BATON ROUGE, LA – A major impact of Hurricane Laura’s devastation is the
disruption of critical internet and phone connectivity. To countless Louisiana
consumers, one provider can and should be doing more to assist in the recovery
efforts; and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is working to assist those
customers.
Suddenlink has yet to restore service to a large
percentage of its consumers; yet, those customers have still been billed. So AG
Landry has begun examining whether Suddenlink has engaged in prohibited
activities in dealing with Louisiana citizens.
“While we recognize the enormous damage caused
to infrastructure, we also believe that customers should not be paying for
services they are not receiving,” said AG Landry. “It will take more than a
credit on their statements to make them whole.”
“Too many seniors have been unable to talk to
their loved ones, too many students have been unable to virtually learn, and
too many patients have been unable to receive telemedicine,” added AG Landry.
“They not only deserve answers, but they also should receive some guarantees
that their issues will be resolved.”
House Concurrent Resolution No.2 by State
Representative Mike Johnson cites the receipt of more than one hundred
complaints about Suddenlink engaging in deceptive trade practices, charging
fees for services that are not delivered, providing poor customer service,
failing to communicate about key events including hurricanes, and engaging in
various other problematic and potentially illegal behaviors.
“Over promising and under delivering is a bad
practice; but in business it could be deceptive, unfair, and illegal,”
concluded AG Landry. “I applaud Representative Johnson for bringing much-needed
attention to this issue, and I encourage the Legislature to pass HCR2; but
whether it passes or not, my office and I will work hard to determine if any
state laws have been violated.”