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Verizon ---Can You Hear Us Now, or Do You Still Have Fios Between The Ears?

Submitted by Haverford19041 on Thu, 2007-08-16 23:00.
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Oh joy oh joy. Verizon came to town with Fios. Whoopee! Those who have it hate it around here because they can't even get government cable channels, there IS monkeying about with copper wires, and others have mysteriously lost phone service etc. since Verizon came around to "improve" our lives and their fat wallets.

Our neighborhood has those BIG BEIGE BOXES. Some call 'em filing cabinets,some call 'em refrigerators. Verizon, can you hear us now?

Oh look, here's one now to look at- we hear it is at close to 20 days and counting in a DANGEROUS position at the end of a driveway on the apex of a curve!

Verizon told our elected officials who told our neighbors affected by bad beige boxes that it would take weeks to move them. Weeks? Putting them up took no time at all, yet it takes weeks to move a box like many others that they mounted exactly like that on purpose because they are lazy and don't want to climb ladders?

They have mounted these beige nightmares ALL over. They even mount them so you can hit your head on them while using a public sidewalk.

And all last night, that eejit from Verizon had the unmitigated gaul to say people were HAPPY with Fios and Verizon? Who would that be?

Verizon, can you hear us now? You suck.

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Submitted by dmuth on Fri, 2007-08-17 07:59.
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Did you hear the one about the fire that one of Verizon's installers started when installing FIOS?

Verizon vs. the Needham Fire Department
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Submitted by Haverford19041 on Fri, 2007-08-17 08:48.
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Yes. And we have found others as this is a hot blogger topic. We would like everyone to know (including Verizon), that one of our neighbors filed an online complaint with the PUC this morning as well as notified a local TV station about the Fios Box problem and here is what they said:

About three weeks to a month ago, I came out one morning to go to work. There was a Verizon truck blocking my driveway. When I came home from work that evening, there was a huge box, looks like a beige refrigerator mounted on the Verizon pole at foot of driveway for Fios. It is low on the pole and it is mounted on the interior of pole. It completely blocks sight lines. I photographed the box and pole from the height of my vehicle and e-mailed it to my township officials (Lower Merion). The Supt. of our local police department agrees the position of the box (and others throughout the township) creates an undue safety hazard.

My state senator's office contacted Verizon on my behalf and told them of the problem and that this must be fixed ASAP. We want the box either (a) relocated on the pole at a height of 10 to 13 feet off the ground MEASURED from the BOTTOM of the box or (b) relocated to a Verizon owned and dedicated pole that is in the center rear of the property on a fence line that bothers no one. The Verizon crews KNOW that pole exists as they had just strung Fios cable from it about a week or so prior to them mounting the box on the exterior street pole!

On August 15th, Lower Merion Township hosted a Public Utility Summit with Verizon, PECo, and AQUA. At that time I publicly stated my complaint and Darren D. Gill from the PUC has a photograph of my pole and box, and he now has it via e-mail. Scads of OTHER Lower Merion residents also complained that night of how Verizon places the boxes - all done for THEIR convenience because their workers are lazy and don't want to climb ladders. Scads of Lower Merion residents have been complaining for weeks about Verizon - about the boxes, inexplicable phone outages as they go into "improve" with Fios (several of my neighbors on my street and surrounding streets have experienced these outages by the way), and those who have Fios say it is terrible and they don't get Lower Merion Government Access Channels (a reason many of us get cable in the first place)

Yesterday I opened an e-mail from State Senator Williams Office dated 8/15/07 (I hadn't opened it yet because I went to the meeting and it was late getting out so when I went home I was too tired after a long meeting to get into e-mail). In the e-mail they told me that Verizon's engineers said it would take "weeks" to relocate the box it took them but a scant couple of hours to mount on the pole in the first place.

School starts in two weeks. A large private school is just across Lancaster Ave. Our neighborhood is a cut through. We have tons of cars that go through my street..... It will be extremely dangerous to exit our driveway if the box is not moved within the next ten days (by August 27, 2007), because we have to nose out pretty far to try to see around the box!

I want that box moved. Every day I take a new photo of the box. I know I am not the only one with this problem but I want it dealt with. Not open ended "weeks" but by August 27th at the latest.

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Submitted by Haverford19041 on Fri, 2007-08-17 11:56.
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More on the Verizon Fire - you posted this link, and we found this (related), and we thought we would share:

On August 8th, 2007, a Verizon tech went to the home of one Patrick O'Malley to install Verizon FIOS. While installing the wiring, the tech drilled directly into the electrical main, causing a small electrical fire
and a localized blackout of the O'Malley's neighborhood.
Eyewitnesses, including O'Malley's wife, saw smoke billowing out of the wall. The fire department was called. They put out the fire, then ripped apart the walls to make sure it had not spread. It had not.

The Needham Times reported on the fire, quoting the O'Malley's neighbor as saying, "I noticed my TV was flickering off and on, something was wrong," said Thelma Papetti, who lives next door to the fire at 60 Pine Grove St. "Then the fire trucks came."

Networkworld blogger Paul McNamara picked up the story and called the Needham Deputy Fire Chief, Al DeIulio, who told him that the Verizon technician "was drilling on the outside of the house when he hit an electrical main" and started the fire. "He's lucky he's not dead," says DeIulio.

....Verizon responds to Networkworld's post and the Needham Time's story with a "correction" ....Steven Ryan, the original reporter on the story, called Al DeIulio to see if he had been mistaken. Al responded: "If there's flames, there's fire." Both The Consumerist and Paul @ Networkworld made note of this contradiction. Paul also provided an eyewitness account from O'Malley's wife: "I was one of 50 people there watching gray smoke billowing from the electric meter panel."

You might think that would be enough for Verizon. Their tech made a mistake, caused a small electrical fire and they've apologized and promised to pay for the damages. No one would ask any more of them, honestly. Everyone makes mistakes, it's how you handle them that is what matters most.

Verizon is not handling this well. Rather than act with the sort of class one would expect from such a large corporation (see: Above & Beyond), Verizon has decided to enter a juvenile "flame war" (no pun intended) with a blogger....Yes, for some inexplicable reason, Verizon has posted a personal attack on Paul McNamara on their own blog. Who knew Verizon had a blog?

Too true, who knew Verizon had a blog...look:

Blob of Verizon

Also interesting in same post?

"Verizon, according to the US. Fire Administration, "home electrical problems account for 67,800 fires, 485 deaths, and $868 million in property losses" every single year. It is not out of an "overabundance of caution" that one would call the fire department after a technician drilled into the electrical main, causing smoke to billow from the walls. The Needham fire department did not rip apart the walls because they thought they might find delicious candy. We consider the matter closed."

Here's what targeted blogger had to say:

Verizon turns another hose on fire flap
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Wed, 08/15/2007 - 2:51pm.

At this point I must give them credit for perseverance: Verizon's Eric Rabe, senior vice president of media relations and an apparent graduate of the University of Any Publicity is Good Publicity, has weighed in on the matter of whether there was a minor electrical fire or merely a wall torn asunder at a home on Pine Grove Street in Needham Aug. 8.

....But I must share with you Rabe's opening salvo here: "Well, one certainly hates to fan the flames of Paul McNamara’s efforts to take down Verizon."

Take down Verizon? … Little ol' me? … With my little ol' blog?

The first time I tried to take down Verizon -- after experiencing four major failures of my FiOS TV service in a two-month span -- the company responded by sending flowers to my home (I kid you not).

Now they've got a vice president out with the long knives.

Of course, in his haste to prevent a lone blogger from sinking a multibillion powerhouse (or whatever he was really out to accomplish), Rabe has clearly forgotten The First Rule of Holes: When in one, stop digging.

To add your Fios Farts to Paul's arsenal go here: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18449 you can reply under comments - you'll see. Someone should tell this guy about our problems in PA....
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