THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Remember the good old days when Ma Bell reigned supreme and was the only game in phones and phone service?  Back in 1981, they metamorphosed from a superb monopoly into an inefficient marketing company. Their clunky black phones were absolutely indestructible. You could drop them from a ten-floor window, throw them at the wall, spill just about anything over them and still they worked.  Bell Labs made one hell of a product.

However, when ATT was divested of its monopoly, all that changed. Then arose aggressively competitive phone companies - in addition to the five Baby Bells that were spun off from AT&T – which came after us for our business with unmatched gusto.  And then, every company it seemed started hawking telephones with some great capabilities such as hold buttons, conference calling, caller ID. It was progress in many ways but not all.

First, with this revolution came the inevitable decision-making. Which phones to choose?  Decisions are always a pain.  We discovered we could stop renting those impossible-to-destroy-black clunkers for a monthly fee and buy our own phones that are not indestructible for a rather nominal price.  One price, one time, good idea.  However, some of these telephones were no match for the clunkers.

I bought a couple that didn’t match Bell Labs’ standards. They were nice looking and had all the bells and whistles but they didn’t always work. The store wouldn’t take them back so enter THE LETTER to the president.

Well, nothing happened.  That was a shock!  But I am a determined sort and wrote a second letter restating the problem with a copy of the first letter. Now that letter worked. In short order, two new phones arrived in working order. The moral?  Persistence. Thanks V-tech.