Barbados Free Press received this letter of complaint against Cable and Wireless and we print it unedited except for the removal of the customer’s account number and home address. We invite Cable and Wireless to respond and we promise to print their unedited response in the same spot.
Following is a letter that I have sent to Cable and Wireless expressing my displeasure with their service.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Mr. Irvine Boyce
Complaints Manager
Cable & Wireless
Windsor Lodge
St. Michael
Dear Mr. Boyce,
My name is Philip Hunte of the above address and for your reference, my account number is ****************. Your records will show that I applied for a telephone at this address in July of 2002 and that I received the installation, after much effort on both myself and my wife’s part, in October of 2004. In March of the following year, we signed up for the offered ADSL service and were quickly accommodated.
You will realize that we live in a ‘high rainfall’ area of the island and that we received our telephone in the height of the rainy season. We were so glad to get a phone that my family did not mind the constant humming on the line. I myself found it to be a nuisance and would frequently use my cellphone rather than subject my ears to what sometimes would be a dreadful hum or crackle. We have lodged countless complaints, and in the 37 months that we have had a telephone, there has never been a day that I can say that the line is “clear”. We discontinued our “high speed” internet in December of 2006 for lack of service/speed/connectivity and switched to Telebarbados and have been very happy with the service/speed/connectivity that we have received from this provider. You will find numerous complaints from myself and my wife logged with customer “service” regarding our lack of internet.
In order to negotiate a credit for the last two months of my internet service for which I had paid but got no service, I had to spend nearly 2 hours of my time in line at Windsor Lodge. I do not intend for this to happen again, it is a waste of my time.
I myself provide a service and install equipment and when faulty equipment is installed, it has to be replaced and credits given. It is the law. It is good business practice; otherwise the client will go to the competition. Oh, I forgot, there is no competition.
I have come to realize that it is not in your interest to repair my telephone line as it will only cost you money. In order for me to have any semblance of a telephone line, I have to pay…..in full…..every month. If I decide to withhold as much as one cent, I will be cut off and be made to pay a reconnection fee. I can call and complain until the cows come home and you do not have to do a thing because the money will still be paid in hope that “the phone will be fixed next week”.
My reason for writing this letter (apart from being able to vent my disgust) is to ask you to personally look into my case and have it rectified so that I can hear my Mother when she calls to wish us “Merry Christmas”. I would also like you to issue a credit to the tune of 37 months of service (I can only ask).
Regards,
Philip Hunte
PS. This letter is being copied to The Nation, Advocate, Starcom Network, The Barbados Free Press and the Fair Trading Commission in the hopes that someone in the first three media houses will have the guts to defy your company’s advertising clout and publish it.
