Quality of FairPoint service goes from bad to worse with strike

X post in Labor & GD

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/02/04/quality-of-fairpoint-service-goes-from-bad-to-worse-since-strike/


Maine's public advocate says the company was wrong to say the strike would not affect customers.

BY WHIT RICHARDSON

FairPoint Communications’ ability to respond in a timely manner to customers’ problems has deteriorated since its workers went on strike in mid-October, according to company figures provided to the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

FairPoint’s report to the PUC, filed Monday afternoon, offers the first detailed look at just how much the Charlotte, North Carolina-based telecom company’s customer service has suffered since roughly 1,800 workers in northern New England, including nearly 900 in Maine, walked off the job at midnight on Oct. 16. Tuesday marked the 110th day of the strike.

In October, the company reported there were 2,036 “network trouble reports,” or customer-reported service problems. That figure leaped 166 percent in November, when customers reported 5,417 service problems. In December, the number dropped slightly to 4,708.

The length of time in which FairPoint’s temporary workforce, which was brought in to replace the striking workers, was able to “clear” network problems also grew after the strike began. In November, more than 90 percent of problems were not fixed within 24 hours, and in December it was 86.71 percent. Those rates compare to 58.4 percent in October and 21.17 percent in October 2013.

FULL story with charts etc. at link.