Today we had a power outage. Unlike the Verizon FIOS Internet outage we experienced, the PECO outage was expected. Unlike Verizon, PECO informed all of the residents in my community that it would be performing maintenance in our area. PECO’s representatives went door to door to deliver pertinent details to each address that described what work needed to be performed. When the power dropped, we were prepared.
Herein lies the difference between competent and responsible change management, and the careless, incompetent, do what we want, when we want to attitude that Verizon exercised, leading to an unexpected and prolonged outage that caused us a great deal of misery and pain.
Because of PECO’s planning and the thoughtful execution of change, we had time to prepare. As a Systems Administrator working from home, all critical computers that I use for work were attached to a UPS, Uninterruptible Power Supply. My wife is an Artist, so her workstation was also attached to a UPS. All components involved with our Internet connection were also attached to a UPS. When the power dropped, we continued to work. We also have a generator to power infrastructure like sump pumps and our heating and air conditioning. PECO’s efforts gave us adequate time to prepare.
What Verizon did to us was heartless. If PECO was an Internet service provider, PECO would have my business for life, even if their Internet Service was half of Verizon’s Speed. Why? The answer is simple.
PECO cares about customer satisfaction, Verizon does not. PECO demonstrated it’s concern. Verizon, on the other hand, found no value in me as a customer, and would rather have it’s offenses swept under a rug and forgotten.