Thread regarding Verizon Communications Inc. layoffs

I have been with Verizon for about two and one half years. It has been awful. Never get it right.

Don't bill you so never know what to pay. Password issues every month.

Finally get in the account and it wont accept payment without a temporary password which the say they will send.They don't. If you get into the account to pay with a card why would you need a password anyway

Will drive 57 miles to pay at their Verizon store . I am finally done. And it is a awful system.

Yeah, totally out of context, dude.

It is all about turf and the union not wanting to lose work for their people. Nothing about efficiency. Like I said, that is all fine and dandy when it's a monopoly, but times have changed. Company needs efficiency.

The original comment was all about billing issues. My point was and is that much of the billing problem is related to multiple platforms and multiple processes, part of which is related to union work rules, part related to acquisitions and legacy systems. Not sure why the other dude felt compelled to go all out about linemen vs fiber installers. Has nothing to do with billing.

My bad. I didn't read the entire thread and perhaps may have taken @6dny's comment out of context. If so, my apologies. I have heard some complain in the past that a job had to be referred to another outside plant department, and figured this was just more bashing in that regard.

That being said though, I think the amount of blame being placed on the Union when things go awry, in comparison to the actual amount of fault that is truly to be laid at their feet, is way out of whack, and they've simply become an easy scapegoating target for far more than falls within their narrow purview. To think, the 10 or so percent of this Nation's unionized workforce is responsible for 99% of the ills facing the economy is disingenuous.

@6dny, it's not as simple as that. What a Lineman does, as opposed to a Fiber Installer, is very, very different. To an outsider such as yourself, it might seem as easy as just snapping your fingers and saying, "Well, as long as the Fiber Tech is there already, let him re-lash that downed copper cable, or replace that cracked pole. However, the knowledge and equipment required to do either of those two tasks (and many others), are not possessed by the average Fiber Installer, nor does he or she generally possess the necessary CDL. Also, there's specialized, and very expensive, equipment distinct to each and every craft, and it does not make sense financially to distribute all the tools needed in Installation, Splicing, Fiber, Pressure, Special Services... to every single individual.

@6dny, when you go to a hospital which, by the way, is generally non-union so you can't peg all your perceived inefficiencies on them, do you also complain that the dermatologist on hand is not operating on the cardiac arrest patient, but is instead waiting on a cardiologist? What goes through your mind? C'mon, simply because the cardiologist's not here, it's just an excuse for you dermatologists to goof off?

People have specialties. People that have specialties generally become very good at their sphere of work, and efficiencies are gained in that manner.

It's quicker to get the seasoned line crew out there with the proper equipment than to push that type of complicated and dangerous work onto a Fiber Installer, who will have to return to the garage anyway to pick up a line truck and supplies, (and stop at Motor Vehicle's for a CDL).

Or, perhaps, gas guzzling line trucks should be standard issue to all, and just get rid of all those vans that are great for installs, but are otherwise of limited use?

You see how silly that would become, do you not?

I'm unsure of your department when you're not performing ETA but, for instance, lets just say it's Sales. Maybe I feel that that's inefficient, as you didn't seem to be running around when I saw you, while at the same moment the Finance Dept. was very, very busy. Why can't you just go down the hall and lend a hand to the Finance Department. Oh, that's right, you have no expertise there, and would likely do more damage than good. You getting this yet? It's not the Union, it's a tried and true method of successfully operating any company or enterprise - division of duties once it reaches a level of needed expertise. You don't ask an Air Force pilot to command a Navy vessel. You don't ask a cop to drive a fire truck. You don't ask a veterinarian to treat humans, or a city bus driver to pick up city garbage along his or her route. There's a reason.

All I know is that when I worked during the strike, I could see very clearly that there was huge inefficiency in the way things are handled and I was told that it was related to the work rules put in place by unions to protect their various turfs. Makes sense from a union point of view, but from an efficiency point of view it is a bunch of crap. Fine when you have a monopoly, but in the world today, that is the kind of stuff that puts you at a disadvantage to other companies. And here we are.

I terminated my Verizon service over 3 years ago. Never looked back and am happy with my new carrier. Recently Verizon sent an email saying they'd give me $650 to come back. I wouldn't go back to Verizon for any amount of $$$.

The executives are incompetent.

Their predatory practices on customers, employees and taxpayers is disgusting.

I can't wait to see Verizon completely fail. The time is coming that those dividend payments will stop. And that will signal the end.

@1jby

NO...What you were doing, and apparently continuing to do, is blaming the unions for VZ's slimy business practices, despite the fact that this issue has nothing to do with the union.

You continue to try to justify yourself even though you have absolutely no evidence linking any of these unscrupulous business practices to any union. All you do is reiterate a VZ corporate talking point back from the strike.

If you don't like Unions fine but at least be honest about it. Unions have nothing to do with slimy business practices. Companies mistreat customers because they can get away with it.

They can get away with it because customers have no real choice.

Sadly in the long run, customers will leave Verizon when they are able because Verizon mistreats it's customers.

https://consumerist.com/2017/04/12/verizon-fios-customers-say-they-were-tricked-into-paying-for-unnecessary-set-top-boxes/

Dud you hear of T Mobile , avoid VERIZON AND AT&T at all cost, arbitration is in the fine print, therefore they can do what ever they want

People, I wasn't busting on the union folks. I know there are many, many good people among them like the guy who fixed my copper service recently on a Sunday 12 hrs after I called and he did it right. No drama, no pain, just a dedicated employee doing his job. Man, we need to do all we can to keep people like that.

No, I was commenting on the inefficiencies caused by the union rules that cause us to have multiple processes for the same thing so that work doesn't move from certain areas to other areas. I understand why the union has those in place in their negotiations, but it causes great inefficiency and problems like this where each area has its own home-grown processes that have to be managed by the company as a whole. Pain in the rear.

Hahahahahaha. This OP thinks anyone on this site cares.

Hey @xvo, I see you've once again changed your pseudonym.

While I recall your birth name as Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf,

it now appears the latest moniker reincarnation you've morphed into is that of a full-fledged Baghdad Bob.

If you want to blindly blame the union for all the perceived ills of this world have at it.

However, I would like you to know your smugly besmirching honest, admirable, decent, and hard-working men and women who have sacrificed and given their all to make this a successful enterprise, in the face of unimaginable obstacles, doing all they could to keep this network going, in all sorts of weather and at all hours of the day and night.

However, if it makes you somehow feel superior to take unjustified potshots at us, have at it. But just know, some of the finest men and women I have ever worked with, and have ever had the pleasure to have known, are those union members you so disdain, and the managers and engineers they interact with daily.

Your words do not diminish our collective efforts in having made this a successful enterprise.

We're not your enemy.

xvo

the union is not to blame for dishonest billing practices.... excessive shafting of the customer is something that is caused by monopolies, not by unions. this has been proven time and again throughout the history of capitalism

now why don't you go peddle your baloney on vzweb with the rest of the corporate propaganda? it's like reading a north korean newspaper, you would love it

1yq ......you could NOT be more incorrect if you tried. This service switch was done 3 months ago, I recieved the first bill with the pro rated and post/pre paid plus the horseshit 1 time fees they ding you with and that bill was actually correct. The 2nd bill was 35 dollars more than it was suppose to be and this months bill is 85 more than suppose to be....... So I think your comment is incorrect and termed Fake News.

Anytime a change is made to your services it results in a prorated bill because the company bills a month in advance for services. So the change from DSL to FIOS is why your bill is different.

It's having multiple billing platforms that are further complicated by state by state union rules. Net is significant inefficiency and a workforce that is accustomed to patching things together as they have done forever because of dinosaur employees and union requirements to not have work from one area go to another, etc., etc.

While billing on both wireless and wireline seem to have issues, as you stated, one wonders if it is just awful system design, far to many layoffs over the years, overworked employees that simply can't catch problems before they hit the street on a customer bill. Think this may have to do with executive level folks who simply say...you want me to cut another 20% of staff? Ok will do.

@OAKh2Y8-ven Are you seriously asking what it has to do with layoffs? The health of the company has everything to do with layoffs......losing customers over terrible billing----which by the way is the number one complaint with customers at Verizon------ Is not healthy for the company.

Both Wireless and Wireline side has a horrendous reputation when it comes to billing. It would seem so simple but it's almost strategically choreographed and designed to deceive the customer. When caught, the customer feels naturally lied to and wants to leave for a competitor.

The product is great.....The Network is Great.....The front line face to face employees are great, but the mailman delivers a deceptive surprise that leaves our customer deserting us. That is not Healthy for the bottom line........Layoffs

Maybe they shlould layoffs those responsible for bad bills. But you are correct it has nothing to do with layoffs,just used the forum.

What does this have to do with Layoffs??