A year ago in this column, we railed at Verizon for a raft of customer service complaints about the new fiber-optic video, voice and data services called FiOS that it rolled out in 13 states.

At the time, Verizon conceded that it left potential clients waiting for no-show technicians or stuck with partially completed installations.

The company said it would focus on improving customer service and avoid overbooking installation work.

Well, the retooling either didn't quite take or Robert Hanna slipped through some big cracks.

The 33-year-old NASA engineer's baffling story began in late spring after he decided to take advantage of the fiber-optic lines Verizon laid in his Elkridge neighborhood. Hanna said he'd happily ditch Comcast's Triple Play service for FiOS to shave $30 off a $150-a-month bill.

"Verizon technicians came out immediately, so that part was easy," Hanna said of the installation that occurred at the end of May.

"The problem I had was that it never worked. The picture would drop out every 10 to 20 minutes. I'd lose the signal and it would go to snow, scaring everyone in the house because of the noise it made," Hanna said.

"The wireless Internet signal dropped out every few minutes. I called many, many times and walked through resetting the box and remotely upgrading the firmware on the box," he said.

As Hanna recalls it, he called five times in June to complain. Each time, a new rep would walk him through the self-fix steps because "they wouldn't send out a technician unless these steps were attempted first."

Hanna said he also had to explain his problem to a new rep every time since Verizon seemed to have no record of any previous calls he made to complain about the TV service.

In July, he was able to convince the powers-that-be that he needed a technician. He said Verizon sent one to his home to upgrade a device that splits data signals. It didn't help. A second tech came in August, Hanna said, to replace coaxial cables. Still, nothing.

When Hanna called to tell Verizon there was still a problem, he said he wanted to cancel and make sure he wasn't charged an early termination fee.

According to Hanna, "The rep assured me I would not have to pay for [an early termination fee] and begged for another chance to fix it."

So a third tech came in August to replace a digital recorder box and the cable modem. The problems continued, Hanna said, except now he had two DVRs.

Hanna gave up at the end of August and closed his account. A Verizon tech arrived on Sept. 11 to pick up the two DVRs, a set-top box and the modem. Two days later, he said, another Verizon tech came to pick up the same equipment. "We showed him the receipt the first technician gave us," Hanna said. "He said, 'Oh, you better keep that because we'll probably try to charge you twice for that equipment.'"

Sure enough, Hanna received a November bill charging $880 for unreturned equipment. Calls to five different reps proved unsuccessful, according to Hanna.

When Hanna called us for help in November, he included a letter he wrote to Verizon about his continuing problem and a copy of the receipt he received for the equipment pickup.

Verizon immediately called Hanna to make things right. But, when I checked on him last month, Hanna had received another bill demanding $880.

"Everyone seemed to agree that I didn't owe them anything, but no one could seem to zero out my account," Hanna said.

Even more mysteriously, Hanna received a $963 Verizon check in the mail for a "Credit Balance Refund for Final Account."

"I never asked for a refund since I never paid the erroneous charge," Hanna said. "When I asked them if I was supposed to cash this and pay the $880 bill, they said, 'No. It's a mistake.' Verizon put a stop-payment on it and once again promised to zero out my account."

On Jan. 31, Verizon spokesman Sandy Arnette, who has helped facilitate many fixes for this column, said Hanna's problem was resolved. But again, Hanna said he still had no proof that his account was clean.

I could bore you with details about how it actually took Hanna a week more of phone calls and e-mail to fix this, but I won't. I could try to explain why a "programming issue" was the culprit behind the billing problem, but I won't. I could also describe the relief Hanna felt when he finally got an official letter and bill Tuesday that showed a zero account balance. But I won't do that either.

What I will share is that even after the six months it took Hanna to resolve his problem, Arnette said Verizon has no record whatsoever of Hanna ever informing them that he had TV problems.

When I explained to her that unfixable TV problems were the reason why Hanna canceled, Arnette was stumped.

"We have two trouble tickets for Mr. Hanna," Arnette said. "So he knows what number to call for repair. But, neither ticket is for problems with his FiOS TV service. We already admitted there was a billing problem. But, we have nothing in our records to substantiate what he's claiming about his TV service."

Verizon records show only the two calls Hanna made for voice mail assistance June 3 and then asking for equipment retrieval Aug. 29.

So, are we to believe that Hanna's reason for canceling was all in his head? That the extensive notes he took were some elaborate, time-consuming, mind-numbing effort to cut ties with a service he really wanted? That he imagined making all those calls and conjured up the three techs who showed up at his house to do repair work?

"Perhaps Mr. Hanna is a bit confused," Arnette suggested.

Not likely, Hanna countered.

Hanna says it's not as if he spoke in NASA geek-speak when he told them his TV "cut out every 10 to 20 minutes" and the picture turned to "snow."

Hanna says he could not have been clearer since technicians did come to his home to attempt a fix.

Did Verizon's computer systems not log customer complaints properly, or was this human error? We can't really say.

One thing I am sure about is that Hanna's experience is a debacle. The letter he finally received apologized for the mix-up and explained that the refund check he received was due to one department zeroing out his account while another department was simultaneously applying a credit to the account.

It was an over-fix, if you will, and a classic case of lack of communication between divisions within a large corporation.

It doesn't matter how many glowing reviews FiOS gets, or that it's rated by Consumer Reports as the leading choice for Internet, television and telephone service. Repeated customer service fumbles will drive potential customers away no matter how badly they may want something.

It's not exactly rocket science.

Reach Consuming Interests by e-mail at consuminginterests@baltsun .com or by phone at 410-332-6151. Find an archive of Consuming Interest columns at baltimoresun.com/consuming