Tega:
We actually have good customer service. We have good field techs as well. Do you realize that there were 66,000 people without service and in 24 hours we had those numbers down to 22,000? That's pretty fast. You want to know instantly why when where and how long. Well, guess what folks. People have to actually go into the field to see what the damage is and then estimate how long it will be until it is back on. The fact is that 100 years of experience is what allows us to even estimate a time frame.
Well... first off, I never directed any comments towards the field techs. Never mentioned them. I imagine they are well capable people doing their jobs with years of expertise. Even though we live in a 'fast food' world I don't believe anyone expects any instant fix to a major power outage. Personally, what I expect is to be given needed and requested INFORMATION from a living breathing human being who also knows what it feels like to not know what is going on in a disaster event. When I make a phone call to inquire as to when my power will be turned on, I don't want to be lumped into the "whole" because I am an individual who PAYs for a specific service. I am not a 'group' who just needs to know generic information that maybe.. the entire problem will be solved in 2½ days. I, as an individual who PAYS for electricity expects to know where my particular house sits in the grand scheme of all the electric grids. Formerly, there was a time when I could call the power company and they would actually look my house up on a computer and let me know where the field techs were working, when they were going to get to my area, and give me a pretty good estimate of when my grid would be turned back on. What happened to that sort of personal service? I am a 'person' who pays for a service, and I want that type of service again.
I'm not sorry to say that an automated response, or a pre-written pat answer is just NOT GOOD ENOUGH, imo. We, the customer - the people who pay for a service, are not getting what we pay for, and on top of that we are being treated as if we should bow down and kneel to the mighty power company and thank our lucky stars that they got up, went out, and did some work when, in fact, we pay them to do a job. They don't go out in the weather out the goodness of their hearts to serve the community and volunteer their services - THEY GET PAID VERY WELL to do this job. All that aside, I appreciate the circumstances and conditions they work under and the sacrifices they make, but then again, that's their JOB. It's not like they don't expect to fix power lines during power outages. It's THEIR job.
Tega: People are so helpless these days. "What about my food!?" Umm. ice. "What about my kids?!" Um, deal with it. People raised children for thousands of years with no power and you can't do it for a few hours? Please. Take that time to show your kids how to handle an emergency. Adapt for gods sake. Go outside, take a walk, read a book spend time with your kids at a park. The world isn't ending. I hate menu routing as much as the next person but sometimes it is needed. When 60,000 people are calling at once you have to have a way to get the message out. Again, not the end of the world.
Granted, some people do have a 'helpless' mentality, but that's a totally separate issue that might be good for a separate thread, and not related to the issue I began this editorial thread about. We live in a time that we pay for electricity - power - and to compare the needs and expectations of when societies lived without power is a bit irrelevent to this argument. If we had to live without power again, I'm sure our society would manage to adapt, but that hasn't happened.
My particular issue here is with who controls the information that I get during such disasters. Do I want to depend upon an answering machine system? NO! I also don't want the electric company to keep me in the dark in more ways than just being without power. I want to know specifics. For example, since it can be done and has been done, I want to know where my outage sits on the power grid and when will techs be working on MY problem. I PAY THEM .. they don't pay me. If I pay them for a service, it stands to reason they should provide the service and requested information they are getting paid to provide, and that doesn't include withholding vital information that effects my living arrangements. As someone has said here already, the information the power company provides me can effect the next decisions I make as far as preserving food in a frig/freezer, or moving the family to a safer environment. Answering machines and pat pre-written responses are just not good enough to allow anyone to make good decisions in a disaster situation.
Tega:
Our guys are out there working around the clock when their own families are home without power. Some of my friends at work got to sit there and listen to people piss and moan about their ice cream melting, get screamed at all day and then go home to no power and wait it out like everyone else. Our guys are the ones who battled the ice and the freezing weather to make sure everyone got power. Does it take time? Yeah. It does. Deal with it. You want the lines burried? Talk to the people running the "Stop the Box" program. Get em to shut the hell up and things might happen faster. I tell you one thing, they don't want the lines burried but they are the first to call when the lights go out.
Again, the field techs do their job with great expertise, I'm sure, but they get paid to do that job. It is their choice to do that job. They and their families KNOW what it will cost them to do that job, yet they still do it. Far be it from the customer who pays for a service to expect those employees of that service to actually do that job because they get paid to do it....(sarcasm inserted) Why is it even an issue that electric company field techs have to go out in bad weather to fix power problems? That's what they do.... That's what they get PAID to do .... It would be different if they volunteered their time away from their homes and family to just help out the community and didn't expect any compensation for their time and effort, but they don't volunteer - again... that's their JOB that they get PAID to do.
Moving on..... Yes, the people who answer the phones get to talk to frustrated customers, but PSO customers have reason to be frustrated ... the people who answer the phones have reason to be frustrated, too ... the problem is that in another life, many of us remember customer service actually had nothing to do with automated answering machine responses or pat answers. Customer service associates from the pwr company, in another lifetime, actually answered my questions - gave me information that I was asking for - didn't treat me, the customer, as if I was lucky to even get a response from a machine.
Frustrated?? YES! I want to go back a few years to the days when I could make a phone call and talk to a real person and have that real person find out the information I needed, and then actually tell me the answer to my questions.
An update to my personal power outage ... I called PSO again yesterday around lunch time and listened to the usual lengthy answering machine... waited and finally got through to a real person. This nice lady actually gave me some personalized customer service. She took my information, looked it up on her computer, told me where I stood in the grand scheme of the power grid and gave me a very good educated guess as to when my power would be turned on. I'm here to say that she was spot on and my power was back on right when she estimated it would be.
THAT ^ ^ is the service I expect when I call PSO. I know it is possible, and I personally will keep telling them that anything less than service like this last lady gave me is just not good enough. KUDOS to the last lady I talked to yesterday. :) I don't know what your name is, but you and those of you who give service like that.. you know who you are. :) THANKS!!!!!!! That's the service I PAY FOR!!! :D
jd4fox23
