[StBernard] Phone Service Woes

[Westley Annis]

Melissa,
 
We probably need to contact our PSC commissioners to get them to lean on
BellSouth some.  I don't know if that would help but it certainly could not
hurt.
Just a thought.

JLY
 

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	Does anybody have any idea how we can light a fire under Bellsouth?
This is
	absolutely ridiculous! I have called their customer service line
probably
	every week for months. First they had no idea that new lines even
needed to
	be run. Then they told me that they have no inkling whether I will
have
	phone service within even 5 years, that damage was too bad and will
take 10+
	years to recover. Then they told me that I will have service June
30th. That
	apparently was a lie and now they say they can't give me even a
ballpark
	date. What have they been doing in all this time? I realize that
they needed
	to rerun an entire grid spread throughout many parishes, but I don't
see any
	progress. I have only seen their service trucks working at polls
twice in 4
	months. The repair center phone line couldn't even tell me whether
or not
	there were any crews working at all in the parish, not to mention
where they
	might be working. I refuse to believe that the crews are running
around
	whilly nilly and no one at corporate has any information on where
they have
	been, where they are, and where they will be next. It stands to
reason that
	someone has this information. Why haven't they shared it with us? At
the
	very least, it will keep us informed and in the know, instead of
asking
	endless unanswered questions. And we're basically stuck with them
too,
	unless you feel like changing the phone number you've had for 30
years. I
	get the feeling that they're just biding their time and trying to
get away
	with as little progress as possible, that they may be waiting for
that large
	influx of returning residents. Apparently they've overlooked the
fact that
	many many people will not return before there is adequate services
and that
	includes phone. I feel like that woman in central city who was told
her
	service won't be up until July 2007. Of course if this had happened
in an
	important area of the country, you wouldn't be seeing such delays.
They
	would have pooled all their available resources and worked on
getting
	service back ASAP. We, on the other hand, are the ugly stepsisters.
Who
	cares how long we have to endure without service. Is there any way
that the
	council can put a little pressure on Bellsouth to at least inform us
of
	their progress. Or is too much to ask of poor beleaguered Bellsouth
to try a
	little customer service. 
	
	Melissa