Rant #3,378: T.V.O.D.

Anyone else have Verizon for their TV service?

I have had a long-standing problem with them that after probably st least a dozen calls, still has not been resolved.

When we moved to our new residence, we stayed with Verizon, because we had been with them for way more than two decades and never had much of a problem with the service--TV, Internet and phone.

Well, we moved to our new residence, and we have had nothing but problems with the service for the seven months we have been here.

The problem is simple to describe, but evidently difficult--or impossible--to fix.

Our TV screen freezes periodically, sometimes for a millisecond, oftentimes for longer.

Sometimes it happens every once in a while, and other times it happens one time after the other--it just happened back to back as I am typing this out.

I have called and explained this problem to a variety of so-called experts, and each one has given me another reason for it happening, but as of yet, they have provided absolutely no solution to the problem.

I have spoken to associates from India and stateside, and they all have opinions as to what is causing this problem, but nothing seems to work.

They have told me to take the HDMI wire out of the back of the TV, to reset the system.

They have told me to take the wires out of the box myself and put them back in, again to reboot the system.

I have also asked for them to replace the hardware, but they won't do it, as they claim the boxes and modem are working.

They have rebooted the various components of the system from wherever they are, and it still freezes up.

Sunday evening, I simply got fed up, after watching the TV all day and the freezing up happening all day at various levels and frequencies.

One thing led to another, and after a lengthy discussion about what could be wrong, the associate told me that the modem was put up in the wrong place--behind a large piece of living room furniture that is, in essence, a several-hundred-pound entertainment unit where we have our living room TV.

The associate told me that the unit was in the wrong place, hampering the signal to our master bedroom TV, where the problem is.

If that is in fact true, that is Verizon's error, not mine, because the technician who came here should have known that this was the wrong place to put up the modem.

In fact, I was bedridden at the time, and no one else was home when the Verizon setup was put up.

So, if this is, in fact, the problem, I did the logical thing: I asked Verizon to come to our residence and move the modem to a better place.

The associate told me the following:

"I can do that, but I am going to have to charge you."

I was aghast.

I told him the following:

"If this was a problem caused by the ineptitude of your own technician, why am I being charged?"

He basically said that that is the way it is.

He then said that since I refuse to pay a technician to come to our residence, that "as part of my plan" they would send me an extender, which I would have to install myself.

Again, I asked if one of theitlr technicians could install it for me, as I am all thumbs when it comes to such things, and they refused, saying I would have to install it myself.

I told him to simply reboot the system, as had already been done a dozen times already, because there was no way I was paying for their mistake.

He did that, and I told him that if things did not improve, I would drop the service, and that was that.

Verizon sent me a text to rate my experience, and I gave it the lowest score.

Another text message came asking me why, and I told them.

I have not yet heard back from them.

I told you the entire story, but I left out two things.

1) Not only does the picture freeze, but when I order a pay per view event--which we often do because my son loves his wrestling pay per views--I invariably get charged double.

I have called Verizon about this problem separately, but they do not have a solution to that problem either.

2) Someone that we assume is from the neighborhood has periodically knocked on our front door, asking us if we wanted to change from Verizon to another available service.

We have turned him away repeatedly, but I will bet that we are not the only people who live here who has spoken with this guy ... and he feels he has a real leg up, because we are probably not the only people who have had this recurring problem in this area.

So why not try? He came again on the weekend. Maybe one day, we will finally give in.

A friend of mine has told me that the problem is systemic, as he has had similar problems, and I believe him.

But there is no way that I am going to pay for someone to fix a problem that Verizon, itself, caused, so at least right now, I guess I am going to have to live with this--

To a point ...

But it simply shouldn't be ...

And I am reaching my breaking point.