C'mon LIME, Gi' Jack 'e Jacket

I am not normally one to push too hard for accolades, but I wonder if I should ask to be named a 'people's champion'. I read today that LIME has introduced measures to deal with fraud and alert itself and customers to high charges, with the recent addition of 'credit limits' to mobile phone bills. I noticed the information on my last monthly bill and smiled, with an inner fist pump and "Yes!"

Now, I know that it may not be part of corporate cultures to acknowledge that it was pressure from without that led to changes within, but I wonder what would have happened had I not let them have it on my blog (see http://livinginbarbados.blogspot.com/2009/01/bredda-jackass-gon-on-holiday.html), and accompanied that with my letter to the Nation, which was published.

Now, the people at LIME know that I really like them, as I keep telling my friends and acquaintances that they should think of getting BlackBerry service from them--not least because my experiences with Digicel have been pretty abysmal. I also know that they like me. So, they will understand that I am merely nibbling a little at the hand not biting too hard.

But, I wonder why they did not indicate that this might have been prompted by customer complaints. Perhaps, concerns about fraud and high bills outweighed the kind of complaint that I had, but I know from other corporate customers that they had been groaning about the inconvenience of the credit limits for some time, and with little action.

They could have added--maybe they did but the reporter decided to leave it out--that they have a cheap plan for BlackBerry users that give unlimited data roaming for a mere B$50 a month. Trust me, those e-mail messages and checking things on Facebook while outside the Caribbean region add up quick o'clock.

Being the sort of exacting person I am--some would say "fastidious", at times--I also want to feel that they along with other companies in Barbados, can go the extra mile for customers or at the very least realise that customer satisfaction is the life blood of their existence and success. LIME should be seen as part of things NISE, not sour. I am glad that they responded as they did and I look forward to no more disconnections when I am travelling abroad.

Anyway, my little daughter knows the story, so she can set the record straight later in life, if needed.

Bredda Jackass Gon' on Holiday

A polite version of this story has just been submitted to the local newspapers so let's see how they deal with it. Meanwhile, I can vent in my own way here.

I have my mobile phone and depend on it just like every one else, so I am not shocked to read this morning that Cable and Wireless (who operate our regional star, LIME) made profits of over US$500 million/B$1 billion during the past year. The Caribbean operations were glittering, pulling in the best revenues of the whole pack and cutting operating costs. Pity the poor 1200 souls who will be laid off in the Caribbean region, then.

But pity done. Jackass running wild with LIME on his tongue.

The past day has heard me screaming loudly and boiling internally at the ostrich called "LIME". I am reading books on arson as I write. The story in brief, and it's not the first time.

"Catch 22" has nothing on this:

1. Each postpaid mobile phone customer has a credit limit; but the company rarely communicates this unless it is exceeded. Bong!
   
2. Occasionally such a customer will get a text message saying that he/she has exceeded the credit limit and that the bill should be settled to avoid disconnection; note that this message comes ahead of the date that a bill is due (in my case the bill is due to be paid January 22). Bi-bong!
   
3. The customer pays promptly but the service is still disconnected. Tinkle that bell.
   
4. The customer calls 'customer service' repeatedly to find out why the service has been disconnected. 'Customer service' confirms that the bill has been paid and the balance is zero, and that service will be reinstated. But it is not. This can go on for a while, in my case, 24 hours. Banggarang bang!
   
5. The customer visits a LIME shop, this time at Sheraton Mall. A LIME representative confirms the bill has been paid but that there still remains a balance outstanding. The customer has no way of seeing this and therefore settling it! This is what must be paid to have the account reinstated. Abangarang bang!
   
6. But, LIME at Sheraton cannot accept payments for these bills! One has to go to a Sure Pay outlet. Fortunately, there is one in the mall. One pays, and hopefully one will get reinstated service.
7. Sure Pay do not take electronic card payments such as from my Scotiabank debit card, but only take cash or check. I have to find an ATM. Clang the bang can!

I have gone through this wringer with LIME/CW and their credit limits at least three times in the past 12 months, and cannot get them to understand that if you see a bill and settle it, one normally takes it that there is nothing more to pay. "Pending charges' are not available for the customer to see until they are billed, yet it is these that block the account! Which part of "stooopid" don't they hear? Imagine going to a restaurant and eating a meal, then paying the bill only to find the door barred when you try to leave, with the owner saying that there are some charges still pending, due to the shippers of the key lime pie. When you ask to see them you're told they are not available for you to see, but in the meantime take a seat. They impound your car and tell you to have a nice day. Would you be fuming?

I am really tired of getting the bureaucratic ostrich in the sand reaction each time I make this point to LIME/CW. If the 'customer service' available by phone or the customer checking his/her account online cannot see these charges then there is something really wrong with how this company does its accounting. Which part of hard ears they don't understand?

My anger and frustration were at their peak today because in amongst all of this havoc created by a bureaucrat, the island was gripped by a total power outage. So, in addition I had to deal with:

LIME being closed initially and an operative saying, "We open the doors 30 minutes after the power come back". OK, I wait and meet a mad Bajan woman talking to herself outside, saying that she's not going to wait for the power to come back, and she's trying to tell me how Bajans are normal people. I let her speak to my friend, Thesephone.

Sure Pay's operative in Courts told me, "De systim down; we get powa cut." I ask when it may be back up. "Don' know." Back she went to looking at nails.

I find another Sure Pay outlet in the Mall but they send me to have to get cash out of the ATM, hoping that the power outage has not affected the cash machine. Thankfully, money flowed out like rain.

I do not need to go onto Facebook to vent as suggested by some in a recent post on Barbados Free Press.

But, this place is just one hair wringing experience after another and people seem to just laugh it off. Here ye. We are on the cusp of development. Laugh your head off, then, and kick it into the gutter for good measure.

Jamaicans have the right expression for this. Dem bad to rahtid!

Service interruption

In the age of the Internet, if you cannot get Internet access then there is no easy way to enter the information superhighway. That's been my problem for over a week, and the dear friends at Cable and Wireless, after saying that a technician would deal with the problem within 5 business days, have still to get someone to test the line, visit the premises or offer any hint that they will begin to assess the problem. When I read the stories this week about price capping and the very generous returns that C&W have been making I wondered who amongst the customers is getting real benefits. And when I read the recent press release about how C&W had improved broadband speed and value across the Caribbean (see link), I wondered when I would get that.

So, I'm borrowing a friend's computer and Internet access to just say that regular blogging service will hopefully be resumed soon.

So, with no phone working at home, no Internet working at home, it's time for more mobile phone use and scrounging from friends and neighbours.

Have a pleasant afternoon.