LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Love is ... giving a glowing report on the work of your son or daughter who is employed by Southern California Edison in a customer satisfaction survey.
When Edison customers were surveyed to get feedback, pollsters received answers expressing delight at the service received.
But the objectivity of these results came under question when it was learned that employees had hacked into the data system and changed the phone numbers of those to be surveyed to those of friends and family, the utility said on Monday.
Rosemead, California-based SCE said an ongoing investigation showed that at least 12 employees had falsified data and the company promised to promptly repay funds which could amount to millions of dollars it received inappropriately based on customer satisfaction surveys.
"These actions are inconsistent with a trust that is essential for you to have in us," SCE chairman John Bryson wrote on Monday in a letter to the president of the California Public Utilities Commission Michael Peevey.
SCE is a unit of Rosemead, Calif.-based Edison International .
Bryson said the utility was taking disciplinary action against the employees responsible beginning Monday. An investigation was launched following an anonymous tip-off.
Story from Reuters
When Edison customers were surveyed to get feedback, pollsters received answers expressing delight at the service received.
But the objectivity of these results came under question when it was learned that employees had hacked into the data system and changed the phone numbers of those to be surveyed to those of friends and family, the utility said on Monday.
Rosemead, California-based SCE said an ongoing investigation showed that at least 12 employees had falsified data and the company promised to promptly repay funds which could amount to millions of dollars it received inappropriately based on customer satisfaction surveys.
"These actions are inconsistent with a trust that is essential for you to have in us," SCE chairman John Bryson wrote on Monday in a letter to the president of the California Public Utilities Commission Michael Peevey.
SCE is a unit of Rosemead, Calif.-based Edison International .
Bryson said the utility was taking disciplinary action against the employees responsible beginning Monday. An investigation was launched following an anonymous tip-off.
Story from Reuters
