The Champlain Telephone Company

Dear ***,I am hereby responding to complaint ID ***The complaint involves billing orcollection issuesThe complainant has been a customer with Champlain Telephone sinceSeptember 24, for telephone service and then upgraded service to include internet onSeptember 26, 2016.In accordance
with Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) rules and regulations,we are prohibited in sharing the customer's actual statementHowever, in regard to a $400install fee for his internet, his November statement which included the prorated chargesand current monthly charges, did not include any install chargesThe package that was selectedby the customer was for $plus taxes and surcharges(He was later switched to a lowerpriced plan at the end of February 2017.) Prorates were given from time of install (9/26/16through 10/30/16) and we invoice for services in advance(Example: November bill will includeNovember through the 30th with payment due by the 20th of each monthTherefore, hisNovember invoice included internet charges from 9/- 11/and telephone service through11/30/Billing is prepared on or around the 25th of each month for timely distribution for ourcustomers to receive their statements on the first of every month(Which is why he did notreceive charges on his October statement for the new internet service.) With that being said, itis our policy if payments are late and not received by the 10th of the following month loss of longdistance will occurIf payment is not received prior to the 20th of the following month,disconnect for non-payment wili occurOnce payment of past due balance has been satisfied,service will be restored and a service reconnect fee is applied as allowed with NYS Public ServiceCommissionThere have been multiple times when payments were not received in a timelyfashion and service was suspended for non payment until such time (partial) payment wasreceivedAs of today, his last payment of $was received on November 9th, whichcovered services through October leaving November and December balances dueAccount wasnever fully paid in fullPayment was received on November 9th at 4:pm and service order forrestoral was also written at that time(Order was time stamped at 4:pm...which says oneCustomer Service Representative (CSR) was taking payment while other CSR was writing theorder with hopes next department would work the order prior to days end as we were closedfor the legal holiday on 11/10/17.) We inform our customers it couid take up to hours to berestored (or next business day)Next business day in the case was November 13th which was infact, when the customer was restored.Two trouble tickets were entered from the time internet was added in Oct 5th and Oct11thBoth were consistent with static on the lineTrouble ticket on Oct 5th was found to havedamaged cable and was repaired and the Oct 11th ticket findings were closed with a filter beingadded to another line in the customer's homeCustomer neglected to inform technician of asecond line in the home when internet was installed.For 2017, tickets are as follows:April 18: Trouble reported: Phone has one way voice sometimes, other times not able to call out,gets "all circuits busy"Resolution: Issues have been resolved and test calls are completedaccordingly.August 22: Trouble reported: Sunday 8/able to dial out but not able to get any incoming calls.Resolution: Problem was due to new ten digit dialing implementation.Aug 23: Trouble reported: Unable to receive long distance calls and dial outResolution: Notrouble found(Ten digit dialing implemented)Nov 10: Trouble reported: no dial tone Resolution: restored payment received.Nov 13: Troube reported: Network disconnectedResolution: restored payment received (partof 11/issue}.Nov 16: Trouble reported: No dial toneResolution: Checked line at pole, put filter in nid and didsome more testing in the homeCustomer said seems to be working better.As for the customer's wife being removed from the account, she was added to statementback on 8/19/and still remains as a co-responsible party for this statementThe only changethat was made was a mailing address change that came in from the post office updated hismailing address.I believe I have addressed his issues and concerns, should you need anything further, pleasedo not hesitate to contact me.Sincerely,Greg M***President