Regulators Ask Fairpoint For Plan to Reduce Customer Complaints

Public Utilities officials say customer complaints about their phone service usually total about 250 a month.

But since Fairpoint has completely taken over from Verizon, the Commission has received a lot more calls.

Kate Bailey directs the Telecom division of the PUC.

In February we had 732 calls and through Wednesday of this week we had 1090 calls for March you know it’s almost, it’s getting close to five times the normal amount that we have.

PUC officials say the complaints come in three broad categories.

One is that consumers are having a hard time getting through to Fairpoint’s customer service center.

Another is that people aren’t getting their bills on time.

And still others are not getting new services they ordered, repairs they need, or the change in service they’ve been seeking.

The PUC’s Kate Bailey says in addition to a hearing, the Commission has already asked Fairpoint for a written plan on what they’ll do to reduce the complaints.

And we expect that the issues get resolved as quickly as possible, and we don’t think they have a whole lot of time to waste to returning to business as usual. So we expect them to show significant improvement on a milestone basis, and if they don’t do that then we’re going to have to look at a request of management change.

Fairpoint officials agree they need to improve their service.

They say switching computer systems over from Verizon has been more difficult than they expected.

Fairpoint Vice president Jeffrey Allen says the billing problems people have had are straightening out.

But Allen says he doesn’t expect delays with orders for service changes or new service to be rectified soon.

In this instance I think you’ll see substantial or continuous progress between now and the end of june. And I would say by the end of june that all the systems and the processes and the people should be working at normal levels of proficiencies and results.

Telecommunication industry analysts say they also think Fairpoint needs to get things in order quickly.

Right now this is basic stuff. This is CPR right now.

That’s Erle Pierce, who spent over 30 years with Verizon but who now runs a public affairs consulting business.

He says Fairpoint wants to roll out new products and prices, but their problems are holding them back.

They certainly need to be able to do it. And they want to be able to do it. But until they get these other issues settled, they can’t. and I don’t need to tell them that. they know that.

For Fairpoint, the problem with dissatisfied customers is most are free to sign up with competitors, or to simply rely on wireless phones.

The company’s own data suggest the departures from land lines have accelerated since Fairpoint took over the network.

Currently 13% of its customers dropped their land lines in 2008…..that’s 40% higher than under Verizon a year before.

That loss of business might call for Fairpoint to wrap up its problems more quickly than by the end of June.

Company officials say they hope to offer new promotions before then.

But they say they’re not going to do that until they’ve solved enough problems to drastically lower the number of customer complaints.