The proposed $45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Comcast—the nation's two largest cable and home Internet providers—has once again raised the specter of monopoly control over yet another American utility. Are these fears overblown? Nope! It's really that bad.
While my own Verizon horror story did work out in the end (replacement phone received, $500 penalty avoided, woohoo), not many people have a globe-spanning soapbox like Gizmodo upon which to kvetch. Here are ten of the most stupendously terrible cases of customer service our readers have had to endure.
Customer service is clearly a dying art, as flesh and blood humans are replaced by automated, voice-activated menus and self-checkouts. Everyone's got their own personal horror story trying to fight back against the cold incompetence. This is mine.
As the damage from Hurricane Sandy is disappearing and some things are returning back to normal for those in the hardest hit areas, six months after that hurricane devastated parts of the East Coast, Verizon is telling some customers that they will not be getting their landline phone service back—ever. At least not…
Lisa said to me, "Maybe Dell will let me swap out my new battery for a smaller one? I'll just call and ask." I felt a spike of fear. Which was legitimized within 2 hours.
