Scatablog

The Aeration Zone: A liberal breath of fresh air

Contributors (otherwise known as "The Aerheads"):

Walldon in New Jersey ---- Marketingace in Pennsylvania ---- Simoneyezd in Ontario
ChiTom in Illinois -- KISSweb in Illinois -- HoundDog in Kansas City -- The Binger in Ohio

About us:

e-mail us at: Scatablog@Yahoo.com

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Verizon sucks

Excuse me for a minute while I go on a rant against Verizon.

Last Tuesday around noon, a branch fell from a tree near the telephone pole that feeds my house lines. It took down both the telephone and the cable lines, not only breaking the telephone line off the pole but ripping both lines from the side of the house, leaving the telephone box dangling in the bushes.

I immediately called the cable company (Cablevision) and the telephone company (Verizon) to report the problem. The cable company said they could dispatch a repair man between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm on the next day. The phone company said I had to wait till Thursday (today) any time from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm.

The cable guy called me about 9:00 am yesterday and asked if he could come early, which he did. He did a superb job of fixing the cable, re-attaching the cable to the house and neatly tacking it down on the clapboards.

The Verizon guy arrived about 9:30 am this morning. He grumbled about having to do work on the pole. He worked at the pole for about an hour and left without ever returning to the house. The telephone box was still dangling in the bushes, with the telephone line drooping across the back of the house, and no phone service.

I assumed he would return, but I called Verizon at around 1:00 pm in any event. After hastling with the automated attendant (you always have to start with the automated attendant) for five minutes or so, I finally got to a person who told me the repair ticket was still "open." So, I assumed the guy was still planning to return.

Finally, about a half hour ago, I looked up the repair status on the internet and found that the guy had reported the problem corrected. Corrected? With no phone service on any of my three land lines? With the telephone box still dangling in the bushes and the phone line hanging loose on the house?

I called once again, hastled with the automated attendant once again, got to a real person eventually, and am now scheduled for a new visit anytime from from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm on Saturday.

These guys promised the State they would have fiber optic cables to every house in the State by 1999 in return for being deregulated. They still don't have fiber to the pole in many places, including my densly populated town in the most densly populated area of the country. But, they're deregulated.

As I said before. Verizon sucks.

And, though I'm reluctant to praise any cable company, I do have to say that Cablevision has always been very responsive to repair calls. Kudos to Cablevision.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home