Cable Bahamas Works With Clearcable to Help Continuously Improve Customer Service

October 22, 2012

Late on Thursday afternoon, October 18, 2012, Cable Bahamas suffered severe damage to its fiber optic cable infrastructure that delivers video and data to its customers. The damage interrupted service from Cable Beach to the western end of New Providence. The next 24 hours would serve as a stark reminder of the importance of quality customer service and why we need to let our voices be heard when we are not satisfied with the service we get. Therefore, this week, we would like to Consider This... what should we do when we encounter poor customer service, especially from service providers who offer essential services to the public? Let us say at the outset that when it comes to service delivery, nobody expects perfection.

On the other hand, we should not expect deplorable customer service compounded by ineptitude. Let us review a recent real life experience. The ordeal At about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, while listening to Jeffrey Lloyd on Star 106.5 FM, the audience learned that Cable Bahamas had reported the disruption of cable service in the western quadrant of New Providence. I was relieved that this service interruption did not affect my Cable Beach office. That relief, however, was short-lived because when I arrived home, a stone's throw away from my office, my efforts to watch the cable news channels failed. I was suddenly stunned by the reality that very few people had escaped the cable service interruption.

Following the conditioned ritual of calling Cable Bahamas, and, like so many other residents of these tranquil isles, I was accosted by the customary automated female voice, which courteously advised that "we are experiencing a heavy call volume" along with the cautionary note that "there are 23 persons ahead of you," which, of course, "does not include a person currently speaking to an agent". But there was hope -- I immediately received the perfunctory invitation to leave a message, assuring me that "someone will contact you within four hours". That was followed by the completely useless and empty assertion: "We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

Intensely desirous of understanding how long we would have to endure an evening without cable and the Internet, I activated the "speaker" button on my telephone handset and proceeded to shed my work attire and prepare dinner which I completed while waiting to speak to a human who would undoubtedly be able to advise me of the cause and duration of the service interruption. After waiting for a period that seemed to redefine the meaning of eternity, my anticipation was periodically punctuated by a reminder that I was still connected to Cable Bahamas, along with a status update of where I was in the queue.

Finally, the voice of a real, live human being emerged through the telephone. I eagerly anticipated receiving a definitive explanation about the service interruption. However, my hopes were dashed by the report about the obvious, that Cable Bahamas had experienced a break in transmission and, worse, that the technicians were working on the problem but no one could say how long the interruption would last. I was invited to call back in two hours for a status update. I repeated this ritual every two hours until midnight. Each time, I was advised that the technicians were working on the problem, and that no one could provide any information about the reinstatement of service. With each attempt, I became more infuriated about the total lack of helpful information that was offered by Cable's totally helpless customer service representatives.

Because I could not watch anything on the television, I proceeded to engage in productive activity and sent a dozen emails to my "Outbox", fully anticipating that, once the Internet service was restored, those important emails would automatically be sent. Shortly before preparing to retire at 2:45 a.m., I again checked the TV, delighted to see that cable service had been restored. For the next hour, I caught up on the news of the day. I checked my computer several times to ascertain whether the emails had been sent and realized, after resetting the modem, that the Internet was still unavailable. Before leaving for the office on Friday morning, I again examined the computer, again disappointed that those emails had "slept" all night in the "Outbox".

I was relieved by the realization that the emails would be sent once I arrived at my office. And indeed they were, because the office Internet was still operational when I arrived at 8 a.m. My joy was short-lived because at about midday, the office Internet failed. I repeated the ritualistic call to Cable Bahamas, repeating the experience of the night before, only to be advised that the technicians had to sever the fiber optic cables that were properly working in order to fuse them with those that had been broken 15 hours earlier.

On learning about this course of action, I inquired of Cable's customer service representative, "So you have deliberately disconnected those customers who are online in order to reconnect those who have been offline for the last 15 hours?" I received an affirmative reply. I continued, "So you are saying that your infrastructure is not designed with built in redundancies so you can switch over to the redundant system while you are working to restore the interrupted service?" Again, this query was answered in the affirmative, to which I responded: "How absolutely third world. You guys simply have to do better." By now, totally infuriated by the absurdity of the situation, I called URCA to complain about the horrendous service that the public must endure at the hands of Cable Bahamas.

I asked the URCA representative if they had received any complaints from the public and was advised that URCA was aware of the service interruption, but that no one had complained to them about this fiasco. I made a formal complaint, gave my name and expressed my total disgust at the poor level of service, remarking that it would be a travesty for URCA to grant the requested rate increase to Cable Bahamas because the company did not deserve such an increase in light of its habitually poor service. I complained that this situation results in a tremendous loss of time and adversely impacts productivity. I told them that it is wholly unfair for Cable Bahamas to be able to penalize the public without a corresponding penalty being applied to Cable Bahamas.

The URCA representative noted my complaint but said that they were powerless to penalize Cable Bahamas for its deplorable service. I also took the opportunity to lodge a formal complaint about the equally deplorable service that the public receives from the Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd. (BTC) relative to the incessantly-dropped mobile telephone calls, especially since the ill-fated, ill-advised and perniciously contrived privatization debacle of BTC to Cable & Wireless. Conclusion So what can the public do? We all should take every opportunity to formally complain to URCA about poor customer service.

Members of the public should lobby their parliamentary representatives to enact legislation that would enable URCA to penalize Cable Bahamas and BTC for its poor customer service. URCA should encourage more competition in the marketplace to force the existing service providers to become more accountable and expand their service offerings. Politicians should be mandated to resist granting any monopolies because increased competition generally encourages greater efficiency and more competitive pricing by industry participants. In the absence of an effective, private sector driven consumer protection agency, our citizens must force their voices to be heard loudly. Otherwise, poor customer service will forever keep us prisoners of the 20th century, barring us from progressing to the 21st century world with technology - and service - that really works.

• Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis & Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in Parliament. Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

News date : 10/22/2012    Category : Opinion, Nassau Guardian Stories

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Source: https://www.bahamaslocal.com/newsitem/58323/Poor_Customer_Service.html

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