Verizon has violated Maryland state regulations by missing more than 20% of its scheduled appointments in 5 of the first 6 months of 2007, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The Maryland Public Service Commission ordered Verizon to turn over certain documents and attend a hearing after they received over 300 complaints from consumers in a 6 month period—an increase of 50% from last year.

From the Baltimore Sun:

Leigh A. Hyer, Verizon Maryland’s general counsel, said the company was exceeding other state standards, such as the number of complaints it logs from customers about their phone lines. Some of the missed appointments, she said, could be the result of a crew showing up 10 minutes late. The company said it records all late and canceled appointments as missed in its reports to the state.

“We provide good, quality service, and in the scheme of things the number of complaints is low,” Hyer said. “We don’t believe there is a service crisis.”

But regulators said no one would have called the commission about minor complaints.

“We didn’t call this hearing because we got calls your technician was 10 minutes late,” said Commissioner Lawrence Brenner. “We got 300 calls from people who waited days, sometimes weeks.”

See the expression on PSC Chairman Steven B. Larsen’s face as he listens to Hyer’s testimony? That’s called “Verizon face.” It’s the face you make when you have to deal with Verizon.

Do you have “Verizon Face?” If so, take a picture and submit it to our Flickr pool. Tag it “Verizon Face.”

Verizon says it missed over 20% of service calls [Baltimore Sun] (Thanks, Robert!)
(Photo: Amy Davis)

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