Dear Editor,
U-Mobile has completely abandoned its customers for about a week now. Customers have not been able to use their cellular phones since Friday last. Customers have not even been able to contact U-Mobile.
I heard that there was a notice on the television, and newspapers concerning some ‘take over’ of U-Mobile by Digicel, though I have not seen any such a message (and I am a regular TV viewer).
This company which professes the phrase, “we’re all about you”, and “you” meaning the customers, is not treating their customers with respect.
I constantly get the voice- mail that all system operators are busy whenever I try to contact the Georgetown office. I also tried contacting the Cell Phone Shack in New Amsterdam, which is supposed to be conducting U-Mobile’s transactions during their hiatus from the Guyanese public, but they had no information as to when we would be able to use our phones again. In addition, all their branch office numbers are ringing out. U-Mobile has left confused and fed-up customers who are very disappointed in the way the company is handling this switch.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
Editor’s Note:
We sent a copy of this letter to Digicel Guyana for their comments and received the following response from Mr Tim Bahrani, the Chief Executive Officer.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to your reader.
U-Mobile was acquired by Digicel at the beginning of November 2006. This was announced at a Press Conference in Georgetown on November 2 and was widely reported in all media. At the time of the announcement Digicel’s Group CEO, Colm Delves said that “By making considerable investments to upgrade and expand U Mobile’s existing GSM network, Digicel looks forward to making a significant improvement on the quality, standard and availability of mobile telecommunications in Guyana.”
Since then, there has been considerable activity, including the building of new towers and the complete replacement of the old technology and systems that previously existed on the U-Mobile network, to a new, state of the art GSM network. In an effort to keep U-Mobile customers as well as the general public informed about these developments, Digicel Guyana CEO Tim Bahrani and Marketing Director Richard Gill have given interviews to the media including all newspapers, NCN Radio, and several TV newscasts.
Last week, we began making public service announcements to reinforce the messages related to the current development activities and the possible temporary loss of coverage. The message, in a range of media (TV, radio and press) read as follows:
‘In our efforts to continuously provide you with the best possible cellular service, U-Mobile Cellular Inc. is currently upgrading our cellular network across Guyana to facilitate the launch of Digicel Guyana.
As a result, customers may experience brief service interruptions where signal may be low or temporarily lost. In the event that this occurs, please contact U-Mobile Customer Care on 022 from your U-Mobile cellphone once service is restored, or 660 1000 from any landline.
Please be assured that this is part of our ongoing commitment to provide Guyana with a first rate mobile phone service and we apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.’
As well as the public service announcements, we also sent an SMS message to all of our customers earlier this week with the following text: “We’re currently upgrading our network to facilitate the launch of Digicel. As a result U may experience temporary interruption. U mobile apologizes for any inconvenience.”
In the specific case reported by your reader, we will immediately make every effort to contact this customer to work through the difficulties he is experiencing in order to ensure that he receives the best service at this time.”
