'Poor' Kenya Power....!

The fluctuations began here in Umoja Estate at around 8.30 am when I called Eng. Biwott who would not answer his phone.

Therefore, I waited and tried again just before 9.00 am and this time he answered and assured me that he would get the thing seen to immediately. So, I waited some more and when, after half an hour there was no change, I called him again to find out how long it would take for the thing to be fixed.

This is when he informs me that he was no longer stationed in Mombasa and another by the name of Mohammed Amiyo was in his place and that he would SMS me his contact which he immediately and mercifully, did.

Then, I called Mr. Amiyo and informed him of the problem and he promised me that he would look into  it and call me back after investigating what was causing it. He did call me back a few minutes later to tell me that there was no  record of any complaints at their call centre and therefore it could be a localized problem. And he would send a team over to our estate immediately.

Well, I waited and waited and waited ..... and am still waiting as I write this but after 3 hours (it's now over 4 hours), I called him again and he would not answer his phone anymore. So, I sent him a whatsapp message to ask why he was not answering his phone after which he did answer but had nothing to tell me other than to wait! The team was on its way...

I, therefore, called the County Business Manager, Mr. Kennedy Owino who answered (he usually does), and he told me that he would find out and revert back to me.

He did in a few minutes and told me that their truck and team was sent to other more urgent work somewhere in Bamburi and would soon be coming our way to sort things out. 

Now, my question to Kenya Power is how come they have only one team at a time working in a big 'city' like Mombasa with mega power problems and not more? Are they so poor as to not be able to afford more? Despite, charging its customers an arm and a leg for VERY SHODDY SERVICES?

We are still suffering from mega fluctuations and there is not a sign or word from Kenya Power other than to 'have patience'. 

As I mentioned in my earlier missive, we are told by all kinds of 'service' providers, most of which charge us a hefty sum, to have patience. We are TIRED of this constant repetition of this word which is misused to cover a multitude of inefficiencies.

So, now will Kenya Power be responsible for the stuff in my fridge which is slowly getting spoilt due to it being switched off by the voltage regulator and pay me for the result of their negligence and inefficiency? 

Tell us, Kenya Power, for we are FED UP of your insolent behaviour.

Kenya Power and its many inefficiencies...

I was going to write this, last night, after an outage of over 4 hours in the morning. But, again thanks to  our very inefficient and opaque power company plunged us, who live in North Coast, in particular Nyali, into yet another time travel of a century back, I could not write this. Since we lost power yet again (second one in a day), from just before 7.00 pm to about an hour short of midnight!

First, let's take the matter of people, including their own employees, getting electrocuted...

I thought there was a regulation that no structure should be built or allowed to be built within a minimum of 6 feet of power poles or lines. But, what do we have here? Yesterday, 3 painters in Tudor got electrocuted while painting some building using a metal ladder. Now, how close was this building to the power lines?

Are not the town planners at the Council supposed to work hand in hand with major utilities when allowing a building to be put up so that such incidences (not accidents), do not happen? What I have found, instead, is that the town planners pass the plans and then write letters to the utility companies to supply their services.

And these services in turn behave like - hear no evil and see no evil and act dumb. They, without looking at the whole set up of how and where this structure is coming up, blindly supply their questionable 'services' which often result in fires and electrocutions, etc.

IF, these people would just be ethical and responsible, they should refuse to supply their 'services', as soon as they notice a breach. But, no. They do not even give a thought to the consequences of what they are doing because this country's officialdom have become so fond of money that they will overlook almost ANYTHING given the right price!

In fact, if they followed their own law and refused to supply services, there would  be a marked reduction in illegal structures of questionable origins and it would also have a domino effect everywhere.

Secondly, why, when carrying out maintenance, does Kenya Power NEVER abide by the timings advertised in the papers? Not only that, but, when they finally are restoring power, most times they plunge others into  darkness before they finally bring us back to  the 21st century! This happened to us, last night when they were restoring power to the Bamburi area which had been on a scheduled maintenance outage the whole day. 

When I  called the chief engineer to find out why we were suffering the 2nd outage of the day, I was told that they had a 'problem' while switching on the power for the Bamburi area. I was assured that it would take about an hour to restore power. Unfortunately, for us, the hour came and went and another one and another one but no sign of light. At one point, I was told that the lines are overloaded and hence our constant power problems.

Finally, they (ALL the senior officers of Kenya Power), quit answering their phones! Later, after the power came back, I got an automated message from a senior officer to call him back at 10.10 pm!!!!

Another one responded in like manner at 6.35 am, this morning!

What is the matter with these people? Do they sound responsible and ethical? I was even told by another senior personnel that they are trying to 'serve us better'! 

I  believe they are doing just the opposite...!

Very disgusted and FED UP!!!

Persistent outages.....

Nearly every single day, we, in Nyali either suffer from outages or fluctuations or both.

I personally inform our Kenya Power officialdom as soon as I experience fluctuations an example being yesterday early morning when I got up to pray at 5.00 am. 

I wonder if our chief engineer did anything about  them when I reported them because, later in the day they started again and since they are usually a precursor to mega outages that last for hours on end, I called him again and within minutes of my call we were plunged into an oppressive, hot and humid outage which also coincided with much needed rain.

Then Kenya Power went on its way to find the fault to Kipevu. By the time they found the fault the rain had stopped and it was already over 2 hours since we were plunged into a heated darkness.

It took them another hour to restore power which made our misery three and a half hours long.

Now, again, my question to Kenya Power is, 'why do  most of these outages affect Nyali so much and why do they mostly happen at nights?' And as I  mentioned in my last email, why does Mombasa in general suffer more outages than the rest of the country? This is very sinister...

Why only at the coast...?

At the stroke of midnight on Friday, 18/19th of March 2016, the whole of Coast Province descended into darkness and the unbearable heat and humidity that we are all experiencing of late. Thanks to Kenya Power we spent the remainder of the night and most of Saturday being tortured by the heat and by extension, lack of water, too, since the pumps are all dependent on this questionable power company.

Kenya Power would have us believe that they were hunting for the cause of the problem. They were still doing this in the morning and their excuse was the darkness and the jungle through which their lines pass.

Well, according to them, when daylight finally came, they had to get a helicopter to identify the fault which they finally did around mid-morning. 

That is when they actually started working on whatever (technical problem according to them), was ailing it. 

We were told that the power would be back at midday, but, as usual, their word means nothing and midday came and went but no power.

Then, we were told that it would return by 1.00 pm and later 2.00 pm, etc. After all this 'buying' of time, I was told that while restoring power, something else happened and therefore THAT fault would have to be fixed and was given a time limit of 7.00 pm!!!

Mercifully, most of us finally got our power back, but, a whole lot of others still have not got their supply back to normal and are suffering high voltage even as I write this. They were informed ages ago, but, Kenya Power has still not rectified the problem. 

Therefore, these poor people have not had power since over 36 hours and counting.... There is  one family that I know, which has small children and they are really suffering from this awful heat not to mention that everything in their fridge and freezer has defrosted and is spoilt. Their A/c No. is 0340900-1.

Also, why does the Coast Province suffer so many outages? Not just in a month or week, but everyday?!!!

One never hears the same kind of outages involving a whole town/city regarding the rest of the country. But, Mombasa can get an award for the number of times that the whole town (I will not call it a city since it does not behave like one), loses power for hours on end. 

Friday night was a case in point.

Can Kenya Power investigate and whoever else that is interested, why the Coast and in particular Mombasa has so many outages on any given day? There are also fluctuations and power surges which, when reported are given scant attention by this monopolizing power company.

My landline and Telkom Orange

My landline, since the last week of February, suddenly went dead without notice. It is a pre-paid line that was being encouraged by Telkom Kenya since quite a few years as they were at the receiving end of a lot of flack regarding their questionable bills from irate customers.

Since, it has been easier to deal with prepaid lines - it was a win/win situation where they were concerned. They got their money in advance and also did not have to deal with headaches and accusations from customers regarding questionable bills.

I have been one of these prepaid customers since YEARS, therefore, when my line died without any notice, I  immediately reported it to Telkom Orange.

Everytime, I tried to find out, I at first, got a run around, but after a couple of days was told that henceforth, I had two options....

Either, I invest in a wireless line and retain the  same number (this unfortunately is battery dependent in a country with a questionable power supply), or go through formalities one of which is to pay a hefty deposit of 5000/- and return to  post paid services.

Now, without notice, my phone was cut off and to revive it, I have to  go through the added expense of this deposit sum and goodness knows how much of other red-tape involved.

For the past nearly 2 weeks, I have made countless phone calls to Orange 'officials' and been told that my line would be revived, etc., but, to date my land line is as dead as ever and no sign of it ever being revived with empty assurances from Orange to the contrary.

TelkomKenya changed its name to Telkom Orange, but, unfortunately, still retains its previous don't care attitude.

Will they EVER change?

Everyday outages, why?

I am being compelled to write this on behalf of a lot of Nyali residents and also others, further afield.

Not a day...., or night passes without complaints on our Nyali Residents' whatsapp group where someone or other (and this is in the plural), does not have power or having fluctuations or suffering from a low or high voltage.

Now, at least a couple of senior ranking officials, one of whom, is the chief engineer, are on this  list, and they like the rest of us can read these complaints most of which are written with reference numbers, but very rarely do we get a response online regarding the various issues.

There have been cases of people getting hurt by falling when the power suddenly goes off as well as equipment dying due to these continuous outages and fluctuations. Who is going to  foot the damage? Some residents have tried claiming from Kenya Power but, I am told that it got them nowhere.

Just last weekend there was the matter of Sunview Apartments having lost power due to a power pole which fell over on Saturday night. The residents immediately informed Kenya Power and as usual reference numbers were dished out in plenty, but that is where the matter stopped.

Now, there was no rain the whole weekend and NOTHING was done despite Kenya Power being repeatedly reminded over and over again of the residents' predicament. However, I only found out about it when a friend sent me a message late on Sunday night, but did not see it till sometime in the morning. 

That is when I  started calling all of  these officials to restore power to  a whole estate which had been in darkness for nearly 2 days!

Unfortunately, after a weekend of bright sunny days, we were treated to torrential rains on Monday. 

Therefore, this is the excuse that an employee called Kahindi gave to one of the residents for not being able to restore their  power and that is where the matter stopped. 

Fortunately, I found out about it and informed the Regional Manager with details of this man. 

Finally, these frustrated residents got their power back on Monday night - 48 hours from the time they lost it!

Why did it take Kenya Power so long to respond? And is Kenya the only country in this world which gets torrential rain and is that a valid excuse for Kenya Power to stop working? How do places where they get blizzards, etc., manage to give service?

First, why is Kenya Power behaving like this? 

Second, why are we having so many outages, fluctuations and surges every single day and not just once, but, umpteen times?

Third, is there some kind of shady deal going on where, they make people suffer by not restoring power immediately so that, the people concerned will dish out some monetary 'gifts' to them to do their work?

We are becoming very suspicious of the way Kenya Power is currently 'working' (more like not working), despite their unbelievably high tariffs.

We need answers, please,

Higher tariffs = Shoddy services = Kenya Power

Why does this monopolistic power company behave like this?

I have noticed that despite being on our Residents' Association Whatsapp group, they do not  read the members' power grievances and hence do nothing , sometimes for days on end. And the residents of Nyali, as elsewhere in Mombasa, go  without power.

Some senior employees of KPLC are in our group, but they either do not read these messages which are usually with reference numbers, or prefer to ignore them altogether. Why do  they do this?

It is disgusting that we still suffer from awful fluctuations all the time and/or outages umpteen times a day. And Kenya Power has no apology or explanation to give us. How insolent of them!!!

They are behaving in the classic way that monopolistic companies behave. Can these people, please give an explanation and apology for their so-called 'services'? And also respond to our grievances promptly, please?

We are getting very fed up!

Fwd: ICE CUBE

This is very interesting and worth trying...

ICE CUBE

                                                            No harm in trying

Put An Ice Cube at This Point on Your Head and Witness the Miracle You have probably never Thought that a daily use of ice cubes can help your body heal and Recharge and make you a bit younger and energetic. It can happen if you Put an ice cube at the point where your head and neck are connected. This technique is closely related to Chinese acupuncture and according To it, the point where you have to place the ice cube is called Feng Fu, Which translates to "wind mansion". Just hold the cube for 20 minutes on the Feng Fu point. Naturally, at first you will begin to Feel freezing, but after thirty or forty seconds you will feel Warmth. By doing this every day You will begin to feel euphoria. This is because the ice cube will cause For endorphin to be released in your blood. But, there are many more Benefits from using this technique. For example: • Sleep Improvement; • Better digestion; • No more frequent colds; • Less joint pain, toothaches and headaches; • Breathing improvement And better cardiovascular system; • No more degenerative spine Changes and management of neurological disorders; • Help with Sexually transmitted and gastrointestinal infections; • No thyroid Gland disorders; • No hypotension, hypertension and arthritis; • No asthma; • Help with malnutrition or obesity; • No Cellulite; • Better menstruation and help with impotence, Infertility, endocrine glands and frigidity; • No insomnia, chronic Fatigue, depression, stress and management of psycho-emotional Disorders; This method helps the Body to return its balance, so technically it is not a cure, but a Rejuvenation method. Simply put, your body gets higher on Life. However, the method may Show contraindications in cases of schizophrenia, epilepsy, pacemakers, And during pregnancy.

Jambojet and its booking frustrations...

Have people out there been experiencing problems with trying to book a flight on Jambojet?

I have just gone through a very frustrating time trying to do this. I know that they make their money from every little 'service' that they provide but, there has to be a limit and some justice involved.

For example, when you try to pay for your flight using your debit card, one discovers at the last minute that there are certain (they could not elaborate on the criteria of the types of debit cards), debit cards that Jambojet does not accept!

In the process, since you have no idea why the thing keeps asking you to feed in the number and you check over and over again that maybe you've entered some wrong digit and then finally you decide to call them at the various numbers at their website.

Here you encounter more 'adventures'... The automated voice (I really hate dealing with those as I am hearing impaired among other disabilities), which tells you to press various digits on your phone to get different 'services'. When I did that, the voice brought me back full circle, telling me to visit their website to get more information!!!

After wasting nearly an hour trying to get a human being at the other end, this human still talked like an automated voice. In other words, it was unhelpful in the extreme and kept repeating the same thing that THEIR system was rejecting my debit card (no reason given, again, since my card it valid and has enough money in the account), and therefore, I would have to go to their offices and book from there which would cost  me extra. Also, the other option being that she would book it for me at a further cost of 600/-!!!

Now, my question to Jambojet - Is this some kind of ploy to get more money from us? And why is YOUR system which is no fault of mine, rejecting my perfectly valid debit card?

Then, there is the matter of you having a pull down menu about persons with special needs, but nowhere can one, for example, book a wheelchair. Or does that cost some more money?

Today, I had a very nasty  and frustrating experience with Jambojet. Can they please rectify their system or have other alternatives that does not cost us money for something that is  no fault of our own.

I am wondering how I  am going to book for my flight, now....

The demise of the landline....?!

About a couple of weeks ago, I  got a call from a female voice (for some reason they are always averse to giving their names), who  claimed to  be from Orange Telkom.

First, despite telling her that I was hearing impaired and if she could please, talk a little louder, she insisted on talking in a low voice - no change in the decibel level.

Second, after getting her to repeat herself a number of times so that I could understand why she was calling me, it finally reached the conclusion that they were planning to do away with landlines and introduce wireless phones.

When I asked her the reason, I was told that they were upgrading their systems. 

Now, just earlier this year, they announced to all their customers who  were using wireless phones to change over from CDMA to GSM for a so-called minimal fee! 

So, when this confusing company calls me up to  inform me that they were changing from landlines to wireless, it did not make sense and told her, so. I also asked her the reason for changing to battery dependent technology in a country where the power supply was highly questionable. Since landlines were not dependent on power, it was very convenient to use when all of our cell phone batteries gave up their ghosts thanks to countless and unpredictable outages for days on end sometimes.

Those of us who have landlines, can, in the above scenario use these to get hold of the outside world despite there being no  power.

There is also the matter of costs. Calling landlines is cheaper from outside.

So, why is Orange Telkom changing? Don't they realize that we need a service that is not dependent on batteries? In fact, after a few years of having such a phone will result in the batteries not being available anymore because that particular model of  phone will have become redundant. Why do  these people create problems and needless expenses?

And finally, could Orange sensitize its employees regarding various kinds of disabilities and deal with them accordingly and not frustrate the people whom they call, please?