Posts Tagged ‘phone problem’
At one point this morning, there were two Verizon trucks plus a contractor’s pickup with backhoe at the ready.
Turns out they only need a couple of shovels.
Around the corner, the lead Verizon tech of the day found damage that apparently had come from/around work done on the cable company box — a finding that will, no doubt, be something Verizon takes up with Cox and the VA SCC.
My copper has been spliced/fixed, the temp line has been restored, so all is happy in the world for now.
But still, why was I quoted up to seven days for someone to look at the initial problem? Why is Verizon having to haul techs up from Richmond to work through a backlog of repair tickets in Northern Virginia? Would I still be waiting for someone to look at my line today if I hadn’t dropped a dime (well, clicked a link) to the VA SCC?
Monday morning and the disconnect between Verizon repair and Verizon call center — again
Posted on: July 13, 2009
At 9:48 AM, I received a call from a Verizon call center in Virginia, telling me that my landline service was fixed and if I had any questions or other problems, please feel free to call. This message was read by a human being working through a script.
Meanwhile, there’s a Verizon truck parked outside, a backhoe across the street near the above ground distribution box, and a Verizon tech and two contractors plugging in wonderful boxes to locate where exactly the line break is (hopefully not under the asphalt, please). The tech has already worked up a heavy sweat and I don’t envy his labor today.
Note to Verizon: This is the second time where I’ve got a rote call center call TELLING ME THE CIRCUIT IS FIXED WHEN A TECH IS STANDING OUTSIDE TRYING TO REPAIR IT.
Honestly, once may be bad luck and/or human error, twice indicates that the processes and the procedures are broken and need to be fixed.
It would be to laugh, if it wasn’t costing you money and goodwill.
*sigh*
Now we await Miss Utility before the digging starts, I think…
Previous postings in this saga of repair, in chronological order–
Tuesday, July 8
Verizon wireline’s 7 day service window – I’m told that someone might not look at the dead phone line until Monday, July 7
Friday, July 10
Virginia PUC responds faster than Verizon landline repair - File a complaint only with the Virginia SCC (PUC)
Virginia PUC motivates Verizon repair for landline and other mysteries – Tech comes out, declares line dead, need new copper
Saturday, July 11
Verizon Repair fiasco continues… – Verizon call center droid says service is restored, unplug my phones, plug back in, should have dialtone
Straight talk from a Verizon supervisor… – Tech working on my line calls me back, tells me call center is wrong, didn’t read trouble ticket
More repair activity from Verizon this Saturday – Tech comes out, jury-rig a NID-to-NID connection for dial tone.
Sunday, July 12
Verizon repair Sunday phone call – Richmond supervisor calls to discuss activities
Pull into my driveway at approximately 2:30 PM today to see the s local Verizon guy in front of my access box (NIC), and there’s a piece of gray wire coming out of it, looped around/across my neighbor’s fence perimeter. The wire crosses the fence on the other side of my neighbor’s lawn and is plugged into my neighbor’s NIC.
I have Verizon dial tone. It’s an ugly lashup, but I’m not going to complain at the moment
Filing a complaint with the Virginia SCC (think PUC) is powerful s**t, my friends.
I also have a call from another person at Verizon who has sounded the alarm and says I should expect a Miss Utility truck today to mark the buried lines, with a contractor out either today or Monday to dig up and splice in new copper.
At 11:40 AM, a Verizon supervisor — the second tier guys who actually know what the f*** is going on — called me back and clarified the status of the phone repair–
1) The copper is dead between my house and the distribution point, there are no alternatives, Verizon is going to have to dig and put in new copper.
2) This process may take up to 7 days (worst case), since it is now a weekend, Miss Utility has to be called to mark the lines and then Verizon’s contractor has to come out to dig-dig-dig… *sigh*
3) “Bob” the supervisor noted that if the first-line person who had taken the call had scrolled down the record a bit more, she should have seen that A) Phone line was dead, Jim and B) There was another work order generated for replacing the copper from this morning’s tech assessment. So, she should have not told me that I had service restored and go through the rote ritual of “unplug the phones, wait 5 minutes, try again, that doesn’t work, call back.”
The supervisor — who I bet installed his share of network when he was younger — did not think kindly of the first line response person. Ya gotta love a guy who doesn’t sugar coat things 
*sigh*
The moral of this story should NOT be “I hate Verizon.” I love the line guys and techs who don’t try to B.S. me, they just tell me what’s going on, like the guy yesterday up from Richmond working through the backlog of repairs. These are people who care about the customer and have pride in their work and they know that they can make a person’s day because they’ve dealt with some of the back office crap and it doesn’t make them any happier.
I really wish Ivan and the rest of the Verizon senior leadership would stop and take a moment to reassess and repair Verizon’s customer service organization on the landline side.
P.S. Shoutout to Andy Abramson — happy to make you smile!
Verizon Repair fiasco continues…
Posted on: July 11, 2009
This morning, I called Verizon’s number to see what time a tech would be out to look at my dead landline
Much to my surprise, the auto-bot said the trouble ticket had been closed. Once again, using the magic word “Attendant” to cut through the voice recognition robot, I got a live human being who said that the line had been “fixed” at 9:30 AM.
I expressed my dismay, since 1) The tech hadn’t knocked on the door and 2) how was I supposed know that the line was fixed? Oh and 3) I still did not have dial tone.
So, we went into the rote script of “Unplug all of your phones for five to ten minutes, then plug back in a standard phone and see if you have dial tone” and if that doesn’t work — call back and ask a supervisor.
Did as instructed. No dial tone in the home. Call back. Ask to speak to a supervisor. All supervisors are busy.
“Can I have the name of a supervisor?” “They’re a pool”
“Can I have a direct number so I won’t have to deal with the auto-attendant?” “There’s no direct number.”
Call ends with me asking for a supervisor to call me back at my alternative phone number and being assured someone will call me back today.
Uh huh.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC)’s Division of Communications is my new BFF when it comes to dealing with Verizon.
Earlier today, I filed a complaint on the SCC’s website, asking why it would take Verizon up to seven (7) days to come out and restore my dial tone. I subsequently exchanged several emails with a SCC staff member and by 12:30 PM, I received this note…
“Thanks for your response. Our office has now filed a complaint on your behalf to (1) assist in getting your telephone service restored as soon as possible, and (2) to get any explanations as to why it quoted such an extended interval on a repair issue.”
As I opened up my garage at 5:45 PM, lo and behold, I see a Verizon van across the street. The tech wrapped up his phone call and walked over. He tells me that I have a pair of bad wires between my house and the distribution point around the corner and he has put a ticket in for someone to get out side. He also tells me that I got bumped to the front of the line for some reason; I tell him that when I called in I got the whole 7 days thing, so finally I got fed up and filed the SCC complaint, nothing personal. He agreed that having to wait up to 7 days for service wasn’t exactly good for the consumer.
Turns out he and a bunch of his coworkers are up from Richmond for the week helping Verizon Repair work through a backlog of trouble tickets.
Later this evening, at about 7 PM, I received a stock auto-bot message from Verizon saying it was sending out a technician tomorrow to our address, “Press 1 to confirm” and someone needs to be around to let the tech inside the house… OK, I’ll ignore the last part, but I want to be around to see if I get dial tone back.
The moral of this story: If you are in Virginia, the SCC is probably as good as calling up the president of Verizon Virginia to complain about poor service.
The deeper mysteries of this story:
1) Just what happened to result in a sudden spike/rash of trouble ticket calls for Verizon repair?
2) Does Verizon have adequate staffing on call to meet state regulatory requirements of resolving 95 percent of telephony problems in 48 hours? If the company has to ship techs up from Richmond, the answer might be “No.” See (2) in italics above.
This isn’t the first time I’ve run into headaches with Verizon landline repair. However, the SCC is purportedly getting complaints about longer service intervals statewide more recently.
Again, why? I’ll be making some more phone calls on Monday to dig a little deeper.
