FairPoint tries to tackle New Hampshire billing issues

It seems like every week one of the states in FairPoint's New England region has an operational issue with the lines it bought from Verizon earlier this year. Following an order from the Maine Public Utility Commission to pay $400,000 in penalties [1] because of poor service they provide to other local service providers, New Hampshire's PUC reported late last week that two to four times as many customers have filed complaints about the ILEC's service, compared to other service providers. According to an article in the New Hampshire Union Leader, state PUC staff attorney Robert Hunt said during a technical session for the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission staff on FairPoint's Stabilization Status Report that there were 190 "escalations" as complaints that were filed with the agency. Most notably, customers have been receiving bills from FairPoint after they cancelled their service.

Not surprisingly, FairPoint's President Peter Nixon downplayed the situation by saying that there were only 130 escalations. Nixon said that FairPoint put together an escalation group to help resolve billing issues. Previously, FairPoint's Chairman and CEO David Hauser realigned its management team and appointed [2] Vicky Weatherwax to the position of vice president of business solutions to come up with a plan to quickly resolve customer issues.

Despite the ILEC's moves, Hunt remained unsatisfied with FairPoint's progress. "What is happening to address these specific people, who I can tell you when they call are very upset and want something done?" Hunt asked.

For more:
- New Hampshire Union Leader has this article [3]

Related articles
Note to FairPoint Communications: Focus on the fundamentals [4]
FairPoint's Vermont network problems continue to swell [5]
FairPoint makes executive changes to rectify issues [2]