The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Verizon Communications Inc. They get the award for the following.

Verizon Communications Inc. is apologizing for the second time in a little more than a week to about 3,200 Wesley Chapel cable TV customers. This time, the regrets come after a typo in a letter to customers that prompted them to call what turns out to be a phone sex line.

Calls to the wrong number should not lead to charges on phone bills, though the company that manages the adult-oriented number may record Caller ID information.

Mistakes happen, Verizon executives said. But they remain "deeply embarrassed that this occurred," according to letters arriving at customers' residences Friday and today.

The mix-up started Sept. 25 after a utility construction crew - not Verizon's - accidentally dug through three underground Verizon fiber optic lines that transmit cable TV signals to neighborhoods in Wesley Chapel. The outage lasted 18 hours for some customers and spanned the prime time TV period of Monday Night Football.

Verizon sent apology letters to customers on Sept. 28, and to make amends, Verizon offered customers a free pay-per-view movie, listing a 1-888 phone number for questions.

Unfortunately, the number on that letter should have read 1-800, not 1-888. Instead of calling Verizon, the wrong number connects to an adult-entertainment chat line called "Intimate Connections," operated by Pilgrim Telephone Inc. of Waltham, Mass.

"Obviously, that experience was not my intent," wrote Verizon's Southeast Region General Manager John A. Farrell, in the second apology letter to customers dated Thursday. "While this was an honest clerical error, I am deeply embarrassed that this occurred and I want to apologize to you - or any customers - who may have inadvertently called this number."

Mr. Farrell you and your company should be embarassed. To top matters off, I make Verizon Communications Inc. today's knucklehead of the day.

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