Frontier restores business’s phone lines after weeks-long outage

Phone service has been restored to a small business in Cathedral City where the landline went dead for nearly a month following the Feb. 14 record rainstorm. The business’s owners had no luck getting their phones back on, but hours after News Channel 3’s reporter Jake Ingrassia started asking questions, Frontier Communications had the service back up and running.

Candi Elm, co-owner of Jim Brangham Auto Repair on Ramon Road, relies on her landline telephone for customers and business.

” If people want to make an appointment, they can’t get through to us — they think we’re closed,” Elm said. “So they can either wait or call another shop.”

She called Frontier, but wasn’t able to get a clear answer on when her phone would be fixed.

“They don’t tell me how long it’s going to take, they tell me they have no idea how long it’s going to take,” Elm said. “They lead me to believe it will be fixed that day, every time I call.

She says in the month it’s been down, business has been hurt.

“It’s been slow — and this is actually one of our busiest months, is March,” Elm said. “We have slowed down a little bit.”

She even looked into switching phone companies, but Frontier has a 10-day hold on their phone number.

“I’m hoping that they will take notice, they will have better customer service, they will be more upfront” Elm said. “Sometimes it’s not a good answer — sometimes you have to tell your customers some bad news, but at least be up front and be honest.”

The phones are now back on at Jim Brangham Auto Repair, but a rep from Frontier Communications says 18 other customers in the area are still without service, due to flooded manholes and malfunctioning circuits. The recurring rain the valley has had has made the repair process take longer than usual.

Frontier customers experiencing service issues or interruptions should call 1-800-921-8101 for residential customers or 1-800-921-8102 for business customers.

You can reach Jake on Twitter, Facebook or email him at jake.ingrassia@kesq.com.