Wednesday, October 6, 1971
University Daily Kansan
5
Students Irked by Phone Service
By LARRY CHRIST
Kansan Staff Writer
Southwestern Bell, not wanting to act as if it were the only phone company in town, is weathering a mild storm of complaints from KU students and other persons satisfied with telephone service.
THIS SYSTEM works fine for individuals wanting directory assistance when calling in Lawrence. But persons calling KU directory assistance from outside Lawrence are charged making long distance calls instead of receiving toll free information
These complaints are varied,
but fall into two basic groups:
adequate service and the price
paid for this service.
A typical criticism voiced by students is that law enforcement officers who leave a list of telephone numbers of students living in university restrooms.
Numbers for these students, university organizations, and most offices and buildings on the land handled only by KU operators.
Many students living in residence halls complain of having to make trips to the Southwestern Bell office once a month to have their telephone bills incurred. This, they say, is because long distance calls that they did not place are billed to them.
Technical problems with telephone equipment have always been an area of frustration for many persons. One student worked on the new seven times before her call to New York was successfully placed.
SEVERAL STUDENTS living in the city expressed feelings that Southwestern Bell treated residents of their area differently from those at other colleges.
one resident. "Yet friends of mine living in Park 25 were getting their phones within a 'matter of days.'"
"It took nearly two weeks before we got our phone in," said
A young couple said that while living on Maine St., they could take up two months to pay their bills from the telephone company.
"But once we moved here, we were notified after one month to
"It took nearly two weeks before we got our phone in. Yet friends of mine living in Park 25 were getting their phones within a matter of days."
pay our bill or our service would be cut off immediately," they said.
THE LARGEST number of complaints came from persons who claimed installation fees were unfair.
"We pay eight dollars for something that takes two minutes to do," said one person.
Other complaints involved the payment of deposits for telephone service that, for some persons, ranged as high as $200 or more.
Steven Call, manager of Southwestern Bell. The Lawrence of Wall Street complaints were legitimate problems facing all customers of southwestern Bell But, he said, and all it did could them.
HE SAID KU buget from Southwestern Bell telephone service known as the Centrex system.
In regard to complaints about
members living in residence halls, Call
it was a problem, but added, "I
really don't know what can be
"Because of this," he said, "KU technically is our customer, not the students living in dorms."
He said that students received their telephone service through his company, and then their telephone numbers were not carried by Lawrence information services.
"We carry the main number of the 'University,' he said, because they are our customers this semester among all the dorm residents."
The problem of incorrect charges on telephone bills can be corrected over the telephone, according to Call.
**W E WANT TO do as much business over the telephone as possible.** he said, "It is not necessary to come to the office."
Call said the problem of persons being billed for long distance travel in the future because of new security measures. These
APPLICATIONS
persons from charging long distance calls to other persons'
One of the greatest misconceptions about the telephone company, Call said, involves the installation of a telephone.
Technical problems always occur, according to Call, even though maintenance on equipment constantly is being per-
"What appears to be no more than a two minute operation actually involves many people." he said.
For Half-Time Director of the Reclamation Center will be accepted until Friday noon in the Student Senate Office.
Call said more than 45 persons were involved in the complete installation of a telephone.
"WE MUST compensate for this amount of personnel by some means," he said.
Deposits made by persons wanting telephone service
"We can look at the person's willingness in the past to pay his diligence in the past to pay his diligence one way we can determine what our risk will be in keeping him as well."
Call said the telephone company extended more credit to the customer than any other ullity company. Therefore, he said, it is important that they know what the risk of keeping him as a customer is.
ranged. Call said, from $25 to $500. These deposits were determined by what he called willingness and risk factors.
Problems and complaints will continue to arise from students who fail to pay their fees, but Southwestern Bell will continue to do all it can in order.
---
The Collegeate Young Democrats appointed a special committee Tuesday night to investigate the possibility of having a special recall election aimed at defeating Atiy. Gen. Vern Miller.
Tuesday night's action was
upon up on a new wager in
which they demanded what they called
"geespoon inpiration" and called
"geespoon action."
KU Demos Ask Recall Of Miller
A recall election is possible in Kansas if 10 per cent of the registered voters sign a petition that calls for one
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