by Monica Schwarze
Staff Writer
Several resident students at the University of La Verne have been experiencing trouble with the University’s new Fujitsu phone system, which was adopted in September after Fujitsu took over Networking Communications Inc. (NCI), the previous campus phone company.
One of the most common complaints about Fujitsu involves the stutter tone, the tone heard instead of a regular dial tone when there is voice mail to be answered.
Senior Alison Phanco said that she began having problems with the stutter tone from the moment her new system was installed.
“When I moved in the phone had no dial tone. It just had this annoying beep that means that you have a message,” said Phanco, who complained that the stutter tone continued even when she had no messages waiting.
She also had problems with her PIN number, which refused to work.
“The PIN number stopped working at the beginning of October, and I couldn’t use it,” said Phanco, who first attributed her problems to an unpaid installation charge.
“I was under the impression that housing would cover the phone hook-up and there wouldn’t be an additional hook-up charge,” said Phanco. Later she discovered that her phone system had a hook-up fee of $23.50.
Clara Arcadia, Fujitsu student representative at ULV, said that it was understood that there would be a hook-up charge and that increased housing fees are only meant to cover local calls and a security phone system outside of the Oaks.
“The connection fee has actually gone down this year,” said Arcadia. “A lot of students expected to pay $35 or more. This year, the fee was only about $20.”
Even though Phanco said she eventually did pay the fee, she still experienced the same problems.
Fujitsu manager Kathy Meyers said that the phone package available to ULV students is an improvement over the old NCI system.
“We co-developed the package with the University,” said Meyers. “Everyone has a phone line for local calls, and the cost for that is included in the room and board fee. This service was not available to ULV students under NCI. So far, no students have complained about the local phone service.”
Meyers also said that, after taking over NCI last March, Fujitsu conducted a thorough inspection of the equipment at the seven schools that were serviced by NCI.
“We tried to clean up any technical problems,” said Meyers. “We had an engineer take a look at all of our equipment.”
Arcadia, who has also had problems with her stutter tone, attributes these phone difficulties to the fact that the company is new to the ULV campus.
“They [Fujitsu] are in the transition from NCI to Fujitsu,” said Arcadia. “They’re trying to adjust from the old ways and the old company.”
Meyers acknowledged that there have been some problems.
“When you bring a service to several hundred students, there are always several minor problems,” she said.
Junior Denise Delgado said she has experienced some of those problems. She changed rooms within one day of moving on campus, and had to wait two weeks before her phone was transferred to her new room. She believes the long wait was a direct result of the inaccessibility of the Arizona-based Fujitsu company.
“When I finally got through to Fujitsu, I was on hold for a long amount of time,” said Delgado, who said that she was kept on hold for more than 20 minutes at a time. Even though she did talk to Arcadia, the problem could not be solved until she spoke to Meyers. Delgado decided to forgo the Fujitsu voice mail service for “a regular phone and answering machine.”
Delgado, Phanco and other students said they have also had problems with Fujitsu’s billing practices. Delgado said she has not yet received a refund for the phone services she paid for during the two weeks she was waiting for installation. Phanco and other students have received bills for phone use over July and August, a time when most students did not reside on campus.
Phanco managed to reach a representative of the Fujitsu company, who advised her to ignore the charges. But the balance has not yet been removed from her bill.
Arcadia said that when a student is charged for phone use in July or August, it is usually because that student forgot to shut off their phone when he or she vacated the residence halls for summer vacation.
“It was their responsibility to call and disconnect their phone line at the end of the year,” said Arcadia.
Phanco is still trying to reach Fujitsu to straighten out her billing problem. However, like Delgado, she has been put on hold for inordinate amounts of time.
“How the heck am I supposed to find 20 more minutes to call them?” asked Phanco, who said she was kept on hold for up to 25 minutes the first time she called about her bill. “It’s impossible to find that kind of time when you are a student.”
Meyers admitted that, during the first few months of the school year, it can be difficult to reach the company.
“During fall registration, we are very busy and there are a lot of long hold times,” she said.
Meyers is enthusiastic about upcoming Fujitsu projects, including networking and caller I.D., that will be seen at ULV in 1996. She is also looking forward to receiving more student feedback regarding the phone system.
“Face-to-face contact is what we like to have,” said Meyers. “I’m very interested in learning about how students feel about our service. Feedback is very important to me.”
Phanco said that she has a problem with the fact that the students had no say in which phone company was chosen by ULV when Fujitsu took over NCI.
“I think it’s unfair that we didn’t have a choice,” she said. “We were never part of that decision-making process.”
