A Lost Quarter Elicits Sympathy

I sympathize with Arthur D. Silk of Garden Grove (Letters, Feb. 2) who recently attempted to place a call from what he thought was a Pacific Bell public telephone at Orange Coast College.

Though it certainly qualifies as a public telephone, the campus instrument is not owned by Pacific Bell--rather by OCC. He learned that after his call went unanswered, and the instrument refused to give back his quarter. He rang the operator, but she couldn’t return his money or re-dial the call (without another quarter) because he was using “a private phone.”

Orange Coast College has installed a number of private telephones on campus for the purpose of generating a small income stream during financially difficult times for California community colleges. People--and machines--who take money without rendering a service can rightly be accused of thievery.

I wish to assure Dr. Silk that our campus phones are not programmed to snatch quarters without providing the service they were installed to dispense. Alas, however, we’ve all had moments when technology mysteriously goes awry. This, obviously, was one such moment.

The good news is this: OCC’s telephone system is prepared for such technological misfires! Affixed to the front of every public telephone on campus is a sign directing wounded callers to seek refunds by dialing 211. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., a living, breathing human being will respond at the other end of that line. The aggrieved will be given the option of placing another call--at no charge, of course--or receiving a reimbursement by mail (a 25-cent postage stamp). During other hours of the day, an answering device will instruct callers to leave a name and address. A stamp will be sent posthaste.

It’s true, as Dr. Silk suggests, that our private campus phones look much like Pacific Bell’s. We’ve done that purposely, but not in order to be deceptive.

People feel comfortable using Pac-Bell phones. Who wants to scan four pages of instructions in order to place a local call from an unfamiliar machine? (Ever try calling home from one of those funny-looking public phones overseas? Aaarrrgh!!)

People suffering from mechanical feeblemindedness (like myself) become terror-stricken when faced with a strange device where none of the familiar slots and knobs are in the right place. So, we opted for customer convenience.

We apologize to Dr. Silk for his lost quarter and for the resultant frustration and inconvenience. We have happily sent him a refund by mail.

JIM CARNETT

Director of Marketing and Community Relations Orange Coast College