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JR notes: I recently wrote this little “slap on the wrist” email to Verizon DSL regarding an email policy change that makes their Internet service a problem for me. I also used the opportunity to scold them on some other poorly-executed services. For publication on the web site, I took out the lengthy technical description and cleaned up the rest a bit for entertainment value. No response on this letter as yet, except for a voice mail acknowledging receipt, along with a promise to share the letter “with the powers that be.”
Hello Verizon. I am writing to you with an important piece of customer feedback. Previously, after calling for technical support, I was instructed by a senior Verizon technician to send this letter to two different email addresses, neither of which were working addresses. So I will try again to get past the phantom customer service email addresses you have provided me with. Based on the response I’ve gotten so far, I’m betting you probably don't care one way or the other, but I will be leaving Verizon DSL once you implement the change in outgoing email policy outlined below…. [blah blah blah detailed technical description of boneheaded Verizon email policy that prevents you from accessing the ISPs you need to while logged into Verizon email servers.] I would also like to point out that your alternate solution you suggested, using that particular ISP address instead of Verizon's, has never worked for me. For example, if I am logged onto Verizon DSL and try to send messages using my client’s SMTP server, I get an outgoing message relaying error from Verizon. I think it is a bad idea to suggest something as an alternative to your customers that does not actually work. My problems are compounded because the email addresses that Verizon provides lack credibility and are very inconvenient to check remotely. My current emails addresses, such as jon.sap@verizon.net, are not professional. I cannot even get a full name without a dot in it somewhere! I am therefore very reluctant to switch my other email addresses to Verizon because the names are so hard to relay over the phone and remember. But it gets worse: these "not so great" email addresses aren't even real email addresses, but are in fact aliases for user names that are near-gibberish. In an ill-advised tribute to the “numbers only” addresses of the CompuServe years, Verizon assigns the most absurd possible usernames to their customers. The first time I tried to check my verizon email remotely, I was shocked that I couldn't check it using my alias of jon.sap@verizon.net. I had to remember the jumble of letters and numbers that is my verizon username. At that time, I realized I could not use Verizon as a primary email address. My friends might be jealous of my Verizon DSL Internet hookup, but they’re not jealous of my username: vze2hfkj@verizon.net. (It’s extra nice that I have a "z" and a "2" in the same email address in case I ever need to write it down for someone, thanks!) That's not so convenient to try to remember and type in when I'm checking my email remotely while on the road. I realize that many of these problems could be avoided by upgrading to more expensive Verizon services, trust me, I am thoroughly aware of your sales pitch along these lines, but that is not an option for me at this juncture. However, I do think that the $50 a month I am currently paying is a decent amount of money and warrants a bit of service and convenience
Jon Reed
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