Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to the recent letter from Mr. Ken Hodaly (the Journal, Sept. 9) of TELUS regarding the extended service outage in Spences Bridge last month.
He says that TELUS has suspended home services billing and is waiving wireless overage. This is all well and good, but most people in Spences Bridge use wireless hubs for internet, and many also for their home phone. So in effect TELUS is not giving these people any reduction on their bills whatsoever.
In addition, it’s been a month to the day since service was first impacted and there has been no contact from TELUS on this subject. I’ve already paid my bill for August and have now received my bill for September.
He also says that TELUS brought a cell tower on wheels to Spences Bridge, enabling customers to communicate by text message. This is true. I saw it with my own eyes. However, had I not seen it I would not believe it. I use an older Samsung phone (Samsung 7) and was only once able to receive service, despite driving all over the place every day looking for a signal. I am certainly not the only one with that story.
In the end I drove halfway to Ashcroft every day to sit by the side of the road and check messages, emails, and phone calls.
It was a tough time for everyone, including TELUS. However, TELUS needs to cease patting itself on the back for customer service and maybe get people on the ground in these rural areas to see what is actually going on. They will find that they are not as good as they think they are. Stories of poor service from TELUS are legion in this area.
Jim Ryan
Spences Bridge, B.C.
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