Adam Bragenzer

Several rounds of severe thunderstorms across Michigan Thursday night and early Friday, with winds approaching 55 mph, have left more than 130,000 Consumers Energy customers without power. Restoration efforts are underway but it will likely be late Sunday until  all customers are restored. Areas of Jackson County affected include the Springport and Parma areas, the east side of the city of Jackson and portions of Blackman and Leoni townships.  “We have been working to restore customers since Thursday evening when the storms first hit northern Michigan,” said Guy Packard, the company’s vice president of electric operations. “Additional storms early Friday across western and central Michigan have us working around the clock to restore power. We appreciate our customers’ patience.” Damage assessment is continuing early Friday morning, but is likely the hardest hit areas, including portions of northeast and western Michigan, will not have their power restored until 11:30 p.m. Sunday. Additional storm activity may prolong restoration times. To view specific counties and regions most affected by electric interruptions, please visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageMap. The public’s safety is paramount as restoration work continues. Consumers Energy reminds everyone: •                      Stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines. Call 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy…

(Courtesy Photo: ATSI President Doug Robbins with Ryan Ambs, Ambs Call Center) Ambs Call Center has been honored with the exclusive ATSI 2017 Award of Excellence. This annual award is presented by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI). ATSI is the industry trade association for telephone answering service providers. Call centers from across North America and the United Kingdom take part in the Award of Excellence program. Ambs Call Center was presented with this year's award at ATSI’s 2017 Annual Convention held at Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, IL. The program uses independent judges to test make test calls to participating call centers. These 'secret shopper' calls occur over a six-month time frame. The criteria for scoring includes: • Response time • Courteousness of call center agent • Information accuracy • Knowledge of Account • Overall Impression of Call "The ATSI Award of Excellence Program recognizes that excellence requires a level of service that considers the caller first in every aspect of the call. The award is earned by a company by judging the handling of calls placed by mystery callers against specific, member-driven criteria." Says ATSI President Doug Robbins, "Companies that earn this award are continuously focusing on delivering…