We a few accounts with Florida Power & Light (FPL) for the properties, which we remodel for our clients.
I received the call from FPL. It was an automated service, and the robot told me that the service would be terminated, as of this coming Friday, and we needed to make a payment immediately. The robot gave the amount and the address of the property, but all I could figure was 20 and then the street name, which I did not catch.
No problem, I called FPL, explained the situation, and asked to clarify the address. Oops, they can’t. It is against their policy. This is after they grilled me, asking for Social Security, company name, address, everything. So they know that it is me.
And yet, no…
They suggested that I read them the address and they would say “yes” or “no”. I have quite a stack in my hand, and I am not going to sit and read through all this stuff. After all, they want me to pay, and I have the right to know what I am paying for.
Of course, they profusely apologize, but can’t help. They suggest they give me the account number, and then I sit and go through all of those, and see if I find a match. And then call them back and make a payment. Why do FPL people think that I have nothing better to do, but sit and surf through all this stuff, while they have it on their screen but would not give it to me.
You see, it is a policy, and policy is a sacred cow…
Guess it is in our best interests, and it is how FPL is protecting our… I do not know what. Obviously, not our sanity... Imagine somebody calling using my name, sneak into the system and… pays for me. What a disaster!
Couple of minutes before I called FPL, I received the call from them and the robot spit the address out, I simply did not catch it. So, this is the same company, same policy, same idea… But what people can’t do, the robot can…
I asked them if I can get this call from this robot again, but they do not have the control over this robot.
Interesting, robots at FPL do make way more sense than people at FPL. Probably it is a good idea for FPL to replace their customer service with robots. They are somehow smarter…
P.S. The fun part is that it turned out to be not our account for the last 3 years. There are tenants. But FPL keeps on file our phone number and calls us when they did not get a payment. So I called the guys and told them about the call. And they were puzzled. "I just got the bill from them 30 minutes ago" told me the tenant. And there is no unpaid balance, just the payment for one month. And they are already threatening to turn off the power?
Maybe they could let robots run the show.
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