"Should Utility Companies be Held Accountable?"

This article was written by a Rancho Palos Verdes resident who is suffereing from the power problems in the Pt. Vicente area. It was published in the Daily Breeze Tuesday August 14th, 2007.

We all seem eager to voice our contempt of airline companies lately! Whether for late flights, crying babies, baggage losses, or cramped seats, we take the opportunity to give the airlines a "piece of our mind" at the least glimpse of a problem. We expect them to be perfect in matters of our travel, and many actually think its our right to have it so. The airlines are viewed as a utility company would be, always expected to be on the top of their service game, with no slip ups, no delays, no crew or passenger routing mistakes.

If they do encounter these problems, interrupted passengers become very vocal about compensation, and other perks that go with our inconvenience. We expect telephone notification for delays, free meals and hotels for our troubled trips, free tickets for flight interruptions. Then why is it when our electrical utility goes out, the phone company lines go down, or the water main breaks, you get no warning, no update, no apologies and no compensation?

My area had trouble with electrical service recently. The electrical provider scheduled a planned maintenance that would take the power out for approximately 20 hours, (told this over the phone when I called in to check the status of the outage). There was no notice that work was scheduled, no communication when it continued beyond the maintenance stage, and indeed, no word at all unless the customers called to inquire what the problem was. Then we received only estimated times for information updates. We understand that there are going to be circumstances beyond human control, like broken water mains or snapped phone lines, but why do we accept these so readily without wrath?

Why are airlines expected to compensate passengers for their mistakes, some, like weather, air traffic control problems, and connecting flight interruptions or flight safety issues, which are totally out of their control? We expect them to issue vouchers for meals, hotels, free tickets, and the like, but have nothing to say when our home food supply is ruined, though we may have been able to salvage it with a little fore warning.

No, our utility companies are NOT the same. I just experienced a two-day electrical interruption. No warning, no compensation, little communication and $200 worth of food that had to be tossed out due to spoilage. The only comment? "We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you!" And a recorded message at that, received in the early morning as the power went back on, and every alarm on every appliance and system in the house was sounding.

I'm wondering if we'd put up with that from the airlines?

www.gemcorptraining.blogspot.com
is a blog on various thoughts on good customer service, the benefits, the techniques, and where its offered.