And you thought the Verizon stuff was resolved, right?

On Friday afternoon I returned home to find that there was a message from Verizon’s escalation department (because I called the New York State Public Service Commission ). It seems that my second phone line which had been on copper and was moved to FI-OS (without my permission) was in limbo and I was asked to call “Anne Marie” back. I did. Left a message. Now I am waiting for a call-back. My second phone line does not ring at all, copper or cable.

Speaking of messages, recently, several people were unable to leave a message. I figured out why: my answering machine is set to pick-up after the fifth ring. Verizon Digital Voice has a built in answering system which was dormant and suddenly brought to life with all the contract changes,  like the seventeen-year locusts. It appears to intercept calls after the fifth ring and give the callers an error message informing them that the answering system (on Verizon) hasn’t been set-up. I tried setting my machine to four rings and it seems to beat Verizon to the phone. But…

I still called Verizon tech support to look into this. Why should I have to adjust my answering machine? Let Verizon adjust their service. The technician put in a work order to disable a service that I never enabled. Makes sense.

That’s not all … I never subscribed to premium channels and all of a sudden I have most of them; the technician looked up my services and it appears that I have more premium channels than I know what to do with. Starz … all sorts of HBO … on and on … now tech support connected me to billing. Mind you this is a Sunday evening.

So now I am talking to Briana about all that has been going on; she goes over my bill and sees that the services–a huge HD package, is not a trial–rather, it has been added to my account and there is no bill attached. I am thinking that because of this issue where my attempt to extend my contract ended up with all these calamities because of my second copper phone line (which Verizon hopes will die so they don’t have to maintain it), in the process, I lost a $10-$20/mo loyalty credit. Maybe, just maybe all this stuff was added to my account to make up for the loss. Or, maybe, just maybe, someone is trying to distract me from the loss of a phone line–and THEIR error, by plying me with goodies. Or maybe just maybe they are making nice because I called the state on them. Or maybe, just maybe, it is another one of THEIR mistakes. I can’t figure this organization out. Briana assured me I wouldn’t be billed, but if I am, she added,  “it’s written all over [my account] in big letters that the channels are FREE.”

Oh! I forgot to tell you that on Friday I finally received four new remote controls. It took a week, and the very ebullient tech person who promised to call me back to help me never did and left me with an issue: I was unable to get the volume to be controlled properly on the main television. So, a call to Verizon tech support led me to a nervous guy with a controlled stutter who had no idea what was going on, who “never heard” of the issue I was having before, who put me on hold several times while he conferred with his colleagues as well as some level two technicians. While we were on the phone I fixed the problem myself. (Not the first time). I synchronized and calibrated the volume between the new remote and a remote for a VCR/DVD player. Done and good bye.

In the meantime, my second line still doesn’t work.

Now, what’s this Nurse Jackie?

Pissed at Verizon is continued here