I absolutely, unequivocally adore FiOS. I was in one of the lucky first neighborhoods to get it and it was flawless for the years that I had it. When I decided to move, I was terribly disappointed it wasn’t available in the area to which I was moving. I hope to someday live where it’s available again.
That said — beware of the cancelling process. Especially if you’ve made the decision to not spend the money on a Verizon phone line. I had internet only – no TV, no phone.
I was talking a few months ago to someone who works for Verizon and he commented it’s amazing they stay in business with the dumb things they do. I would concur.
Weeks before my move I checked with Verizon via telephone on how to cancel my service. I was told to return the modem to the local Verizon store.
It was something I dreaded. I wanted internet until the last possible moment which meant I needed to turn in the modem after the movers took my stuff and before I left for good the next morning. I was completely exhausted when I walked into the Verizon store nearest my home and was promptly told “Oh we don’t take modems here. Only certain stores taken them and the nearest one is blah, blah blah.” I had way too much to do to do a tour of the Dallas area seeking a Verizon store which would actually take the damn thing.
I called Verizon on the way back to the house and the guy on the phone said he’d cancelled my account and wanted my new address to send a shipping box in which I could return the modem. Sounded perfect because that meant I didn’t have to deal with it before getting out-of-town.
The day after I arrived at my new home I boxed up the modem and power supply and got it on its way to Verizon. Problem taken care of.
Not even close.
I realized a couple of months later I was still being billed by Verizon. I called and after being transferred five times I explained my problem. 45 minutes later someone finally said they had indeed received the modem and they would cancel my account and start the refund process.
I was billed again the next month. I called again and queried at the end of the call requesting my account be closed and a refund processed — Don’t you need my new address? Oh no, they weren’t able to change the address. The account was closed so no changes were possible. At this point I figured I had about 2 hours of phone time into this issue.
They said they would send all correspondence to my old address. A final bill would go there and then a couple of months later a check would be sent there as well.
Working very had to not get hostile I explained that I hadn’t lived there in three months and my mail forwarding had expired. They had to change my address. Another half hour on the phone, transferred to three more people and the person finally thought they had the address updated.
The final bill did come to my new address. Two months later when I still hadn’t received my refund check I gritted my teeth and called again. My refund check had just been processed and I should have it in a few days.
It took more than a few days because they addressed the check to the old address, but fortunately the USPS forwarded it on to me.
Five months to cancel the account and get a refund for 3 months of billings after it had been cancelled. With the incompetence of the people I spoke to and the clumsiness of their system I too am surprised they stay in business. In my opinion FiOS is a great product, but Verizon needs to bring up the rest of their systems to match it.