Can you watch me now?!?!?

TUESDAY (late afternoon):


We all notice quite quickly that none of the 3 tvs currently on and each tuned to a different channel are no longer working.  We are getting a "Channel Unavailable" message on the screen and clearly, the FiOS signal is not coming through to the house.


TUESDAY (late afternoon, 2 minutes later):

Call Verizon and schedule a service call for 8:00pm the next night. 

8:00pm?  Really?  Really.  Hard to believe, but after questioning the service rep on the phone 3 times, she keeps confirming that yes, they do have an 8:00pm service time.  Since I will be out of the house the majority of the day running around like a chicken with her head cut-off, this was the first available time Jeff or I would be home.  It was perfect that they had this time available.


WEDNESDAY (morning at 8:30am):

Phone rings.  It is H. Greg, letting me know he will be coming to the house between 1:00pm-5:00pm to fix the FiOS. 

Me:  "1:00pm-5:00pm?!?!  What?  No, we have a service call scheduled for 8:00pm."

H.Greg:  "Sorry, we don't have service calls that late.  It's either 8:00-12:00pm, or 1:00-5:00pm".

Me: "OMG! I am not going to be home today.  That is why I needed an evening time."

H. Craig:  "Ok, I will see what I can do."


WEDNESDAY (morning at 9:00am - after being on hold for 30 minutes waiting for a live person):

I call Verizon to ask them what is going on. 

Them:  "Sorry, we don't do service calls in the evening."

Me:  "Yes, that is apparently what I just found out.  I am not going to be home from 1:00pm to 5:00pm today.  What is the latest time you can send someone to my house tonight?"

Them:  "We have an all-day appointment available - anytime between 8:00am to 5:00pm"

Me:  "I AM NOT GOING TO BE HOME!!! IF I WAS ABLE TO BE HOME FROM 8:00am TO 5:00pm, I COULD CERTAINLY BE HOME FROM 1:00pm to 5:00pm, DON'T YOU THINK!?!?"

Them:  "You don't need to yell.

Me:  "Yes, I do.  I asked you what the latest time is you can send someone and you said, all day.  So obviously you didn't hear me when I told you the first time I wasn't going to be home during the day."

Them:  "We can send someone on Saturday or Sunday -- all day."

Me:  "Christmas is Sunday.  Really?  On Christmas you can send someone?  I don't believe you."

Them:  "My computer is allowing me to make that appointment."

Me:  "I still don't believe you.  I'll take a Saturday appointment."

Them:  "Ok, between 8:00am to 5:00pm."

Me:  "O.M.G.  Bye."


WEDNESDAY (2 hours later):

I called Verizon again.  I am very frustrated that we will be without television until Saturday and want to see if I can get someone to the house earlier.

Me:  "I need my FiOS working much sooner than Saturday.  Is there anyway to get someone to come over in the evening today?"

Them:  "Please hold and I'll see what I can do."

10 minutes later --

Them:  "Yes, I've been assured that someone can be at your house for the very last appointment of the day on Saturday."

Me:  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  I want someone to the house today!  I don't want to wait until Saturday for my television to be fixed."

Them:  "M'am, there is a lot going on with the Eastern Seaboard.  There are many problems all over Virginia.  We don't have any appointments available now until Sunday.  Do you want to keep your Saturday appointment?"

Me:  "Yes, I'll keep it.  But I want the FIRST appointment in the morning.  The VERY FIRST APPOINTMENT"

Them:  "Ok."

Me:  "No, put me back on hold and tell them that I want the first appointment."

After 2 minutes on hold:

Them:  "Ok, I've been assured they will get to you as early as possible."

Me:  "Great.  Bye."


AND HERE'S THE REST OF THE STORY (with a tip of the hat to Paul Harvey):

Around 1:00pm, I received a call on my cell phone from H. Greg.  He apologized it took him a while to get back to me and that he was still trying to find someone to come to my house in the evening.  I was pleasantly surprised and delighted that Mr. Greg was still working on my behalf to have my FiOS looked at.  I couldn't believe he was still trying to help me.  He asked me to explain what the problem was with my tv.  Mr. Greg thought it was probably an outside thing.  He said he had a little bit of downtime in between jobs and would come to my house and see if he could fix it without me being home.  He then told me he would leave his card and if he hadn't fixed the problem, then I could call him to come back later in the day to access the inside of the house.

Within the next hour, Mr. Greg called back my cell phone and left a message letting me know he thought he found the problem and was able to fix it.  When I made it back home, I was jumping up and down with joy that the FiOS had been fixed and all our channels were working properly.  And I was ecstatic for not having to wait until Saturday to get my television back to working order.

It's a pretty wonderful thing how one person can totally change your opinion about a company.

Major kudos to Mr. Greg for providing amazing customer service and helping this tv-obsessed family in Burke get back to watching their favorite shows.