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If you want to order a product or service online from Frontier Communications, forget it. A source tells Stop the Cap! the company was dropping online e-commerce functions from its Frontier.com website because it could never get online ordering working properly. Perhaps the company can get an estimate here to revamp their site. Furthermore, you may consult with a Business and Personal Online Reputation management company if you’re having difficulty improving your brand reputation on the internet.
Sure enough, the latest iteration of Frontier’s website today blazes with banners requesting customers call the company or use “live chat” to handle any orders for service. Perhaps it’s time that they resort to topnotch Website development in order to save their customers.
“They still offer the function of self-service — allowing customers to view their bills, set up auto payments, make one time payments, etc., but they are removing the ability for customers to order any service at all,” said our source.
In light of Frontier Communications’ decision to halt online ordering functions due to persistent issues, ensuring a reliable payment method for their remaining services becomes paramount. Partnering with a reputable Payment provider is the key to maintaining a seamless payment experience for their customers. By integrating advanced payment solutions, Frontier can offer secure options for bill payments and auto payments, alleviating concerns related to financial transactions.
A trusted Payment provider not only ensures the safety of customer data but also enhances the user experience by providing efficient and hassle-free payment processes. As Frontier continues to focus on self-service features, collaborating with a reliable Payment service can contribute significantly to customer satisfaction, building trust and loyalty even in the absence of online ordering functionalities.
Yesterday’s phone company can’t manage a website with online ordering.
“This company can’t manage to figure out how to build a website that supports ordering of products, so they are just going to kill that function,” the source added. “Customers will be able to see what products they can get within a specific zip code, but that’s it. If they want to order, they are going to be forced into the already overloaded call center.”
Frontier’s ability to handle its acquisitions of landline customers from Verizon and AT&T have caused problems in the recent past, including customers losing service, getting improperly billed, or experiencing missed service calls. With Verizon customers in Florida, Texas, and California likely to join the Frontier family, our source tells us they will be shocked to see how backwards Frontier’s online presence is compared with Verizon.
“I’m sure our former Verizon and AT&T customers as well as our future Verizon customers will enjoy going back to the Stone Age when they couldn’t do what they needed to do online and would have to pick up the phone to call into a Contact Center,” the source said. “We might as well just have a Frontier Wikipedia page for crying out loud.”
Just don’t try ordering online.
Frontier has also adopted this novel disclaimer explaining why its advertised DSL speeds often don’t come close to actual speeds in the fine print:
“Actual speeds may vary and are not guaranteed. Performance metrics based on Frontier lab validation under ideal network environment simulating “best case scenario” without network congestion, other factors cause by consumer behavior, or factors caused by third-party providers’ behaviors. Consumers may not be able to replicate the performance shown in the performance metrics.”
In plain English: “Our advertised DSL speeds are theoretically possible… in a lab… on Moonbase Alpha… as long as you don’t try to use the service… and nobody else does either.”
“Please let your readers know that there are some Frontier employees who want to do right by our customers and want to give them the best service possible, but our expertise and opinions are rarely valued,” the source said.
Phil, Back in 1996 I ran a voice quality survey across 8 different digital networks; both fixed (walk around) and mobile (in car). I called from each phone in each instance and saved the same 30 second message on an interactive recording system. These recordings were then listened to by over 400 of my email subscribers and scored for voice clarity/quality; a significant sample size. The results were quite revealing and used at the 1997 CDMA World Congress. But shortly after they were released, they were panned by the engineering community, specifically folks at AT&T’s labs in Whippany NJ, because… Read more »
New Frontier customers in California, Texas, & Florida:
Please do not sign up for online payments. Make sure that you pay your bill thru mailed payments, for at least the first 3 years with Frontier. It will take that long to migrate you over into Frontier’s billing system correctly.
Also, ditto to the above on the terrible Help/Support section that Frontier has, compared to what Verizon had.
Former a former Verizon wireline customer(who was forced into Frontier) in Illinois
Phil,
Was your source a residential or business customer? Potential or existing? In what market? And why is online ordering such a big deal in any case? Are you afraid to talk on the phone or chat?
I can’t reveal my source except to say it isn’t a customer.
Frontier’s inability to straighten out its website to manage basic order-taking functions is indicative of a larger problem at the company, as has been seen in their billing platform conversions in the past. It does not bode well for any future integration of Verizon customers either.
Are the soon to be acquired Verizon territories any different than the ones previously purchased, installation/support/billing wise? What conversion and integration must be done that they haven’t already done? I’d think the systems are already in place to handle those new customers, Frontier is familiar with the product. While I’m sure many would like a unified experience across the entire Frontier product footprint while working online with the company, I’d rather see investment in the plant and more regional support. I don’t believe I’ll see a unified product line from Frontier in my lifetime. Quit wasting the money trying.
Frontier uses the “flash cut” approach to its unified billing platform. It utilizes national call centers, so its order/CSR functions would seem to have to be unified across its service area, unless it is forwarding calls to different work stations where different platforms are running. Frontier reps I’ve dealt with in the past are not familiar with their products. I’ve had Wi-Fi referred to as “wee fee” and megabits called megabytes. To them, 3Mbps is High Speed Internet. Frontier’s investment seems primarily targeted at acquisitions these days. Their DSL expansion, while noble in rural areas, is now increasingly dependent on… Read more »
“Frontier reps I’ve dealt with in the past are not familiar with their products. I’ve had Wi-Fi referred to as “wee fee” and megabits called megabytes. To them, 3Mbps is High Speed Internet. ” Are you a current customer? I think your information may be a bit dated. I haven’t seen that level of incompetence talking with their CSRs in – years. “Frontier’s investment seems primarily targeted at acquisitions these days. Their DSL expansion, while noble in rural areas, is now increasingly dependent on FCC Connect America Fund assistance.” Now you’re faulting the company for using Federal money for its… Read more »
The more I read about Frontier, the more I’m really afraid of what will happen when they finally integrate the recent Verizon purchases of California, Florida and Texas into their systems. I have a feeling that this company is going to implode under the massive debt or the system conversions. And AT&T wants to sell part of their wireline business??? We are royally screwed. That being said. AT&T’s website is no better. As a subscriber, in trying to look up my account information and “usage” meter for example, they don’t make it easy either. And when I do actually manage… Read more »
I live in a major Frontier service area (Rochester, NY) and have a number of employee sources that feed me information regularly.
Phil, After working in IT for over 30 years, I don’t understand why Frontier management likes to acquire so many different and disparate systems from other phone companies. It is very difficult to keep a business running, while trying to merge over an acquired company’s systems for accounting, billing, service, HR, etc. They have the old Frontier POTS/DSL systems, old Verizon(formerly GTE) POTS/DSL systems, old VZ FiOS systems, DirecTV customers(from VZ) to include on the bill, Dish Network customers to bill, old AT&T U-Verse systems, and old AT&T POTS/DSL systems. Oh, and they have to manage to merge all these… Read more »
Frontier hasn’t merged any of that into one System. They actually use 5 different Ordering / Billing Systems depending on whether the customer is Residential or Commercial because they’ve never figured out how to get 1 system to provide full functionality. They have 2 Video provisioning systems that they maintain that perform identical functions. I believe the CSR’s have about 10 different Systems that they have to work through on a daily basis. These guys have Web Services that talk to other Web Services.