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Business loses Frontier phone service days after switch

Published  April 21, 2016 8:50am EDT
Tampa Bay
FOX 13 Tampa Bay

CLEARWATER (FOX 13) - Marty Skapik's business is a playground for thrill seekers, but for the past six days, customers trying to reach Cycle Springs Powersports in Clearwater have been anything but thrilled.

The company's phone line went down April 15, several days after Frontier picked up Verizon accounts. 

"Our phone line is our lifeline. We receive hundreds of calls a day from our customers," Skapik said Wednesday. "It impacts us financially, and our employees. Customers can't get a hold of us."

Many Frontier customers have reported similar issues since the change-over, and Skapik said, just getting help was a hassle.

"We were able to get a couple of technicians out who were just on their phones on hold. So, it's not a physical line thing, it's a technical issue that they're having with their computers. They just don't know where our phone line is," Skapik said.

Cycle Sports had to rely on an answering service, which charged per call to grab and re-route calls to their personal extensions. This all happened during the long-standing company's busy season.

"This is the worst time, worst case scenario," Skapik said.

Frontier responded to FOX 13 News' request for comment late Wednesday afternoon.

"We have repaired the landline phone service for Cycle Spring. The problem was the phone number not properly communicating with our central network equipment," Frontier spokesperson Bob Elek said.

Skapik says after FOX 13 News made calls to the company, someone fixed their phone line in less than 15 minutes over the phone.

Skapik says getting help should be attainable by anyone.

"If there's going to be a transfer from one company to another, there's gotta be some responsibility on both parties," he said.

The Attorney General's office is looking into 63 complaints about Frontier Communications and is in contact with the company, forwarding complaints to Frontier to be resolved. 

The Attorney General's office encourages anyone suspicious of unfair or deceptive business practices to call 1-866-9NO-SCAM, or file online at MyFloridaLegal.com.