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State Seeks Fines For 'Steady Decline In Verizon's Repair Performance'
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Published: May 15, 2008
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TAMPA - Florida's attorney general is calling for steep fines of Verizon Communications Inc. and an investigation into what he calls a failure to comply with state telephone repair rules and a "steady decline in Verizon's repair performance since 2002."
The attorney general's office will call on state telephone regulators to issue up to a $6.5 million fine for "repeated violations of service rules during 2007," such as Verizon taking too long to restore landline phone service to customers who lost it.
Verizon officials could not immediately be reached for comment early this afternoon. This action does not apply to Verizon Wireless, a separate corporate entity that handles cellular phones.
A Tribune investigation this spring showed a variety of repair and customer service issues at Verizon, including billing problems and long waits for telephone repair.
Verizon's telephone outages were not by accident, says the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Rather, "Verizon willfully violated the Florida Public Service quality rules in 262 cases during 2007."
The call for action came in the form of a petition at the Public Service Commission, filed today by McCollum's office and AARP.
Verizon officials have acknowledged hiccups in repair service amid strong demand for its Fios fiber optic phone, Internet and cable TV service. In some cases, customers who lost telephone service waited a week or more before it was restored, said officials with Verizon's largest labor union of repair workers.
Florida tightly regulates phone company service, in part to ensure that residents have basic communications and can call 911 in an emergency.
"Our request that Verizon be fined $6.5 million for failure to comply with the [Public Service Commission] repair rules should deliver a message to all Florida telecommunications companies that Florida consumers believe that service is important and that compliance with the PSC rules is essential," said Florida Public Counsel J.R. Kelly, whose agency represents Florida utility customers. "Telecommunication companies should deliver the quality of service that consumers pay for or face the consequences."
"Reliable and available telephone service can be critical to consumers during emergencies," said Mike Twomey, attorney for AARP. "Verizon's failure to fully comply with the PSC's repair rules necessarily extended some of its customers' service outages, making their service less reliable and less available. Verizon should obey the rules or be penalized for its failure to comply."
The petition also asks for the PSC to open an investigation into Verizon service quality. Verizon in 2001 agreed to a $2 million settlement over service quality.
To read the entire 15-page petition (in PDF form), filed jointly by the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and the AARP, go to http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-7EN....
Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( jada ) on May 15, 2008 at 1:58 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
That is way too much money I think, but Verizon does need to train their employees better and give better custoemr service. But Verizon is not the only company in Florida to be this way.
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Posted by ( michaelcondon ) on May 15, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Yahoo is all I say. Verizon is the worst company in florida history....Please please bring back att or any other company. Verizon will finally pay the price for their horrible horrible service and their horrible horrible advertisements, which are untrue to begin with....Long Live Brighthouse! Fios is the worst!
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Posted by ( shane_651 ) on May 15, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
They should just shut down that crooked corporation. Verizon sucks. They fired, laid off, let go of (or however they define it) almost all of their service technicians in order to have more money for this sorry @$$ fios. They are the perfect example of a greedy corporation. Fine their sorry @$$es about 1 billion.
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Posted by ( kjbyte68 ) on May 15, 2008 at 2:59 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Won't they just increase rates to cover a fine of this magnitude? Consumers don't win. You might, and I say might, get better service but you'll pay for it.
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Posted by ( ExNJboy ) on May 15, 2008 at 3:04 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
You can only give as good Customer Service as your management allows you to; when your managers constantly threaten to fire you or outsource your job to India if you don't cut corners, there is only so much you can do; that is why the Customer Service employees actually took up picket signs like the ones you saw in the Photo.
That being said, how much you wanna bet that right now, Verizon is pondering India as we speak?
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Posted by ( douston ) on May 15, 2008 at 3:15 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Where, exactly will the fine money go? You know that Verizon will just increase rates and/or add on "fees" to recoup their loss.
So unless the money from the fines will be given to the affected consumers the only one that will win is the State of Florida.
And if you think that the politicians have our best interest in mind just remember two things...property taxes and insurance rates...
Oh, by the way, the City of Tampa should eliminate take home cars for ALL TPD employees...
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Posted by ( mattbuster ) on May 15, 2008 at 3:27 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
To All you Brighthouse lovers get a life. I have the worst service known to man with this company. I very shocked on there customer service. No im not a verizon employee but i do work for the BBB and receive many complaints about their service. Verizon will not be the only company to pay. Beware, brighthouse's turn is coming.
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Posted by ( Publius ) on May 15, 2008 at 3:30 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I'm getting ready to have Bright House internet service installed and then will tell Verizon to pound sand. For phone service I bought a magicJack. It plugs into your USB port and your phone plugs into the unit. Great phone service for $20 a year. Verizon will never get anymore of my money.
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Posted by ( boltcc ) on May 15, 2008 at 3:30 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Verizon should at least pull off all their ads off Tv that run every 90 seconds..and focus on fixing the exsisting problems before trying to get new customers and increasing thier problems.They admitted they have grown too busy with pushing fios.
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Posted by ( Publius ) on May 15, 2008 at 3:36 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mattbuster, I had Bright House when I lived in Brevard County and never had a problem with them. If I needed service they were right there. Although I don't want phone service with them, since I bought my magicJack, I have no problem getting internet service with them. I will also be getting digital cable at the same time, and I had that in Brevard County, too.
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Posted by ( MontanaFL ) on May 15, 2008 at 3:50 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I have had no issues with Verizon and have had Verizon FIOS since Dec 2006 which has been great and do not wish to lose it. When our wireless internet box went down, Verizon sent out a new box same day via mail (not happy about that but oh well)along with return label for the old box.
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Posted by ( seminolesfan ) on May 15, 2008 at 4 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
i will say verizon has bad customer service. They have a unreal wiat time to talk to someone and when you do get thru to someone they transfer you to someone else so that you could wait another hr on hold! they make errors on your bill and tell you they wont fix it even after they discovered a error on their part! they split up your bill without customer knowledge, i signed up for the 99.99 package deal and i have yet to reciecve a bill for less than $250. verizon deservse this bad pub. because they are not doing their customer right at all!
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Posted by ( specialtimes ) on May 15, 2008 at 4 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I just want to know why complaints go to florida dept of agriculture? What the hell does cable have to do with farming. And we wonder why we are getting rotten service for the cable companies. OUR politicans have sold us to the farm industry. THANK YOU FLORIDA!! ONCE AGAIN!!!
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Posted by ( PewterPirate55 ) on May 15, 2008 at 4:19 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
UHM ... Read the article, The fines are being levied because of the land line phone service which is regulated by the department of agriculture. The complaints about customer service with FiOS have nothing to do with this. Although I will say, FiOS customers better get ready for worse service because they will be putting more of the FiOS technicians back on land line duty to make sure they do not get another fine like this.
That is what happens when a company tries to maximize profits while cutting corners. They start tripping over their own genitalia. And before anyone says it no I don't work for BrightHouse or Verizon.
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Posted by ( amyw461 ) on May 15, 2008 at 4:25 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Can someone look into Brighthouse's billing practices? My bill is wrong EVERY time I make a change. Then the MORONS in customer service can never grasp what the problem is. Stupidity at it's finest...
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Posted by ( ceibert ) on May 15, 2008 at 5:04 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Ha Ha, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau against Verizon about 4 years ago. Man, I hope they have a class action lawsuit I could use some cash.
Now I haver Brighthouse whom also bite.
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Posted by ( laser13 ) on May 15, 2008 at 5:19 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Dont worry! Verizon just brought a new area manager down from indiana,9 years with the company,ZERO years with fiber,and he's already fixing real issues such as banning techs from getting ice for their personal use,enforcing the boot policy and making sure that they don't socialize too excessivly and leave the yard promptly,After all these are the real issues that the customers are complaining about,maybe before toooo long we will be selling a better product,selling a product that we can give,and promptly answering the custmoer calls. Keep up the good work and stay hot!
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Posted by ( shane_651 ) on May 15, 2008 at 5:29 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
PewterPirate55:
First off, I like the name. Second, FiOS is a land line. The only difference is the old land line is copper, and the FiOS is fiber. Everyone has been complaining about FiOS. So you should read the article, or if you don't know what you're talking about, don't comment. .
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Posted by ( renegade17 ) on May 15, 2008 at 6 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by ( jjjhein ) on May 15, 2008 at 6:12 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I think I have a solution to offer our government geniuses: Enact another regulation like the one allowing Progress Energy to bill today's customers BILLIONS to construct THEIR nuclear plants.
Permit Verizon to collect monthly fees to pay for the future delivery of services so they can build their Fios and improve their repair service etc.
Of course, all these additional charges to help our our utilities will simply mean that the corporate investor's will reap the benefit of customer's forced contribution. I would suggest we modify the regulations so that the unwilling "investors" get some fractional shares in the utilities.
Florida...run by Republican crooks for the benefit of their rich corporate contributors. When will the voters wake up?
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Posted by ( Oops ) on May 15, 2008 at 8:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Those saying "everyone" is complaining about FiOS should try doing some math. 262 cases out of how many subscribers??? What we have here, people, is politicians pandering to the press to procure popularity.
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Posted by ( laser13 ) on May 15, 2008 at 8:27 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
The truth of the matter is that there have been hundreds if not thousands of disconnects (oops). In less than 1 calendar year,these could be greatly reduced by reducing the corporate greed and focusing on giving someone the very best that you can for the service that they are paying for !!!!!!
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Posted by ( laser13 ) on May 15, 2008 at 8:29 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Hey RENEGADE 17,Try bringing a lil less ire to the forum,they'll let you speek,just be nice
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Posted by ( bbdt ) on May 15, 2008 at 11:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I have brighthouse and they suck too!The service techs in many cases have worked for verizon, brighthouse and directv and move from company to company as they get laid off...
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Posted by ( Key ) on May 19, 2008 at 11:14 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I have been fighting with Verizon since early March when I called to have service disconnected at one address (where we had cable, internet and phone) and connect only the phone at my new house. The phone was not installed until April at my new house and in the mean time I received a bill for over $100.00. I called and was told that I should disregard the bill to only then receive another bill for almost $200.00. After reviewing the bill, I see that I was being charged when I did not have any service and was also being billed $65.00 for internet service at my new house which I don't have (I only have phone service with them). I have called and called, still no resolution, the service is awful. I have an outstanding claim subimtted for over $160.00. They either know they are doing this to people and are thieves or don't know and are incompetent .
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Posted by ( roroonthego ) on May 25, 2008 at 3:11 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I agree that customer service training is what their employees need. I had over $300.00 deducted from my checking account, causing untold overdraft fees and charges and all I got from the customer service rep and their supervisor was, if you received the bill that said the amount past due would be deducted from your account, you should not have paid the past due amount by the cut off date for disconnection. There was no way for the two systems to communicate so I paid twice and could not receive my money back. My $90.00 bill had to be deducted for 3 more months before I cleared the amount deducted. Shame on them for not caring that they cost me a lot of money, I guess they don't need to care they have the market. I vote to bring in ATT as competition.
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