Frontier Internet: Incompetence or Fraud?

ISP options are limited in my rural neck of the woods, and I was delighted when I learned, back in February, that high speed service was now available through Frontier Communications. Unlike many people I've seen complaining in social media, I've had zero problems with the service itself--my connection is quick and consistent.

Unfortunately, that's the only thing that's going smoothly in my relationship with Frontier.

Trying to Get Frontier Internet Service

I nearly gave up before I ever signed up for service, because the first person I got on the telephone when I called the sales number declined to give me information about available packages. Instead, she asked me a few questions about my needs and then told me she would put in an order for the best package for me. After explaining three times that I wanted to know what my options were and make a decision, I'd still only heard about two packages, but she'd said, "So, I'll process this order for you.." at least four times.

One of the questions I couldn't get answered during that call was whether there would be an installation charge. The rep told me that information wouldn't be available to her until she processed the order. She was a little surprised and more than a little annoyed that I wasn't willing to order service before hearing the costs associated with the order, and eventually I told her that it didn't seem that Frontier was the right company for me and got off the phone.

My options are limited, though, and a friend had recently ordered service from Frontier and encountered no such problems, so I thought maybe I'd just had bad luck with the person who answered my call.

I went online, where information about the various packages was available, and chose the one I wanted. When I got to the end of my order, a message popped up telling me that I had to call Frontier to complete my order.

I called, and the guy on the phone promptly started in again with trying to push me into the package the initial rep had been pushing--even though I'd already put in an order for a different package. Finally, we resolved that and this rep confirmed that there was no installation charge and gave me an installation date ten days hence.

Installation Charge Fraud

A day or two after the call, I received an email confirmation from Frontier. I almost missed it, because at that point I had received approximately half a dozen "action required" emails from Frontier that all said the same thing--that I needed to call them to schedule an installation date and should ignore the email if I'd already done so.

This email, though, contained a breakdown of my order...including a $99.99 installation charge.

I called and the representative said it was an error and claimed to remove the charge.

My friend who'd ordered service just before me said he wasn't having any problems with customer service, but warned me to watch out for an installation charge--they'd told him there wouldn't be one, but billed him for one anyway.

Despite their representations, I knew there was a chance that $99.99 charge was going to show up on my first bill. It didn't, though: the installation charge on my first bill was $149.99.

Again, I called. Again, I was told that the installation charge had been posted in error and would be removed. This time, though, there was a twist: the company's computers were down, and the correction couldn't be made that day. The representative promised to call me back as soon as she'd accessed my account and made the correction, probably the next day.

Eight days later, when I hadn't heard anything, I followed up with another call. The rep on that call told me he'd reversed the charge, but when I got off the phone I realized that he hadn't given me a new balance.

I called back to get my new balance and the new rep was quite confused. He wasn't showing the charge reversed, and said that the credit was too large to have been processed without supervisor approval. Thus, he was able to submit a request for the credit, but couldn't actually give me a new balance.

We agreed on an estimate that I'd pay for the first bill, and he said that he was noting the account so that if I received a late charge based on any discrepancy, it would be removed.

Today, I received my second bill...along with a disconnect notice based on the unpaid installation charge.

Missed Installation Appointments and Poor Communication

The ten days passed and I stayed home all day and the installer never came. When I called, it took quite a bit of research on Frontier's end to uncover the fact that they'd discovered that I couldn't get the speed I'd ordered in my area. So, rather than calling to tell me that and offer alternative options, they'd just cancelled the installation appointment (and not notified me).

They offered me a much lower speed (down from 24 mbps to 6 mbps) and a lot of confusion ensued when I asked about the 12 mbps option on their website. Finally, they decided they could offer me 12 and scheduled another installation date...another ten days out.

Nearly a week later, I received a call from Frontier letting me know that the service I'd originally ordered wasn't available and asking whether I'd like the 6 mbps option--it was as if the whole conversation in which my new installation date had been scheduled had never happened.

Ultimately, the service did get installed and it works fine; I haven't had a single problem with Internet access or speed.

However, in the two months since I started trying to get the service hooked up, I've had to make more than ten telephone calls totaling more than three hours of my time to resolve two issues--and one of them has still not been resolved. And, according to the latest billing, they're going to disconnect my service on April 30 for not having paid the installation charge four different representatives have assured me I didn't owe...plus a $7.50 late charge on that balance.

With the exception of the early sales people, everyone I've talked to has been helpful and pleasant. But, that's as far as it goes. They smile, apologize, make promises and then hang up the phone and absolutely nothing changes.