PSC wants answers from Frontier about extended outages

Frontier is being asked to provide all trouble tickets from West Virginia customers submitted between June 8, 2022, and Aug. 5, 2022
Frontier service truck in Huntington, West Virginia to restore internet service to customers after a month-long outage.(WSAZ)
Published: Aug. 9, 2022 at 3:52 PM EDT

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The WSAZ newsroom has been fielding Frontier complaint calls for months. Disconnected and dissatisfied customers have been contacting the station about service outages they say linger for days, weeks and in some cases - even months.

WSAZ Investigates | Disconnected and Dissatisfied

Now, according to a document from the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, Frontier is being asked to provide all trouble tickets from West Virginia customers submitted between June 8, 2022, and Aug. 5, 2022, and explain steps the company is taking to handle extended outages.

The request comes following a petition by the Kanawha County Commission to initiate an investigation into the conduct of Frontier Communications about service provided to customers in the Laurel Fork and Ben’s Fork areas.

The petition states, “Recent filings with the Commission regarding quality-of-service metrics show Frontier has failed to meet objectives.”

The document by the PSC lists 18 points of information be released by Frontier, including but not limited to: how many trouble tickets are past due, the status of all trouble tickets and service orders, as well as a daily list of outages reported to Frontier that includes the customer’s name, telephone number, date, and verification with the customer of the repair.

Frontier is also being pressed about how the company handles repairs following storm damage and the use of contractors to expedite restoration time.

Another area of concern is Frontier’s lack of customer service, according to the PSC. Officials say state customers are complaining about not having an option to talk with a Frontier representative about an outage, just being left with a recording that disconnects the call.

The goal of the information and documentation petition is to determine the number of customers affected by recent Frontier Communications statewide.

Frontier has been given a deadline of noon, Monday, Aug. 29 to turn over the information as well as what will be done to reduce these types of extended outages in the future.

Keep checking the WSAZ app for the latest information.

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