N.W.T. cable company closes 3 months after posting names of customers in arrears

A cable company in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., has gone out of business because it says it can't get customers to pay their bills.

Senga Services has been operating as a local cable company in Fort Simpson for 23 years.

• Fort Simpson's Senga Services outs overdue customers on Facebook

Jennifer Simons, who works with the company, told CBC that it closed its doors on Monday. She said it can't afford to keep operating because customers aren't paying their bills.

"We wish to thank all of our loyal customers for the years of support," Simons wrote in an email.

In December the company posted the names of customers in arrears on itsFacebook page. Simons then posted the list on a number of community pages.

The list included customers' names, as well as the amount due, ranging from $94.25 to $1,406.80.

"We always got excuses from everybody," Simons told CBC in December. "Promissory notes and everything, and it never arrives. So we found the most effective way is to publicly post the names."

The post was taken down from some community pages. Where it stayed online, residents commented on the strategy's ethics and possible illegality.

TheOffice of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada later asked the company to take the posts down.

Simons wouldn't provide any more details on the closure but saidthe company is working on sending out an official newsrelease.