How Long Does It Take to Get Your Phone Fixed?

In this advanced age, in the middle of a big city like New York, you would think that phone repairs would be taken care of swiftly.

And yet, Carolyn and John Zodda, who live in the heart of Carroll Gardens, have been waiting over three weeks for phone and internet service! And as if that weren’t inconvenient enough, those three weeks happened to coincide with the Christmas and New Year holidays.

There hasn’t been any particularly stormy weather to account for this service outage and certainly no snow has fallen, nor have we had any deep freezes. We don’t live in a remote location. So what could be the problem?

The Zoddas were told by their carrier, Verizon, that a contractor working on Henry Street accidentally cut a main line and the homeowner has refused to give Verizon access to the site to make the necessary repairs on a line that has impacted plenty of other customers, including one 90-year-old resident who unfortunately does not own a cell phone.

According to Mr. Zodda, he has made many, many calls to Verizon, the Public Service Commission, and the offices of Brad Lander and Jo Anne Simon. He has, to date, only received one call back from a Verizon supervisor. Verizon has “moved forward” the expected date of repair four times and it is now scheduled for January 20th!

Another local resident, RoseMarie Foglia, experienced a similar problem after Super Storm Sandy, which was understandable following a storm of that magnitude but might be questioned since Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill experienced minimal damage. Her phone service was not restored for two entire months! Ms. Foglia, who is the secretary at Sacred Heart/St. Stephen’s Church, also reported that the Church (along with The Mary McDowell School on Summit Street) was without service last year for about a month. Repairs were supposedly held up in that case due to a homeowner on Henry Street denying access. Sound familiar?

Thanks to Ms. Foglia’s experiences with this particular type of headache, she was able to suggest that the Zoddas request a “voice link box” which allows a cellular signal to pass through a phone, causing it to ring and allowing the caller to leave a message. But John Zodda said that this device provides very poor quality reception and results in many dropped calls. As far as internet service goes, Verizon has provided absolutely no solution for the loss of such services for their customers or subscribers.

Mr. Zodda went on to say that while he has no idea how many are affected by the outage he is experiencing, “customers are being held prisoner by Verizon” and he suggests that they show their ire by demanding credit for the entire period of suspended service — plus taxes. In the meantime, he is counting the days and keeping his fingers crossed until January 20th.