Look, in the grand scheme of things, what I am going to relate to you is pretty inconsequential, but even with all the other major problems I have that I have described to you over the previous weeks and months, what I am going to tell you now is annoying at least, and frustrating beyond all understanding.
As you know, my son is into professional wrestling. It is his thing--we all have our own things--and he just loves to watch these shows on TV and in person.
AEW is the new kid on the block in pro wrestling, but they have made great leaps and bounds during their few years of existence. They are not WWE, but they are as close as you probably can get.
Anyway, as we customarily do, when a new pay-per-view (PPV) event comes up, my son and I order the event through our television.
It usually takes less than a minute to do, and when it is done, we get ourselves ready to watch that show.
No muss, no fuss.
Two weeks ago, AEW All In from England was the next PPV event on the list, so as we always do, we went into the PPV section of our service and tried to order it.
For the very first time, we had a problem.
Each time we tried to order it--for $49.99, for a six or seven hour show--we came up with a screen saying that there "was not enough credit" on our account to make the purchase.
First of all, I had no idea what they were referring to by "credit," and secondly, there should not have been a problem with "credit" or anything else, because we pay our monthly bill the day that we receive it, and have been doing that with our service since day one during the past 19 years we have used this particular service as our TV/phone/Internet provider.
The service is Verizon.
So after repeated tries to purchase the PPV, I called Verizon's customer service, which at one time was excellent, but now has fallen into the garbage pail of customer service, as I have had a lot of problems with them since moving to our current digs.
Anyway, I was passed back and forth from one department to another, and was told that they would have to call me back during business hours, because this was a billing department malfunction.
So last Monday, they did call me back, and the operator told me that not only would the problem be fixed, but that he was manually going to add the PPV into our account, so we wouldn't have to try to order it again.
Everything was supposedly hunky dory.
On Sunday morning, my son and I turned on the living room TV and were preparing to watch the show.
Just so you know, AEW's "All In" is what "Wrestlemania" is to WWE. It is AEW's biggest show of the year, an international event that takes place at England's famed Wembley Stadium.
So we maneuvered to the channel it was supposed to be on, and lo and behold, it wasn't on.
I tried to order it again, but the same thing came up, about our credit.
I called Verizon again, and I might as well have been speaking to Moe, Larry and Curly when trying to get this thing fixed, as once again, those I spoke to--including a supervisor--had absolutely no clue what the problem was, and once again, they told me that I would have to wait until the next business day to get this thing resolved.
So with it not being resolved, we could not watch the PPV through Verizon.
On Monday morning, for some reason, I slept through until 8 a.m., when I was awakened by a call from Verizon's customer service.
Trying to address this problem, I was put on hold several times while the operator tried to process my request, but then she told me that the office she was trying to contact was not open yet, and that she would have to call me back--
Which elevated my blood pressure even further, as I was on the phone for about 20 minutes to hear that once, again, my request had been passed onto another department.
I do not appreciate lip service, and I let them know very clearly that I was perturbed, and that their customer service was terrible.
They told me that they would call me back at 9 a.m.--
Which they did, but at 9:05 a.m., and for the next hour, I was on the phone, trying to get this thing resolved.
I was passed on to another operator, who had absolutely no idea what she was doing, once again trying to contact yet another department without resolving the problem, and then she told me that a work ticket was going to be put out, and this would be dealt with in a few days--
When I heard this, my boiling point had reached its limit, and I asked to speak to a supervisor.
I finally spoke to the supervisor, who basically reiterated what the operator said, and I told her that that was not good enough.
I wanted action now, right now, but she explained to me that it would take longer to fix the problem, and I had no choice but to wait a few days for the problem to be resolved.
I again told her that that was not good enough.
She explained to me that the "credit" situation has to do with clients generally with younger children who don't want their kids constantly ordering PPV events without their knowledge, so they put a credit cap on their system so the kids cannot order anything without the parents knowing about it until they get their bill.
However, they admitted that I had no such credit cap on my account, and that the credit cap can be as high as $1,000, so even with a $49.99 PPV, it should not have impacted my ability to get the PPV--
So once again, they had absolutely no idea why I was getting this message about "credit," and that I would have to wait a few days for it to get fixed.
As you can imagine, my blood was boiling at this point.
I told the supervisor that I have been a Verizon customer for 19 years, and that unless this thing was resolved, I would not make 20 years with them, as I will find another provider for these services.
"I have been working here longer than you have been with us," was her very cavalier reply.
She told me that I would have to wait, but that she would call me back on Monday to tell me how they were progressing with the problem.
Since she copped an attitude with me, I told her that if this thing was not resolved, I would go to the next level, with her the target, which I don't think I have to spell out to you--
She said she understood, and that I would get a call from her later that day.
And that was that.
After spending about 90 minutes of my two hours up after sleep on the phone with Verizon, nothing--
And I mean nothing--
Had been resolved.
What a complete and total waste of time.
It made the very busy week that I described to you yesterday even more frustrating.
I do not like being lip-serviced to death, and that is what has been happening to me for the past two weeks about this problem.
I have been around the block ...
I know incompetency when I see it.
And here it is on grand display.
Then late in the afternoon, I got the first of two calls from Verizon, one trying to assure me that they situation had been resolved--
But not being able to see it put into action, and I had/have my doubts.
The person on the phone told me to order any PPV event, and when it went through, he would immediately wipe it out.
The problem was that there were no PPV events to order, so that was for naught.
I told him that I will click on a sporting event, and see if it worked, and after clicking on it, it took me right to the channel, so I did not have to go through any payment levels, which makes me even more suspicious about whether this thing was fixed or not.
The person told me he would wipe out that event and the AEW event on the bill--I had been told previously that the AEW event has already been removed--and that was that with him.
I received another phone call an hour later, and to make a long story short, I reiterated the entire thing to this woman on the other end, and she said that she would actually call me on September 23, or right before the next AEW PPV event, to make sure everything was copacetic.
And then I got a message from my dermatologist for today's procedure I have to have done early this morning, and I don't want to get into that, because their artificial Intelligence-generated phone system is equally as incompetent as Verizon's customer service system is ...
And yes, never getting the information I needed from them because there was a glitch in their system, I let them have it too ...
In my usual polite, but very ticked-off, manner.
And yes, I spoke to the business manager in the office, and she agreed with everything I said about their phone system.
Big deal
And here I sit, with nothing to show for my efforts.
What a waste of time.
If I have said it once, I will say it a thousand times--
This is NOT the world I was born into.
No way, no how.
