Quote - Michael wanted to upgrade his DSL to a better plan, but Verizon wasn't having it. Michael could never figure out why. Each successive CSR told him a different story, which is common among telecommunication call centers. Fact of the matter, CSRs don't know anything. Well -- they know what their company wants them to tell the customer, which is usually wrong to begin with.

Michael was a Verizon customer for seven years, while always making sure his payments came in on time. After checking the Verizon site to see if he could upgrade his current DSL, the site told him yes. His neighbor had the faster plan, so why couldn't he? So he called Verizon Customer Support to upgrade. No bueno.

After seven phone calls to Customer Support, a duration of 1 hour and 42 minutes in total, Michael's Internet was still the same speed. The only difference was that Michael had gotten really frustrated. "That's not available at your address." "That's not availabe for an upgrade." "That is only available online" and four other excuses were given, but the best is saved for last. One CSR told Michael that the Internet DSL upgrade would actually burn his house down. Can you say "LOL"?

"I directly asked 'why is it I can open a new account with 7MB but I cannot order it as an existing customer?'. Her response: 'your home cannot handle the 7MB speed. If I put in the order for 7MB, it will burn your house down," Michael writes to The Consumerist.

More than likely, this probably has you thinking that Verizon customer service is horrible. But it isn't. All of the excuses listed above are fairly probable. I know because I've heard them in another call center: AT&T.

Truth is, Michael's neighbor probably does have the faster speed of Internet. And Michael probably cannot get that Internet speed due to his loop length from his house to the DSLAM, or Central Office. The DSLAM is the building that all telephone and Internet lines run into for creating faster Internet speeds that extend outside their normal range. In 2006, Verizon's maximum loop length was 18,000 feet away from the DSLAM in any direction.



Source: GeekSmack