The Frontier Communications acquisition of Verizon's network in Florida has created tons of problems for customers, including weeks-long outages, painfully long customer service phone calls, and bigger early termination fees, state Attorney General Pam Bondi says. Bondi sent a letter Monday to Frontier CEO Daniel McCarthy asking for faster fixes to remaining problems and refunds for customers.

Frontier purchased Verizon's FiOS and DSL businesses in California, Florida, and Texas, taking over the fiber and copper networks on April 1. Florida government officials are not alone in expressing alarm about problems the transition has caused customers, as a California legislative committee is planning a hearing on the topic on Wednesday next week.

Bondi said her office has received 128 complaints from former Verizon customers in Florida. "Business and residential customers have complained of going days or weeks without any Internet or phone service," Bondi wrote. "We have also received several complaints from seniors who have lost essential 911 services as the result of disruptions in land line services. This is not acceptable."

Frontier has responded to 56 of those complaints, Bondi wrote. But the problems have "no apparent end in sight," and Frontier customer service has done a poor job responding to complaints overall, she wrote.

Bondi continued:

Video customers have complained of lost access to certain channels and pre-paid video on demand programming previously available to them from Verizon and have even had trouble accessing Frontier's website to set up accounts and pay bills. New customers are complaining that they must sign a two-year service contract—something that is not acceptable under the current circumstances. Customer Service, we understand, has been very poor, due, among other things, to Frontier's apparent use of an overseas customer call center that presents language barriers and has resulted in long telephone wait times of as much as one or two hours. Some customers report that service appointments are being missed by Frontier's contractors or the contractors are complete no shows. And, customers seeking to cancel their Frontier services complain of stiff early termination fees that are far greater, we are told, than the fees previously charged by Verizon. A Frontier customer service representative told us that refunds or credits are only being made available to customers who specifically request them.

Bondi asked Frontier to set up a meeting with her office to discuss the extent of problems in Florida, specifics of intended fixes and how much time is needed to complete them, and plans to provide credits and refunds to Floridians who lost service. Bondi also asked Frontier to immediately establish customer service numbers staffed by people in Florida instead of overseas.

We contacted a Frontier spokesperson today but haven't heard back.