Ok, I goofed - it's not Verizon's fault, no, no

So it turns out that Verizon bears no responsibility for my email problems. They spun off Idearc and now only market Idearc's email and web hosting. A friendly fellow with the title of "Executive Customer Relations" responded to my email to Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg with this: "I will refer your issue to their CEO, Kathy Harless' office for handling."

You can write the next sentence yourself. Nothing has happened.

Except for this: continuing email from Idearc's Tech Support explaining the difference to me between GMT 0 and GMT -4, telling me that I don't know how to attach documents to email, asking me for the same long headers of emails that I've sent multiple times....AARRGGHHH!!!

But there's a bright side. I'm gathering terrific material for an article (never mind all these blog posts).

One last thing: I've looked at Idearc's site and cannot figure out what this company actually does. Can you? "Idearc consists primarily of assets, liabilities, businesses and employees engaged in the delivery of our multi-platform suite of advertising products."

If anyone has a suggestion for a good email/web hosting solution for small business, please let me know.

Comments

[Ron Newman]

I don't know what else Idearc does, but they publish the Verizon white and yellow pages phone books.

[Ron Currie]

Of course Verizon does bear the responsibility for violating the Constitution and selling private phone records to the NSA. Which is why I gave them the boot 1 1/2 years ago.

[jessica lipnack]

Indeed. Thanks for reminding us, Ron. A very low moment in corporate history and personal liberty.

[Atrox Canis]

My wife works for Idearc and just today sent me a txt msg telling me how much she wants to quit. Check out craigslist in Dallas, TX and do a search for idearc jobs. You will hear a couple of horror stories about the intellectual sweatshop they run there in Coppell, TX.

Bottom line, do not let them have any access to your web or email hosting. According to my wife, the list of predatory activities they engage in would make Ted Turner blush.

[jessica lipnack]

If true, this is chilling. My problem remains unsolved.

[Bill Krueger]

Idearc has messed up my yellow page listings for 2 years, showing our old phone number directly underneath a PAID listing with our new one- and Verizon gave the new one to us! Talk about a disconnect... Idearc also does the online SuperPages, which ranks about 5th in terms of traffic as a local web search resource- partly because they partner with MSN. Otherwise, they would probably be off the map. We had negotiated a strategy for advertising with Superpages, but elected not to go forward with it, not only because of it's relatively low ranking, but out of fear they would mess it up beyond belief like our YP listing. We have evidence that they cannot deliver on what they promise- especially on their performance reporting. There seems to be very little recourse against this leviathan organization- Idearc has many complaints against it for business practice and non-customer service. In combination with their horrible financial performance, they can't last much longer. Hopefully somebody with a business ethic will buy them for next to nothing. Yahoo!