Well, boys and girls, here’s another tale of devious business practices that I am dealing with. I have been on the phone for about two hours after having received my Verizon bill. I get the “triple play” and have been happy with it, I have in general been happy with Verizon services, but what recently happened is unconscionable.

I have two phone lines. One is on Fi-OS, high speed fiber optic cable, and the second has always been on copper wire. During the storms of last year, Fi-OS was down and took my phone, internet and television with it for five days. My second phone line on copper was never inoperative because copper carries its own electricity. I hang onto that line as a safety backup.

In May I called Verizon and asked what they could do for me bill-wise. As I was one of the first families in New York City to get FI-OS, I usually get a few bill adjustments for loyalty. I bundle my wireless phones on the same bill and that saves a bit as well. I agreed to extend my contract for two years and they upgraded my internet speed for free. (I see no difference, by the way.) I was told I would save about $30/month. Sounded great.

Until the bill came.

All of a sudden there was a charge for my unlisted number. I have had the two numbers since the early 1990’s and have never been charged. In addition I noticed the second phone line, supposedly on copper wire, had been changed to FI-OS. This was never discussed. It was done without my permission. This happened once before without my knowledge, and I let out a scream; a technician was in my backyard very quickly to re-hook up the line. As per an article recently in the New York Times business section, Verizon hates copper phone lines because it is a dinosaur that has to be maintained. They are trying to get everyone to give up those lines and get with the FI-OS program. Being that I changed contracts, they took the liberty of switching me over. “They can’t bundle FI-OS and copper.”

During my two hours on the phone …

I spoke to Heather at wireless about a mysterious wireless charge: that was resolved. Then I moved on to Crystal who made a compromise to remove the $3 monthly fee for the unlisted number for a year. (not good enough). Beyond that I got no where so I asked to speak to a supervisor. About thirty minutes later Nicole got on the phone and sounded like she needed some articulation lessons; I could barely understand her. She verified that my line was “migrated to fiber” and that there was nothing that could be done. The phones had to be on the same bill and on the same bundle and in the same format.

So I spoke to her supervisor, Xavi who listened and in his best trained compassionate Verizon lingo reiterated that the situation was pretty much hopeless. Nothing could be done. I asked for his supervisor and ended up speaking to Douglas in Arizona in the tech department who was the nicest and kindest. He promised to remove the monthly fee for the unlisted numbers and I’d never get a charge again. From his mouth to God’s ears. Then he sent me on to another number in the tech department to “resolve the problem.”

But I am not done. Douglas sent me to Bobby. Still no resolution. I continued up the ladder. From Bobby I was sent to Ms. Robinson.  I am waiting for a call back which might take as much as three hours. She is going to see if my line can be reinstated. Imagine? Going to see if the line can be reinstated to copper. It was THEIR mistake and she is going to see IF the line can be put back on. But I must know that I may lose my recent bundle which was supposed to save me so much money and up my internet speed (not). So she said. So you can take advantage of all these deals IF you are on FI-OS which I am but NOT IF there is a copper line as well. Sounds like discrimination to me.

So while I am waiting for a call back I decided to call the New York State Public Service Commission. And guess what? I’m on hold…ok, finally someone picked up. I told Tracey my story and she is going to put me in touch with the Verizon executive department. (What this all comes down to is that Verizon doesn’t want to deal with, maintain, bill for the copper line. They will do anything they can to get people to give it up short of sending them an eviction notice.)

Finally at 7:30 pm I got a call-back from Ms. Hays at the request of Ms. Robinson who was trying to sort out the confusion. I had to relinquish my recent money saving upgrade, I had to relinquish a loyalty gift of $10/mo for the next three months, I will hopefully get my copper line back in a couple of days. But because there has been a policy change I have to pay for my primary number to be unlisted. Ridiculous. I used a work-around. The number will be in the phone book and available through directory assistance and I was able to put it under any family member. (This irks me after being told by Arizona that all future fees would be waived.)

I put the number under my cat’s name.

If anyone calls I’ll just say, “sorry she can’t come to the phone right now. She’s in the litter box.”

This post continues here.