Phone line dead for weeks, but the bills kept coming

WEST VALLEY CITY — Loretta Lawrence's home phone went silent last June.

"It says, 'no line,'" Lawrence said, showing Get Gephardt her home phone's display screen.

She hit the button to activate the phone. It beeped, but there was no dial tone — only silence.

For Lawrence, the phone is more than a way to chat. She has health problems, her doctors call and she worries about what would happen in an emergency.

"How can I get out to anybody if I can't use my phone?" she said. "I can't call the ambulance or anything."

Lawrence does not have a cellphone and does not want one. But she borrowed one to call her phone company, CenturyLink, and make appointments to get her home phone working again.

Over the course of five weeks, Lawrence said CenturyLink missed six different appointments.

"They don't show up. They don't call. It's not fixed," she said.

CenturyLink has been aware of the problem. Lawrence's phone bill included an "out of service" credit, but it covers only about 25% of the bill.

Asked how she feels, Lawrence responded, "Isolated, antsy, nervous about not being able to use my phone."

Get Gephardt reached out to CenturyLink to ask about the outage and Lawrence's bill.

In an email, the phone company said "a third-party contractor inadvertently cut a line during construction" and that it was "awaiting permits" to repair the line.

CenturyLink also promised Lawrence a "full bill credit" for all the time she goes without service.

But more to the point, the company offered a solution: an "Air-Line device" could get Lawrence's home phone working again immediately.

That was exactly what she wanted.

Lawrence says that, through all the calls, messages and appointments, no one from the phone company had offered her an Air-Line before.

About a day after the KSL Investigators contacted CenturyLink, she got one.

She says her phone is working again.

CenturyLink told KSL that other customers affected by the outage can request the same device by calling the company at 877-644-4457.

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