Cutting Cable: The Headache Continues

When , Verizon had confirmed I wanted to cut cable three days in the future, then went ahead and cut cable and Internet immediately. After a good hour of total time on the phone, they promised me I'd have everything back the next morning (they can turn everything off after 5 p.m., but they can't turn it back on, I was told.

So, I wake up the next morning. Despite being promised it would take effect about 5 a.m., I was without TV at 7 a.m. Time to call Verizon again!

I call the number on my TV screen that they list for immediate service–oops, too bad: they're updating their computers until 8 a.m. Call back then.

Sigh.

While I'm waiting, I notice the emails they sent me the night before listing the new orders I had placed with them: starting a top-tier television service and a top-tier internet service, both at far higher prices than I had been paying. Umm ... wait, I didn't approve either of those things.

OK, almost 8 a.m.: Time to call and get to the front of the line! Only, I’m somehow on hold – at 8 a.m. on a Saturday, mind you – for another 15 minutes. Now it’s time to try to explain the mess, yet again.

Luckily, the very kind woman on the line seemed to understand: I want cable gone immediately, and I want Internet service that’s equal to or better than the service I used to get for the same price or lower (the problem being that FiOS connection they had been providing me was no longer available – I was able to continue getting it before, but since it was turned off, they couldn’t turn it back on). She can do that, she assured me.

And it looked like she had done it. Everything was back to the way it should be. Until Tuesday, when I got two packages from Verizon: one was  a box to return my cable box; the other was a box to return my cable box and my router. Clearly I can’t return my router because I’m keeping my Internet connection – and I can’t return a second cable box because it does not exist. So it’s time to call Verizon again.

This time: 30 minutes on the phone. I’m told I should just ignore the whole router thing and he’s not sure how much I’m getting charged for my Internet (still at a much higher tier, despite my earlier discussions) because there was so much stuff going on with my account.

Wow, this is fun. Verizon’s customer service works wonders again.