COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — After weeks of Altafiber phone issues, a family-owned business in Milford has a solution.
Bacher's Window Cleaning was showing up as spam on caller ID, and calls to their customers weren't going through. After weeks of trying to resolve the issue with Altafiber, the Bachers asked WCPO 9 to get involved last month. The Bachers told us the issue has since been resolved.
After the initial story aired about the Bachers issues, other viewers reached out saying they were dealing with the same thing.
Colerain Township resident John Murrell contacted us saying calls to his 97-year-old mother haven't been going through for nearly a month.
"My number can't go through,” Murrell said. “So, then it just hangs up."
Murrell said his mother's health is declining, and he needs to be able to contact her.
“Just about every day I need to call and see how she's doing, if there's anything that you know she needs me to do for her,” he said. “So, this is causing a really bad problem with me.”
Murrell called Altafiber to figure out what was wrong and fix it, but he said they told him there didn't seem to be a problem.
“I kept explaining that it wouldn't go through (to) my mom, they told me my mother's phone had blocked my number,” he said. “Well, how would that work? How did that happen?"
He said he knew that wasn't the problem.
"I knew that wasn't right, because my mother's 97 years old, and she does not know how to use that type of service," Murrell said. “Yeah, that was really frustrating."
After investigating, he said Altafiber determined his number had been placed on a national call-blocking network, but the company couldn't remove him from it.
"I probably called six, seven times, and each time I get somebody new, and they try to fix it, and they can't, and I don't know what else to do that,” he said. “So that's why I reached out to you."
I went to the Murrell's house in Colerain Township to check it out. When he tried calling his mother, it said the call could not be completed.
“Fix it, so I can call my mom. That's all I want,” Murrell said. “You know, it's a simple fix. It seems like it would be. That, you know, I call my mom's number and it, you know, the call goes through, and for some reason, they can't take care of that."
Murrell reached back out to us to let us know an Altafiber technician came out over the weekend and fixed the problem.
He said he is very happy they were able to find a solution, and he can call his mother again.
A spokesperson with Altafiber said they are unsure if this issue was a result of their software, but they are looking into it to determine the cause.
If a spam blocker is preventing you from making calls, you can call Altafiber at 513-565-2210.
Altafiber provided the following statement:
"altafiber uses software to reduce the number of spam calls that our roughly 100,000 landline customers receive. We follow industry best practices to reduce these calls, which our customers consistently say is an important part of their service expectations.
We understand in some cases this software blocks calls from a specific number that our landline customers would like to receive. This typically happens when the call comes from another provider – for example a wireless provider – and is identified as spam.
In these instances, customers are asked to contact altafiber at 513-565-2210. We will work with the customer to resolve the issue."
"Don't Waste Your Money" is a registered trademark of Scripps Media, Inc. ("Scripps").
Follow John:
- Facebook:John Matarese Money
- Instagram: @johnmataresemoney
- X/Twitter: @JohnMatarese
Follow Taylor:
- Facebook: Taylor Nimmo
- Instagram:@tnimms
- X/Twitter: @tnimms
For more consumer news and money saving advice, go to www.dontwasteyourmoney.com
