I read this article and thought ,Wow!! I thought it just happened too me!! I related to just about the entire story. I could not believe the similarities from my ordeal with Verizon & Direct TV and what Ms Hartline experienced. I know exactly what she went through and how mentally & emotionally draining the whole incident was for her as I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown at one point.

I had been hearing on TV about the 3 in one Freedom package with VERIZON and I had been paying so much with Comcast and thought that I could save some money by switching . That was my first mistake. The difference between the two companies was a $60.00 savings a month. That was worth it for me to change. I am a single mom working two jobs and I needed to save where ever I could.

I called the beginning of February and spoke with a very sweet woman who sold me the package. She offered me so many credits & discounts that I couldn't say no. I never dealt with anyone but VERIZON through out the ordeal. The first thing that she set up was to have the TV's changed over . The Tech was 6 hours past the time that they told me and he was very stressed out by the time he got to my home. He mentioned that he had just came from a very involved job. It was around 6:30 in the evening. He asked my son & I "how many homeruns do you have"? I had no idea what he meant and my son thought he meant how many TV's needed to be hooked up? My son said "4". He seemed relieved when my son said 4. He went right up on the roof and set up the dish. It took him about an hour to do that. I still at this point did not know that he was not with Verizon.

He then came in to the house and asked where he needed to start with the TV's. My son & I took him to the basement as that is where my sons room is. My son showed him where the cables were and at that point the tech went crazy. He said" You told me there was only 4 home runs and there is over 6" He was fumbling with his equipment and was very agitated with us. I said to him" We had no idea what you meant by homeruns. What he was asking was how many splitters do you have but he did not say splitters. He then started running around the room trying to find where the cables lead . My son was trying to help him every way he could but this man was a wacko. I was getting very upset and actually scared of the way he was acting but because my son was there I felt safe. My son was trying to calm him down and was trying to pull up some ceiling tiles when this man started getting very aggressive and was trying to bust out the tiles . My son said" Hey don't break the tiles I will get them" At that point as soon as my son pulled open the tile the Tech started ripping the wires down from the ceiling. I looked at my son at one point and said" isn't that the phone line??. My son said "Mom just let this guy finish and get out of here and we will deal with the rest later. At one point before my son & I went upstairs I said to the tech" way don't we reschedule this appointment since it was getting late and he seemed tired. He would not go.

The tech had stuff all over the room and I was really getting upset with his actions. My son was getting very angry. My son & I went up stairs in my computer room which is right above the room where this tech was working. I was talking with my son about the tech and mentioned that I was going to report him and my son was ready to throw him out of the house. The only reason we didn't was because of the mess he had made plus we did not have any TV's working.

I really feel that the tech heard our conversation from downstairs because when he came up he had calmed down a lot . I again said to him not to worry about the last TV because it was now around 10:00 PM but he said "Oh no I would never leave you like this . I must finish the job.

It was time for this tech to leave and that is when he handed me the brochure booklet showing direct TV. I was so tired and drained from this experience I didn't say anything about the booklet. The tech wanted the order form signed and comments written in the comment space. I refused to sign the paperwork. My son was a minor and he wanted to get this guy out of the house without any trouble so he signed the form and just wrote "Good Job while the tech was looking over his shoulder" I had never experienced anything like this in my life!!!

The next day I called Verizon about the experience and got such a run around. But at no time did anyone ever say to me " You need to call direct TV" Never once!!! Well we had TV but the computer & the telephone would not work . Verizon sent a package telling us how to set the computer & phone up ourselves. We tried for days & days. Spent days & hours on the phone but no one would come out to help resolve the problem. My son finally figured it out. The phone line that the direct TV tech pulled from the ceiling was disconnected from the phone jack so no service was coming from the phone lined into the house. I called Verizon probably for the 20th time and that is when Verizon said I would have to call Direct TV not them. Within those 20 or more calls I made with Verizon I was probably hung up on 8 times. I mean I would be crying and pleading with them to help me but they could of cared less about me or my situation.

I have been an Insurance Agent for over 20 years and if I had ever treated one of my customers like I was treated by Verizon I would be out of business. These large companies just don't care about us ??? I cannot figure it out. Also because my home phone would not work I had to place all my calls to them with my cell phone and I lost hours from my job because I had to make the calls between 9 & 5 so I would go into work late. My cell phone bill was over by $85.00 that month!!!

I finally made the 1st call to Direct TV and I lucked out because after I told the person on the phone how the Tech was in my home they were very apologetic and said they would help me. I got names & ID #'s of each person I spoke with. They promised me that I would not have to deal with another tech and that I could return the boxes via mail. Also they said because of what I was put through that I would not be charged any early cancellation fee of any kind. Well guess what???? I received a early cancellation fee bill in the mail for $346.00??? I picked up the phone and called direct TV and tried to reach the supervisor that originally helped me and no one would transfer me to her. Again another run around. Days & Days of it. I finally couldn't take it another minute so I called Comcast back one morning and I was crying and I said to the girl " I made the biggest mistake of my life. I cancelled your service for Verizon and I have had nothing but problems. As of 02/27/08 I have not had any service but TV. Can I Please come back??? The girl was wonderful and checked it out & My service had not been turned off outside yet so within 30 minutes I had the 3 in 1 back with Comcast . I learned that day it isn't always the best way to save money. Sometimes it is worth paying a little more for better service.

Now how did I resolve this charge from Direct TV??? Well one day at my office a phone call came in and on the caller ID it said Verizon. I answered it and it was a long time policy holder of mine. I asked her for a minute of her time and told her my story. She was shocked to hear what I had been put through. She said give me 20 minutes and I will have someone call you back. Less then 20 minutes a supervisor called me and after telling him my story he released me of there contract and then contacted Direct TV and got me cleared with them. Thank God I took the time to talk with my policy holder or I would be in collection as well.

I will never leave Comcast again no matter what offers are out there. The whole month of February was lost because of this ordeal. This has scared me for life.

That scares me, too. Full disclosure, DirecTV is also my satellite provider. I've been with them for four or five years now, mostly problem-free. I say mostly because I did encounter one problem with them that I might share with you guys if enough people are interested. Write in and let me know if you want to hear it.