVR playback, I told them I would not longer unplug and reboot the box and that I wanted a replacement DVR/HD box.
After a few minutes the tech came back and said there is a combination firmware/hardware problem with all of the HD/DVR boxes and that they would not send out a replacement.
They said I would need to wait until they come up with a fix.
Looks like back to Comcast who had more internet slowdowns but HD cable was pretty good with none of the problems.
Does anyone else have a problem like mine?
I frequently, nearly every day have to reboot my HD box. I get a message that states currently not available.
Solution, reboot and it works.
I think the daily reboot is a little silly. I am about to call and complain about it. Figured I would try this first to see if someone knows why this happens.
Oh, just before my post is the same problem as mine.
Rob
Have contacted the office of the Verizon CEO with no resolution for ongoing fois tv problems ie: (lockup, blue sceen, etc.) have contacted the law office of Green Welling class action atty. that have sued verzion in the past and are interested in this case, anyone wanting to join this please contact them at 415-477-6700
Someone needs to do something about Verizon now, They have been charging the consumer for months for a known issue! PLEASE HELP!
I have had fios for 3 months now and have had to have tech come to my house 5 times already to fix the SAME problem! of course they come, touch on little thing, thinks their a genius cause the on demand stopped pixilating and leave. only for it to stop working approximately 1 week later. now its gotten to the point that they don't even know what else to do for me. i swear i talk to verizon more than i do my own mother! ridiculous the amount of incompetancy there is a verizon!
I have so many problems with FIOS TV. It is so frustrating when the same problem occurs over and over again. Why can't Verizon just admit that they have problems with the DVR. This continual breakage in service with poor picture continuity makes me wonder if I'm going bonkers or something! New box, new HD TV, new cables……new everything! I should not be paying over $155 a month for such poor service! And I only get Basic with Showtime/Encore/Starz………..this is way too much for inconsistent service!! Comcast is looking better & better every day!
on certain channels on my tv a black rectanglar box appears covering two thrids of the screen, sometimes with data being processed, the only way i can remove it is to turn the tv off, do you have any suggestions?
I have not had a single problem with Fios. I had a lot of problems with Comcast doing the things that some of the posters are having issues with.
On 6/5/09, I was ready to order HSI in my new apartment in Brooklyn. I had the choice of Verizon or Time Warner and after a 4 hour chat with Verizon, I decided to give them a try- after all they have a 30 day customer satisfaction policy. It was the worst decision I ever made. I had to order a new installation package along with the HSI since my apt does not have a jack. After ordering this, I was told a customer service rep would contact me to set up an installation time. After an entire week, no one ever called, so on 6/12 I called back the number provided to inquire about the appointment. The number provided was incorrect, and I had to be transferred 5 times to get to the correct department. During those calls, I was hung up on 3 times. At one point I was transferred to a customer agent who never acknowledge my presence on the line as she was too busy speaking with a fellow employee about a blind date the went on the previous night. She went into all kinds of sexually explicit and vulgar descriptions of her activities on the date. I was horrified and kept saying, "hello, hello?" I didn't want to hang up since I had already been holding for 40 minutes. Finally, she rudely spoke to me and asked me what I wanted and said she wasn't ready to talk to me, but that they had just transferred the call to her before she wanted to take it. I explained that unfortunately when she has a customer on the phone she needs to take the call and speak professionally and let her know that I had just endured the single most unprofessional customer service call in my entire life. She told me she really didn't care and hung up on me. Finally, after waiting on hold through another couple of transfers, I spoke with an agent who booked me for an installation time of 5-7pm on Monday, 6/15. I received my confirmation number for the appointment and hung up feeling better. But the next day I received an automated call from Verizon stating that I had an appointment of 8am-5pm that Monday. Since this information was incorrect and not what I had been told, I instantly called Verizon back to confirm my 5-7pm appointment. The agent let me know that the automated system was incorrect and that my appointment was indeed between 5 and 7 pm the following Monday. He said he had escalated the issue and not to worry and even offered my another confirmation number. In the mean time, my modem and router had been shipped to the wrong address, so I had to call back to have them shipped to the correct address. The day of my appointment, I received an automated email once again stating that my appointment for installation was reserved for 8-5pm, so I called Verizon back again just to confirm that the system was still wrong and my appointment really was the promised 5-7pm. Once again, an agent confirmed this time for me and told me not to worry. However, at 3pm on Monday, 6/15 a technician called me from outside my apartment wanting to know where I was. I explained to him that he was early as my appointment was not until 5-7pm and as a result I was still at work. He started laughing and said he wanted to let me in on a little game that Verizon plays. He proceeded to badmouth his own company and told me that not one technician works past 5pm so a 5-7pm appointment is impossible. He said he would love to have later hours, but Verizon won't pay him overtime so he suggested I book a time during the day because they will just keep lying to me if I try to get a later appointment. I explained to him that I worked full time and that I Verizon had assigned the appointment- not me- and that Verizon had triple confirmed it already. He kept laughing and hung up. I immediately called Verizon back again and told the agent about the things the technician had alleged against Verizon. The agent apologized and said he would escalate the issue and once again confirmed that my appointment was from 5-7pm that day. He said not to worry, that if that tech wouldn't be there, they would dispatch another technician for the correct time period. I told the agent that I would have to take off work to get home for the appointment so if a tech wasn't going to be there, to just let me know and we could reschedule. He said not to worry, my appointment is confirmed. (I also got another confirmation #). So, I left work around 4:30 and got to my apartment in time for the appointment. Just as I was opening my door, I received another automated call from Verizon telling me I needed to call and make an appointment for installation because I did not have an appointment in the system. I immediately called back the number included in the message and told the agent that not only did I have an appointment, but it had been confirmed numerous times. She also started laughing and proceeded to make all of the same accusations against Verizon that the technician had made. She badmouthed her company and other departments in the company and said the tech was the only person who had been truthful with me. At this point, I asked to cancel my service. She said she would transfer me to the cancellation department. When I reached the next agent, he asked me why I was not satisfied with Verizon and I told him everything that had transpired and once again requested to cancel my service. He said he would have to transfer me to that department (apparently the previous agent had transferred me incorrectly and another half hour of my life was wasted). I was transferred to the cancellation department finally, and reexplained the situation to that agent. He told me that Verizon is like the NFL and even though its one company, its made up of a lot of different disjointed teams who don't like each other or communicate with each other. I explained to him that regardless when you work in business, employees should at a minimum remain professional on all customer service calls (not curse, talk about sexual exploitations, or lie) and they should always respect the company they have chosen to work for while on a call with a customer. However, after this experience, I do not blame those employees for hating Verizon. I now do as well. I also told him that this was my first experience with Verizon and now my last. I will never partner with Verizon again for any kind of product or service and I am horrified by this experience. Here are the facts about my experience-
In two weeks, I was lied to by HSI customer service agents 7 times. 2 employees badmouthed their company while on a professional call with me. 1 employee was profane and sexually explicit and discussed private personal affairs on a call. I spent a total of 4 hours with customer service chat and 5 hours with customer service over the phone – both of which led to no service or assistance of any kind. I had to be transferred to 8 different departments. And, at the end of the 2 week period, I had still never received any installation equipment or correct appointment. After canceling, I promptly ordered time warner cable.
I got Verizon FIOS triple package couple of weeks back. The HD quality is good compartively.
The Home Media DVR Remote is not responding as expected but the major problem that i face is History HD. Whenever i tune into History HD, a black screen comes up with the instruction to "contact 1-888- number and press express code 8801" (I think it is equivalent to reset the DVR automatically thru phone).
Called the tech team couple of times and spent couple of hours. They tried resetting the box remotely but nothing worked. When i connect my SD TV to the same DVR (through the composite cable), History HD is working. As soon as i switch on my HD TV, the channel freezes.
Anybody faced this issue before / any suggestions ?
BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE via the PHONE… But, reachout another way…
A Verizon Service Representative will be with you shortly. Thank you. (20:24:21)
Agent Dominic has joined. (20:24:21)
Dominic(20:25:27): Hi! How may I assist you?
You(20:25:38): Do you really think a person would switch to a company that I have been holding for 1:03:34?
Dominic(20:26:08): Could you please clarify your questions?
You(20:27:14): Do you really think a person would switch to a company that has been holding to speak to a representative for over an hour (1:03:34)?
You(20:28:19): Dominic?? Do you really think a person would switch to a company that has been holding to speak to a representative for over an hour (1:03:34)?
Dominic(20:29:09): I certainly understand your concern, you might have faced difficulty due to high call volume.
You(20:30:35): Is that what I am going to be told now? What if I am a customer? Right now, I have a choice… Hard to come to the dark side of Verizon
Dominic(20:31:25): I will be glad to assist you online, may I ask which services are you looking for online?
Dominic(20:31:50): We will make sure you will don't faced difficulty when we get a chance to serve you again.
You(20:33:14): Sorry, but I have way too many questions.. When I am thinking about major changes, I need contact via phone, not messaging.. So long and good luck
Your session is now closed.
Thank you,have a nice day.
I have had Fios for about 5 months now. The installation took forever and a week later I had to have a tech come out to add signal boosters and replace splitters to stop some on demand pixilation issues I was having. The problem was never corrected. Apparantly any weak link in the wiring and you're screwed. I then found out after the fact that you cannot watch two on demand hi def movies at the same time. The bandwiidth is insufficient to support that which is what had caused my pixilation problems in the beginning. You think they would tell their techs this stuff. About 4 weeks ago I began having on demand outages. They would happen for no apparant reason at random times and random durations. Unfortunately they would happen right in the middle of watching an on demand program. I finally called verizon and spent about an hour and a half trying to reset the modem and boxes as well as unhooking and reattaching the cables. They then assumed the modem was bad and shipped me a new one. I hooked the new one up and the problem was even worse. That was almost a 3 hour ordeal from beginning to end with a fios tech with still no resolution to the problem. They then agreed to dispatch a tech to come to my home and he never showed up. I called them and they proceeded to tell me the tech closes out the ticket and had left a modem at my home which he did not. Another hour on the phone to reschedule a service appt and then with billing to try to get a credit for my time and a note on my acct to not get billed for the modem I never recieved. The credit I was given wss $6.00 which I laughed at. The bottom line is this. If the service worked 99% of the time without problems it is well worth it. If you have to average 1-2 hours per month on fixing problems it sucks any bit of enjoyment right out of it. This is their last chance. If I have any more problems this year Fios will get cancelled. Optimum already offered to buy back my business by paying any cancellation fees I might be facing. Im sure Comcast would also love to have my business as well.
Have had FIOS for about a year now. recently got a SonyHD Flat screen TV, mounted on the wall. All was well. Two weeks ago could not get VOD at all. Call this number. Called 6 times, spent about 8 hours total on the phone with an agent, repeatedly re-booted the router, VOD would work for about 5 minutes then just go out again. (Call this number). Now, they are sending out a new router but was told this is probably not the problem, the problem is probably because the Sony HD TV is not compatable with HDMI cables?! What??? Was told if a tech has to come out it would cost us an arm and a leg…What the?! Waiting for the router, will hook that up and if that doesn't help, calling ComCast. I'm sick to death with dealing with Verizon customer service department.
This site has 137 complaints, and there are tons of others. Have things gotten any better for anyone? Has anyone talked with their Attorney General about filing a class action lawsuit in regard to consumer fraud?
I called Verizon Tech support with a simple question. I have a new DVD player and needed help with viewing. My questions were not about hooking up the DVD player, it was a simple question on what mode the tv has to be in in order to view the DVD movie and/or how to use the remote. First of all, I could not understand the tech, he had a very heavy accent. He repeatedly told me he cannot help me set up the DVD player. I repeadedly told him I did not require that support. He was not able to help me. He hung up on me. This company should be boycotted or something. I have had other problems with them and their people are rude, and pretty much useless no matter what department you speak with. The only time you get satisfaction is when they are SELLING you their service, after that it's all down hill.
MY FIRST CALL TO VERIZON WAS NOT VERY HELPFUL, MY SECOND TO A MELISSA WAS HELPFUL TO TURN ON THE TV. SHE PROGRAM THE REMOTE EVERYTHING WAS WORKING FINE EXCEPT THAT THE TV IS IN THE DVD MODE AND WILL NOT CHANGE TO THE REGULAR CHANNELS. I WAS TOLD TO CALL A TV REPAIRMAN. NOTHING WRONG WITH THE TV. SO WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE.?
(Time Frame Jan 2009 – present)
Hello Verizon Fios TV users:
See if you can follow this:
I am on my third DVR. I have it connected to a Sony Bravia 46" Flat screen.
The problem (with the DVR) which was NEW, started happening six weeks after it was installed.
First DVR:
the hd pictures started pixelating and the sound became garbled. After a few hourse with tech support (and that god awful phone in system) the pixelating disappeared. The garbling, random, while watching non recored shows or movies was fixed by "skipping" back. The garbling became very anoying and they replaced the DVR. By the way I have three other digital HD boxes attached to three other tv's. The DVR problem did not manifest itself in the other boxes. (HINT)
Second DVR: was a "recondition" unit sent by verizon (and as told it was up to specs.) The unit played flawlessly for quite a few months, then; the DVR kept on "resetting itself." As told to me the DVR was being reset by the HDMI cable connection from the TV – the problem was occuring with Toshiba, Samsung and Sony TV's. He said I should install Component Cables, which they sent me. The resetting stopped.
Then the pixelating and the garbling started. Another call to tech support (Trick here: keep repeating the word "Agent" in to the phone – you get to speak to a live person very quickly.)
After exhausting diagnosing, he relented and shipped another another DVR.
The third DVR:
Arrived, and I called verizon to "set up the box." I asked whether to use the component cables or the HDMI. The agent said either one was okay. "We" installed the box, and the system played perfectly (I used the HDMI cable – sent back the component cable with the DVR.) Well this lasted six – eight weeks and lo and behold; started getting pixelating and the garble sound thing, as well as my DVR recoding were developing "blank spots." It seemed the reseting was happening again. Once again I called support, the agent gave me the HDMI compatability THING, and said I should be using component cables. – Currently I am waiting for the component cables which should be here in a few days.
What have I learned; Motorala makes extremely poor DVR, they are not taking this problem seriously and coming up with a real fix.
I tried four different HDMI cables (from different manufacturers) as suggested by the agent, these cables aren't cheap.
It seems when my contract is up I will probably switch to another digital/hd provider. Verizon is just not up to this technology.
Having been in the repair business, for every call reported; there are about four that are not called in.
As I have had this problem with three DVR's so far, and not one of my digital/hd boxes has been replace – only a blind man can see the problem is with the DVR technology.
IF WOULD BE NICE IF VERIZON HAD A WIDGET TO REPORT CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS – THAT COCK & BULL ABOUT HAVING THE MOST SATISFIED CUSTOMERS REALLY MUST BE A (Barney Madoff) DREAM.
I switched from Direct Tv to Fios….. I wish I hadn't. I can't stand the remote. Too many button for nothing! You push play and it just keeps on FF. Also, when you try to type up a show title to record, it says that that service is currently unavailable – try later. You CANNOT search for a show by typing in the title about 90% of the time. I've only had it for 1 1/2 months and I regret switching. Customer Service sucks, good luck getting an actual person who will listen.
Just got fios package recently…the internet is blazing thusfar no issues, but on demand does indeed macroblock, and I know better than to call customer service…I have the installers cell phone number muahahaha.
We have had Verizon FIOS for a long time. We had the main battery inside the house. It went bad, and a wire too. Now my main house computer does not work. Verizon said it was our problem; told us to reload all software and if it didn't work to get a new computer. anyone else have this issue? My wireless works, my CPU does not!
I signed up with Verizon thru a door to door salesman. WHAT A MISTAKE. First they lost my order. I should have canceled right then but the salesman hounded me to death and resubmitted my order. I get my first bill for $800.00 dollars because they didn't put my international calling plan in. Fortunately I kept my order copy. After spending 2 weeks and about 1 hour per day with the reps I finally gave up. I only make payments that add up according to my order. All the incentives the salesman sold me are not available to me. They have the most unknowledgable reps. I don't know how I will get out of this mess but one thing is certain that I will never again sign up with Verizon. I warn all future customers to be very careful of Verizon door to door sales people because the company couldn't trace my salesman and the number he gave me doesn't work.
SAY NO TO VERIZON
to all of the customers with vod pixelation and tv works FINE. the first thing you want to do is verify with the verizon that your speed profile for both data and video are programmed correctly from the guys on the inside. if that is correct, the next thing to do would be to have an outside tech check the speeds coming directly out of the ONT and router. If the speeds are correct inside and out, the problem would will be one of three things(the cable box, coax wiring, or a splitter). approach tble in that order and somewhere along the line your tble will be fixed…
Why NOT FIOS
October, 2011
1) You loose your phone if you loose power or cable.
Remember the old days when you could loose power, water, or all utilities, but the phone still worked? No longer.
One of the many things they do not tell you when you order, and may not even during the install, is that your phone is moved from the reliable copper wire to the un-reliable coaxal cable that requires power from your home. If you loose cable you cannot report it. And if you loose power, you loose your phone after 8 hours on batter backup. You cannot call for help or find out what is happening around the neighbourhood.
2) You loose existing e-mail.
Another thing they don't tell you is that if you have existing e-mail service and do not switch to their's, when you switch your computer to the FIOS internet you can still receive e-mail but can't send it out.
It turns out that this is because FIOS has taken it upon themselves to block you from using port 25. It’s to “protect you” from sending spam, even though any port can be used for that and even though 99% of their residential customers have no knowledge of STMP servers, ports, or are unlikely to send spam from home.
Also without telling you they block port 80 inbound, apparently to “protect you” from having a website on your home computer though gosh knows why. Even the installing technician didn’t know about the blockages and technical support had to escalate the call before the cause of my e-mail problem was discovered.
If you have always had your own e-mail service that's using port 25 to send to its SMTP server, it simply stops working. One fix is to pay for a business account instead of a residential one as it is not blocked. (Sic.)
Another is to switch to FIOS's SMTP server because it receives outgoing e-mails on port 465. To do this means you have to sign up for their e-mail service whether you did during initial install or not and wether you'll ever use it or not, and even though you’re normal, receiving e-mail account (the POP service) remains the original service. Part of the sign-up is to require an e-mail address to which they can send their spam. That's right. The same FIOS that righteously protects the world from your spam requires that you take theirs or you can't continue using your existing e-mail account that uses Outlook or Thunderbird.
You will then have to change your e-mail client’s configuration to use their SMTP server, port, protocol, and the account / password you just created. But only for outgoing email, not incoming. If you change back from FIOS, you'll have to change these back. And if you don't know how to do any of that, you have to call FIOS technical support to tell you, if you can find that number.
3) You can have installed, and be billed for, a different configuration from what you ordered.
Sales office, technicians, technical support, and billing all seem to live in different worlds. I ordered only cable and internet and the technician who came said his order was to install two converters: one “standard” and one “DVR.” I asked if there was any impact on the price and the technician said he’s not allowed to talk about pricing, it’s whatever order was agreed to.
The next week I received a letter from FIOS saying I'd be billed $125 a month instead of the $95 I’d ordered.. I had to call the business office to straighten out the order and reduce the bill to what had been intended. The DVR converted had been arbitrarily added by Verizon at additional cost with no word to me.
4) You get contradictory statements about what you get, and FIOS may renege.
For the initial order I was told I'd get a standard converter free for as long as I lived at that address. This was affirmed by a followup billing letter. When I called to clarify the order and correct the billing they said they that offer was not available to my area and they would not do it: the standard converter would be an additional $10 from the original quote.
5) You don't know what you're ordering.
When you phone up to order, they try not to tell you what the options are by obscuring them in “packages” and “specials.” You may know that you only want internet, but you can't have just that. You will also get TV and phone, and they don't mention the phone.
They tell you a price for “packages” of “services”, but not that “service” only means internet speed and number of channels, not necessarily that the cable converter is an additional monthly charge.
Internet speed and sets of cable TV channels are bundled, not separate. You pay for what you don't want.
So you can wind up with many HD channels but a converter not capable of HD, and the technician who installs it is instructed not to say anything about pricing so, even if he tells you what is technically what you get no basis for a decision.
6) Even Verizon doesn’t know what you have.
Twice I called to have my phone service restored; twice the service desk swore up and down that my phone was on copper wire, not FIOS; twice a service man came and swore up and down my phone was on FIOS, not copper.
7) You become their delivery boy.
When I cancelled service I asked if a technician would pick up their equipment. They said no, they’d send me boxes for me to send it all to them.