PUC judge fines Verizon $3,750 for mistreating elderly Delco couple

A judge for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission slapped Verizon Communications Inc. with a $3,750 fine for bad telephone service and confusing an elderly Drexel Hill couple who didn't want to relinquish their copper-line phone in 2015.

Gilda and Neil Altman, who went without a telephone for five days in February 2015 and repeatedly lost service last fall, believed that Verizon was coercing them into switching to fiber from their copper line.

The Altmans eventually switched to AT&T wireless when Verizon threatened to cut off their phone, and they filed a complaint with the PUC.

In her opinion, dated July 25 and released to the public Aug. 31, Administrative Law Judge Darlene Davis Heep said she couldn't tell Verizon to operate the copper lines to the Altmans' rowhouse, but she agreed that the couple had been mistreated.

Heep noted that the Altmans had used a neighbor's phone to arrange transportation to an emergency room for a stricken Neil when their phone wasn't working in February. Neil suffers from myasthenia gravis, a form of progressive muscle weakness. The Altmans also reported disruptions to their phone service  Nov. 12, 13, 17, 18, 20, and 21, Heep wrote.

"Although, technically Verizon did not end the Altmans' service, the company did so essentially," Heep wrote. "Verizon issued and conveyed multiple and conflicting end dates to the Altmans."

The PUC regulates Verizon's local phone service, and residents who believe Verizon isn't fulfilling its obligations can file complaints there.

Verizon spokesman John O'Malley said the judge's decision still had to be reviewed by the five-member PUC board. The company was reviewing the decision and had no further comment.

The Altmans, who represented themselves before the PUC, said Monday that they consider Heep's decision a victory.

"The judge understood the bad treatment we got and did not allow Verizon to walk all over us," said Gilda, who testified with Neil during a six-hour hearing in Heep's courtroom in March.

Gilda didn't think that the $3,750 civil fine would deter Verizon, calling it "potato chips to them" and noting that Verizon has "teams of lawyers to do this stuff, and it costs nothing to them."

Heep said that Verizon has to offer the Altmans' phone service at the same rate they had with their discontinued copper-line phone. Neil and Gilda said Monday they would not re-sign with Verizon.

Verizon has been replacing its deteriorating copper lines with high-capacity fiber, marketed as FiOS. The switch has been mostly voluntary.

Now Verizon says that it will totally close down parts of its copper network in Philadelphia and other parts of its phone territory, and people will have no choice but to upgrade. Verizon says it's expensive to operate two parallel networks, copper and fiber.

Verizon and the Altmans have 20 days to file exceptions, or appeals, to Heep's decision. There is then an additional 10-day comment period on the exceptions. After that, the case will go before the five-member PUC board.