Frontier Communications could not have picked a more inauspicious day — April 1, 2016 — to start doing business in Malibu. It was on April Fool’s Day that cable, phone and internet service transferred from communications giant Verizon to the new-to-the-community Frontier, with a transition of service that was rocky at best for many Malibu customers.
Frustration levels were high as hundreds of people complained about spotty service, no service and poor customer service. Internet message boards were lit up with complaints for those who had access. One Malibu customer actually created a website called “frontiersucks.com” to not only air local complaints, but also to feature the Frontier Communication problems experienced by customers nationwide.
Even Malibu City Hall switched internet and cable providers when Frontier Communications completed a $10.5 billion dollar deal acquiring the wireline properties formerly owned by Verizon, thus expanding its presence into Southern California.
Problems became evident almost immediately.
“It was a nightmare,” Malibu City Manager Reva Feldman recalled to The Malibu Times. “One day it was Verizon and literally the next day it’s Frontier and there was never an opportunity for a transition. Software didn’t work — didn’t seem compatible. Their call center seemed not to be working. Their employees weren’t trained. Even our own Channel 3 went down before a city council meeting. There were so many problems and the city fielded many calls about it. In Malibu, there are many people living in remote areas — people who are reliant on internet, phone and cable service and they didn’t have it. I heard about billing problems too.”
If city officials were frustrated, residents were livid — and many still are. Recent postings on the neighborhood website Nextdoor still refer to Frontier as “the absolute worst.”
However, Feldman also acknowledged that over the past few months “there are less complaints recently” and that the company is “trying to be receptive.”
The Malibu Times reached out to Frontier and requested an interview to ask about billing problems, lack of service, bugs in the system and how they’ve been able to overcome some of these hurdles. Acknowledging some of the issues, Joe Gamble, Senior Vice President of Operations for Frontier Communications, issued an email statement.
“We know we got off to a bumpy start with some of our customers experiencing service issue but we are now operating normally, delivering quality service and focused on the future,” the email message said. “During and after the transition, our local teams worked hard to resolve issues, make things right for customers and we are excited to bring our services and products to California customers. We are committed to keeping and winning residential and commercial customers through quality service, engaging content and attractive pricing.”
The statement was not specific to Malibu and did not answer questions posed, but did declare Frontier “successfully completed a complex transition.”
Gamble went on to add, “It is important to note that Frontier serves more than a million customers in California and somewhere in our service area there will be service issues every day. This is a normal part of running a network this large and complex. But every customer is important — one customer experiencing service issues is one too many.”
The only phone numbers provided were for the company’s 24-hour residential customer service line at 800.921.8101 or 800.921.8102 for business customers.