Starting Off on the Wrong Foot
I’ve been quite happy with my Verizon FiOS internet service. It’s fast, reliable, and competitively priced. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to add their digital television service. I’ve subscribed to Dish Networks since I moved in over four years ago, and it has been a good service. However, I now have a large Sony Bravia LCD television, and I’m ready for HD content. I was quite happy to find that the FiOS service will give me more channels, digital service, and a large helping of HD channels including quite a few local ones, all for less money than I’m currently paying (thanks to bundling internet and local phone service).
We were scheduled to have it hooked up this past Monday. They never showed up, even though my wife had called them late in the afternoon to find out where they were and was reassured that they would be there.
That’s a pretty bad first impression in my book. It gets worse.
My wife called the next day to find out what was going on. They apologized, and told her that they could reschedule for the 25th—three weeks away! She complained about that, and the service representative told her that she would attempt to get something earlier. We found out today that she couldn’t. We’ll just have to wait.
Customer experience is becoming more and more important as we move towards a service-based economy. I’m already a dissatisfied customer, and I’m not even officially a customer. Not that it matters to Verizon—it’s not as though I’m going to tell them I’m no longer interested in the service.