B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 35; Flight Crew Total 5973; Flight Crew Type 5973
Other / Unknown; Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Weather
The deicing crew at ZZZ briefed myself and the First Officer (F/O) where the deicing was going to take place and we requested FULL AIRCRAFT DEICE with Type 1 and WINGS AND TAIL ANTI ICE with Type 4. After we pushed back and parking brake was set; the QRH was complied with for configuring the airplane for deicing as instructed by the deicing crew. The ice-truck drove past the nose to the left side and disappeared. Approximately; 15 minutes later; the truck rolled up from the right side and told us over the radio that the deicing was completed without giving us the pertinent data that we need like the type of fluid used for the deice and anti-ice. Moreover; we were not given the start time for the anti-icing. The first officer had to ask them for the information even to the point of getting clarification for the type 4 used in the anti-icing. This baffled us! As we tried to figure out what was going on; I asked my F/O if he had heard the sound of the spraying on the fuselage. He said no he really didn't hear it and I didn't hear it. So just to make sure; I asked the F/O to verbally ask if Type 1 was WHOLE FUSELAGE and TYPE 4 FOR WINGS AND TAIL; iceman said YES!  So we got the holdover time; and stated to taxi out but I had my doubt on what was done. As I was telling the F/O that we will need to pullover and do a pre-takeoff check by going in to the cabin to inspect at least the wings; we got a call from the flight attendants telling us that the windows were still glazed over with ice.I decided to return to the gate to do another walk around inspection. When we arrived at the gate at my F/O did the second walk around inspection; he came back angry and furious; and rightly so because the airplane was still ENCASED IN ICE! I too was very angry with the UNSAFE Job the iceman did for us and LIED about it. And please note that there was NO precipitation since we arrived at the airport.
During the night in ZZZ they had gotten freezing rain; so when we got to the airplane (10 minutes before departure due to the road conditions) we already knew that we had to deice; which my walk around affirmed that. At this point everything was pretty normal except for the fact we were late; (we did not rush nor did I feel rushed) and we had to deice. We ran all checklists and pushed back; we ran the QRH for de-icing and called OPS for deicing/ anti icing; and my exact verbiage was 'parking brake set aircraft configured for de-icing full body wings and tail Type I and wings and tail Type IV' when they were done which looking back; it didn't seem to have taken the usual amount of time; it was way shorter! We finished up with the QRH; started the engines; ran the checklists and started to taxi; to which we may have taxied 100 yards when the FAs (Flight Attendants) called and said that the windows in the back were covered in ice; the CA (Captain) was also listening to this; I than told ground that we needed to stop and work a problem; he stopped the airplane and we discussed the issue and both determined we CANNOT takeoff with ice on the airplane; we both made the decision to gate return and inspect the airplane; we got to the gate ran the parking checklist and they brought up the Jetway; I exited the airplane to do another walk around and discovered the airplane still covered in ice! When I returned to the Jetway the CA was talking to the station manager; I shared what I had seen on the walk around and returned to the flight deck and re-repaired the aircraft for departure; I was not part of the discussion with the station manager or the Chief Pilot; I was briefed by the CA as to what each had said; and the thing that gets me the most is that the Chief Pilot was making excuses for ZZZ Operations; as they 'don't do it very often'! Come to find out the person spraying our aircraft was the stations de-icing trainer!! After all the decisions and a call to dispatch for a new flight plan we pushed back again ran checklists; got property de-iced ( we think and hope) and departed about two and a half hours late for a uneventful rest of the flight.
B737 flight crew reported a communications breakdown between flight crew and de-ice crew which created a potentially catastrophic situation.