Telephone woes in Portmore

SPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:

RESIDENTS OF Passage Fort in Portmore, St. Catherine, are unhappy with Cable and Wireless' service, and were highly critical of the telecommunications company for not addressing their problems.

There were complaints of improper billing and crossing of lines at a recent community meeting.

The Gleaner sought comment from the phone company and was advised by a representative that they are aware of the problems in Passage Fort, and are taking steps to deal with them.

If Cable and Wireless does not clean up its act they could see serious legal action taken against them, according to residents, some of whom have vowed to permanently disconnect their service with the company.

One irate resident told the meeting on Saturday that he had to ask the company to disconnect his service permanently as he was unable to pay for calls he did not know about, amounting to several thousands of dollars.

According to him, since he received the service three months ago he had received two bills with several pages of cellular calls. These calls he said were made to six police stations in St. Catherine, Kingston and St. Andrew.

He said at one stage when he picked up his phone he heard persons speaking in Spanish to each other, and that it was also after the police's intervention that they freed up the line.

Other residents recounted similar problems, with one noting that when he complained to Cable and Wireless, he was told the problem is not with the head office, but the sub-station in Portmore.

President of the Passage Fort Citizens Association, Trevor Gayle, told the residents that the association would be seeking to discuss the issue with the telephone company.

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