Martha Donovan was not pulling any punches in her email about Consolidated Communications to the Vermont Public Utility Commission on Oct. 5.

"I would like to file a complaint with your office concerning the HORROR STORY surrounding my service, or lack thereof, for services paid for that I have not received, for appointments that have not been kept, and the overall condescending inaction against Consolidated Communications," Donovan began her email.

Donovan lives in East Hardwick, where she was previously a customer of FairPoint Communications, a company that did not exactly get rave reviews itself.

In December 2014, Jim Porter, senior policy and telecommunications director for the Vermont Department of Public Service, told the Burlington Free Press there were 388 complaints about Fairpoint since September 2014.

FairPoint filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and then suffered a four-month-long strike by its 1,700 workers at the end of 2014 that ended in February 2015, making it a prime takeover target. Consolidated Communications, based in Mattoon, Illinois, completed its acquisition of North Carolina-based Fairpoint in July 2017 for about $1.5 billion,

Service complaints skyrocket as standards plummet

Now the pattern of poor service appears to be repeating itself, exponentially, with the increase in complaints related to outage delays, for example, increasing by an incredible 2,760 percent, year over year, according to the Department of Public Service. Because of numbers like this, the DPS is launching an investigation into Consolidated Communications.

In a petition to the Public Utility Commission, filed last month, asking for the investigation, the DPS cited two "service quality metrics": The percentage of customer trouble cleared within 24 hours and the percentage of installation appointments met.

The DPS said the baseline quality standard for the 24-hour metric is that 70 percent of customer troubles should be cleared within that time period. Between April and June of 2018 Consolidated Communication's percentage stood at an average of 26 percent, 44 percent lower than is acceptable.

On the subject of installation appointments met, the DPS reported that it had received 143 customer complaints related to service outage delays between July and September 2018, a 2,760 percent increase over the number received during the same time period in 2017.

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The DPS also reported 24 complaints from customers relating to installation delays of up to three weeks, a 500 percent increase in complaints over the same time period in 2017.

"Consolidated's failure to meet service quality standards is not reasonable or expedient, and does not promote the safety, convenience and accommodation of the public," the petition concluded. "Therefore a formal investigation is needed to determine whether Consolidated is taking appropriate measures to ensure that Vermonters receive prompt and reliable service consistent with the company's obligations under Vermont law."

The Better Business Bureau weighs in

Consolidated also received a "D" rating from the Better Business Bureau in November 2017 based on a pattern of consumer complaints alleging inferior service, billing issues, delays in responding to consumers and "overall poor customer service."

The BBB sent a letter to the company on Nov. 1, 2017 outlining its concerns and received no response.

Consolidated Communications responded this week to an inquiry by the Burlington Free Press regarding the DPS investigation with a statement saying the company is taking customers' concerns "very seriously."

"It remains our highest priority to improve service and repair levels across the state of Vermont," said Michael Shultz, vice president of regulatory and public policy. "We're focusing additional resources on high-volume areas and continue to reduce our repair intervals for our customers."

Addressing the drastic increase in complaints cited by the Department of Public Service in its petition for an investigation, Shultz claimed the company's efforts had already resulted in a 71 percent reduction in the number of customers awaiting installation or repairs.

What can be done?

Jim Porter said last week that the DPS has issued a request for proposals to hire a third party to investigate Consolidated Communications.

"Once we get somebody under contract we will have them look at the Consolidated systems and records and try to determine why we've had such a spike on complaints," Porter said. "Part two of that will be for a recommendation for how to solve the problem and see to it it doesn't happen again."

Porter explained that the investigation will focus on telephone service, not internet service, since federal law dictates that the state has no regulatory authority over internet service.

"States are allowed to regulate what the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) allows them to regulate, so we do have the ability to regulate the phone lines," Porter said.

The Department of Public Service will be particularly concerned in its investigation with so-called "captive customers," Porter said, who have no alternative to Consolidated Communications for their telephone service.

Martha Donovan can relate.

"Unfortunately, they have a monopoly on service in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Law of 1890," Donovan wrote of Consolidated. "I also resent being treated like an ignorant, second class citizen, country bumpkin, without a voice. I NEED service to live in Vermont and telecommute! This is after all 2018!"

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.