Verizon: "We Record You, but Don't You Dare Record Us!" -- and a FIOS Order Canceled

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: lauren () vortex com
> Date: January 18, 2010 4:32:37 PM EST
> To: lauren-blog-notify () vortex com
> Subject: Lauren Weinstein's Blog Update: Verizon: "We Record You,  
> but Don't You Dare Record Us!" -- and a FIOS Order Canceled

> Lauren Weinstein's Blog Update: Verizon: "We Record You, but Don't  
> You Dare Record Us!" -- and a FIOS Order Canceled
>
>                            January 18, 2010
>
>
> --- 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000671.html
>
>
>
> --- 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Greetings.  In <a
> href="http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000670.html";>FIOS Scamming the
> Elderly</a> a couple of days ago, I expressed my extreme displeasure  
> at
> the horrendous (whether legal or not, yet to be determined) sales
> techniques used to pressure the elderly father of a friend of mine  
> into
> signing up for FIOS services (on a long-term contract) that he didn't
> want or need.
>
> Since that posting, I've discovered more subterfuge -- they even  
> signed
> him for FIOS TV after he explicitly told them that he already had  
> cable
> TV and wanted to stay with it.
>
> Today I finally reached Verizon, and after fighting my way through the
> usual impediments and multiple transfers I successfully canceled the
> order.    I hope.
>
> Verizon won't provide written confirmation that the order has been
> killed, and simply tells you to use the original order number for
> reference.  We'll see if his existing, non-FIOS Verizon phone service
> ends up being disrupted, and I've told him that if any Verizon crews
> show up at his house, just send them packing back to the depot.
>
> I plan to pursue the issue of the tactics used by the Verizon
> door-to-door hit squad.  Verizon reps I spoke to today refused to
> reveal whether or not such workers were Verizon employees or (more
> likely I'll bet) contract workers on commission.
>
> There was an amusing aspect to canceling the order.  I felt it
> appropriate to record the call, so that I'd have a proof of this order
> activity in case there was an "issue" regarding the order's status
> later on.
>
> Complexities of individual state laws regarding notifications of
> recording aside (one-party vs. two-party states), my policy is to
> always notify the other party when I'm recording a call.
>
> Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Verizon reps I talked  
> to
> absolutely and indignantly refused to continue the calls when I told
> them that I was recording.  This despite the fact that virtually the
> first words out of the Verizon phone system are "call may be monitored
> or recorded."
>
> So, being a law-abiding, ethical citizen, I stopped the recording and
> so informed the reps.  Their hesitation to continue the calls was
> unmistakable.  "Did he really stop recording?"
>
> The technical term for this attitude on the part of Verizon is of
> course referenced by the acronym <a
> href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_your_ass";>CYA</a>.  They want
> to record you for their protection, but heaven forbid if you desire to
> record them for the same reason.
>
> But given Verizon's sleazy FIOS sales practices, the fact that they
> behave similarly disrespectful of their customers' concerns at the  
> call
> center level shouldn't really surprise anyone.
>
> It's almost as if the long gone but widely despised General Telephone
> sometimes still lives on as a ghostly spirit in aspects of its
> descendant Verizon.
>
> Cue the theremin ...
>
> --Lauren--
>
>
> --
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