Spectrum is under fire

for its hurricane response in Central Florida, with customers decrying lengthy service disruptions and vague repair timelines.

Many Spectrum customers throughout Central Florida have not been impressed by the company’s response to Hurricane Irma.

They say disruptions in internet and cable services have been too long, with vague repair timelines, and in some instances outlasted power outages the company has blamed for lack of signal.

Bob Rader went without service for a week after the storm ripped through the region early Sept. 11.

Adding to the 80-year-old’s frustrations are the tough time he has had getting answers from the company, he said.

“At first, they made me feel optimistic because they seemed to know there were people in my neighborhood without service,” he said. “Then, every other time, I got wrapped into a maze of telephone button punching.”

Spectrum has offered Central Florida residents credit for service time lost during Hurricane Irma last week, if they contact the company.

“Customers that may have been impacted during hurricane Irma with loss of Spectrum services should contact customer service to request credit,” spokesman Joe Durkin said in an email Tuesday.

Durkin had warned customers last week that Irma had knocked out some services.

“The impact of this monster storm was felt across Florida and in some areas worse than others,” Durkin said shortly after the storm.

But Rader said his power had been restored last Wednesday, or five days before Spectrum restored service.

“I was miserable along with everyone else,” Rader said.

The frustrations have almost boiled over for Bob Patterson, who runs the Sunoco gas station on Edgewater Drive in College Park.

He estimates that he has lost $10,000 in business because customers don’t stick around when they see his gas pumps only take cash.

Patterson considers himself lucky when compared to others. But his business still suffers when he cannot give customers estimates on replacement parts in his repair shop.

For the time being, he has been jotting down credit card information for some customers and submitting the transactions at home at the end of the night.

Spectrum’s reaction hasn’t helped alleviate concerns, he said.

“It doesn’t work all week, then you call their number and it says the best way to reach them is on the internet,” said Patterson. “But guess what? We don’t have any internet.”

As of 9 p.m. Monday, less than 3 percent of homes and businesses in Florida were without power.

Spectrum does not provide a map to the public showing its outages’ locations or estimates for service to be restored, as some power utilities have done.

Durkin said it’s because the numbers are constantly changing. He said more than 3,000 technicians have been in the field, making repairs and restoring service for customers.

Customers’ frustrations also appeared on Nextdoor, a popular message board service that targets specific neighborhoods.

The lack of information was the main frustration for Sally Martin, who lives in the Rose Isle neighborhood of Orlando.

“All they say is my outage has been assigned,” Martin posted on Nextdoor before her cable and internet returned Tuesday at 7 a.m.

She said her power was restored Thursday.

“All the company said was that they know about it and [service restoration is] coming at some point, but they didn’t know a date,” said Martin, 64. “That’s an essential service that they fell down on.”