We’re G.T.E.
You’re S.O.L.
 

When I first sat down to write this article my plan was to totally trash my local telephone company. It seems like every 6 months they totally mess-up my phone service. The latest was that after I paid my bill they disconnected my phones. When I asked why? I was not given any reason, only that it should not have happened, and that they would waive the reconnect fee. When I asked about any type of compensation for having my business phones turned off for 1/2 a day I found out that their G.T.E. and I’m S.O.L.

Now I was going to go into great detail about all the screw ups over the last few years to help me trash G.T.E. and make them look bad, but the truth is I don’t have to trash G.T.E.. They do a great job of trashing themselves.

In my local area (Southern California) every person I know hates the service ( or lack of it) that they get from G.T.E.. For myself, the moment I can get dial tone service from any other provider they're going to get my business. Even if I have to pay more. And this is what this article is really about.

I would not care how bad the service was from G.T.E., if I could switch to another company. But at this time I can't.

The good news for me is that’s changing. The bad news for G.T.E. is, that it is only a matter of time before they are no longer the only game in town.

If G.T.E. and other phone companies that have been relying on being the only service provider (can you say monopoly) as a way to guaranty that people do business with them, don’t start to get their act together and start to improve customer service and customer relations, they're going to be in deep trouble.

Price is not the bottom line for a business person. It’s staying in business. Phones are the life blood of any business, and yes most businesses work very hard at keeping their phones cost down as much as they can. However if given the choice between reliable service, or bad service with phones going out, but a lower price. Any company with a brain is going to be willing to pay more to keep their phones reliably working. So, local phone service is not just about price. It is about service. And service is about customer relations.

G.T.E., take it from me. You need to work on customer relations and service. As things stand, if the competition comes into your market and shuts you down, it will be your own inability to change with the market that did you in.

It’s time to change or die.

 


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