CUSTOMER SERVICE BREAKDOWN
'He Didn't Deserve to Be Treated Like This'

But the number that bedeviled him the most since last November was not on a spreadsheet; it was the toll-free customer service number for Verizon .

The telecommunications company has driven this man to distraction. He's made trying to understand his Verizon bill practically a part-time job since November.

"Every time I call I'm on hold for 30 minutes, an hour, a couple hours," he said. "It's brutal."

Documenting the Pain

He has kept exquisite notes detailing his phone contacts with Verizon since he first noticed a discrepancy with his bill late last year.

He endured a six-hour phone call with customer service , much of that time spent on hold, and a four-hour phone call as well. When he knows he must call Verizon he usually blocks out an hour and a half.

So why all this time spent getting to know the "Can you hear me now?" people? Because he couldn't understand why he was paying a higher monthly bill than he was initially quoted.

And, no one, not a single person in the Verizon customer service universe, seemed to understand that, either.

Bait and Switch?

Here's the short version of his story: Mangano, of Schenectady, N.Y., answered a newspaper ad last October that offered an upgrade to high speed DSL Internet access, a wireless phone plan, and a land line for a discounted price. He was paying about $136 a month for those services (with a slower Internet connection). He was quoted price of $104 a month plus tax and fees.

A couple of weeks later he called to inquire whether the new deal was in effect. He spoke to a different customer service representative, who Mangano said told him that his $104 bill "Would never fly. Verizon would never approve that."

Mangano was told that the $104 price was quoted to him not by Verizon itself but by a third-party marketing firm. Mangano said what I would have said: Not my problem. I made a deal with people who answered the phone "Verizon," and that's the price they quoted me. That rep finally agreed with him. After several months of waiting, however, his bill never went down. In fact it was higher, in the $140 range. Mangano suspected a classic bait-and-switch.

What happened? Who knows? Every time he spoke to Verizon he was put on hold and given a different answer. "One person told me it was because I was getting enhanced Internet service, but I told her that I was promised the lower price even though I got the Internet upgrade," he said.

The Explanation

Now, imagine his frustration from all this bureaucratic uselessness. On top of this, he began experiencing periodic Internet outages, which required him to navigate Verizon technical support, as well, which also required literally hours on hold. In June, his Internet access was out for 10 days. In July, his account was disconnected for "nonpayment," even though he proved to Verizon he had paid his bill four days before due date (and had never missed a payment). And I'm just giving you the highlights.

Here's what Kevin Laverty, a Verizon media relations executive told me: Apparently Mangano was paying a higher price because he had extra cellphone lines and additional monthly minutes that weren't included in the promotional price.

And that's it. That's the answer. Why was this so complicated and why was he placed on hold for endless hours?

"It's unfortunate that Mr. Mangano was on hold for so many hours not seeming to get the same message consistently from Verizon about his billing and pricing," Laverty wrote in an e-mail to me.

"He didn't deserve to be treated like this -- no one does -- and it isn't our intention to treat our customers that way."

Well said. Laverty also told me that Mangano's case might be used as a training tool in the future for how not to handle a valuable customer.