Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: Hawaiian Electric Co. either sold or gave my name and telephone number to a mainland telemarketing insurance agency. My friends and I have been bombarded by calls from this company. Is Heco, as a public utility, allowed to just sell or give our names and numbers to a mainland telemarketing company without informing customers? I did call Heco and dealt with a snippy lady, who said I would be taken off the list for future telemarketing offers because my number is unlisted. But I want to know, did they have the right to do this? Heco can sell your
phone numberAnswer: The Public Utilities Commission, which regulates utility companies, has no rule prohibiting utilities from providing customer information to other sources, says PUC administrator Paul Shigenaga.
Heco contracted with Central States Indemnity, a bill payment insurer, said Heco spokesman Fred Kobashikawa.
Heco customers were informed through newsletters about the planned telemarketing effort, added Lynne Unemori, another Heco spokesperson.
CSI was provided names and telephone numbers. However, the names of customers with unlisted numbers were not supposed to be forwarded; Heco officials apologized.
"We did do a sort of phone numbers in our records ... to eliminate unlisted and invalid numbers," Kobashikawa said. "Unfortunately, for some reason, our sort didn't work quite right and there were some unlisted numbers that were not culled."
The list of numbers is being rechecked to make sure that doesn't happen again, he said.
Also, unless a customer gives permission to do so, Heco would not release any other details of an account, Unemori said.
The contract with CSI specifically states customer names and numbers are to be used only for the purpose of offering a payment protection program for Heco bills. The plan would cover bill payments for six months in the event of a job loss, disability, etc.
"This benefits all customers in that it lowers our collection costs," Kobashikawa said. "It reduces the amount of unpaid bills."
He said Heco felt comfortable with CSI because it also does work for other local companies, such as the Bank of Hawaii.
Calls, which began in May, are expected to continue through August.
"We are trying to offer additional services to our customers," Unemori said. "On the other hand, we want to respect those who do not wish to get those calls."
Call Heco at 548-7311 if you want your name placed on a list of customers who have indicated they do not want to be called about this or any other Heco telemarketing offer.
Mahalo
To Bonnie, for the exceptional customer service that my friends and I received May 4 at the Chart House restaurant, where we celebrated the end of a long and exhaustive legislative session.The change from our previous server to Bonnie went smoothly. We thought little of the $24 tab for four nonalcoholic beers, feeling the ambience and brief escape from reality was well worth the money. As we were leaving the parking structure, Bonnie approached, saying she had overcharged us. She refunded both the overcharge and the tip, apologizing profusely.
We were able to persuade her to accept the tip as an expression of gratitude for her service and honesty. -- Reuben Kanoho
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com