A couple of months ago apparently due to power outages I lost some of my channels. I informed customer service that the channels I'd been watching for over a year arbitrarily changed to NOT SUBSCRIBED in a hit or miss manner. In (more or less) fixing this problem (it's returning since the main STB power went out) customer service eventually got the channels working and decided I also needed my two year contract renewed for doing this, and just stuck it on the bill.
Power went out recently and NOT SUBSCRIBED is again flashing up on channels I know are included in our bundle. At this point I want to chuck the whole FIOS TV service and get DISH again. Took almost a year to get my bedroom STB to access my “media center” DVR, and the software locks all the time, can’t pause live TV upstairs, have to go downstairs to really program anything, DVR cuts things off all the time, or sometimes records shows that won’t play back due to STB software glitches…bottom line is it’s a junk box that looks like the software is still in beta. But here it’s the same POS model Comcast gave us, that we got rid of prior, that did the exact same things. DISH's STB is years ahead of FIOS and Comcast.
So here’s the issue(s). FIOS Internet is good. The VIOP phone works well enough, though it's annoying having to dial my area code to make local calls. Would like to downgrade my plan to cut TV completely or do a bare min package with the free STB only, which won’t really be used, return the insanely priced DVR leased at $20 a month. But renewing my contract without my request or permission locked me out of making downgrades to my account without large penalty fees. Can apparently only upgrade to more expensive plans or pay a large fee for breaking a new contract I absolutely never agreed to while talking to that azz hat on the phone that just did it.
Since the FIOS STB is garbage, no way I’m going to upgrade. Seems they get a bonus for each victim they stick with contract “agreements”. It seems calling Verizon customer service about anything, including things that are their fault, gets you stuck with a new two year contract in exchange for any support, if you ever get any. Amounts to fining the customer if they dislike FIOS service and want out of any part of it. And he was determined to renew my contract no matter what I said or did.