ComplaintsforRace Communications

• Initial Complaint

  06/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Race Communications is currently installing lines in my neighborhood in ********* ********** and they having been causing multiple issues for me and my neighbors. May 4, ********************************************************************************** any prior notice that they would be on my property or even giving me a chance to move my vehicle out of my driveway and away from their construction. June 16, 2023 they placed signs on our sidewalk saying No Parking from June 12/13 for concrete repairs so we suspected they were finally coming back but had no idea when they'd actually return since the dates on the sign had already passed. June 20, 2023 they finally returned but didn't come prepared for the work they needed to do. At **** one of their construction workers entered my property, wandered around my front yard looking over my house and my neighbor's house then proceeded to steal water from my outdoor spigot. When I confronted them about it they acted as though they had no idea they didn't have permission to use my water for their construction work. I've attempted to talk to multiple "supervisors/foremen" and they all say another supervisor will come talk to me about paying for the water they stole but they're clearly just giving me the run around hoping I'll give up. It's really bad business to steal from residents of cities you're trying to expand into before you've even been able to provide services to them.

• Initial Complaint

  04/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We are in Nevada County which was hit hard by snow in Feb/March. We are on the 45th day of no service (outage began on 02/28/2023) with very little communication from Race other than "we are working to restore service" to the remaining 239 customers without service. Race teams have come into our neighborhood 3 times since the second week of March but have yet to restore service. I am a full time teleworker and this outage costs me 2 hours and $20 each day in fuel as I am forced to commute to an office 40 miles away. The kicker is that Race continues to say that they have "all hands on deck" to restore service but the reality is that workers were installing NEW SERVICE to a newly purchased home on the road behind us in a neighborhood where service was restored a few weeks ago. "All hands on deck" apparently does not include new revenue.The other portion of my complaint is that we pay twice as much as customers in other areas for the same gigabit internet service. Why must I pay $127.42 each month when in ************ and ******************* the same service is $60? Price gouging personified. How can an ISP be without a disaster recovery plan and allow customers to be nearly 6 weeks without service?

  Business response

  04/18/2023

  Looking at our records, I see your services have been reinstated. We apologize for the time it is taking us to make all the repairs in your area. As you mentioned, the large snowstorm caused massive damage to all utilities in the area including ours which is why the county and state declared a State of Emergency. I see that your home had damage to both the individual drop to your home, as well as the ******************* that feeds multiple homes in your neighborhood. Due to this, several different crews were required to make the repairs, thus the extended repair time. Emails and calls have been going out daily to all affected clients informing them the progress we've made (how many clients are still without services) as well as what areas within ************ our technicians will be working that day. As far as the pricing, each service area can have different pricing based on the cost to build our fiber optic network in that specific location. Your area has been deemed "underserved" for a long time and no other internet providers were up to challenge of building in such a beautiful yet remote environment. Race took on that challenge and built a brand-new fiber optic network to bring the best possible services to your area with no contracts, drop, or installation costs to our customers. Not only was the original build challenging (expensive), but this snowstorm shows how the recurring maintenance costs are also a factor an internet provider has to take into account for its pricing. We'd be more than happy to speak to you and answer any more questions you may have in detail. You can reach us at ************ or email us at ****************. 

  Customer response

  04/18/2023

   
  Complaint: 19927058
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  
  
  1.  You are not being truthful about daily updates.  It wasn't until a number of ** complained loudly on your ****** Nevada *************** page and after several calls to support telling you that the weekly comms you were sending were redundant and too generic and had no other information other than "we had significant damage due to the winter storm"  were unsatisfactory, that you finally started the daily updates that actually included how many customers were currently out of service and which areas you were working on.  Currently, the last update on that ******** page was April 7th.  In email I received updates on the following dates: 
  March1
  March 9
  March 20
  March 27
  March 29
  March 30
  April 7
  This was when we started getting really vocal on ******** about being transparent etc and then suddenly daily updates which now included info on how many customers were out and where you were concentrating efforts began being sent
  April 10
  April 11
  April 12
  April 13
  April 14
  April 17
  Service restored on April 17th 
  
  2. The repair to the drop to our home was fixed around March 17th 
  3. It is unconcienable that a public utility cannot restore service in a timely manner.  48 days is absolutely unacceptable and I know for a fact that although your company stated it was "all hands on deck" that a new home which was purchased on Mosswood (behind our neighborhood and who's service was restored nearly 2 weeks prior) was getting new service installed.  This was confirmed with the new homeowner and with the technician at the home.  
  4.  The financial impact to this outage cannot be understated.  As a fulltime teleworker I was forced to go into the office which is over 40 miles away and the costs associated with that commute were over $100 each week not to mention the number of hours in my vehicle.
  5. Several teams came to our neighborhood after PG&E repaired the pole and restored service on March 12th and each one seemed surprised to learn that the lines were down in our neighborhood which was reported the day it dropped.  This would tell me the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.  
  
  You are very correct that this area is underserved and if it weren't for the fact that I need the bandwidth that you provide to do my job effectively and have no other option than to revert back to an 8 MB connection or change to Starlink (which I will not support due to the environmental impact those hundreds of satellites will have on this earth), I would drop Race as a provider in a heartbeat.  You have a lot to learn about customer service, especially around communication.  I was a staunch defender of Race in the first two weeks of this disaster and was  trying to calm my neighbors by saying that this was a devastating event and we must be patient, but even my patience ran thin after 30 days.  
  
  Given we pay that premium price, we should be getting premium service.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business response

  04/19/2023

  We apologize you feel this way. Instead of going back and forth via this format, I will have a supervisor reach out to you directly to further address your concerns. As always, you can reach us at ************ or email us at **************** for any future concerns. 

• Initial Complaint

  04/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Service went down Tuesday march 28 have called 3 times and at first was told ***** hours. Then was told twice someone will be out but dont know when will just show up it is now April 4 and no one has called or showed up .this is unacceptablethere was a bigger outage because of storms and I was told that would be completed in April 2 .my neighbors are all working so my problem is not associated with the bigger outage

  Business response

  04/04/2023

  We apologize for the inconvenience our services being out have caused you. 

   

  As you pointed out, a large storm snow hit your area and caused extensive damage to all utilities in the area. So much so that the county and state felt compelled to declare a state of emergency. Our repair crews have been tirelessly working to restore our customers services in your area, some of these customers have been without service for over a month now. We apologize that inaccurate time frames and/or expectations were provided to you. We have your ticket #****** created and assigned to you. We cannot provide an exact ********* for ***********, as soon as the repair is completed, they are moving to the next ticket. Since these repairs can range from 1hr to over 4hrs, and the fact that we cannot determine this timeframe until we are on site with the customer, trying to schedule a date and time would not be efficient or accurate. We thank you for your patience and will work to restore your services as quickly as possible. 

  Customer response

  04/04/2023

   
  Complaint: 19893282
  
  I am rejecting this response because:I understand we have had a big snow storm but on you message when you call your office it says everyone should be back up by April 1 and I am not part of the bigger outage and I was told this morning that someone would be out today and no one showed 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Business response

  04/05/2023

  There seems to be several miscommunications regarding your services being down, instead of attempting to resolve this via text, I will have a support supervisor reach out to you directly today to answer any and all questions you may have. 

• Initial Complaint

  03/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On February 28 2023 a bad storm damaged the line to my house. Over the next couple of days the storm got worse and more of the infrastructure was damaged. As of March 30 2023 I am still without any internet and no answer as to when it will be restored. When I call they say there is ETA. After 32 days everything should be fixed by now. The lack of care is amazing. The way they handled the repairs during this storm is horrible.

  Business response

  03/31/2023

  We apologize you feel there is a lack of care. 

   

  As you are aware, the snowstorm that took out all utilities in your area caused extensive damage. Both the county and state declared a state of emergency due to the damage that was done. As stated in the most recent outage email communication, most of our customers (roughly 90%) in your area have had their services restored. Unfortunately, your homes particlular repairs are more extensive and need extra attention. Both the fiber "drop" to your home, as well as the main fiber infrastructure feeding your home, have been damaged. We understand that having our services down for any amount of time can be frustrating but know that we have crews from all over the state as well as contractors helping us restore our remaining clients as quickly as possible. We are working directly with the Nevada ************* of ********* Services as well as other utilities in the area to coordinate our repair efforts when needed. Email communications will still be sent out as new information becomes available; you can also continue to reach us by phone at ************ for updates. Below is our most recent email communication:

  03/30/2023 01:10 PM Pacific Time:  We are aware that some customers are still without service in the ************ area. The managers in the field are actively monitoring the network and know which customers are down. We have crews from all over ********** on site helping with repairs. 
  Significant progress has been made and we still expect to have most services restored by April 1st. However, continuing poor weather and ongoing cleanup operations are causing new damage every day and repairing one damaged location often reveals further damage that was not previously detectable. This is an evolving situation and it is difficult to make accurate estimates for how long repair efforts will take. 
  Any services not restored this week are likely related to specific damage locations that will require extensive work to fully repair. Given the above, it may be as much as three weeks before all services in the area are completely restored. We understand how important internet services are to our customers and our crews are continuing to work 6-day weeks and long days until all issues are resolved.
  It is very important that you leave your Race equipment plugged in to power so that it will come online once service is restored, and we can confirm your services are up. Also, if you are having tree work done on your property, please be aware of communications lines and try to avoid accidental damage. 
  There is a free Race WiFi hotspot in the parking lot of the ********************* at *********************************************************************************. Any Race customer will be able to park at this location and sign in to the free WiFi. This hotspot will be available until all services have been restored. 
  No further actions are required on your part. We will continue to send email updates as new information becomes available. 

  Customer response

  04/06/2023

   
  Complaint: 19875424
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business response

  04/12/2023

  04/11/2023 08:35 AM Pacific Time: We are aware that 230 of the ***** clients in the ************ area are still without service. This includes those down as a direct result of the storm outage as well as any that have gone down since for possibly unrelated reasons. Today, Tuesday April 11, crews are focusing repair efforts on multiple locations off of CA 174.  
  Ongoing cleanup operations are still causing new damage and repairing one damaged location often reveals further damage that was not previously detectable. This is an evolving situation, and it is difficult to make accurate estimates for how long repair efforts will take. We understand how important internet services are to our customers and our crews are continuing to work 6-day weeks and long days until all issues are resolved.  
  It is very important that you leave your Race equipment plugged in to power so that it will come online once service is restored and we can confirm your services are up. Also, if you are having tree work done on your property, please be aware of communications lines and try to avoid accidental damage.   
  There is a free Race WiFi hotspot in the parking lot of the ********************* at *********************************************************************************. Any Race customer will be able to park at this location and sign into the free WiFi. This hotspot will be available until all services have been restored.   
  No further actions are required on your part. We will continue to send email updates as new information becomes available.  

• Initial Complaint

  01/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Extremely poor and deteriorating with time tv service.. multiple complaints and emails to company, multiple days off for equipment changes and as a customer we are required to troubleshoot the issue. Company technicians are nowhere to fix issues.. our monthly bill is over $200.00 for their service which in the beginning was superb. Now? Its as though the technicians on the phone are guessing whats going on.. I have no more patience and we are looking to find another service provider. We feel either they put us on their payroll for our time and services troubleshooting or a deep discount/ refund for services payed for but not provided.. we are frustrated and certainly need help to resolve this matter

  Business response

  01/26/2023

  We are looking into this incident and will reach out to the client directly. 

• Initial Complaint

  08/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  When I ordered service with Race I specifically told them that I did not want to drill holes in the outside of my home. The agent ensured me that they could use the existing conduit to install the service and they would not need to drill holes. **** sent a team to my house when I was not home, without coordinating with me, to run the drop from the pole to my house. Although they used the existing conduit between the pole and my house into the utility box, they then drilled a hole in my utility box and ran the cable up the outside wall of my house, drilling multiple holes in my house to support the cable. They also mounted an ******** on the outside of my house. This was unnecessary since I had an existing utility box for the cable. When the second team came to complete the installation on July 8th, they were able to complete the installation using my existing utility box since the box allowed access inside my home without drilling additional holes. Although they removed the unnecessary box that the previous team had installed, they did not sufficiently repair the damage done to the outside of my home. I have been calling Race regularly over the past month and have not been able to come to a resolution. The agents that I have spoken with claim they are not able to help me and that they have escalated the issue to their management. I have not received any calls from management within the specified timelines. The technicians who have come to my home have admitted there was a mistake and that the holes should not have been drilled but the company has yet to rectify the situation. I would like Race to fully repair the damage they did to my home and compensate me for the many hours I have spent on the phone trying to resolve this issue. They can either repair the damage themselves, or hire a contractor to do the work for them. Race ticket number ******.

  Business response

  08/18/2022

     As a licensed utility company, our fiber optic clamshell must be mounted on the exterior of the home at chest height to allow our technicians access toe the network at all times. Similar to how power and gas companies have access to their infrastructure outside the home. Any deviation from this installation practice is at the sole discretion of Race Communications. It sounds like this cx has a miscommunication in regards to this clamshell installation practice. Due to this, without any obligation, our field operation team decided to deviate from this standard installation practice and remove the clamshell from the exterior and repair the holes in the customers stucco per the customers request. On top of this, a credit was applied to the customers account in the amount of $75.56 to cover the cost of any paint matching needed on the stucco repair our technicians completed. The customer has had numerous conversations with our field operations supervisors, informing him of this. Follow up calls have been attempted on 7/28 & 8/10 to reiterate how we've already broken our protocols in an attempt to improve the customers experience. They have been unsuccessful reaching the cx as of yet. 

  Customer response

  08/19/2022

   
  Complaint: 17682320
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  When I was talking with the sales team to sign up for Race internet I specifically inquired about the installation process and expressed that I did not want any holes drilled into my house. The sales representative ensured me that they could use the existing infrastructure to perform this installation and that no holes would need to be drilled. The installation team then drilled multiple holes without my permission when I was not home. If this clamshell installation was part of their standard installation, I should have been informed of it prior to the installation. On multiple occasions Race sent personnel to my home without my permission, even after I had specifically stated that I did not want any personnel at my home without my knowledge and presence due to the damage previously caused. Had I not explicitly stated that I didnt want holes drilled when I signed up for race, I may have accepted this response. I called Race multiple times throughout the month of July prior to contacting the BBB and was unable to talk to someone who could help. I tried emailing them my available times to setup a time to talk and never received a response. I did not receive a call or voicemail on 7/28 and I called Race after 7/28 but was told the person I needed to talk to was unavailable and they would not tell me when they would be available. I did receive a voicemail on 8/10 while I was out of town. I returned this call on 8/16. The representative that I spoke with said he would go to my home to inspect the situation and call me back. I never received a call back. The credit is insufficient compensation for the many hours I have spent on the phone with race attempting to resolve this issue and the time and cost required to complete the repairs myself.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business response

  08/24/2022

  The Field Operations manager reached the customer yesterday and resolved the customers complaint. "I just spoke to the customer he is going to accept the month credit for the patching and his dissatisfaction with the install."

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩