Several years ago, the last sound I heard as I left the office for a much-needed vacation was the voice of I-R business manager Juanita Kepka in a phone debate with AT&T over the company’s lack of service.

Fast forward a week and a friend and I were in the back of a taxi speeding toward the nation’s capital during morning rush hour. Our cabbie was on his cell phone, leaving one hand to control the steering wheel as he darted in and out of traffic.

“I’m really sorry,” he said after we arrived safely at our destination. “I was on the phone with AT&T about my service. I’ve been calling for weeks and that was the first time I actually was able to talk to a human. I was afraid it wouldn’t happen again if I didn’t make time for the call.”

If this were a political contest and AT&T was a candidate, the opposition ad would almost write itself. You know, something like, “Don’t vote for AT&T, the company recognized from Kansas to Washington, D.C. for its bad customer service.”

That was six years ago and I can’t say anything has improved. Consider:

• The I-R recently switched our telephone and internet services from AT&T to H&B Communications. Instead of working with us, AT&T — as a show of how much the company has appreciated our business over the past 20 years — simply stopped our service. No warning. Fortunately, it only took H&B a couple of hours to reconnect us. The other day we received a bill of $117 from AT&T for 11 hours of service. We paid it because no one had time to spend hours on the phone waiting to complain to a live person • This past year, about

• This past year, about Christmas time, I lost my AT&T credit card and asked for a replacement. In the process, I discovered someone had used my card to pay for items ordered from QVC, the television shopping network. I alerted QVC and AT&T and contested the charges. After hearing nothing for several weeks, I set aside an afternoon and called AT&T for a status report. The person who finally came to the phone had no idea what I was talking about. I did no better with a second complaint. It also took two calls to cancel my credit card. The matter was finally resolved in July, but not until I paid for the charges I never made. I hope whoever did is enjoying their tablet and other items they were allowed to charge to my account under a totally different address than the one on the billing information.

Not too long ago, we were talking about companies that were “too big to fail.” What about companies that are too arrogant, too concerned with profit margins to care about the customers who fill their coffers? There are no consequences for AT&T and the other big guys because there is little protection for those who use their services. Most of us can’t afford an attorney to challenge their actions.

The divide between the AT&Ts of the world and a small business or a family just trying to survive has always been there. Recent events have trained a harsh light on the disparities.

It’s capitalism run amok and there’s nothing good about it. There is nothing wrong with AT&T making a profit, but there should be some accountability.

Ellsworth County is fortunate. We have two excellent hometown companies — Wilson Communications and H&B Communications. There’s a story in this week’s edition of the I-R about the fiber optics networks they are building in the communities they serve here and in other parts of Central Kansas.

They support their service territories because they know how important the bond is between their companies and their customers. It’s a policy larger companies — AT&T included — would be wise to follow.

Linda Mowery-Denning is editor-publisher of the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter. Her e-mail address is ldenning@ indyrepnews.com