Why VERIZON is One of the WORST Companies in America!

Yesterday I wrote about how Comcast was named the worst company in America and mentioned that my pick for second-worst (behind Goldman Sachs) is Verizon.

So why? Why do I think Verizon sucks so much?
Their DSL SUCKS!!!!!!!

Every single person I know who has Verizon DSL service hate it. They're stuck with something that only seems to work half the time, and calling up tech support means talking to someone in India who troubleshoots you through the dumbest crap possible that you've already tried!

Their Customer Service SUCKS!

It really, really does. Not too long ago I called them up about a tree branch that was about to take down the phone line and they wouldn't come out and cut it down. It get's better: A co-worker called them up because a tree actually took out his phone line, which he could see outside his window. The woman in India still tested to see if the phone line worked. I'm not kidding.

There's NO face-to-face customer service!!!!

This doesn't apply to their wireless service, mind you, but it's true. If you have a problem with Verizon, you can't talk to a human being face-to-face. There are two different Verizon headquarters in Philadelphia and after trying to go to one of them to talk to a person about the problems with my service, I was finally told by someone that Verizon no longer has any customer service centers, it was all exported to call centers.

And all the call centers seem t be in India.


FiOS? What FiOS?

This is, for me, the catch-22 of Verizon; I hate them, but they seem to have a really good television service called FiOS. I would LOVE to at least try it, but they've done everything possible to make sure that doesn't happen. Like what? Well, for starters, it isn't available in Philadelphia. That, despite the fact they've been showing the ads here FOR FOUR FUCKING YEARS!!!!!! Mailers have come in, newspaper ads... and no one who lives in the city can buy it!

Not only that, but you have to sign a two-year contract off the bat to get it! You're stuck paying a ton of fees to have it installed, and if you cancel your contract early you face heavy fines! So no chance negotiating for a lower bill, or even calling about it; you're under contract.

Why DO So Many People Hate Comcast?

Comcast was named the worst company in America last week, and I have no idea why.

I never understood why people hate Comcast. For years online, I've seen a constant flow of posts from people about how "Comcast Sucks", but NEVER have I seen a reason that was actually decent.

"They're expensive!" Well, yeah, I don't doubt that. For my expanded cable package and internet, it's about $135+ a month. If you call them up and ask them to lower your bill, they will. In fact, my bill is down to $80 a month until September. In September, I'll call and ask them to lower it again and, you guessed it, they will.

"Their customer service sucks!" ...um, NO? In the many years I've been a customer, the only time I've complained about their customer service is when I have to deal with someone face-to-face, and even then its about once out of 10 times I've gone. They actually have some of the nicest reps I've ever talked to, and as long as you're nice to them, they tend to be incredibly nice to you.

In fact, I'll tell you a quick story: My internet went out once in 2008 and I had to call tech support. After being put on hold for 30 minutes I finally got to talk to someone for some help. I asked why the wait was so long... turns out she was the only rep in my area at the time. I told here what I had tried, and we had it fixed in 5 minutes. Really nice, didn't make me jump through hoops... I was pleased.

"Their service sucks!" I guess that one literally depends on where you live. I live in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia and have cable and internet with them. In the nearly 5 years I've had their internet service, it has gone out a grand total of 3 times. I was with Verizon before, and that was a monthly average. Same deal with the cable.



Personally, I don't get why people hate Comcast. They tend to be nice, kind, polite, offer great service and even if you hate the price they're willing to LOWER THEIR PRICE IF YOU ASK.

Now, that's not to say it's been great, there have been problems. I don't like the fact that it is so expensive to have cable ($75+ for expanded basic, which is a little more than 100 channels [but a TON of movies]). It took about 3-4 different boxes to get one to work when I had to get a new digital receiver in 2008. I don't like the fact that they have throttled people's internet service, or the fact that they want to buy NBC (which I'm 100% against).

Are they perfect? God no. Are they pretty damn good on a whole? Yes.


If I could take my pick for worst company, it would be Goldman Sachs, but that's for another day. But to me, a close second is Verizon. Why? Find out tomorrow.