You may have seen news stories about the union strikes that are currently causing a Verizon work stoppage. Nearly 40,000 employees went out on the picket line on April 13, 2016, causing a large void in the service provider’s call and repair centers. What does this mean for current Verizon customers?
WHO IS AFFECTED?
This strike currently affects all Verizon Telecom and Verizon Business accounts. This means that residents and business who use Verizon for their local land lines and internet connections are really going to notice the difference. While the sudden work stoppage is not hindering customer’s current service quality, the difficulties arise in those accounts trying to make a change on their account. Verizon Wireless customers and their accounts are not included in this category, as Verizon and Verizon Wireless actually operate rather independently of one another.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Any orders that Verizon had in their system prior to the strike, were entered into Jeopardy status. These orders would include plan changes, install orders and even pending disconnections. The carrier believes the current lack of service representatives will cause order due dates to be pushed out an additional two to three weeks. However, there is no guarantee to this. All maintenance related issues (i.e. repairs) will still be given top priority. Meaning if some Verizon call centers are being slammed with repairs, they will be forced to push the prior orders out even further.
HOW DO WE MOVE FORWARD?
All current and new Verizon customers are still able to place orders. Unfortunately, all orders that have been placed after April 13, 2016 are going to automatically be future dated for completion on December 31, 2016. Presently, the plan is that these new orders will ultimately be moved up in the order processing system. Unfortunately, Verizon is still ironing out the details for how they plan to handle the new orders during the strike.
Verizon has created the following newsfeed, where you can stay up-to-date with their labor negotiations:
