Lapses in service from the Verizon to Frontier Communications switch has some customers concerned they won’t be able to call 911 for help.
The switch to Frontier Communications from Verizon took place on April 1, and ever since some customers have lost coverage for their land lines, internet and television services.
Frontier Communications' Facebook page has nearly 9,000 comments from customers who have lost service. One comment said a user had been on the phone for four hours trying to get their issues resolved.
“If I need help, if I need to call for the police, if there is somebody breaking in, somebody gets injured, or I get sick, I am out of luck,” Carl Boeger said.
Boeger said he has been going through his Wesley Chapel neighborhood checking on some of the older residents to make sure they are OK.
“In this neighborhood an awful lot of the people here are very elderly, in their 80s and 90s. It is a dangerous situation,” Boeger said.
Boeger said he is urging any customers that have issues with their service to contact the FCC and file formal complaints. He has been posting comments to their Facebook page, and says some have already been purged.
“They don't need to worry about comments on Facebook,” Boeger said. “Being retired I have nothing else to do but make trouble for them. It really isn't right. But, rather than make the trouble, I’d rather see the problems fixed.”
Bob Elek Manager, External Communications released this statement to ABC Action News regarding the issues:
We are continuing to address customers with service issues in the Tampa Bay area, both business-as-usual and transition-related. Even one customer with a service issue is one too many and we apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing.
Issues appear to be lessening. With VOD, we are making good progress with more on-demand content for movies, premium channels and customer purchased available on a daily, rolling basis.
The number of service appointments we are completing on a daily basis has nearly tripled from one week ago. We are addressing service orders as quickly as possible, coordinating both customer availability and the management of our ongoing queue of orders. In all cases, that means the next best available time.
There are some automatic repair technologies that have presented some issues and delayed some new service calls. Volume has been the other challenge. We sincerely apologize for any missed appointments and are working directly with customers to re-schedule those appointments.
Customers with service issues that have a trouble ticket number associated with it are being worked, with priority given to repairs, business customers or other high-priority services. If customers do not have a trouble ticket and are still experiencing problems we are asking them to call Frontier Repair at 1-800-921-8101 to establish a trouble ticket we can schedule and track.
All customers are being encouraged to create their Frontier ID that allows for online management of their account services, ranging from tracking a trouble ticket to paying a bill to enabling apps and channels associated with Frontier TV Everywhere functionality. Customers are asked to visit the Frontier’s Account Manager Portal to register and to pay close attention to the prompts there for former Verizon customers. Additionally, we encourage customers to visit the Meet Frontier web site for the informative Q&A available there.
