CCTT must get its act together

THE EDITOR: Do allow me some space to air my views over a situation currently facing the residents of Upper Santa Cruz. In April 1997, having run the gauntlet of attempting to receive a clear television signal here in the upper Santa Cruz valley, the family made a decision to have cable television installed. The consensus being that we would be able to not only view local stations but also have other options. Prior to the monopoly created by the buy-out of the other cable companies by Mr Cleary et al, we had been contemplating changing cable companies as dissatisfaction with Trans-Cable was at a peak.  Then came the buy-out! Of course we still faced the issue of no local programming should we give up the service, so we continued onward.

It must have been at least two  years ago (possibly longer), that CCTT started to implement a system whereby a decoder box was placed into consumers’ homes to unscramble the cable signal. Consumers were advised that each home would be allowed four boxes, of course consumers were to pay for the additional three boxes. We the residents were told that Santa Cruz would not be scrambled immediately, but, residents would have been advised. This morning, 1/12/04, I woke up early to watch the cricket game in progress between South Africa and India, a nicely poised game, I will add. Left for work at 6.25 am, as all Santa Cruz residents know, leave any later and face dire circumstances in Maraval. Upon my return home this evening, it was to discover no cable.  Making the usual call, I then discover that our area had been scrambled.

Now while I advised the young Customer Service Representative that I had nothing against her personally, I had to voice my extreme displeasure with the ad hoc manner in which her company went about doing business. I recall that other areas that had been scrambled were advised prior to doing so, in addition, consumers were notified via the press to collect decoder boxes. So what about the residents of Cantaro, Santa Cruz! Aren’t we deserving of some courtesy? I was then advised that a technician could visit my home to install a box or that I could collect one at any one of their branches. This raises another issue, I am now being asked to compromise my schedules in order to assist them in their jobs.

It seems to me that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs needs to address this situation. How can this company be allowed to implement new measures without first ensuring that the infrastructure required is in place? Telling me that my billing will be adjusted will not assist me in getting back my service any faster. Let’s face it. We pay for this service or should I say dis-service in advance. Come on people get your act together, because there are many disgruntled consumers out here just waiting patiently for another option to come along.

VIVIAN LEE
Santa Cruz