SAN ANTONIO - Reporters hate it, but it happens all the time. A person - or organization - declines your repeated requests for an interview. But you hear from them right after the story airs, and they are MAD about how their side of the story was portrayed.
It happened to me again this week, as I looked into the case of a local military mom who got hit with a $1,870 electric bill from CPS Energy, as she is preparing to deploy to Iraq where her husband is already stationed.
Turns out there was a problem with her air conditioner that caused it to start burning four times as much electricity as it was supposed to. But she had no idea her energy consumption had gone way up because the air conditioner seemed to be working as normal.
The woman is an auditor for the Air force. A sharp, detail person who would have noticed the problem immediately when she got her July power bill. The problem is, CPS Energy never sent her a bill for that month, or for the following month of August.
When her bill didn't come on the usual date, she didn't sit there doing nothing, she called CPS Energy's Customer Service Department and asked what was going on. She was told they were re-checking her meter, nothing to worry about, just be patient, the bill will come.
A couple weeks later when she still hadn't received it, she estimated what her usual energy bill is during the summer, and sent in a check for $150. Then she called Customer Service a second time. This time she was told her account was "locked", but they could not provide her with any further information.
It wasn't until September 1 that she finally heard from CPS Energy -- when they sent her the bill for $1,870. She was shocked, and immediately called Customer Service, which told her FOR THE FIRST TIME about her dramatic increase in energy usage, and explained that the utility had taken all that time to investigate, and had determined that their meter was not to blame, and it must be one of her appliances malfunctioning.
The woman wasted no time, and had an electrician check her appliances. He found and corrected the air conditioning problem the next day.
Through all of this, the woman maintained a calm, rational perspective on the situation. She told CPS Energy she would pay for the first full month that her air conditioner malfunctioned. But since the utility failed to send her usual bill, or alert her in any way to the problem so she could investigate on her end, she did not feel she should have to pay for the additional month and a half of increased energy usage.
Customer Service essentially said, "tough luck", that she would have to pay the entire amount of have her power shut off. They also told her it was CPS Energy policy to stop sending out bills when they are investigating a big increase, or decrease, in energy usage.
That's when she lost it. Stop sending customers their bills? At a time when that might be their only way of detecting a costly problem? It didn't make sense. So she called the Trouble Shooters.
The first phone call I made was to CPS Energy's Media Relations people to confirm if this crazy policy was for real. I was floored when the media representative told me exactly what Customer Service told the customer: when the CPS computer detects a problem with energy usage, a hold is placed on their bills until an investigation is concluded. He even told me it was up to the customer to call CPS when they notice they haven't received a bill because they will not be sent any other kind of warning.
I pressed further: I needed a spokesperson for CPS Energy to go on camera and explain this policy about not sending out bills.
I was told the only person who could comment on camera about the issue was CPS Energy's Director of Customer Service, who was busy in meetings all day.
So we decided not to do the story that night. We scheduled it for the following night, and I told the media rep we were giving them an extra day, but I needed that on camera interview on that second day.
The next day came and I was told the Customer Service Director was in all-day meetings again, and I would have to settle for a written statement, which came by email right at my deadline and contained zero information about the policy I was questioning.
So we put the story on the air and people were angry.
Only then did the Director of Customer Service break away from her meetings and grant me an interview. To her credit, she immediately accepted blame for the customer's ordeal and promised to "work with her" on the big electric bill.
But then she proceeded to chastise me for giving out incorrect information. She insisted it was not CPS Energy's policy to delay, or stop sending out anyone's bills, and that what had happened to that one customer was a rare occur rance. A case that had slipped through the cracks.
She said it's true that they take time to review bills when a jump in energy usage is detected, to make sure the reading is accurate, but that review is done very quickly, in one or two days, and the customer usually gets their bill without any delay.
Now I don't know if that's true, or if there are a lot of other CPS Energy customers out there who have gone through similar situations with their bills, but the point is, if the Customer Service Director, OR ANYONE, at the utility had taken a few minutes to meet with me during the two days I was putting together the story, I would have reported that information.
Instead, I went with the only explanation I was given by CPS, which was over the phone, from a media rep who was not authorized to go on camera. He gave me information that CPS Energy now claims is inaccurate.
So CPS Energy not only bungled its handling of the customer's problem, it also botched the opportunity to explain the mistake to the public. Why don't people ever learn? When a reporter calls, get out there and set the matter straight. Even if the topic is not to your liking, it is going to be reported no matter what. So you may as well get your message out.
If the only person with knowledge of the issue is too busy to do an interview, get the correct information and have one of your many media specialists go on camera and relay that information to your customers.
Why save your response until after the story airs?
