Frontier customers in Long Beach may have to tune into simpler times

Because old people use Facebook, we see a lot of nostalgic posts, like pictures of a bottle opener with the caption, “Anyone remember what this is?” along with yesteryear yeaings about simpler times when kids were outdoors all day riding bikes and catching pollywogs down by the creek.

TVs, you will be interested to discover, had seven chaels and you had to switch among them by tuing the chael knob by hand. It was harder than shucking oysters, but, bigod, we did it without a whimper because this was A Nation That Built Things.

Welcome back to the good old days, Frontier Communications subscribers. Since April 1, when Frontier took over the Verizon cable TV, inteet and landline phone accounts in Califoia, things have been buggy at best for the company, leaving erstwhile inteet addicts and binge-watching TV fans little to do than sit at the card table playing Parcheesi or sitting out on the stoop singing doo-wop songs with the neighbors.

We have to assume, in a sort of Trumpian way, that there are some satisfied customers in the new Frontier, but they’re not eating up the broadband with the gusto of the disgruntled. Makes sense. When was the last time you wrote a comment on social media crowing about the fact that everything is working fine at your house?

The problem these days comes in two parts. Part I: The stuff isn’t working for a lot of people. Downdetector.com, a site that tracks tech problems, notes that on Tuesday the most reported problems with Frontier (these from Califoia, Texas and Florida – all areas taken over from Verizon in recent weeks) were regarding the inteet, followed by TV and, in 18 percent of the reported complaints, loss of both TV and inteet.

Part II: The company isn’t responding to customers’ satisfaction, which isn’t surprising in an industry not overly praised for its rapid and dependable service. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, in its 2015 report, gives the subscription television industry the lowest score among the 43 industries it measures. The short analysis is “the decline is a result of poor customer service combined with higher prices.” Further, the report notes that for the industry overall, “customers say that subscription TV service has deteriorated in nearly every aspect.”

Frontier subscriber Isadora Johnson commented in a letter to the Press-Telegram, “After waiting more than 15 minutes with each of my calls, instead of even a ‘robo rep,’ to complain to, I received a dial tone to indicate I was being discoected. I may soon take seriously the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and instead start looking for another service.” She echoed the customer service report: “It’s sad to think that we consumers who are having these cable-provider problems are being charged a very large fee while being taken advantage of.”

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The complaints still pour in: “Still no phone for third day,” “FRUSTRATED!! No inteet service since Friday.” “Day six without service. No answers on when they will call back.” “In the past hour my cable box has shut off and reset four times. Haven’t tried calling Frontier yet. We are going to wait a couple of days and hope the issues clear up.”

Meanwhile, does anyone remember the rules for croquet?

Contact Tim Grobaty at 562-714-2116, [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter.