Utilities and other companies that require use of a telephone
to reach them should be required to pay customers for their
time spent waiting only to be DISCONNECTED! The worst is when
you have waited a long time to be connected.
I
have called one of my utility providers that I use both in
Michigan and Florida and had the same bad experience. Their
automatic answering machine announces they are so busy you
may have a 10-minute wait. On more than one occasion, I waited
longer than 10 minutes, listening to messages explaining
what information they will need when they finally answer
the phone.
The message was repeated so often I had time to memorize
the required information as well as the additional message
they
repeated about all the great services they offer. To bad
they don’t offer quick phone response service.
I wonder if big companies think filling our heads with information
regarding additional services they offer, then hanging up on
us will encourage us to order more of them.
They make it apparent they have an inferior product because
their automatic phone answering machine cannot keep up and
is overwhelmed with calls. They refuse to hire additional call
center personal or put in more phone lines, so how can we trust
their service is any good?
As
we watch big utility companies swallow up all their competition
the question occurs to us — aren’t
they creating monopolies? I thought the government
created a bureau or
watchdog committee to prevent this from happening.
Remember Ma Bell
and the baby bells that sprang up when she was busted
up?
The break up of large companies into smaller companies not
only reduced monopolies, but it allowed competition, which
in turn brought prices down for the consumers. Just a few weeks
ago the largest telephone company in business today, (they
claim) announced if they were not allowed to buy up their competitors
they may be forced out of business. How is it these companies
can gain control of governmental decisions by threatening to
go out of business?
As
I see it, if they can’t make it as the biggest
company in the world, letting them get bigger would
only enlarge
the size of their problems and encourage them to
request rate increases.
Some large utilities are buying up smaller companies
without even being questioned. When these major
companies swallow
smaller ones, they pass the cost of updating equipment
on to the consumers.
An example I can relate is; if I purchase an old house that
needs new plumbing, I should expect the person who sold me
the house to foot the cost of the upgrade. Perhaps I could
get the original builder or his heirs to pay for it. Another
way to put it is; the company who made the purchase of existing
equipment will be charging the consumer who pays to use the
equipment replacement without giving them a reduction in cost.
They will charge you to replace an item and after you purchase
it they will continue to charge you to use it. If the replacement
improves service, the provider will likely increase the cost
of using it.
Bottom line appears to be they want to buy an existing business,
charge the customer to improve it, then charge that same customer
more to use it and let there be no competitive option for that
customer. Sure sounds like a monopoly to me.