Union Complains to FCC That Verizon Is Pressuring Phone Customers

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The Communications Workers of America, the union representing thousands of striking Verizon workers, Common Cause and Citizen Action of New York plan to complain to federal regulators about the tactics Verizon uses to persuade customers to switch their home phone service to fiber-optic lines.

In an informal complaint to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the union and consumer groups contend that Verizon is engaged in “institutional deception” because it sends out workers with no intention of repairing old-fashioned copper telephone wires. Verizon has made it clear that it would prefer to invest in expanding its fiber network instead of maintaining the copper lines. When customers have trouble with their traditional home phone service, the complaint says, the company advises its workers to tell customers that “fiber is the only fix.” Customers who refuse to switch to fiber are often told that their service could be disconnected within 20 days, the complaint says. Verizon executives said the complaint was a bargaining tactic and denied that the company had any intention of deceiving customers, including those who resist entreaties to switch to fiber.


Union Complains to FCC That Verizon Is Pressuring Phone Customers