A two-page T&TEC advert in the press advises customers of the standard of service they can expect to receive. It has taken me quite a time to stop laughing. Are these people really serious?I have spent pretty well all my working life in the supply industry in the UK, starting as a junior clerk and finishing as a marketing engineer dealing mainly with industrial consumers.Way back in the forties before modern technology, meters were read one day and the account was sent the next day. Why the delay now? A 24-hour notice of the inability to keep an appointment? Really? Fifteen days to reply to a query on an account? Stop sitting on your hands.
I had some correspondence with senior members of T&TEC about a year ago. My query was why are domestic customers charged a rising rate per unit and commercial consumers pay a lesser rate? I received ridiculous answers which had nothing to do with my query. Further letters from me were ignored.For a time I worked in a showroom and apart from selling appliances I had to be able to answer any query a customer might ask or at last find an answer within minutes. Even without the benefit of computers we were able to offer a far better service than T&TEC can today.
Just as a test of the service provided I went into the St James showroom and asked if the attendant could explain power factor to me. He had no idea what I was talking about and was unable to phone for advice as he had not a clue who to call.Outages do happen for many different reasons but long periods without supply over wide areas are unforgivable. A properly designed system will keep the number of consumers affected to the minimum.So please, TTEC, cut out all the bull and give us a proper service.
Hugh Putt
Via e-mail
