Click Network, the broadband telecommunications triple-play service running on Tacoma (Wash.) Power's fiber-optic network is not closed and is not closing, the Tacoma News Tribune reported. That's big news because, according to a Click spokeswoman, competing IPTV provider CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL)--or its door-to-door salesforce--is telling potential customers a different story.
Click spokeswoman Diane Lachel told the newspaper Thursday she is tired of what door-to-door sales folks selling CenturyLink's competing IPTV service are saying about Click--mainly that it's closed--and she's considering taking the matter to the Office of the State Attorney General.
Lachel said she she was told CenturyLink would discuss the issue with the vendor that employed the salespeople but, as of the latest newspaper update, she was still unsatisfied.
"We're going on a week here," she told the newspaper. "I'm getting very frustrated."
CenturyLink spokeswoman Meg Andrews blamed the tale-telling problem on a vendor who hired the feet on the street. She told the newspaper, "On Friday when we were made aware of the situation the vendor was told it is not in our best interest. I've been working with Diane on a daily basis."
Andrews said further that the sales pitch wasn't good for CenturyLink either.
"It's not really in our voice or tone," she told the newspaper. "It's not a good thing for us. We've never had this type of experience before."
Lachel, at least in what she said to the newspaper, isn't really satisfied that things are at their end--but thus far, as of the latest news, she hasn't filed any official complaint yet.
"While I appreciate Meg's assurance, it hasn't proven to have worked yet," she said.
The newspaper aided Lachel a bit by asking "anyone who hears this mendacious pitch from a CenturyLink representative to call (Lachel's) office" and giving out the phone number.
For more:
- see the Tacoma News Tribune story
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