Windstream / telephone & lowband dsl

Windstream Communications

http://www.windstream.com/

Lexington KY Office

I lodged the following complaint with the local office on October 9th. Please

note that the issue is STILL unresolved:

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From: Mari. [mailto:Email User]

Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 1:17 AM

To: Email User'

Cc: Email User'; Email User';

Email User'; Email User';

Email User'; Email User';

Email User'; Email User'; Myself

Subject: Windstream customer service

Dear Mr. Gardner,

I am writing concerning issues I have continued to have with my telephone

and DSL service. I am both the mother of a chronically ill teenager and a

work-at-home writer and magazine editor. Telephone service and Internet

service are crucial to our daily lives.

My husband and I moved across our apartment complex into a different

apartment on Friday, September 1, 2006. From that afternoon forward, we have

continued to have problems with both our telephone and DSL service.

Early Saturday morning, I called the Windstream 800 trouble-reporting like

to report static on the line; I also asked the customer service representative

if she could please add a telephone jack testing/repair/service to my trouble

report for me, which she said she was happy to do. Early that afternoon, we

lost dial-tone. I had to contact my husband at work so he could make the

trouble-reporting call. I was surprised when a service technician came to the

house on Sunday afternoon, although he did tell me that no dial-tone calls are

"high priority" repairs. He said that he didn't have to do anything to the

jacks that day because they weren't considered an emergency call repair. Too,

while he retrieved his computer from his truck and read the trouble-report to

me, he didn't call off anything about my telephone jacks, nor would he let me

see the report ticket. As well, this service technician's name was Roger, and

I called trouble-reporting to have his name flagged so that he won't ever be

sent back to my home; if he is ever sent here, he won't be allowed back inside

my apartment. Roger was rude, loud, condescending, and one of the most

unprofessional workers I have ever been around.

When he left, I had dial-tone, but I still had a lot of static. I called

trouble-reporting back twice after that, with two service technicians coming

out who were unable to locate the source of the problem and were unable to

correct the problem.

During the week of September 10, we began having problems with my DSL

service, as well. The static on the telephone line began to escalate from a

low hum to full-blown hissing and spitting. My DSL service became

intermittent, as did my telephone service. Again, I called trouble-shooting,

and a technician came out who was unable to resolve the problems.

During the week of September 17, the linenoise and DSL issues escalated

even further. The static would sometimes be so intense that we were unable to

carry on a conversation with anyone - either long distance or local (or next

door). The DSL would come and go. It wasn't unusual to hear dialtones,

ringtones, busy signals, and other clutter on the telephone line. Yet again, I

made another call to trouble-shooting, and they promised to send a service

technician out right away; yet again, someone came and was unable to pinpoint

the problem or correct the problem.

The week of September 24, I began to miss crucial work time as I was

unable to access the Internet and had little to no telephone service. Again, I

called trouble-shooting. I called on the afternoon of September 28; I was

promised that someone would be here before 5pm that Friday afternoon. I called

trouble-shooting again the following morning (September 30) because no one

ever came on Friday. The customer service representative I spoke with told me

that a technician had come out, but had left a note in the account that he

needed to come inside the apartment - and no one had been at home. On Friday,

September 29, both my husband and I were home all day long; at one point, we

even had guests. No one other than our guests rang the doorbell or knocked on

the door. We live in a two-story townhouse (1032 square feet); it takes time

for someone to get to the door if he's on the second floor, or even in the

back of the house. If someone doesn't knock loudly, he won't be heard - which

is why we installed a doorbell. I asked the customer service representative to

please make a note in my account to have the service technicians to call the

house before they come out, and that they please need to ring the doorbell

(not knock) when they get here. She said that she would have someone else come

out on the following Monday (October 2).

Again, we had little to no telephone service or DSL service until the

service technician arrived Monday afternoon. Still, he was unable to fix the

problem. Our services were up and down all through the week. I was unable to

work the entirity of the week (this makes the second week I've missed work).

Thursday evening, I called trouble-shooting back, and again, someone was

supposed to come out Friday morning.

Friday, October 6, I called trouble-shooting back at 9:30am because no one

had arrived yet. My DSL was completely out, and I barely had any telephone

service. The service technician came out right away. When he left at 10:30, I

had a crystal clear telephone line, but no DSL service. I called both DSL and

telephone trouble-shooting. Neither one were able to help me, although the DSL

service representative said that someone would be out to check my line either

some time on Saturday afternoon or on Monday afternoon at the latest. I called

telephone trouble-shooting back again at 5:30 that afternoon. I spoke to

several different telephone customer service representatives and to several

DSL customer service representative. Each time, between each CSR, I was put on

hold for a very long time, and each time each call connected, even though each

CSR said that he or she would stay on the line with me and explain the

problem, I had to reverify who I was, why I was calling, and go through the

whole thing repeatedly. In the end, I was on the telephone for over an hour. I

did, however, convince someone that I needed both my telephone service and

Internet service, and they promised to have a service technician to the house

by 2pm on the seventh.

I was surprised when I found two service technicians on my front stoop at

10:30am Saturday morning. They said that they had thoroughly reviewed all of

the notes on all of my calls and were treating that visit as if no one had

ever been here before, as if this was the first trouble-report. I am not

entirely understanding of what they did and didn't do, but in the end, they

got both my telephone service working and my DLS service working. They left

around 2:30pm.

And for the record, none of the service technicians (with the exception of

the polite and professional Anthony (and I believe the other tech's name was

Bob?) who came out on Saturday (10/07)) have either called before coming out

or rang my doorbell. Anthony was also kind enough to leave me his cellphone

number in case I had further problems over the weekend. And I still haven't

gotten my upstairs telephone jacks tested/repaired/serviced.

Is this how Windstream conducts business? Is it normal in the course of

your operation to have technicians visit customers so many times? Does it

normally take so many calls for a customer to receive working, viable

telephone and Internet service? I would like to have your opinion on what has

transpired and what Windstream will be doing about this situation.

Sincerely,

Mari S.