Jeffrey I. Schiller
Networking, Security and Cavies

At least they didn't try to sell me FiOS

So on Monday, admittedly during a pretty windy storm, my main home phone line started to pick up a lot of static. So I plugged in my old trusting rotary dial phone directly into the Demarcation point and indeed, the problem was still there. Not my wires... I went to the Verizon website, navigated past all of the "Buy FiOS" cruft and found the link to report a problem. After going through the motions of on-line testing of my line, the website said I had to call the trouble in. I called the number displayed, only to get a computerized phone tree which attempted to talk me through a debugging procedure that ended with it declaring my line fine.... and hanging up.

So I got smart. I called back and just kept hitting "0" on the keypad or saying "agent" until I got a person. They politely took my report and declared that the trouble would be cleared by Wednesday. On Wednesday I received a computerized call informing me that they could not find a problem and that all was well. When I got home I found the line now stone dead. The website indicated that I had no open ticket. So I called back... kept hitting "0" and saying "agent" until I got a person. They politely took my report, and quoted me Friday for a repair. When I asked what happened to the original ticket I was informed that it was closed when the technician decided that there wasn't a problem. I will give them credit, this agent did admit that their testing indicated a problem, and didn't try to sell me on FiOS...

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