Optimum review: Internet and television

My name is Miriam Brenn, and I am writing this complaint in behalf of my 99.5 year old mother, Maria Taveras, residing at 1410 East Avenue, Bronx NY 10462.

As I mentioned, my mom is 99.5 years old, due to her age, I got cameras installed in her apartment to monitor her at night. Uninterrupted internet service is absolutely necessary in order for the cameras to work. Since we signed up with Optimum, the service has been poor, but for the last several months, it has gotten worse. I keep calling customer service, a technician is sent to solve the problem, but the problem never gets fixed. The technician most times gets the internet and TV to work, but only temporarily. It works for a day or two and again there is no service.

Every technician that has come to work on the issue tells us that the problem is from the main feed box located outside the apartment, the problem has never been from any connection inside the apartment. Each technician tells us that he is going to file a report explaining the problem department in charge of that problem area, so they can send the appropriate crew to work on the outside box and fix the problem. This problem has been going on for months.

Last incident happened last Friday, March 1st. we have had no TV and no internet service. We called Optimum customer service and reported the problem once again. I was told that the soonest the they could send a technician was Tuesday March 5th. The technician, Sheldon, came on Tuesday and said that there was nothing he could do because the problem was from the main feed box outside, and that another crew was specialized to fix that kind of problem. He said that he was going, yet again, file a report and submitted to the proper department so they could send the right crew to fix the problem.

Today 3/14/24, I spoke to Willie, Sheldon's supervisor, regarding the problem. He told me he was going to call the department in charge of these type of issues and ask them to expedite the process. I explained to him how this problem has been going on for many, many months and that we depend on the internet service to operate the cameras and be able to monitor my mom during the night time.

In conclusion, Optimum's reluctance in fixing the TV and especially the internet service not only is unacceptable, but it is putting my mom in dangerous situation. If my mom falls during the night hours, when she finds herself alone, we won't be able to call for help and could cause fatal consequences considering that my mom is almost 100 years old. She could also walk out in the middle of the night, since she confuses day and night due to her Alzheimer's disease and advance age. Until we could find a companion to stay with her at night or find another solution, we depend on these cameras to be operational at all times so we can monitor her movements around the apartment. In order for the cameras to be operational, the internet service has to be working at all times.

I am also filing a complaint with the FCC because I want this situation that Optimum is putting us through, to be documented. If my mom falls, walks out of the apartment at night, or any other emergency happens and we are not able to help her because the cameras are not operating due to no internet service, I will blame Optimum for their reluctance and failure to fix this long existing problem.

I am praying that Optimum care of this technical Internet and TV problem at my mom's residence immediately, it is a safety issue.

MB