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Finally A Company That Makes Cable & Wireless Look Good

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Submitted by Adrian Loveridge

cable-wireless-limeI can never understand how a company with the resources (both in terms of capital and human), and that creates such vast profits like Cable and Wireless, or now LIME, can get it so wrong.

I think the facility to pay online using a credit card is wonderful.

It is a pity that certain Government entities and organisations like Barbados Light and Power and the Barbados Water Authority have not yet adopted the practice.

However, I have just paid a selection of Cable and Wireless bills which show the amounts are outstanding in EC$ and thanking me on behalf of Cable and Wireless St. Kitts and Nevis for the payments.

Surely, after such an elaborate launch, with God knows however much of our money spent on it, one of the hundreds of LIME employees or dare I say someone actually in management, checks!

My first instinct was to call the 1 800 quoted on the bills, which I did. But frankly, by the time you enter all the option numbers, wait and then are asked to enter your 12 digit code (or 4 of them in our case),

I just don’t have that amount of time to waste for a fault that is not mine.

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70 responses to “Finally A Company That Makes Cable & Wireless Look Good”

  1. xenophobe chick Avatar
    xenophobe chick

    As Sarah Palin almost said, “You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a swine.”

    LIME is why I’m glad my husband brought me to live in Barbados, an island that I love by the way.

    Daily incompetence is the norm and generally forgiveable for the gift of living in paradise.

    But this LIME sleight of hand – where nothing changed – is spectacularly incompetent.

    I called the number they show on their website where we’re supposed to get help within a minute.

    AND HEARD – “POWER TO THE PEOPLE & CABLE AND WIRELESS, ETC. ETC. ETC.”

    The nitwits who changed C&W into LIME DIDN’T EVEN GET RID OF THE MOST HATED CORPORATE JINGLE EVER.

    And no living being answered the phone within 5 minutes even though “Your call is very important to us, etc. etc.”

    The final indignity was when I was cut-off completely.

    You just gotta’ love Barbados.

  2. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    You didn’t expect anything to actually change, did you?

    To drive the point home… Let’s run an empirical experiment…

    Let’s say your C&W land line goes dead, and your cellular provider is Digicel…

    You look in the *BARBADOS* phone book, and on page 1# is listed the “Cable and Wireless Barbados Customer Care Center” — 1-800-804-2994.

    You dial this number on your Digicel cell phone…

    You’re then greeted with one of two messages (about 60/40, based on several recent runs of this experiment):

    1. “The toll-free number you have dialled is not toll-free if called from outside the United States. You will be charged at international direct dial rates. If you do not want to be charged, please hang up now.”

    2. “We are sorry, we are unable to complete your call, due to problems on another network. ID 9.” [repeated twice]

    We keep telling ourselves that we have advanced telecommunication services here… We have competition here…

    Yeah, right…

    We can’t even get the ILEC to accept 1-800 calls from the local CLECs.

  3. David Avatar
    David

    After reading the weekend press just gone we are concerned that outages in service is not routinely rebated to consumers. Why should we have to claim a rebate when C&W now LIME would have known that service to all/some areas were out?

  4. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Yes someday I too will come to lime in Barbados, but I will bring my Digicel or my Cell Link Plus as I don’t like Cable and Wireless, our late leader routed them from my country years ago. Anyway did you all hear MAMA AFRICA died, Miriam Makeba, a just thought I would let you know. Bye Sistuh

  5. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Yes someday I too will come to lime in Barbados, but I will bring my Digicel or my Cell Link Plus as I don’t like Cable and Wireless, our late leader routed them from my country years ago. Anyway did you all hear MAMA AFRICA died, Miriam Makeba, a just thought I would let you know. Bye

  6. Ian Bourne Avatar
    Ian Bourne

    LIME means do nothing, and folks think this is what C&W does anyway… It would have been better if they used MILE – Mobile/ Internet, etc. They could then try and foist a concept on the public that they go the extra MILE 2 please U

  7. David Avatar
    David

    @Ian

    Good one!

    Why does C&W want to rebrand? Must mean that public opinion has a negative view of the brand.

    But limey, to go to lime? Who was it that had the brain rush? Must have happened while liming at their Crop Over Pork lime. Shouldn’t the corporate colour now change to lime green?

  8. Straight talk Avatar
    Straight talk

    A fruity decision.

    They’re probably emulating another telecom giant …Orange.

    I would have chosen Gooseberry for their lack of disregard of customer service.

  9. X Avatar
    X

    The other ridiculous thing about this splashy launch of LIME is that it should really be called LIM.

    LIME is supposed to be an acronym of their product offers but a called placed yesterday to enquire about the “E”ntertainment option yielded a confused response from the salesperson. No information whatsoever on what the product would be or when it will be available.

    Why on earth would they set themselves up for something like this? At least have a plan or some info about when more info would be available.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    @X

    We neglected to give you credit for sending us the image. Accept our apology we value information received from the BU family.

    One thing is for sure, there is a lot of money to be made by partners before this rebrand is done.

  11. Cruiser Avatar
    Cruiser

    I have been paying my BL&P bill on-line for years and I see a link on the site where the Water Authority’s bill can be paid as well

  12. Barbados » Finally A Company That Makes Cable & Wireless Look Good

    […] Finally A Company That Makes Cable & Wireless Look GoodSubmitted by Adrian Loveridge I can never understand how a company with the resources (both in terms of capital and human), and that creates such vast profits like Cable and Wireless, or now LIME, can get it so wrong. … […]

  13. sarahpalin Avatar
    sarahpalin

    Send an email to LIME’S (Sorry still C & W’s) “Customer Service, Billing Enquiries & Service Faults” department.

    windwardcustcentre@cwbar.cwplc.com

    And you’ll never hear from them again.

    The Corporate Mantra at LIME (and still C&W) is “Make the customer feel good by telling them you are doing something about it. And do nothing. Or, better still, hang up.”

  14. Adrian Loveridge Avatar
    Adrian Loveridge

    sarah(see russia) palin,

    Last time I emailed customer service at C&W, it took 6 days to receive any sort of response.

  15. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Q: What’s Blue and White, and sleeps two?

    A: A LIME van…

  16. Pyxis Avatar
    Pyxis

    …cable and wireless isnt the only company in Barbados that has gone through such drastic change.
    Barclays now FCIB, were still sending out literature baring the Barclays logo up to two months after their transformation.
    CCS now Illuminat- similar circumstance.
    Caribbean Home- Guardian General…
    and i could go on.

    Transformation is not a definitive time event; Its a process.
    Give them a chance. Lets see what else they can offer us.

  17. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @David: “After reading the weekend press just gone we are concerned that outages in service is not routinely rebated to consumers. Why should we have to claim a rebate when C&W now LIME would have known that service to all/some areas were out?

    With respect, your above includes three erroneous presuppositions:

    1. That LIME knows when a service is down. That involves proactive monitoring…

    2. That LIME are interested in any rebates that they’re not forced to pay.

    3. That LIME are actually exposed to rebates. (Read your service agreement(s)…)

    Caveat emptor.

  18. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Pyxis: “…cable and wireless isnt the only company in Barbados that has gone through such drastic change.

    Ah, but they are the only company to undertake a “rebranding” which has had a legal (if not natural) monopoly…

  19. Pyxis Avatar
    Pyxis

    @Chris Halsall “Ah, but they are the only company to undertake a “rebranding” which has had a legal (if not natural) monopoly…”

    Its only “natural” for any profit driven entity to seek market monopoly…

  20. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @Pyxis

    Correct me if I am wrong but ..
    “CCS now Illuminat
    Caribbean Home- Guardian General
    CIBC – Barclays”

    these were all buy outs no? G. General bought out C. Home, CIBC bought out Barclays….. hence the rebranding

    but with C&W there is no buyout

    AND

    “…cable and wireless isnt the only company in Barbados that has gone through such drastic change”.

    I don’t recall any of these other companies trying to send home 1200+ employees!

  21. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @Pyxis: “Its only “natural” for any profit driven entity to seek market monopoly…

    Ah, I see. You’ve not read the academic literature on economic theory…

    A “natural monopoly” is quite different from a “legal monopoly”…

    The former is reasonable and is to be expected; it makes sense; it is logical.

    The latter is an aberration, and indicates that the policy and law makers have not yet done their work. It doesn’t make sense; it is not logical; it is not optimal…

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @Chris

    Not sure if you read the weekend Sun but there was an article which highlighted the onerous requirement of subscribers who wanted to make a claim for outages suffered.

  23. JC Avatar
    JC

    The more things change the more they remain the same.

  24. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @David: I’m assuming you’re referring to page 10A? “Reviewing Service Standards” by Albert Brandford?

    I’m again confused as to your above…

    Not just here in Barbados, but throughout the world, service providers are not generally obligated to provide rebates to a customer without the customer registering a formal complaint.

    According to the article, not a single C&W customer filed a claim.

    Tell me, what does this most tell about us???

    What it tells me (personally is that we’re happy to accept (and pay for) incompetence…

  25. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Typo…

    In the Geek: s/(personally is/(personally) is/

  26. David Avatar
    David

    @Chris

    Are you saying that if C&W does unscheduled maintenance which may span 12-24 hours subscribers have to claim?

  27. NO MORE MARINAS EVER AGAIN Avatar
    NO MORE MARINAS EVER AGAIN

    Never mind the 4th World service by a “leading” British company.

    What about the extortionate rates we’re forced to pay the monopoly for 5th World Internet speeds?

    T & T has 4 times our best speed at half the cost.

    But of course C & W has to pay for an image change to trick us into not noticing they’re not changing anything else.

  28. .22 Avatar
    .22

    * $91 million dollar profit
    * 1200 job cuts.
    * Rebranding their caribbean for $400 million dollars.
    * An organization that only supports investors and shareholders? (It looks like it, from an obvious perspective)
    * Mediocre services to the people?

    — It is time we in Barbados get another major telecoms company on the isle soon and be more progressive in this. I don’t know but it looks like our alternatives sources are ‘constrained’ besides Digicel.

    What is going on with the FTC?

  29. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @David: “Are you saying that if C&W does unscheduled maintenance which may span 12-24 hours subscribers have to claim?

    Yes, that is what I’m saying.

    You have *read* your SLA(s).

    Correct?

  30. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @.22 “It is time we in Barbados get another major telecoms company on the isle soon and be more progressive in this.

    You already have one. TeleBarbados. (AKA Freemotion; AKA WAMCO.)

    Give them a call tomorrow. Buy their services. Examine their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) closely.

    Full disclosure: while I have been involved with all three groups in the past, I have no involvement with any of them (except as a client) currently…

  31. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @.22: “What is going on with the FTC?”

    A very interesting question. One which has been raised by *many*. But, interestingly, no answers…

    Empirically, incompetence or corruption are the obvious explications…

    Happy 11.11 to all.. Remembering those who stood up (and died) so we can stand up, and ask questions…

  32. .22 Avatar
    .22

    Unfortunately Mr. Halsall, we might be stuck here C&W with the ‘mediocre’ service due to the faster connection speeds. My Parent is unwilling to switch at the moment, I’d already talked with him a couple of months ago.

    I would be hoping if Telebarbados/FreeMotion be willing to ‘up’ the speeds of its wireless broadband package or ‘simply use different technology’ than wireless Internet to convince us to make the switch. At the moment there’s little hope for us.

  33. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @.22: “At the moment there’s little hope for us.

    You’ve said more than you know…

  34. Bush tea Avatar
    Bush tea

    I am in love – with Xenophobe Chick…
    What a contribution, what prose…
    what an excellent and correct description of Barbados…..

    All day Bush Tea has been savouring the way that this blogger has captured and summarized her adopted country (which we both love…)
    *************************************
    “Daily incompetence is the norm and generally forgiveable for the gift of living in paradise.

    But this LIME sleight of hand – where nothing changed – is spectacularly incompetent.”
    **************************************
    SPECTACULARLY INCOMPETENT!!!!
    ….I love the imagery.

    Mrs chick, if the husband ever slips into the Bajan norm ….. I want to recommend that you seriously consider a Bush Tea remedy….

  35. Citizen Avatar
    Citizen

    Here’s my 1 cent. It’s been a while since I bought a Sunday Sun because most times when I attempt to read it I regret it. (that’s all I’ll say on that for now). I noticed some people had a black colour special ‘pull out’. It was C&W (I mean LIME) and you know what, I decided it still wasn’t worth my money buying the Sunday Sun just to LIME and I didn’t care to borrow a LIME from anyone either. I just didn’t care what they come with.

    Ok, ok, so after hearing yesterday that in St Lucia, LIME is offering St Lucians 6000 minutes for EC$135/BDS$100 and calling anywhere in the Caribbean included (that has LIME landline and mobile) and free roaming (but the catch they have to sign up for it, it wasn’t automatic, just I C&W, I mean LIME) I decided to take a peak at their website time4lime.com

    The website said nothing, just bunch of fluff and incomplete pages, useless information, and lack of pricing. (They Internet rates were online though, but it was the same old C&W rates so I quickly decided not to lime on that page anymore). I then remember all the reasons why I didn’t care to LIME.

    If DIGICEL is true that they will adjust to suit, I’ll wait and see what they plan to offer. Until next lime. Bye.

  36. ROK Avatar
    ROK

    We really do live in a capitalists society. As traders Jesus warned that if you sell a dozen give an extra; your conscience would be clrear that you did not rob your customer.

    On saying it the first time, it was meant to get at C&W but more and more it is becoming evident that there must be a change that gives our people a chance which we are not getting with C&W.

    It is time that Government owns the copper network. You telling me that a company knows it has cut their customers’ service and rather than refund them or give them a credit, you make it hard for them. No. Incorrect.

    The company’s hands are not tied by the law. They don’t have to wait for complaints. they are bluntly refusing to please their customers because they are a monopoly.

    But that is capitalism for you. It has its roots in piracy and usery which when translated today amounts to highway robbery. It does not have to be this way. We see clearly how much C&W care even about its most loyal customers.

    C&W gives no quarter and therefore deserves none.

    OK Chris, you are not giving me any option for this call. If Government owns the Cable network, we would pay less for cell phone and internet access and that market would be competitive. Wherever it is natural to have a monopoly on important goods and services, the people should own them and preserve them for the use of all.

    You cannot back me in a corner to accept a monopoly that will forever be a monopoly while holding up a liberalisation flag, because in as much as nationalisation is not liberalisation, monopoly is not either and given the trend towards greed we are better of nationalising than leaving this in the hands of a monopoly.

    I see the Prime Minister getting there; anything I can do to help persuade you Hon. Prime Minister? Lol!

  37. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Adrian, you touch many of the possible nails on the head. LIME may have put itself back in the running for incompetence, but Digicel is still pushing it hard in that race. See my recent blog post, http://livinginbarbados.blogspot.com/2008/11/digicel-rhymes-with-hell.html, on a “close encounter” of the incompetent kind.

    Since the change over to LIME I have needed to call the help line twice to get technical help. The old C&W regularly kept you on hold for 30+ minutes and the new model promised that all calls would be answered within a minute. WRONG! Two calls. Average hold times 45 minutes. I gave up and still do not have answers to my problem.

    What do we have? Competition or Incompetance-ition?

  38. A Bajan in NY Avatar
    A Bajan in NY

    Lime is a term referring to a number of different fruits (generally citruses), both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, generally containing sour pulp, and frequently associated with the lemon. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and beverages.

  39. A Bajan in NY Avatar
    A Bajan in NY

    Always leaving a sour tease in my mouth guess am not alone now after all.

  40. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @ROK… I agree, something must change… However…

    @ROK: “It is time that Government owns the copper network.”

    OK, let’s talk about how this might be done…

    1. Option 1#: The Government simply takes over the copper plant.

    1.1. Results: Barbados would then be seen as a socialist state; “taking” assets. From that point forward, it can forget about all FDI.

    1.1.1. Opinion: This is not going to happen.

    1.2. Requirements: The Government would have to have talent available who know how to run and maintain a copper plant.

    1.2.1. Opinion: This is not going to happen.

    2. Option 2#: The Government buys the copper plant.

    2.1. Results: Forced purchases are not unheard of. However, unless the price paid was at “fair market value”, it would be viewed as a “taking”. See point 1.1 above.

    2.2. Requirements: An analysis would have to be conducted to determine the “fair market value of the copper plant.

    2.2.1. Observation: I myself asked the FTC (publicly, during hearings) if this analysis would be conducted for their recent PCM review. The answer was no.

    2.3. Requirements: See point 1.2. above.

    3. Option 3#: The Government forces the ILEC (read: LIME) to provide to its competitors access to the copper plant at the same prices it itself pays. This is known as Local Loop Unbundling (LLU).

    3.1. Results: Competitors are able to access the “last mile” customer using the existing (and already paid for) copper plant, introducing competition in “Local Dialtone”, “High-speed Internet” (read: xDSL), and other services.

    3.2. Requirements: The same as option 2# above. (See 2.2.)

    3.3. Observation: This option has been implemented throughout the world, successfully. In fact, C&W (UK) (as a CLEC) argued to OfCom (The UK Regulator) that such access was *required* to introduce competition (See OfCom’s archives).

    @ROK: With respect, I submit to you my above, and ask you: what makes the most sense?

    @All: A follow up question: is there the political will for any of the above?

  41. ROK Avatar
    ROK

    @Chris

    Last question first. Not sure. Waiting to see but it seems possible.

    The last suggestion may be a workable solution. However, on the point of purchasing it, I think that a rental fee for using public lands to hold the copper network over the years is quite in order.

    Being seen as a Socialists state is out of the question. Democracy is a mixed bag, and one act of bringing down a monopoly will not make us a socialist state… and a forced buy out for developmental reasons can be defended.

    By any standard, the service we get from C&W is lousy. Their corporate practices leaves a lot to be desired and when they can make US$91, million and still layoff staff, there can be no sympathy.

    This thing about independent contractors has been tried already and failed. Bottom line; they getting rid of staff so they can make more profits to siphon off to UK, while we sit here signing an EPA.

  42. DevilsAdVocate Avatar
    DevilsAdVocate

    @ NO MORE MARINAS EVER AGAIN

    “What about the extortionate rates we’re forced to pay the monopoly for 5th World Internet speeds?

    T & T has 4 times our best speed at half the cost.”

    -where did you get that from?
    a 128k package from TSTT is $400/ BDS $ 138 and it drops out every couple hrs…

  43. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @DevilsAdVocate… I *know* you are wrong…

    T&T have *much* better service, and at better prices, than we do in Barbados.

    Prove me wrong.

  44. DevilsAdVocate Avatar
    DevilsAdVocate

    @ Chris Halsall
    http://www.tstt.co.tt/

    http://www.time4lime.com/content/6/section/4/category/80/348

    conversion rate is :1 BBD = 3.05789 TTD

    N.B: Prices on TSTT’s site are not VAT inclusive.

  45. .22 Avatar
    .22

    @ROK: Telecommunications Competition we have at the moment is already rendered into a state of ‘less-of-a-bargain’ or actually ‘no-bargain’ territory. That has almost left me very plagued…
    Choices of these packages being offered currently are in my opinion overvaluing the money worth for a provision is below average.

    @Chris Halsall: TeleBarbados/Freemotion is on wireless services but its like $100 for only 1024kb of download is not worth the switch since we’re heavy users.

    Let’s put it like this: If a service like Flow (Columbus Communications) provides says $100 for about 8-10mbps through xDSL, Cable, providing the service garunteed, I would choose it over Freemotion or even C&W due to its ‘fair value’ and ‘provision of such ‘scope’ that is not seen to customers in that regard.

    Where is the ‘Wow’ factor in those offering packages for such less speeds, especially coming out of all of them: Cable & Wireless (a.k.a LIME), Sunbeach and TeleBarbados/FreeMotion?

    @DevilsAdVocate: I sure know T&T has better services including Jamaica & the Bahamas than Barbados. Simply better ‘tech’ & ‘resources’ being used than we’re doing and using.

  46. freewilly Avatar
    freewilly

    I see that LIME has left a bitter taste in ya’ll mouths…what did you guy’s expect,service like Verizon??? This is Barbados where our eyes are “jucked out” daily..you all really expected to see a difference besides name change?? lol

  47. freewilly Avatar
    freewilly

    LIME would make me very happy if just for one day in Barbados i can turn on my computer,go on the net and not be cut off the very first 2 minutes,then have this continue for a half hour straight then sometimes no service at all,you guys know what i’m talking about,these crappy zhone modems and the red light,until then i will be shaking my head.

  48. freewilly Avatar
    freewilly

    Oh yes anyone else having the problem that when the net(ADSL) is actually working and your landline rings you get cut off the net what is up with that LIME???Why won’t you cheap bastards do what you have to do to get proper service to the people knowing that ya’ll are jucking out their eyes already???

  49. Technician Avatar
    Technician

    @ Free Willy…..

    If your phone rings and then you get cut off…more often than not it is a problem in your home. It is called “tripping the ring’ and from experience, it is usually a corroded jack or cord.
    This can also explain the red light,which also shows line quality.
    Do you live close to the sea?
    Lime will check inside your home for a fee…..otherwise, check it yourself.

  50. Merciless Avatar
    Merciless

    Vastly improved service. After waiting 15 mins on the call queue with a billing query, the agent transferred me to another call queue because she could not answer my question. Waited another five mins before I was cut off

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