In Transit---Part Deaux

When I left you last time, I was awaiting a phone call from the technicians that were to arrive at my humble abode and finish the job of internet connection the previous guys left incomplete. What follows is a tragic comedy of incompetence, bad timing and piss-poor customer service.

The good news is I did get the all important call, the bad news is that I was in the shower when it was made. After I dried off, I noticed that the little blue lights on the side of my Nokia were blinking, indicating activity. It was a missed call from a number I didn't recognize. I punched the recall button and my phone died due to battery depletion. I plugged the phone into the charger for a quick shot of juice.

After about 15 minutes, I tried the number again and it was indeed the dispatcher of the Local Internet Monopoly. He told me to call another number for the technicians on-site. I tried that number and I got a recording informing me the recipient's phone was turned off....just great!!! I waited another 10 minutes and tried the number again. This time it was answered and I told the guy who I was, my Complaint # and a brief description of the problem. I heard wind noise in the background like a car travelling at highway speed and considered that bad news. This was confirmed when the tech told me he had already left my apartment complex and maybe he would be back in the next three days. I called the dispatcher back and was told the same.

I waited the next day, and the next and then on the third day I called the dispatcher's number again and asked if/when someone would be out here to fix my problem. Over what sounded like a loud party in the background, he told me that it was a holiday and the techs would be off for the next two days which I realized would bring us into the two day weekend for a total of four day at least before another attempt would be made. He suggested I call the main customer service center and hung up.

At the customer service center, a pleasant sounding woman answered the phone. I told her my predicament and after I gave her the original Complaint # there was a pause and then she dropped the bomb! According to her, the original Complaint # had been cancelled back on the first day!!! When I asked why, she said the reason was that I could not be "contacted". I told her the tech tried to call me exactly ONCE and that I called back the same day and talked with both the dispatcher and the tech guy and made follow-up calls on the following days. The tech had cancelled the complaint after he could not get me on the phone with his single attempt. I was in the shower, remember?

To make a long story short (I know, too late!), I had to get a brand new Complaint # issued and start on the bottom of the stack again. Three days later the problem was fixed by two guys, one worked hard setting up my WiFi and his sidekick that used my bathroom without the courtesy of asking and then sat and watched a History Channel show that was on the TV. I didn't care as long as the job was done.

So I am all sorted out now. It "only" took the Local Internet Monopoly 3 1/2 weeks to shift my internet service to a different apartment in the same complex. I sure chose a hell of a time to take a shower on that first day!

Internetus Interruptus

My internet service went out the other day. Despite my resucitative attempts to reset the modem and the "mystery box" just inside my foyer where all wires lead, the patient remained unresponsive and comatose. My coworker/upstairs neighbor called and said his was out, too. Due to my getting used to the patchy level of services here, I assumed it was a systemic problem (maybe a laborer fixing something else cut a wire by mistake) I figured I would wait until the morning and check it again.

The next A.M., not enough of the little lights were lit on the modem so I knew the internet was still down. I planned to call Etisalat-the government phone monopoly-and get ready for a time consuming, frustrating and lengthy effort to get back online. Nothing happens easily here when it comes to utility problems.

My coworker beat me in making the trouble call and when I showed up at work, he pulled me aside and said that we had both been cut-off because of non-payment. That was a shock as I have never gotten a bill from them. I have written about this before and when I express my concern about long overdue invoices, everyone just tells me not to worry about it, I will get the bills in due time. It's just the way things are done here. Nothing bad will happen.

Well something bad did happen, they disconnected me! Etisalat had my mailing address, phone number, and email and did not use any of these avenues to inform me in advance that they now considered me a bad customer and will cut me off. If they would have contacted me, I would have gladly paid the amount and saved us all a lot of grief. As it was my fellow, now also deadbeat, co-worker generously volunteered to go downtown and pay the arrears for both of us. Service was resored that night.

What business sense does it make for a company to provide a service, never bill the customers and then cut the service abruptly and without warning when they don't get a check in the mail? What the hell did they expect? Every other place where I transact, I am presented with some sort of invoice for goods or services rendered whether it be a restaurant or hardware store. I assumed that the bills would eventually come after they wound their way through the bureaucracy.

What concerns me is that I haven't received an electric bill  either. So I have to find out who I owe money to for that and figure out how much I owe and then research how to pay them before I wake up in a dark apartment early one morning with no hot water and food rotting in the refrigerator. 

On another note, it was 33 degrees C. here this afternoon. That is almost 92F. for those metrically challenged folks. On February, 11th!!! I hope this doesn't portend a more than usual Hellish Summer.