By ohtadmin | on May 12, 2022
By Chuck Jackson, Editor
Huntly resident Bonnie Ellis told Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors earlier this month about her CenturyLink woes. The Virginia Corporation Commission issued a final order on April 27 approving CenturyLink’s sale of assets to a New York City investment fund but stipulated both CenturyLink and Apollo Global Management, Inc. must quickly follow through on customer complaints. MadRapp photo and video by Chuck Jackson.
A Huntly man whose past experience as an employee of the telecommunications industry led him to believe Lumen/CenturyLink “was shifting its funds to offshore subcontractors while it tried selling a portion of its operations” and wanted the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to hold the company and its successor accountable to “secure the safety of area residents”. The February 23, 2022 virtual hearing before the SCC came about because Lumen/CenturyLink is in fact selling its copper-wire telecommunications to Apollo Global Management, Inc., a New York City-based global alternative investment management firm that invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. SCC – CenturyLink Final Order by Chuck Jackson on Scribd
The SCC approved the sale via a Final Order dated April 27. But it also provided language requiring CenturyLink to quickly respond to customer complaints until the sale in final and for the purchaser, Apollo Global Management, Inc., to do the same once it has taken over the assets.
Randall George Bartlett was one of eight Virginians who testified in a State Corporation Commission virtual hearing February 23 about issues they and their constituents have had with CenturyLink’s service.
Wakefield District Supervisor Debbie P. Donehey, who serves as the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors chair and is surrounded by many CenturyLink customers in the Flint Hill area, also spoke during the hearing.
Donehey spearheaded supervisors from Warren, Albemarle, Nelson, and Buckingham counties – whose constituents also have issues with CenturyLink to make similar presentations to the SCC hearing officer.
She shared her concerns regarding Rappahannock’s ongoing struggle to obtain reliable landline telephone service. She maintained that management of the telephone company has not lived up to commitments to individual customers or to government officials who have intervened on behalf of customers.
Donehey also noted many residents of Rappahannock County lack cell phone or internet services in their homes and provided specific examples of the difficulties several elderly and ill residents have experienced during outages.
Donehey and her colleagues on the BOS have told of similar stories at county meetings over the past several years.
Bonnie Ellis – who also lives in Huntly – spoke at the board’s May meeting about her trials and tribulations with the company.
MadRapp VIDEO: Bonnie Ellis about her CenturyLink experiences. Starts at 1:11.
She told the board of her anger, frustration, and her want of “throwing a temper tantrum or at least, throw this miserable telephone out the door and never, never deal with CenturyLink or any technicians associated with CenturyLink ever again.”
Those thoughts came after a 90-plus minute phone experience April 20, when she tried resolving her latest issue with the phone company.
“Our landline telephone has had static on it for months since a lightening strike at some distant time last year,” Ellis told the board. “The line was repaired which means we and our neighbor across the street who is in his 90s, again have service but service with a hum that changes to static that changes to crackling and then returns to a hum.”
She attempted to solve the issue via online chat only to be told she needed to talk to a human. She tried texting but only got an automated reply saying that someone would get back to her.
A week went by before someone from CenturyLink did.
She was told to call an 800 number, hit Option 5 and her problem would be solved.
She added there’s no such thing as Option 5.
Now, in addition to the hum and static there is now no voice mail, or an alternative message whish is not the voice mail message.
To make a long story short, repeated trips by technicians came up with the solution to call the 800 number for help. She’s learned three telephone poles need to be replaced because of the year-ago lightening strike and a new separate line will need to be replaced because her house is the last house on the current line and thus, “low on the company’s list of priorities.”
Hampton Supervisor Keir A. Whitson also has told his fellow board members horror stories he’s witnessed first-hand as he’s tried helping them over the past two-plus years with phone issues.
After the meeting Donehey worked one-on-one with Ellis about her issues.
“Once I contacted our newly assigned CenturyLink representative, Terrance, her issue was quickly resolved,” Donehey stated in an email this week. “Unfortunately, due to the age of the infrastructure, what is repairedtoday, may be broken again tomorrow. We must remain diligent and continue to report the issues. Bonnie clearlyunderstood that we were not laughing at her or the frustrating situation, but at the story she shared,as many of our citizens are having similar issues day in and day out.
Supervisor Whitson and I have been working to resolve the CenturyLink issues that have been brought to our attention for many months.”
Now, with an April 27 final order there may be hope for the company’s customers in Rappahannock and elsewhere in the commonwealth that Lumen/CenturyLink serves.
The SCC found fault with CenturyLink for “past transgressions with its customers” and as part of the order attached an appendix to the order called a Joint Stipulation and Service Quality Settlement Term Sheet.
“The commission is cognizant of and troubled by the numerous complaints regarding the deficiencies in the level of service quality, in terms of poor quality, repeated loss of service, and lengthy delays in repairs and restoration of service from customers of CenturyLink ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers) arising both before and during the course of this proceeding,” the final order stated. “The Joint Stipulation and Service Quality Settlement Term Sheet… [is] designed to address these issues in a reasonable and timely manner and on an on-going basis.
“The Service Quality Settlement Term Sheet provides a path forward for addressing the on-going service quality issues that have arisen within the incumbent service territories of both United Telephone and Central Telephone while under the control of its current parent company, Lumen, and establish the standard that the CenturyLink ILECs will be held to following the transfer of control to Apollo and under the guidance of the management team.”
The sale probably will be completed sometime this summer so Rappahannock County customers will still need to deal with CenturyLink for several more months before Apollo – trading as “Brightspeed” – officially takes over.
“The final order from the SCC… we knew from the start that there was very little likelihood of us stopping the ownership transfer,” Donehey said. “We focused on reliabilityand timely repair. The five counties, that bandedtogether to ensure all of our concerns and expectations were heardloud and clear, made us impossibleto ignore. If you read the SCC Final Order, itmakes it clear that all of us were heard. I am proud to say that Rappahannock led the charge in bringing the counties together, and it allowed the SCC to bind CenturyLink and its successors with a more actionable process to address service issues.”
Time will tell if the SCC has meat to hold the current and future owner responsible for new poor service.
“I am thankful for the work performedby the SCC, specifically [Associate Deputy Director, Public Utility Regulation]Sheree King, as she was very responsive,” Donehey added. “The Service QualitySettlement Term Sheet results from the SCC genuinely hearing what the five counties and other individuals detailed in their testimony. Although the ownership transfer is approved, it is as important as ever to make sure our complaints are heard and documented.”
Donehey suggests county residents continuing to have service issues with CenturyLink to first contact CenturyLink and create a trouble ticket, then call county Administrator Garrey W. Curry Jr.’s office (540) 675-5330, and their respective board of supervisor member to escalate the trouble ticket.
“We will need the trouble ticket number to assist in the escalation,” Donehey said.
