Date: December 17th, 2007
Time: Between 4:00 pm and 6:00 PM
Sometime between the last call from my wife and before I leave work I place a call to my home phone number and the call is immediately put through to “Verizon Voicemail Sevice” - I hang up immediately knowing that there is going to be problems because Verizon is has slammed me and not completed the installation of my FiOS service (including telephone).
What is slamming? According the the FCC slamming is “Slamming” is the illegal practice of changing a consumer’s telephone service - local, intralata service, or interlata service (including state to state, in state and international long distance) - without permission. Wikipedia also has a very educational post on slamming.
Do I fit the legal definition of slamming - I have no idea - but here is the abbreviated sequence of events:
- 11/7 - I place my order for Verizon FiOS Triple Play (Internet, TV, Home Phone)
- 11/7 - Following completion of the order I go through the number transfer authorization process (giving Verizon permission to take my number)
- 11/14 - I am told by Verizon customer service that no order exists for my name, phone number and address and nothing will ever be installed and I don’t need to cancel anything.
- 12/17 - Verizon takes control of my phone number as part of their unscheduled FiOS installation process
Given that they “didn’t have an order” and insisted that nothing would ever be installed I would assume that I also had not given them authorization to take my number and therefore I certainly feel as though I have been “Slammed” even if it doesn’t fit the legal definition.
Now I am really disgruntled and absolutely fuming - however I figure that at worst I can at least set up the Verizon Voice Mail and retrieve messages for calls as they come in. Little did I know that wasn’t the worst at all…
2 responses so far ↓
1 koolkid // Dec 28, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Verizon Customer service Sucks like no other.!!!
We have to hold for atleast 45min to an hour to hear someone and when finally someone does pickup the line…it miraculously gets disconnected. They also very confidently try to transfer to another number which again gets disconnected. People who believe they will NOT need any customer service must take Verizon services
2 Verizon FiOS still has me disconnected. | Verizon FiOS Sucks // Jan 30, 2008 at 10:55 am
[...] Not gotten any calls from any Verizon department (FiOS, Customer Support, Slamming team) that is going to investigate my claim of being slammed. [...]
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