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Receiving Free HDTV From Verizon A Lengthy Process
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Published: March 7, 2008
Updated: 03/06/2008 08:55 pm
Last year, Verizon offered a dramatic new deal for customers who combine phone, cable and Internet service: a free 19-inch Sharp HDTV. But getting that TV turns out to be a lesson in patience for those customers.
Delays and bureaucracy now mean that customers who signed up for the free TV deal can wait almost three months for the TV to arrive.
Here's why: Verizon doesn't send free TVs out with crews who install cable TV service at new customer houses. Instead, crews bring a letter that shows customers how to log on to a special Verizon Web site to choose whether they want the free TV or some other perk, such as a $200 gift card. Then Verizon forwards that information to a HDTV provider, which ships the TV set to the customer.
The process can take six to 10 weeks from the time the customer decides on the TV to the time it shows up in the mail.
Verizon has delivered thousands of TVs in the states where the offer was made, spokesman Bob Elek said. Delays now are partly because of "high demand" from customers who saw the offer and signed up before Christmas and the Super Bowl, he said. The offer required customers to sign a two-year contract for three Verizon services: home telephone service, FiOS Internet, and FiOS TV Premier cable service.
That shortage mirrors other glitches in Verizon's growth nationwide.
During the holiday season, Verizon ran out of Motorola set-top cable HDTV boxes in several states, leading to a two-week delay here. In Tampa Bay, customers who had signed up for Verizon HD service received standard TV boxes until new boxes became available.
In Tampa, Verizon minimized the delays by sending teams of employees to refurbish existing HD boxes that had come in for repairs, and used that supply to bridge the gap until Motorola was able to provide more boxes. At the end of February, the box stocks were re-supplied, Elek said, and there were no more delays.
Since then, Verizon has switched to a new perk for new customers, a combination digital camera, video recorder and MP3 player.
Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.
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