Verizon FiOS all-in for $99 is a lie
By Danny Mendez
FiOS is the most beautiful thing to happen to the Internet since blogs. Wouldn’t it be nice to have FiOS high-def TV, phone, and Internet service for $99? Verizon knows you’d like that, and they’ll advertise it. They just won’t let you have it.
Kevin Cowherd of the Baltimore Sun was just tempted with that offer when a Verizon salesman stopped by his door the other day. "Have I got a deal for you," said the salesman.
The salemesman handed him a brochure: "TV + Internet + Phone. $99.99 a month. Plus a free 19" LCD HDTV."
"It will change your life," continued the salesman, "and all for just $114 a month."
"OK, let me say right now that I am not a numbers guy. That’s one of the reasons I got into this business," Cowherd says in the article, "because if you throw a lot of numbers at me, it’s nap time."
The salesman then justified the price jump by mentioning that the package included three converter boxes for three TVs. Those boxes raised the monthly price to $114. Cowherd told him that he didn’t want the boxes, but the salesman said that there’s no way not to include the boxes.
To be honest, that is a very, very tempting package, but the fact that we’re forced to use the converter boxes even though we don’t need them is just, well, unnecessary and inconvenient. Why make us pay more for stuff we don’t want or need? Come on, Verizon, you know better than that. Well, at least your wireless cousin is figuring its customers out.
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on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
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December 18th, 2007
Like way too many BIG companies, Verizon
December 18th, 2007
Like way too many BIG companies, Verizon is stuffing what they choose down the consumers throat.
Comcast Cable is another such company, by making consumers pay for television stations they don’t want and never use. The Feds are supposed to be doing something about them soon, though.
P.S. If there are spelling errors in this comment, it’s because of the poor layout that doesn’t permit me to see all of the comment. Gee, is that another Big Company problem?
December 19th, 2007
It’s not a lie, you have to read the fine print. Just like every other offer you see. There’s always fine print. People complain about offers like that all the time. I remember I worked for a telecommunications company that offered a similar deal and people complained that the offer doesn’t say “Plus taxes”!! The Verizon offer, mentions the use of set top boxes, you don’t have to get them, but you won’t get 200 channels without them. Consumer education is not the company selling the services responsiblity. It’s up to the customers to know what they’re getting into, (so don’t just sign an agreement, read the fine print.)
December 23rd, 2007
My $99 verizon combo package costs me $146 per month with the 3 boxes and taxes and fees. Not to mention the $55 per line multiplied by 3 that took a total of 25 minutes to install after the sales agent told me that was included.
November 21st, 2009
The bottom line is that Verizon is an unethical company that allows its salespeople to mislead or outright lie about the prices of its services. When you go to complain, Verizon disavows any responsibility to its sales practices. It is actually a nice scam. They get customers based on false or misleading information, and then hold you hostage with termination fees.