Wayne McCuen is worried about his father, Gerald.

“My father has a defibrillator and that ran through the phone line,” he notes. “You know it’s concerning to us.”

Their phone is a CenturyLink landline that hasn’t worked since Dec. 17 — the same day McCuen’s father, who wears an implantable defibrillator, turned 90.

“Now that defibrillator monitors his heart and if he has any arrhythmia, it will shock his heart and put it back into proper beating,” he explains.
 
The McCuens — who are still being billed for the service, say they’ve been through a frustrating cycle of setting up repair appointments — only to have them canceled.

“Four times we contacted them by the dates they told me, I had to reset up a services call,” McCuen notes.

The South Minneapolis family isn’t alone.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has received emails from seniors, people with disabilities, and others, including 76-year-old Steven Freund, a Riverside neighborhood resident who we spoke with over the weekend.

“Dec. 12, I got up, picked up the phone to make a phone call, and there wasn’t anything,” he recalled. “Every time you talk to (CenturyLink), they tell you your phones will be on at 11:59, and 11:59 never comes.”

“It’s beyond frustration,” adds Liz Elkholm, the owner-manager of the Brittany Apartments in St. Louis Park. “They’re a communication company. There’s no communication with these people.”

She says she uses seven CenturyLink landlines to connect with 113 tenants, her vendors, and people interested in renting a unit.

The lines on her office phones blink… But have no dial tone or service.

Even an elevator phone doesn’t work.

“I’ve been told people are stealing cable throughout the city; you need to wait your turn,” Elkholm explains. “I’ve been told it’s probably a construction. Sometimes, when there’s major construction in the area, that will take out lines.”

CenturyLink did not respond to our questions for comment Tuesday.

But in an earlier email, the company says Freund’s outage is due to “multiple cases of copper theft” — that have caused “extensive damage.”

RELATED: Phone carriers say copper theft is behind lack of landline service for customers in Twin Cities

A neighbor of Freund’s — David Dusbabek, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS his girlfriend had spoken to their carrier about copper thieves.

“They said the go down in the sewers, they lift up a manhole cover, and they just clear out anything that’s strung under the streets and whatnot,” he says.

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul Police say they’ve investigated the theft of copper wiring in separate incidents.

Under state law, telephone companies are required to re-establish service with the “shortest possible delay” — with the goal of fixing issues within 24 hours of being reported.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission also requires vendors to adjust customers’ bills so they’re not charged for any outages exceeding a day.

The AG’s office says the commission has enforcement power, but it’s unclear if they’ve taken action on any complaints.  

An order issued by the PUC in 2024 notes that, “the Department of Commerce suggests that CenturyLink’s declining performance was caused by its decision to lay off some of its Minnesota field technicians, resulting in an increased workload assigned to each of the remaining technicians since 2021.”

For now, Elkholm says she’s using email to communicate with tenants and vendors.

“I just want some answers that are straight,” she declares. “I think what I would like to be told [is] what’s going on, why it’s taking so long, and why (CenturyLink) are not working on it.”

The McCuens say they’re hoping for a fix soon.

“We need to get this thing going,” Wayne McCuen says. “Because I’m sure my father and his neighbor, who’s 88 years old, they rely on this to get ahold of people in case of an emergency.”

You can contact the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office HERE. You can reach the Public Utilities Commission HERE.