A PLEA TO MY CABLE COMPANY

AND TO COMPANIES EVERYWHERE FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS

Irma upended many businesses and disrupted lives. For those of us fortunate to have been spared her full wrath, we have begun the arduous task of getting back to normal. FP&L has done an excellent/horrific job of restoring power depending on when yours was turned back on. Food is getting back on the shelves, schools are slowly reopening and businesses are starting to get back up. (Please scroll down for a link to Feeding America where you can make a donation to help those who are suffering from this storm).

Of course all this depends on your cable company, because power doesn't help if your phones are out, your credit card and POS are inoperable or your client management system is inaccessible.

So you start calling AT&T, Comcast, Dish or whomever and you quickly enter an all too familiar endless loop of........well see for yourself.

Here is an actual text thread between me and my cable company:

Day #1: We are so sorry for the inconvenience. We will send a repair crew out tomorrow between 3 and 6 PM. Thank you for being a loyal customer.

Day #2: Weather conditions delayed your service request. We will contact you to rescheldule. Reply HELP for an agent.

HELP. Thank you this is Chris. I apologize for the inconvenience. We can reschedule your repair for tomorrow between 9-11 am. Will someone over 18 be home?

Day #3: Weather conditions delayed your service request. We will contact you to rescheldule. Reply HELP for an agent.

HELP. Thank you this is Amy. I apologize for the inconvenience. I checked your account and see that there is a huge Outage issue at your area Terminal box which gives service to your premise. …..The service will be repaired from now within 24 hours. Please be rest assured. I will take complete ownership of your issue and get this resolved once and for all.

Day #5: Thank you. This is Melinda. Can I help you?

            Me: Can I speak with Amy- she took complete ownership of my problem.

Melinda: We cannot connect you with a specific agent. I see your issue has not been resolved. I am sorry for the inconvenience. Would you like me to schedule a repair team to come out and see what the problem is?

            Me: I thought the problem was at the main terminal.

 Melinda: Yes, I can see that. We have a crew working on it and I can assure you this will be resolved from now no later than 24 hours.

Day #7: Thank you this is Ryan. I apologize for the inconvenience…........

I have lived in Florida long enough to know that this will take time and of course, industry should be the priority, allowing business to resume, services restored and employees paid.

But why the games, the stalling, the promised appointments, the insulting apologies? Consumers get that there are problems, shipments get delayed, servers make mistakes and appointments run late. No one (ok- most of us) expects perfection and its rarely the mistakes or screw ups that get people angry- it’s the excuses, the promises, the endless hold and for me, the 'Sorry for the inconvenience' line.

So since this approach isn't working out so well for the not-so-beloved cable companies, why not try honesty?

A plea to our cable companies: The next time a hurricane barrels through Florida, try this:

“This is your cable provider. The hurricane impacted thousands of people throughout our state and we need to get our hospitals, schools and businesses working as fast as possible. We know is difficult not to have service in your home but we are not prioritizing our residential customers.

We really do apologize for the inconvenience but we do not know when we will be able to get your service back up and no matter how often you call, text or rant on Facebook, we can't turn it on any faster. If it makes you feel better, we will promise you that your service will be back up within 24 hours. But it probably won’t be.

Thank you for being a loyal customer.“

Here's a secret from your customer: Treat me with respect and I will pay you back with loyalty.

There are parts of our state and the Caribbean that have been devastated and need our help. Please make a donation here to Feeding America’s Hurricane Relief or any charity that is providing food, water and shelter.