The board of directors of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has instructed the agency\u2019s management to develop within the next 30 days a \u201ctransition plan\u201d for CUC\u2019s customer call center service.<\/p>\n
By this decision, the board hinted at the unlikely renewal of the $360,000 two-year contract of CUC\u2019s current call center agent, IT&E. CUC pays IT&E $15,000 monthly for this service.<\/p>\n
Saipan Tribune learned that IT&E\u2019s contract is expiring on Nov. 28 this year. <\/p>\n
Six months to its expiration, the board is looking at stopping the service despite the CUC management\u2019s claim that the call center program is working, recording over 7,000 customer calls monthly.<\/p>\n
CUC chief financial officer Charles Warren earlier disclosed that the contract saves CUC a lot of money. It was learned that prior to contracting IT&E for the call center service, eight CUC employees used to handle all calls. They were paid over $200,000 yearly\u2014or more than $400,000 in two years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
Warren compared this cost to what CUC currently spends for the call center service contract, which is $180,000 each year.<\/p>\n
Board member Adelina Roberto said, however, that CUC should not rely on the service of a \u201cthird-party\u201d contractor because \u201cthe only person that really cares for our customers is us.\u201d <\/p>\n
Like board chair David J. Sablan, Roberto is convinced that the agency\u2019s own workers must be used for this important service. The two board members emphasized the \u201cconnectivity\u201d needed to effectively perform the job.<\/p>\n
Even if it costs CUC to retrain some staff to do the job, the two board members expressed willingness to go that route.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe direction is to go back to the old system but retrain our people. And if it will cost a little more, let\u2019s invest in it to make sure our customers are satisfied. Based on what we received, satisfaction is not being met, which is making a much larger negative picture for CUC,\u201d said Sablan.<\/p>\n
The \u201cfair treatment\u201d of customers, he added, must always be practiced.<\/p>\n
He cited specific complaints received by the board about the existing call center service. \u201cThey call in and they get referred to two to three different people and still nothing is done. They call in and get referred to personnel and there is no call back. They call in for information, but personnel can\u2019t explain,\u201d Sablan said, adding that he has raised these issues with the management.<\/p>\n
CUC\u2019s Warren later asked the board to allow the contract to just naturally expire in November. Warren is expected to present in future meetings a plan on the transition to in-house call handlers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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