Dear Editor
OVER the last couple of weeks, we have been communicating to you the recent change in our billing cycle for our DSL service. Based on your feedback, I would like to give further details and provide clarity on this matter, so that we can work together to avoid any future disruptions of this nature. Before even attempting to explain, I would like to sincerely apologise to you for any inconvenience this downtime may have caused. I fully understand how disruptive not having your internet service can be, especially if your children cannot stream their favourite show on Netflix or YouTube, complete their school assignments, or you being unable to meet your deadline to conduct your business. Disconnecting our customers is not something that GTT enjoys doing.

With the exception of rare errors, your DSL service gets disconnected due to non-payment. In many instances, non-payment may not be intentional on your part, but may be as a result of an accumulation of small balances over time, payments made late, or simply confusion on the amount needed to clear the account or due dates.

On April 11, 2019, many DSL services were disconnected because we changed the grace period for payment from 40 to 10 days after the end of the month. We know that it is a significant change, but it was a necessary change for us to streamline our business; normally, the grace period for most companies in Guyana spans between three to five days. I understand that there is some confusion, whereby some customers believed that they have been billed twice for their service; let me assure that this is absolutely not the case. Now that the grace period has been reduced from 40 to 10 days, customers who would normally wait close to the 40 days to clear their outstanding bills, would end up with their previous and current bills being due for payment around the same period.

I sincerely regret that everyone was unable to get the notices that we sent and going forward, we will do even more than the text messages, emails and robot voice calls. In addition, as an extra measure to our unconditional commitment to customer satisfaction, we will credit the reconnection fees paid for any customer who was affected by this change over the next two months.
Over the past six months, we attempted to be more proactive in letting you know what you owe. Here are ways that we can work together to ensure that you are not disconnected:
1. For mobile, landline and DSL, simply dial *100# from your mobile (works for GTT mobiles only) and follow the prompts. With this you will receive the most updated information about your bill. You must try it!

2. By using the MyGTT app you are empowered to not only view your bills, but to pay bills (using VISA or MasterCard – debit or credit). We continue to upgrade the app to make it even easier for you to manage your accounts.

3. We will send you text messages through your mobile and emails with your outstanding balance between the fourth and seventh days of each month. In order for this to give you the most value, we need you to ensure that your contact information is updated – especially your email and mobile numbers. Please do not ignore the messages we send; we promise not to spam you but to keep it to a minimum.
I would like to reiterate that the easiest way to pay your bill is via the MMG app, the MyGTT app and at MMG agents across the country. By using any of these methods, your payments are immediately applied to your accounts; all other methods can take up to two days for payments to be applied to your accounts.

Sincerely
Orson Ferguson
VP Customer Experience