TELEPHONE CUSTOMER RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
You, as a telephone customer, have many rights and
responsibilities. Explanations of some of them are as
follows:
Resolving Problems and Disputes
Informal Complaints
If you have a problem with your telephone bill or service,
contact the phone company first. You may call or send a
letter to the company. The telephone number to your phone
company is printed on your bill. The telephone number is
also located elsewhere on this website.
If your concern is not resolved after contacting a customer
representative from the phone company, you may ask to speak
with a supervisor. If your problem is still not resolved,
contact the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s (PUCO)
consumer call center for help. The call center staff will
review rules with you, advise you of your rights, and if
needed, will work with you and the company to try to solve
your problem.
You may reach the PUCO at 1-800-686-7826 (toll free) or for
TDD/TTY at 1-800-686-1570 (toll free) or 1-614-466-8180,
from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays, or visit
www.PUCO.ohio.gov.
Mailing address –
Service Monitoring and Enforcement Dept.
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
180 E. Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3793
Formal Complaints
If you are not able to reach an agreement with the company
through the PUCO’s informal complaint process, you have the
right to file a formal complaint. You may obtain a formal
complaint form from the call center representative, by
writing to the PUCO or by accessing the PUCO’s web page.
If you are a residential customer, you may represent
yourself in the formal complaint proceeding or hire an
attorney to represent you. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel
(OCC) represents residential utility customers in matters
before the PUCO. OCC can be contacted toll free at
1-877-742-5622 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays, or
visit
www.pickocc.org.
In most instances, business customers must be represented
by an attorney.
After you file a formal complaint form, the PUCO determines
if reasonable grounds exist for proceeding with your
complaint and will notify you as to its determination. If
reasonable grounds are found to exist, you will be notified
by mail of a date and time for a hearing, to take place at
the PUCO offices in Columbus. The PUCO may set a prehearing
conference with both the company and you (and your attorney
if you have one) for one last attempt to resolve the matter
before the scheduled hearing begins. However, If the case
remains unresolved, once the hearing begins you will have
the responsibility to prove the merits of the complaint.
After the hearing is over, the PUCO will then review all
the evidence presented at the hearing and make a decision
on the case.
Ordering or Changing Service
When you order new local service or change your existing
local service, your phone company will explain the choices
available to you.
If you are a low income consumer, or are currently
receiving assistance (such as HEAP, food stamps, ets.) from
government agencies, you may be eligible for a discount on
your basic local service, a waiver of service establishment
fees and deposit, and/or a special payment plan. If you are
interested in this assistance, be sure to tell your phone
company.
After you’ve placed your order for new service or for a
change to your existing service, you should receive, within
ten business days, a welcome letter in the mail (or by
e-mail if you signed up over the Internet). The welcome
letter will include an explanation of the service(s)
ordered, including, the price, terms and conditions. It is
important that you review this letter to confirm your
order. If you believe that the letter does not accurately
reflect the service you ordered, you should contact the
company immediately. You have 30 days from the postmark of
the letter to change your initial order for regulated
services at no additional charge.
Your local phone company may charge you a one-time
installation or “service establishment” charge when you
first establish service and each time you transfer service
to a new address. Residential customers establishing basic
local exchange service have the option to spread the
payment of these charges over three billing periods.
Your local phone company normally must install new local
service within five business days of receiving your order,
unless you agree to a later date. If you are a residential
or small business customer and the company does not provide
service within this time frame, you may receive a full or
partial waiver of the installation charges.
Your local phone company must also give you a four-hour
appointment window for a technician to install service if
you need to be present at the premises. If the company
misses your scheduled installation appointment, without
giving you 24 hours notice, you may be eligible for a
waiver of at least one-half of the installation charges for
the affected regulated local services.
When you order service and once each year, your local phone
company will provide you with a free directory(ies), unless
the company chooses to provide free directory assistance.
You have a right to receive, upon request, a directory or
directories listing all of the extended area service
numbers within your local calling areas.
Repairing your Service
Your local phone company is responsible for repairs and
maintenance to the telephone network and outside wires
leading up to your home or business. You or the property
owner are responsible for the wiring inside your home or
business, jacks, and equipment like telephone sets,
answering machines, modems, fax machines, etc.
The point where the telephone company’s network ends and
the inside wiring begins is called the network interface
device (NID). Many homes and businesses have located on
their premises a NID, which can be used to check whether
the problem with your service is your responsibility or the
responsibility of the phone company.
If your phone service is not working, contact your
company’s repair office immediately. If you’re not sure
whether the problem is your responsibility or the company’s
responsibility, check in the directory or with your phone
company for an explanation as to how to check your NID to
see who’s responsible and to find out what your repair
options and charges are for repairs, if it is your
responsibility. If you don’t have a NID, the local phone
company will diagnose the problem and install a device at
no charge. If you rent, check with your landlord prior to
scheduling any repairs.
Be aware that if the phone company makes a service trip to
your premises and the problem is in the wiring inside your
home or business, the repair is your responsibility and you
may be required to pay a service charge to the company. You
will not be charged if the repair is the company’s
responsibility.
Your local phone company must also give you a four-hour
appointment window for a technician to repair service if
you need to be present at the premises. If the company
misses your scheduled repair appointment, you may be
eligible for a waiver of one-half of one month’s charges
for the affected regulated local services rendered
inoperative.
If the phone company takes more then seventy-two hours to
restore your phone service, you may receive a credit on
your next bill for one month’s charges for the regulated
local services rendered inoperative.
Paying for your Service
The phone company will send you a bill every month and
allow you at least 14 days to pay it. If you do not pay
your bill on time, the company may disconnect your service.
Before disconnecting your service, the phone company must
send you a disconnect notice at least seven days before the
shut-off date.
If you cannot pay your entire bill, contact the phone
company. You may be able to keep part of your service if
you pay enough to cover the charges for basic phone
service, or you may be able to work out a payment plan with
the company to keep your service.
Be aware that payment to an unauthorized payment agent does
not guarantee same day posting to your payment.
Your service cannot be disconnected after 12:30 p.m., if
the possibility of service reconnection on the next day is
not a possibility. Should your service be disconnected,
contact the company to find out what you need to do to have
it restored.
You may have to pay a fee and/or deposit to have your
service reconnected.
Toll blocking, along with other blocking services, are
available to help manage your bill. To learn more about
blocking options such as blocks to 900 services, collect
calls, third party calls, or pay-per-use features, contact
your phone company. Some or all of these options are free
of charge.
If you have a billing dispute, and you have made an
informal or formal complaint to the PUCO, the company will
not disconnect your service if you pay the undisputed
portion of the bill. While the complaint is being
investigated, you must pay all current undisputed amounts
and continue discussion with the company to settle the
complaint.
Privacy Options
Two options are available to prevent your phone number from
displaying on a caller ID device. Per call blocking is
provided with your service at no additional charge. To use
this, dial *67 from touchtone phones (rotary dial 1167)
before each call you want blocked. Per line blocking,
available for an additional charge, will block all your
calls. Using this service, you may unblock individual calls
by dialing *82 (rotary dial 1182). If you wish to have per
line blocking, you should contact your local phone company
and request it. Due to technical limitations, either
service (per-call blocking or per-line blocking) may not be
able to block the appearance of your phone number on caller
ID devices when you dial an “800” number. The monthly rate
for per line blocking will not exceed the monthly rate for
a non-published number service. Further, there will be no
additional monthly charge for per-line blocking to
customers who subscribe to a non-published number service.
Slamming
You have the right to choose your local and long distance
providers. No one can switch your providers without your
permission. This is called slamming, and it is illegal. If
you are slammed, you must contact your chosen company to
re-establish service with that company. You must also
contact the company which slammed you to cancel service
with them and to arrange for any credits or refunds. If you
are not satisfied after these calls, contact the PUCO call
center.
Cramming
If your bill has charges on it for services you did not
order, that is called cramming. Cramming is illegal. If
these charges appear on your bill, call your local phone
company and let them know you have been crammed. If these
charges are from another company, they may also require you
to call the cramming company to have them take you off
their customer list. Otherwise, the charges may reappear on
your next bill. If you are not satisfied after these calls,
contact the PUCO call center.
