Bell Atlantic Establishes Third Customer Care Center to Answer Installation Inquiries

Bell Atlantic Establishes Third Customer Care Center
to Answer Installation Inquiries

One-Stop Center Provides Convenience for
Customers, Creates Jobs

November 3, 1998

BALTIMORE -- One call now does it all for Bell Atlantic customers in
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia who want
fast and accurate information about orders they've placed for Bell Atlantic
residential phone service.

All it takes is a toll-free call to the company's new Customer Care
Installation Center in Baltimore, where they'll reach a special team of
employees dedicated to handling their inquiry. Customers receive the toll-
free phone number when they make an installation appointment with Bell
Atlantic.

"We're making it even easier to do business with us," said Arnie Eckelman,
president of Bell Atlantic Customer Services. "We've used this Customer
Care Installation Center concept in New York and New England. Those
centers have enabled us to significantly improve customer service, so we
are expanding the concept into our mid-Atlantic region. Our goal is to
have customers say, 'Wow, that's great service'."

Bell Atlantic soon plans to open another Customer Care Installation Center
serving Pennsylvania and Delaware, Eckelman said.

Customers should call the Customer Care Installation Center when they
have placed an order and wish to:

• Change their order for a phone service.

• Change the date or time when they would like Bell Atlantic technicians to
  install a new phone service

• Check the status of their service request

• Ask questions about their installation work

• Discuss a problem with the service they received

Employees at the Customer Care Installation Center can quickly access up-
to-date information about a customer's work order using a computerized,
state-of-the-art data base. As a result, customers receive information on
their order for phone service quickly. Previously, customers have called
the Bell Atlantic business office where their order was placed. This
sometimes resulted in delays while customers were transferred to other
offices or put on hold in order to obtain this information. The new center
has expanded hours, Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for added
customer convenience.

Bell Atlantic has hired 95 people to staff the Customer Care Installation
Center and plans more new hires by the end of this year.

"At Bell Atlantic, we're working toward providing customers from Maine
to Virginia with the same great level of service," Eckelman said. "We're
committed to satisfying customers every step of the way, in every contact
they have with Bell Atlantic."

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information
industry. With more than 42 million telephone access lines and more than
eight million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are
premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market
leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory
information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest
investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations
and investments in 23 countries.