Dear Editor,
This morning, driving to work, I heard Mrs. Helma Etnel of the TelEm Group of Companies announce the wonderful plans they have for the future. She repeatedly announced, "We are there for the people of St. Maarten."
Health Care providers service a considerable number of people of St. Maarten on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances, but that is not for TelEm to worry about.
We are now asked by Mrs. Etnel to wait until all staff has been prepared to provide services to the people of St. Maarten and to be patient. She has no idea that the people of St. Maarten have been waiting for more that 15 years for some kind of service. Mrs. Etnel is a very brave person announcing this after so many years of frustration with the services of the company.
In the past management of the TelEm Group of Companies would at least answer correspondence regarding urgent Health Care phone lines that are down. Today you do not even get a courtesy letter explaining or apologizing. Mrs. Etnel, it is one thing to expect your staff to become customer friendly, if management itself has no idea what it is.
We need a good and well functioning communications company with a management that understands what communication is and what it means to the people of St. Maarten in order to be able to serve them.
Mental Health Foundation's main phone line has been down for more than a week now and there appears to be no way it can be fixed by TelEm Group of Companies. Mrs. Etnel did not mention how long the people of St. Maarten are to wait.
Eileen Healy,
Health Care Provider
Editor's Note: The following is a response to Ms. Healy's letter sent by the TelEm Group's Corporate Communications Officer Joe Dominique:
"At 9:30am, Tuesday, July 27, The Mental Health Foundation for Psychological Wellness reported that it had no dial tone to its main phone line and for which a trouble ticket was written up.
"Due to the heavy workload of technicians in the field who have given priority to full restoration of four cell sites damaged by a lightning storm, the servicing of the Foundation's and other trouble tickets have unfortunately been delayed.
"We apologize to the Mental Health Foundation for the interruption in service and have taken immediate steps to rectify any communication problems the Foundation may have at this time.
"The Director of the Mental Health Foundation for Psychological Wellness is well known to the present and past directors of TelEm Group for her strongly worded letters over the years.
"The Director is advised that while TelEm Group will extend all courtesies to her Foundation, preferential treatment cannot be given to individual customers ahead of others waiting for service from TelEm Group technicians.
"The Foundation Director has missed a very important part of Mrs. Etnel's comments to the media in which she directly communicated with customers and specifically appealed for patience during this time when repairs were being carried out and the workload of Technical staff was stretched."
