Cable Company Shames Past-Due Customers On Facebook

Please don't let this catch on here in Iowa. Please don't let this catch on in Iowa.

A cable company in Canada decided to use social media to reach people who were a little behind on their cable TV payments.

Senga Service Cable Company in Fort Simpson, Northwest Territory posted the names of 25 late-paying customers, along with how much they owed. The outstanding amounts ranged from $94 to $1,406; the post said accounts would be disconnected if they weren't resolved by Wednesday.

(You would think the person who owed $1,406 would already have received a disco. I once worked in the call center of a cable company, and there are two kinds of disconnections. The "soft disco" is where the employee at the call center can disconnect and reactivate service with a click at their computer terminal. Then there is the dreaded "hard disco" where a service tech physically goes to the residence to disconnect the cable, and to get it reconnected involves someone physically going back out -- days later -- and that means a reconnect fee.)

"We always got excuses from everybody," said Senga spokesperson Jennifer Simmons. "So we found the most effective way [to get customers to pay] is to publicly post the names." The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada disagreed, however, forcing the company to delete the list.

Simmons did mention that after speaking with lawyers, as long as the company isn't making personal information like address, phone number, or social security number.....it's game on like Donkey Kong.

Would this cause you to pay your bills quicker? Or just make you delete your Facebook account?