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.