KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC - An opposition legislator in St Vincent has criticised telecommunication companies for sending bill payment reminder messages to customers even as their services remain offline following the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 1. “With respect to the telecommunications providers in the country, I don't know, but I'm wondering whether the decision-makers from these companies have lost the human touch,” Daniel Cummings said, adding that “I was severely offended when in all of the struggles to get electricity, telephone and Internet, I kept getting text messages about how much I owe the utilities.” Beryl, the first storm of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, caused widespread destruction and death as it made its way through the Windward Islands as a category four storm.
The storm knocked out several utilities including water and telephone services. In Mayreau and Union Island in the Southern Grenadines, the electricity service remains offline and could remain that way for several weeks more, while in Canouan power has been returned to a small part of the island. Cummings said he knows that bill payment messages are automated but said that the management of utility companies could take steps to turn them off after a natural disaster.
“It's offensive in the least, insensitive in the extreme, and clearly enough is not being done by some of these companies to appreciate the changed environment in which we live,” said Cummings, a former manager.