Dear Editor,
The year is coming to an end and Berbicians ought to know by now that they have been fooled and duped by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) – again. There will be no E-magine broadband services for them this year end, as had been promised by the company in July.
Additionally, there will been no reduction in DSL rates to residential customers in Berbice even though Georgetown and East Coast Demerara customers are paying half of what we are paying for 256Kbps DSL internet access. Instead, they have rolled out the service to those on the East Bank Demerara. Now, we all know in what direction they seem to be going, and it has nothing to do with heading south-east to the Berbice area.
This is sad for several reasons. GT&T has not been a good corporate citizen in 2010. Yes, they have been sponsoring this and pitching in there, placing advertisements in newspapers and on television. They’ve buttered up the nation well, but many of the services this company provides tell exactly the opposite story.
A few months ago, a senior officer of the company called my home to apologise for the shabby treatment by her call centre employees. This had happened after I complained in these columns about my DSL service not being reconnected after I had paid for same. I accepted her apology and sensed sincerity in her voice. She was a good woman. She gave me a personal number at which she could be reached in the future, though I doubt I will have need for it, since the pen of Suseran has sent chills down the spines of many over the past year. I do not believe GT&T would slip up once again in that regard.
But one thing irks me: that annoying recording which says, “Your call is important to us, please hold,” after which you are put on hold forever and hear an annoying song whenever you call one of GT&T’s hotline numbers, whether it is 097, 0488, etc. The 092 operator assistance hotline would ring out for minutes before someone picks up the phone.
A recent typical example is the full-page DSL advisory that GT&T placed in the daily newspapers last Saturday. They gave DSL subscribers two options: to know the due date of their DSL bills and to be reminded 3 days before disconnection occurs. I sent the stipulated text message to 620-4636 and received the message, “Sorry, your request was not understood. Please call 0488 if assistance is needed.” Call 0488? What for? So I can endure hell by waiting on their operators and listen to their silly jingle? No thanks.
Guyana’s most trusted network? How so?
Yours faithfully,
Leon Suseran
