MEMPHIS, Tenn. — MLGW keeps proving when customers need it most, that's when you can count on them the least.
They proved it in February when their poor response to an ice storm paralyzed this city, they're doing it to that 79-year-old woman in Rebecca's story and who knows how many others.
It's amazingly tone-deaf to suggest everyone should just go online when so many of the utility's customers don't know how or don't care to follow their Twitter account. Sometimes, when it comes to your light, gas, and water, you want to speak to a person, not spend a huge chunk of your day waiting.
A member of our digital team just wanted to know why she hasn't gotten her bill. For three days, she was hung up on before she got through. She told me, "Imagine if I had a service or retail job where workplaces aren't as flexible?"
A new reporter who just moved here couldn't get a hold of anyone to get his water turned on.
When Meteorologist Danielle Moss first moved here, she was on hold all the way from Memphis to Chattanooga waiting to ask for her utilities to be turned on.
MLGW said it's understaffed and training people, but there's no excuse for things to get so bad for so long.