Collins Sends Another Letter to Windstream

9th District U.S. Representative Doug Collins said that it is past time that Windstream address customer complaints.

Collins’ office said the congressman sent a letter on Tuesday to Windstream CEO Tony Thomas to follow up on previous concerns and emphasize the growing number of complaints from Windstream customers in northeast Georgia.

According to Collins, this letter builds on issues addressed in his letter that he sent to Windstream in February, after Windstream failed to make substantial improvements.

Regarding the letter, Collins said that people keep hearing more and more excuses from Windstream when the reality is there is a local fire department in northeast Georgia that is unable to adequately serve the community because of poor Windstream connections, while there are people who are unable to operate businesses or work from home because of unreliable service.

Collins called it unacceptable.

He went on to say that the customer service employees Windstream has are well aware that they are working with an insufficient product and they do their best to help customers.

However, Collins said the real problem is clearly with the infrastructure, suggesting that it is possible that networks are over capacity and utilize outdated technology.

Collins said he looks forward to meeting with the Windstream CEO on May 9 to discuss these issues in depth.

In 2014, Windstream received millions in federal taxpayer money from the Phase II Connect America Fund to upgrade its system to fiber optic from copper and improve its Internet speeds. The company also received preferred tax status from the IRS resulting in a savings for it of some $3 billion.

Collins has previously called out the company for its service.

In response the first time, Windstream announced it that had created a Direct Response team to deal with customer complaints, and would work to improve customer outreach while appointing a President of Georgia Operations to ensure a single point of accountability.