News10NBC Investigates: Frontier sends traveling sales team to New York during Hurricane Helene, confusing customers

WEBSTER, N.Y. – They show up at your door promising cheap phone and internet service but is it the real deal? That’s a question many of you want to know about people peddling for Frontier in neighborhoods across our region.

Webster police tell News10NBC they have received several annoyance complaints during the months of September and October from citizens regarding Frontier peddlers. The door-to-door salespeople do not have the proper permits to be soliciting.   

You wouldn’t know it by looking at him but Dick Dowling is 80 years old and still runs a few small businesses, splitting wood and pressure washing, so he needs reliable phone and internet service. Last month, a man came walking up his driveway along Klem Road offering an upgrade to fiber.

“He met my wife in the driveway and he told her that he had service that he would like to present to us from Frontier,” Dowling tells News10NBC. 

Dowling and his wife listened to the sales pitch.

“He was very clean cut, very well spoken, very rehearsed. He had his whole spiel down pat and every question I asked him, he has an answer that satisfied me,” Dowling says.

So, they decided to switch. They were even promised a free modem and free installation.

“I was going to have service installed the following Monday, 8-12 in the morning, I waited 8-12 and nobody showed up.”

He called and Frontier told him there was no order in his name. “At this point, I’m thinking, ‘Oh no, I’ve been scammed,'” Dowling says, “I told them that someone is scamming people using your name and they told me, ‘Well, Mr. Dowling we will do an investigation if you’re willing to sign up for service today,” I said ‘What? You want me to sign up for service after what I’ve just gone through, I’m not interested!'”

That’s when Dowling filed a police report and called News10NBC, worried the “salesman” was really a scammer who had stolen his personal information.

A spokeswoman for Frontier tells News10NBC:

“The team that interacted with Mr. Dowling was a traveling team from Florida. Due to Hurricane Helene, many of our Florida agents were given the option to temporarily relocate within our footprint. All of our partners are required to adhere to all municipal and state regulations, including obtaining door-to-door permits. We will work back with this specific partner, as well as others in the area,  to ensure compliance with local permit guidelines and regulations are enforced as per our policies.” 

So, if the salesman was legit, why didn’t Dowling get his phone and fiber service?

“An official order has not yet been submitted for Mr. Dowling; only a quote was generated. This often occurs when customers have a credit freeze that prevents the order from being processed immediately. The agent must wait a few days for the freeze to be removed, then follows up with the customer to complete the order. In this specific case, the agent was sent back to Florida and was unable to follow up with the customer in person to complete the order,” explains Frontier. 

So, what do you need to know/do if a door-to-door salesperson shows up at your home?

• Almost all local cities, towns and villages require peddlers or soliciting permits so, ask to see it before you even entertain a conversation.
• The salesperson should be wearing identification that clearly shows the company he/she works for.  Ask for photo identification to make sure it matches. 
• Do any research on your own devices and get any offers in writing.
• If you’re interested in buying something, ask to call the company directly versus providing your financial information to the person in front of you.
• In New York, you have three business days to opt-out of any door-to-door sales contract you sign and the company must provide you information on how to do that.

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