Here is a draft of the Open Letter I propose to have published and distributed to the named people and institutions. In no way do I want to be the sole signer. Instead, this letter, to be effective, needs the backing of as many Borregans as possible who have an interest in this issue. Please read it through and comment, then maybe we can create some kind of umbrella group to sign it: AN OPEN LETTER TO USA COMMUNICATIONS Dear USA Communications, First, be advised that copies of this Open Letter are being delivered to US Representative Juan Vargas, US Senator Barbara Boxer, The Borrego Sun, and UCAN - the Utility Consumers Action Network in San Diego. Secondly, be advised that the below-signed Cable Internet subscribers in Borrego Springs, California expect a Corporate response to this Open Letter to be published in The Borrego Sun as well as in direct mail to each and every USA Communications Cable Internet subscriber in Borrego Springs. Your records will show the addresses of every USA Cable Internet subscriber in Borrego Springs who have requested service calls for faulty or dead internet connections over the past few years. Your records will also show the frequency of repeat requests and calls to tech support from the same addresses, running in many cases into double digits, often within just a few months time. Your billing department will easily confirm the number of dissatisfied subscribers who have complained and demanded refunds and rebates over the past few years because they havent received anywhere near the speeds of service they are paying for; or because their home security systems have failed because your internet signals to their homes are corrupted, or down altogether; or their internet-dependent businesses have lost customers when transactions cant be completed; or because they work from home and routinely are unable to submit their days work online; or because they are repeatedly frustrated because streaming a 90-minute video takes 3 hours or longer, or is completely abandoned after just a few minutes, due to constant dropouts, bufferings and re-bufferings; or because their online classes have to be aborted because of a connectivity lapse; or because they feared they wouldnt be able to complete their online Traffic School tests before the courts deadline. And perhaps your staffers at the Borrego Springs office can testify to the number of unhappy subscribers who, clutching reams of documents and printouts, have come to the desk to plead for relief from the T3 Timeouts, modem reboots, and download and upload speeds slowing to a crawl or flatlining altogether. Do your inventory records show the number of times your in-home technicians have swapped out a new cable modem to replace the existing one, and how many times the swap has occurred at the same address? When one customer is given two or three new modems within a few months time and still complains of faulty connections does it raise the concern somewhere at USA headquarters that maybe that customers original modem was never the problem in the first place? And is there any way USA Communications can possibly keep track of the number of subscribers who call your tech support phone number for help but give up after being left on hold for a half hour or longer? There must be an archive somewhere in your email folders that contains the volumes of email requests for support that have not been answered until days after they were sent, or gone completely ignored altogether. Does USA Communications have a policy in place for addressing the frustration of the subscriber who has waited at home for a technicians visit during the scheduled two-hour window only to be stood up, without any notice or subsequent explanation? Does that policy apply as well to the subscriber whose missed appointment was re-scheduled only to be stood up a second time, again with no notification or subsequent explanation? What does USA Communications call the process in which a subscriber: (1) calls for service, (2) is visited by a technician who checks everything out, (3) is told by the technician everything looks good, (4) is told by the technician upgrades are being performed in the area, (5) experiences the original problem again, (1) calls for service, (2) is visited by a technician who checks everything out, (3) is told by the technician everything looks good, (4) is told by the technician upgrades are being performed in the area, (5) experiences the original problem again, etcetera? An Infinite Loop? Many of your Cable Internet subscribers in this small community in the desert are not computer savvy, so when we are explicitly told by USA Communications support personnel our signals are just fine and nobody else in the area is having any problem, we feel foolish, as though we are the problem, and resolve to accept our lot. After all, weve heard it often, sometimes even from representatives of USA Communications itself: Poor internet service in Borrego Springs? Well, thats just the way it is. But when our internet service is up, we talk amongst ourselves on Social Networks. When we hear our poor service problems arent solely our own, but are reflected in our neighbors experiences all across town, we become restive, non-complacent. Unaccepting. Because, in one word, the level of internet service from USA Communications in Borrego Springs, California - in both technical and customer-support areas - is: Unacceptable. Some of us have noticed recently an atypical outreach from USA support, and attribute it to the Companys growing awareness of the discontent of its customers, as voiced on Social Networks in recent weeks. The attention is welcomed, but must become the rule rather than the expedient exception. We therefore, as subscribers, publicly demand that USA Communications, as the sole provider of Cable Internet service in Borrego Springs: (1) accepts on a Corporate level our complaints of poor service as valid, (2) identifies and clearly describes to us the causes of our individual, reported, documented service problems, (3) communicates their plans to correct those problems, and (4) keeps us informed of all progress - or lack thereof - in a timely manner. As stated in the first paragraph of this Open Letter, a published Corporate response addressing the issues raised above will be expected. Signed, ...
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 20:45:10 +0000
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