Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: Why is GTE raising its fee for the Inside Wire Maintenance Plan again after its last increase a year ago? It started at $1.50, then increased to $2.50 -- a 60 percent increase. Now it's $3.95 a month, a 63 percent increase. They're taking advantage of a nonregulated item. GTE says repair plan
fee hike reasonableAlso, the number we were referred to for any questions is always busy.
Answer: The key word is "nonregulated," although GTE Hawaiian Tel spokesman Keith Kamisugi maintained that the fee is competitive. It is also optional "and customers have other competitive repair alternatives in the marketplace to choose from," he said.
Kamisugi also defended the higher fee as being more "appropriately priced."
It would cost a minimum of $85 "if a premises visit was required to repair defective inside wires or jacks," he said, adding that such problems "can and do develop." The average time required to make inside wire repairs is 78 minutes, at an average cost of $127, he said.
He said the IWMP cost, by comparison, is less than 15 cents a day.
He also speculated that you may have dialed the wrong toll-free number -- 1-800 instead of 1-888-483-4838. Otherwise, dialing 1-888 gets you into a call center, and "it is extremely unlikely that it would be busy," he said.
Update on state ID cards
Beginning yesterday, Social Security numbers will not be mandated on state ID cards. That's the result of Act 15, which became law this year.Applicants now may request randomly selected numbers or continue using Social Security numbers.
Also, the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center's Civil Identification Section, which issues state ID cards, will be open one Saturday a month for the rest of the year to accommodate the public.
The office, at 465 S. King St., Room 102, will be open between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. July 17, Aug. 14, Sept. 18, Oct. 16, Nov. 20 and Dec. 4.
The cost of the ID card remains $15. Cards issued before July 1, 1997, will statutorily expire at the end of this year.
Those issued after that date have six-year expiration dates.
Call 587-3111 for information.
Auwe
To Hawaii Public Radio and organizers of their fund-raising beer-tasting event, who refused entry to my 1-year-old infant.Were they worried that parents would offer beer to a baby? Hopefully, their restaurant sponsors won't follow HPR's policy, or I won't eat at those establishments. Any organization that practices discrimination against babies will never receive any financial support from me and HPR just lost a supporter. -- V.H./Hawaii Kai
(Michael Titterton, the new president and general manager of Hawaii Public Radio (KHPR) said the no-minors policy has been in effect for years and that, "beer tasting, almost by definition, is a grown-up event." He also said that the policy was printed in literature distributed about the event.
(The event raised roughly about $16,000, Titterton said. "It's a very important event. Keeping public radio going is largely a matter of begging. We beg during the year on the air and at fund-raisers and we have to supplement that with other events we can dream up. If we can dream up events where people have a good time, like beer tasting, then we're happy to do that," Titterton said.)
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
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