Verizon Tech Support Rots (credit, home, installation)

[NotWonderWoman]

Someone hacked my email account. I didn't know until my friends told me that they were getting "financial" stuff from me. Anyway, long story short...spent aboug 2.5 hours on Verizon Tech Support in India. It was a long and frustrating process. They couldn't figure out what happened, but advised me to change my password (Ok, guilty of not doing that in the past). My account was also penalized for 24 hours meaning that I was not able to send out any emails because I had sent out 500 (OK, it was the Hacker sending them out, not me).

So like a good little stupid Verizon customer, I wasn't able to send out emails for the remainder of my "punishment".

A few days later another friend complained about a "financial" email from me.

Turns out, that the hacker (and the Verizon tech support person in India didn't pick up on)...put his email into my account to receive copies of any emails I sent out from netmail.verizon.net The service I use when I do send emails remotely (like from the office...not when I am home using my Microsoft Outlook account).

Shouldn't this tech support person have thought of checking that? Coincidently, my son was visiting on the day my friend complained about the email (the 2nd one)......He went into my computer and my netmail.verizon.net account and discovered the issue.

I now know where to look (check in your accounts area and look for something like "send emails to this alternative email address).

Really, WTF? for two things. Why would Verizon have something like that to begin with if they CAN'T protect us from hackers.......

and Why do they hire people in India who don't have a clue?

I would NOT recommend anyone to Verizon at this point.......

[NJGOAT]

Shouldn't this tech support person have thought of checking that?

It wasn't part of the script they were reading on the computer screen to help you solve your problem.

Really, WTF? for two things. Why would Verizon have something like that to begin with if they CAN'T protect us from hackers.......

Why can't Microsoft, Google, Apple, Sony, our banks, etc. protect us from hackers?

and Why do they hire people in India who don't have a clue?

The only difference between basic level tech support in India and basic level tech support in North America is the accent.

I would NOT recommend anyone to Verizon at this point.......

Use this as an opportunity to try and get something out of them for the inconvenience. Call back and ask to cancel your service over the issue. They'll bump you to retention which are their best customer service reps who don't have accents. Complain to them about the issue and the lack of the response. I pretty much guarantee they will make it right and credit you for your troubles.

[timneh5]

When I get someone that's clueless or I can't understand the person's "english," I keep calling back until I get someone I feel knows what I'm talking about and can help me.

When I switched to DSL, verizon sent me the equipment that was needed for the installation. Problem was, someone forgot to include the modem in the package. I thought I was going to have a heart attack trying to make the moron on the other end simply understand I DIDN'T GET THE MODEM! After an exhaustive hour, and many stupid customer service reps and managers later, I finally got one in the mail.

I'm guessing every phone company has the same crappy service. Please, if I'm wrong, tell me!!

Good luck.

[RicKaysen]

When my provider was AT&T, I was on the phone to tech support every week. This past year with Verizon, I haven't needed to call once. The best tech support is the one you don't need.

[NotWonderWoman]

Well, I guess tech supports can be clueless wherever they are located.

bottom line, though, I never knew my remote Verizon account (netmail.verizon.net) even HAD a thing where I could (or a hacker) send copies of all emails to this email address MrorMsBadPerson@badpeople.com

Wow, talk about an eye-opener!

[babo111]

Originally Posted by suzsaz

Someone hacked my email account. I didn't know until my friends told me that they were getting "financial" stuff from me. Anyway, long story short...spent aboug 2.5 hours on Verizon Tech Support in India. It was a long and frustrating process. They couldn't figure out what happened, but advised me to change my password (Ok, guilty of not doing that in the past). My account was also penalized for 24 hours meaning that I was not able to send out any emails because I had sent out 500 (OK, it was the Hacker sending them out, not me).

So like a good little stupid Verizon customer, I wasn't able to send out emails for the remainder of my "punishment".

A few days later another friend complained about a "financial" email from me.

Turns out, that the hacker (and the Verizon tech support person in India didn't pick up on)...put his email into my account to receive copies of any emails I sent out from netmail.verizon.net The service I use when I do send emails remotely (like from the office...not when I am home using my Microsoft Outlook account).

Shouldn't this tech support person have thought of checking that? Coincidently, my son was visiting on the day my friend complained about the email (the 2nd one)......He went into my computer and my netmail.verizon.net account and discovered the issue.

I now know where to look (check in your accounts area and look for something like "send emails to this alternative email address).

Really, WTF? for two things. Why would Verizon have something like that to begin with if they CAN'T protect us from hackers.......

and Why do they hire people in India who don't have a clue?

I would NOT recommend anyone to Verizon at this point.......

I know you're frustrated and partly raging due to your situation.

It doesn't matter whether which company it is or what country the tier 1 support is provided from. The type of help you needed wouldn't have been suffice in first place.

Tier 1 Support (aka first line of people you run into when you call or email for help) can only handle very simple requests like hey reset my password, or I forgot my user name. When it becomes complex issue like my account was hacked and it's being used as spam machine or being used for identity theft then it needs to go to higher level. Many times "Tech Support" is what they refer that as and this is usually Tier 2 and they can do more things than Tier 1. Also you can ask for the manager yourself and have them escalate the situation on your ticket.

In your case, the tier 1 support messed up because he or she should've immediately kicked this up to higher level support even after following the scripted texts and procedures. At the same time, no one really looks out for anyone anymore so don't put faith in anyone or company except for yourself to do it right. It's sad that, it's the way it is now but we all know it's the truth in current state of affairs.

The real take away lesson for you are...

- Have stronger password and reset password frequently
- Be careful on where you go on the internet or what you download that caused your email to be hacked
- Add a backup email onto your own primary in address book saved as different name so if they your primary account it to spam someone or to find out clues to steal your identity, you'll get your own notice.

[ocnjgirl]

Hacking like that happens all the time, and there really isn't anything any internet provider can do about it. I have had it done to me and I have seen it done to friends- get an e-mail from someone and it's some link - it means that person clicked on something someone sent them, and it was a bot that hijacked their address book and sends the link to everyone in it- then you click it and it hijacks your address book, and sends it on to everyone in your book. All you can do is change your passwords, get good firewalls, and don't click on anything you're not sure of. Nothing usually happens from it.

[GiantRutgersfan]

Originally Posted by NJGOAT

The only difference between basic level tech support in India and basic level tech support in North America is the accent.

That is just not true.

I know they are supposed to "kick it up a level" when they dont know, but it never turns out to be that easy when you are on the phone with foreigners.

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by suzsaz

Well, I guess tech supports can be clueless wherever they are located.

bottom line, though, I never knew my remote Verizon account (netmail.verizon.net) even HAD a thing where I could (or a hacker) send copies of all emails to this email address MrorMsBadPerson@badpeople.com

Wow, talk about an eye-opener!

It's documented in the email help and is a common feature of all email services. Your ignorance is not really Verizon's problem.

This kind of hacking happens all the time and the service provider really cannot do much about it. It sucks but the only thing you can do is change your password and make sure email forwarding is disabled.

This kind of hacking typically happens to people with "easy" passwords (passwords less than 12 characters that do not contain symbols).

[NotWonderWoman]

Bottom line, I am very much at fault for not being aware of certain things....but being on online chat with Verizon tech support is infuriating.