Kabelvision's disservice

Kabelvision's disservice

I am writing to you rather than to Kabelvision out of
frustration with their lack of service and concern for
subscribers.

On Dec. 5, the transmission of cable television in the
Kebayoran Baru area of South Jakarta was interrupted a number of
times, especially during the afternoon peak period (4 p.m. to 8
p.m.).

When I rang the customer service (577-7750) to find out why
the service was not operating, I was kept on hold for 10 minutes,
listening to mindless taped music whose objective appears to be
to increase one's irritation rather than sooth it.

Finally a male operator came on line and asked if he could
help me. When I told him that the service in my area wasn't
operating and asked what the problem was, without even answering
me, he put me back on hold with that dreaded music.

Such behavior belies the greeting in this month's program
guide that "your valuable comments and suggestions are most
welcome".

Well, I will give Kablevision a few specific suggestions from
my experience.
1. Open a toll-free customer service number so that subscribers
wouldn't have salt rubbed into their wounds by having to pay for
the telephone costs of waiting for a nonservice.
2. Train operators to identify themselves when answering the
phone so they can be made accountable.
3. Be proactive and telephone subscribers in areas where there
are interruptions to the service and explain the problem to them.
4. Offer a rebate of about 5 percent for each day service is
"out" for more than two hours, especially during peak viewing
time.

You can rest assured I will not succumb to Kabelvision's
entreaties to pay extra for movie channels, Internet access and
other services, when they can't get the basic right.

TIM BLAXLAND

Jakarta