When you call the customer service line for Consolidated Communications, you first interact with an automated messaging system. It thanks you for calling, then asks you to press 1 for service at your home or press 2 for service at your business. If you don't make a selection right away, the aforementioned options will automatically repeat for two additional cycles before the call is terminated.
Usually, when a person doesn't make a selection and the system is programmed to terminate, it will at least say something like, "Sorry, we're having trouble," or "Please call back later." For this customer service line, the call just cuts off. It's also worth noting there are no alternative language options, and no option to directly speak to a representative. With just these two machine-presented options, it gives the initial impression that the company isn’t too keen on speaking with customers.
If you press 1 for service at your home, you're presented with an additional phone menu:
This menu is much more helpful, and there's a more direct route to reaching a human being. I was calling about potentially becoming a new customer—I had a few questions—but the fact that there's an entire option regarding the company’s use of private customer information is highly disconcerting. Even if it's standard industry practice, I'm not sure why they would assume using customers' data is the default, and if someone wants to maintain their privacy, they have to go out of their way and call to restrict it. To be ethical, it should be the other way around.
That alone turned me off from becoming a customer, so I ended up not speaking to a representative.