Garth Rattray

I see that the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is inviting 'customers' to talk with them. Well, good luck.

This company has repeatedly proven itself to be rigid, dismissive and autocratic. Without warning, they charged many of their 'valued customers' 30 per cent more on their bills, while admitting that their meter-reading procedure was at fault.

And I have proof that, despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, the JPS insists that Cable & Wireless (C&W) commercial PBX phone systems and VoIP (NetSpeak) telephones are rated at 60 Hz while operating on their 50 Hz system. It follows that the JPS will deny responsibility for power-related damage to these devices.

Claim denied

Late last year, for no apparent reason, a nearby JPS transformer exploded and fried my PBX (office) telephones and the NetSpeak telephone. C&W deemed them to be irreparable, as replacing them was expensive. I wrote to the JPS manager, claims department.

In time, a JPS investigator examinedthe damaged equipment.

Eventually, the manager wrote claiming that "The damage occurred when the JPS' system was adversely affected by lightning strikes, which caused a disruption in the supply of electricity to some of its customers."

She continued, "The investigations also revealed that the damaged equipment were rated at 60 cycle and, as such, improperly rated to operate on its system."

Although their investigator was shown that all my electronic equipment had proper protection (with lightning guards, UPS devices and, sometimes, line conditioners), she dumped the onus for equipment safety on me by quoting the standard terms and conditions of service wherein customers are "required to place protective devices on their electronic equipment".

She even attached a document on 'Use of energy by consumer', outlining technical information on conditions of use, requirements and responsibilities of the consumer. I saw this as an attempt to absolve the JPS from any and all possible causes of equipment damage.

Act of God aside, I sought to protect other hapless JPS customers (who use C&W equipment), from JPS' erroneous belief that there is a cycle mismatch with the PBX and NetSpeak devices.

I wondered, how come the JPS (that claims to care so much) never shared their assertion with C&W, the Office of Utilities Regulation, the Bureau of Standards and the general public.

Autocracy

I sought to remedy this situation by seeking proof of the mismatch assertion.

I couldn't find any evidence of this alleged 60 cycle rating that their 'expert' investigator claims to have seen. I implored JPS to send someone to point it out.

What ensued was vintage JPS autocracy. Their general counsel and company secretary denied my repeated pleas for someone to point out the cycle rating on my equipment.

She wrote dismissively, "Please note that determination as to whether any of your equipment is rated as 60 cycle is simply done by looking at the specification at the back of the equipment."

I obediently and meticulously re-examined the equipment and discovered that the NetSpeak device has no label for cycle rating. However, it uses a 50 Hz adaptor.

I then contacted Phil Green (C&W's chief executive officer). Within a matter of hours Jim Pitchford (C&W chief operating officer) responded, "I have confirmation that our PBXs are all 50/60 Hz compliant."

He emailed two technical documents to substantiate this.

The JPS is holding fast to their claim that the C&W equipment is improperly rated. Their 'expert' investigator and upper management are very wrong on this matter. Chances are, many people are denied compensation because JPS believes that it is infallible.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Feedback may be sent to garthrattray@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.