Spouses Donna Wolfson and Jack Silverstein of Monroeville switched to Verizon's highly touted fiber optic service (FiOS) in December for their computer, television and home phone. The package cost $110 a month.

And, at the urging of well-meaning friends, they leased a digital video recorder for $5 a month to record movies and TV shows for later viewing.

But they never used the DVR. They decided to return it in July.

No problem?

Wrong.

Big problem.

"What transpired was a complete deletion of our package and a $100 increase in our monthly bill," said Ms. Wolfson, 62, a paralegal. "Everyone is pointing the finger of blame at someone else and 'someone else' is saying they did nothing wrong."

Mr. Silverstein, 63, a retired manufacturer's representative, went to the Verizon store on William Penn Highway in Monroeville to make arrangements to return the DVR. While there, he asked that a technician come to the house to replace a temporary cable that had been installed on one of their TVs in December.

An employee said Verizon normally would send the couple a shipping box to return the DVR. But because a technician would be coming out to replace the temporary cable with a permanent one, he would bring a box with him on Aug. 7.

Shortly after her husband left the store July 30, Ms. Wolfson received an e-mail confirming her order for a higher Internet speed effective Aug. 7. After her husband said he hadn't ordered any upgrade, she called Verizon and reported the error. She was told they would have to return to the store.

When they did so that evening, they learned that an employee had upgraded their Internet speed without getting their permission. The couple was not pleased and said so.

"We had to jump through hoops and make numerous calls to ensure that the [upgrade] order was deleted," Ms. Wolfson said.

It gets worse.

When the August bill arrived, it showed a $35 increase instead of a $5 decrease because they were returning the DVR.

A customer-service representative said the unilateral action taken by the salesman at the Monroeville store knocked them out of their $110 package.

"To make matters worse, [the rep said] that package was no longer being offered and there was no way Verizon could reinstate it," Ms. Wolfson said.

The rep said she would see whether their bill could be adjusted each month to ensure that they weren't charged more than $110.

The rep also said the couple would continue to be charged $5 for the DVR until it was returned. Ms. Wolfson said they were still waiting for a shipping box. The rep said Verizon no longer sent them out. She said the boxes were available at United Parcel Service locations and that the couple could ship the DVR from there.

"She admitted the technicians were not apprised of this change," Ms. Wolfson said.

She called the Monroeville store and spoke to a manager, who "vehemently defended" his employee's unilateral action because "most people want the improved Internet speed."

She said the manager assured her that the employee's action didn't interfere with her $110 package and that "the fault was with Verizon corporate."

When the Verizon bill came last month, the couple couldn't believe it. It was $100 higher than the August bill. Ms. Wolfson called Verizon, but wasn't able to reach the rep who had promised to see whether the bill could be manually adjusted each month.

In her e-mail to me, which was still "smoking" when it arrived, she asked for my assistance in getting the $110 package reinstated, the overcharges removed and a $50 credit a technician promised after he was unable to install the permanent cable for the TV when he said he would.

I called Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski, explained the couple's problem and forwarded their e-mail.

"I'll get right on it," he said.

And he did.

Ms. Wolfson said Tina Fleming, who works in Verizon's Pittsburgh office, "was able, within 20 minutes, to hone in on the problem and manually correct my past, current and all future bills."

Since then, Terri Joyce, a regional manager for Verizon, has called them to make sure there are no more problems with their account. She also said she was in the process of locating and correcting all the "disconnects" in Verizon's customer-service office.

Now that's customer service.

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