Verizon...Can you hear me now?

POST SCRIPT ~ It's now 9:32 and nope, Verizon is a no show. Mama and Daddy taught me when I gave my word but then went back on my word, that made me a liar. Have times changed? Does giving your word, then breaking your word no longer mean you're a liar?

Naughty Verizon.

BTW, folks about 10 or 12 miles down the road, in the next valley, had their phone go out in the same storm...last Wednesday...and Verizon managed to fix their phone the Very Next Day!

Dave just handed me information he printed off the Verizon website for our account which states (a) Assigned to a technician and (b) waiting to be assigned to a technician. These are separate Verizon posts, dated the exact same day...today...and the exact same time...7:00 p.m.

Does this mean a Verizon employee has a grudge against us and is attempting to make our lives miserable? Very definitely, there's a Verizon employee...perhaps the woman who called and left a message stating, "this is Mrs. ____, a Verizon clown, and I'm calling to say we won't repair your phone until July"...who, perhaps, thinks she's being cute, vengeful or ??? Sad, Mrs. ____, Very, Very Sad. It's at times like these I struggle to see that we're all made in the image of Christ 'cause truth be told Mrs. ____, it's just a tad difficult to see the Jesus in you right now.

Hear this Verizon employee...every major religion in the world says something along the lines of "karma", "what goes round comes round" or, in the Christian faith, "cast your bread upon the water". What you're putting "out there", into the universe, is bad karma and moldy bread. So, when things start going south for you...and they will, trust me. Oh yes, they will...look back upon the lies and dastardly deeds you've done and know...the birds have come home to roost.

Original Post:

Verizon is the land line telephone service provider at Thistle Cove Farm and, most of the time, things work well. That is to say, things work well until they don't and then it's a SNAFU...to use an old Army term...of enormous magnitude.

Last Wednesday we had a huge thunder storm here and our phone lines went out. Out as in completely and totally so Dave used his cell phone to report the problem. We live in an extremely rural area, in a deep, long valley and have almost no cell phone service. We have no television nor radio service either before we opted to purchase television satellite and XM radio. Our cell phone service is obtained by either standing, face pressed against the sun room window or standing in the side yard just outside the sun room window facing in a southerly direction. If it's overcast, extremely cloudy or inclement weather there's no cell service at all.

Except for our names, for this story, I'll omit Verizon employee names although we have them. Oh yes, we have them because the Verizon employees gave us their names..

Dave called Verizon last Wednesday evening to report the storm. The Verizon employee took the information and proceeded to tell Dave what he needed to do to ascertain the problem. Dave told the Verizon employee he had checked and it was the line that was malfunctioning, not our telephones but, in any case, we do pay the monthly premium for "inside service line repair" as per Verizon's dictate. The Verizon employee seemed none too impressed and said, "A Verizon repair employee would be at the house sometime between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23. Ummm...that's 6...SIX...days hence. When Dave asked if there could be an earlier repair date, the Verizon employee said, "No, that's the earliest we can be there."

Okay. Dave told the Verizon employee we're not paying for these 6...SIX...days of no phone service which may, or may not have ruffled the Verizon employee's feathers.

Dave was a bit, understandbly, upset so he placed a message on our incoming answer phone service that said, "The clowns at Verizon won't fix our phones for another week so if you'd like to leave us a message, we'll try to check our answer machine messages."

A Verizon employee called and left a phone message that said, "This is xxxxx, a Verizon clown and we're moving your service repair call to July 1."

Dave called Verizon and the Verizon employee with whom he spoke said, "Verizon employees cannot leave a message stating your repair call will be moved to a later date. The Verizon repair person must stay with the original date and will still be at your house on June 23 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m."

All the above took place prior to today, June 23rd.

However, today, June 23rd brought some interesting changes. Dave called Verizon to ascertain if we were still on the repair list for today, June 23rd between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The Verizon employee said, "yes". Dave replied, "We have to go to a wake tonight. Are you SURE the repair person will be here by 7 p.m. and not show up at 7:15, after we've left for the funeral home?"

The Verizon employee said, "Well, he might be a little bit late." Dave said, "that's not what the repair order states. It states the Verizon repair person will be here BETWEEN 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Now you're saying "he may be a few minutes late". Does that mean we'll get pushed to the end of the line for Verizon repair service?"

The Verizon employee vaccillated and never really gave a definite answer so we're in limbo. It's now 4:06 p.m. and the Verizon repair person has a bit less than three hours to show...if indeed s/he's going to show at all.

Oh...almost forgot to mention this...when Dave checked our phone answer machine messages, he found his message has been removed and, indeed, there's no response at all. So now if you should happen to call us, you'll get Nothing. Nada. Zip. No automated Verizon message stating the phone line is broken, no Dave message stating, "The Verizon clowns...etc."

So, Verizon...we're also not paying for the answer machine "service" since Verizon, apparently, deleted it. At least, when we checked our messages this morning, we got them but this afternoon...POOF!...all gone.

Dave has been doing some research on Verizon and find they have The Absolute Worst track record for customer relations. People hate them. With A Passion. Dave told me to type in "Verizon sucks" and see what happens. What happens is 184,000 hits! Amazing! All those people, and more, are writing their own accounts of how Verizon has rolled them and taken them for the proverbial ride. Along with their money. Lots and Lots of lovely lolly.

From that bit of research, it doesn't appear Verizon's track record is very good. I know for sure it's not that good with us. Not now. Their attitude is, "we're the telephone company and we don't give a rip." Verizon, probably others as well, know they have the customer over a barrel and there's not much, really, we can do about lousy service. Except I'm calling Congressman Boucher and Senator Puckett to complain, especially if the Verizon service repair person doesn't show up by 7 p.m.

Anyone have better ideas? My ears are wide open.

One more thing...if you're still reading -smile-...last week, June 19th, in northern VA, an elderly man was in a confrontation with a Verizon employee. There's always, at least, two sides to every story but, unfortunately, we'll always and forever, only have one side to this story...the Verizon employee's story. The 79 year old man is dead.

Blessings ~ we haven't had any medical emergencies that would require using our Verizon telephone ~ no one in our families...we hope...have had any medical emergencies that would rquire calling us on our...non-existent...Verizon telephone line ~ no one has been killed or injured by a Verizon employee ~