Cable And Wireless Request
Jan 4th, 2008 by Don Ray
I received the following email this morning.
Don… I’ve often wondered why all the complaints about the company that Panamanians hate the most, Cable and Wireless Panama, NEVER appear in the mainstream newspapers. Then I figured out that unlike any ‘conspiracy’ theory, CWPanama has quite likely indicated in subtle terms to newspapers like La Prensa, El Panama America and the Critica… that ‘if you publish something negative about us, then we will just cut off our advertising with you.’ IF that is the case, considering the massive amount that CWPanama spends on advertising, its a pretty significant hammer.
That said, on behalf of my small business, Cabañas B&B Momentum, in Boquete, I have written both the President of CWP and the Vice-President of Customer Service… letter attached. I ask that you read it, and consider publishing it… because I’ve had no success in this regard, and CWPanama still fails to make improvements in their service. Thank you for your consideration. Ken Neal
The attached letter follows:
December 26, 2007
From: Grupo de Comunicaciones KNA, S.A.
Operating Cabañas B&B Momentum
Apdo. 0413-00092
Boquete, Chiriqui
Republic of PanamaTo: Jorge Nicolau
President
Cable and Wireless Panama
Panama City, PanamaTo: Dilia Chaluja
Vice-President
Customer Service
Cable and Wireless Panama
Panama City, PanamaHonorable Executive:
My business deserves an apology!!!
We have endured THREE telephone service outages of THIRTY days or more, in the last 15 months! Clearly in contrast to your meaningless logo ‘Con Panama hoy y siempre,’ you simply abandoned my business!
This callous disregard of Cable and Wireless Panama (CWP) for getting broken telephone lines promptly back in working order, is simply disgusting. Consistently you have shown little regard, by not speedily restoring my phone service.
CWP stopped installing hard lines outside Boquete central more than five years ago. “Let them eat cake,” or buy a cellular phone! It was a self-serving CWP decision, a callous disregard for your clients, one that clearly demonstrated the cheapness of your company. At the time you forced us to suffer the inferior service of a wireless system. Now even that option does not exist. Today one is forced into cellular service, or NO service! Clearly you do NOT operate in the public interest.
These prolonged telephone outages that you hit my business with, would never occur in ANY country of the 1st world, specifically England (your head office home), or in Canada (my former home). Your ‘when we get around to it’ attitude of Cable and Wireless Panama has adapted well to this 3rd world country!
The singular problem is a lack of commitment to a satisfactory repair policy.
1. In forcing my business to endure 30 days before a repair is made, clearly shows that CWP has a policy to NOT stock sufficient inventory to repair this system when it goes down, but to make the customer wait. Upgrade your service standards; 72 hours is still too long, but this still is Panama!
2. CWP needs a policy of ‘customer satisfaction,’ within reasonable terms. I asked CWP to LOAN my business a cellular phone, to which calls would be forwarded for response. Once the repair was completed, I would return the cellular. But no! Your ‘not-my-problem’ Supervisor of Customer Service Norieta Jiminéz, had never heard of the concept. She even had the gall to suggest that I buy the pre-paid cellular! Why would I pay more to temporarily restore a system that I pay you to operate and maintain?
3. More than six years ago, CWP silently adopted a policy to NO LONGER install hard lines to growing areas, sic Boquete. Why else would all new residents here in Boquete be forced to buy cellular service, rather than order a hard-line into their new home in their new subdivision?I expect you will ignore this letter, as you did my last. But you need to know from the former Manager of Public Relations at Edmonton Telephones, (now Telus-Canada) how truly ‘3rd world’ the Panama branch of Cable and Wireless really is.
Should I sue? Of course I should! We have no idea how many thousands of dollars my business lost because of your lengthy delays. Do I have grounds for a legal claim? Of course I do!
But will I sue? Nope!
Why not? Because Panama’s justice system is fraught with delay; and because the legal jurisprudence here appears so corrupt, that I would never win.
Worse, your budget line for corporate lawyers is as thick as your advertising budgets, big enough to bury and bankrupt me, if I were to sue.So if you had read my letter this far…, a tiny wish, as 2008 approaches; one made on behalf of all us who whine too much. It is my sincere hope that you immediately resolve to upgrade your repair policy and TRY sensitize yourselves to serving your customers.
Sincerely,
K. A. (Ken) Neal
Legal Representative,
Grupo de Comunicaciones KNA, S.A.
Sounds like it’s time for a workaround. I have no idea what satellite internet costs, but it may be a good option for a business. Satellite internet plus VOIP should be more reliable than C&W have been for Grupo de Comunicaciones KNA, S.A.
Using Asterisk (Trixbox) as a VOIP PBX would also allow for forwarding of calls to mobile phones. Of course, the internet connection would have to be working for any of this to work.
Ken…you can certainly get compensation…a few years back when Cable and Gutless was charging me for international calls, I went to the consumer advocacy agency in David, filed complaint, and actually won a settlement of 70 dollars from phone company. Of course, ever since then, I am being overcharged at every opportunity. And for those of you with CW computer lines…I just upgraded my ADSL system, and was told that new rate was 24.50, instead of the 39.44 I have been paying for the slower system. Go figure. Hal
If he hasn’t already, Ken should definitely take his case to ASEP, the consumer advocacy group which oversees public services (phones & electric) in Panama. Their office is conveniently located directly across the street from the C&W and Union Fenosa offices (beside the Multi Credit Bank).
I was paying $62 a month for a 768k ADSL connection. I constantly had problems with the phone line that C&W were never able to fix, despite visiting my apartment regularly for 18 months or so.
I finally decided to switch to CabelOnda, 1 MG for $40, and couldn’t be happier with the service so far. I was informed they would be extending the service to Bugaba this year.
This month I intend to talk to Cable Onda and compare for a possible switch of both TV, telephone and cable TV.
I thank you for your support and for the informative responses. But be it know right now, that I believe the ASEP (Authoridad de Servicios Publicos) is, and has been in the pocket of Cable and Wireless all along. Simple as that.
13 months ago I filed a formal complaint at their head office in Panama City. The complaint was with regard to the cessation of installing hard-lines in the Boquete area. But I received NO response.
Such action, (no longer installing hard-lines or lineas fijas) to homes in growing areas of Panama, is patently discriminatory and unfair. The result is that ALL of us who chose to live in growing areas of this very nice country have been FORCED into the considerably more expensive cellular telephone service, and the charges that they are permitted to levy here, authorized by guess who??? The same ASEP. The time is way overdue for Cable and Wireless to IMMEDIATELY resume the installation of hard-line telephone service to growing areas of the country, like Boquete.
The benefit of such action? Well, about a $6 a month basic charge, and if on the ’social’ program, a 4 cent a minute charge for local calls. As well, you get our telephone number listed in the White Pages directory. Ever see a cellular phone number listed? Nope.
We have been stolen from in the name of Cable and Wireless and Movistar (now Telefonica) cellular service, long enough.
And the ASEP needs to clean up and start operating like it is representing the public, the purpose for which it was set up, rather than being in the deep pockets of Cable and Wireless. Amen!
Hi Don:
C&W has been having a bad press as far as I can remember. I’m having severe problems with my Internet connection, but since I signed a one year contract I have to wait until April to make a switch.
As of this moment, Cable Onda is my preferred substitute. Charging $40.00 for one Mega sounds very reasonable to me.
Regards,
Omar.-
We had an issue for almost the entire year of our contract. Repeated attempts to get them to come out and check the equipment failed. We had purchased 384 and consistantly got 20 to 30 kylobytes on a good day. My son finally found the email address to the Customer Service Rep worldwide out of England, sent him an email, and then we got action. In the process, we found out that we are buying kylobits which is 1/8 of a byte. Maybe bypassing CWPanama and everyone writing their complaints directly to London might alert them to how bad this branch of their business is here and if another service comes, they will be out of business and good riddance.
Where I live, I pay for the C&W connection because it is in the owners name. I decided tohave it put in my name in order to get the pensionado discount. C&W wanted $100 to make the name change.
I had a friend recently sign up for Cable Onda and he had no deposite charge. If I switch to CableOnda it appears I will effectivly save another $199.
Hi DR - thank you once again for providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences when dealing with entities such as C&W, Movistar, CableOnda, etc. I was sorry to read that Mr. Neal’s experience with ASEP was as negative as he reported, as our experience was quite the opposite. Our grievance was filed at the local office in David and was successfully dealt with objectively and professionally - albeit not quickly. But then, this is Panama…
Hello mr. Don, i am student of the teacher Dario, i like you website, is very interesting.
Hi Elida. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Drop in often.