A slight change of pace for this post. This month I’m going to talk about moving on… to bigger and better things and getting what you truly deserve. You can apply this to your relationships, work, family and everyday life. In this post, I’m going to use my mobile service provider as an example.
Four years ago when I was in search of a new plan for my mobile, I went to numerous different shops to ask about their deals. This particular service provider insisted they were the best. So much so, their network was quiet competitive to the number one provider in Australia in terms of coverage and plan prices. They even stated that smaller services used their towers as well. Impressive, right?
To add to that, because I had internet with them already they hooked me in with a, “Because you’re already a [name withheld] customer, we’ll give you a deal…” I thought I was set!
But from day one all I had was issues. In fairness to them, at the time I did live further out of the CBD, but I worked less than 5km away full-time and day after day all I had one or two bars of reception. I thought I’d just have to “deal with it” and that was as good a service as I was paying for.
Or so I thought.
Eighteen months into my 24-month contract I received a call from their feedback department, asking how I liked their services. I’m not one to sugar-coat things and I told them point blank that I wasn’t pleased. I explained that I always got one or two bars reception and often, even whilst in the CBD my calls to disconnect mid-conversation. I was paying $98 per month, which included insurance on my iPhone and I clearly wasn’t happy with that.
To add insult to this, the woman had said, “For an extra $18 per month, we can give you five bars worth of reception.”
I’m sorry… but WHAT?! So, the $98 a month I’m already giving you is worth the two bars – at best – reception all this time? Stupid me, I thought I was already supposed to be getting five bars.
I was annoyed and absolutely determined to see through til the end of my contract and move on.
But by the end of my 24-month plan, they reeled me in again. Promising that they’ll do better and give a credit on my account and also include a brand new iPhone. I was played once again. Big, BIG mistake.
Time and time again, I was ripped off… still with two bars of reception, calls cutting out and even when I had moved to Paddington I still ran into problems.
I work in a hospital five days a week and my desk is literally 10 meters from an entrance. I can smell air, hear traffic and see what the weather is like and all the while my phone sits on “SOS only”. I can’t even count the times a family member or friend has called me and said, “I’ve tried to call you, but it went straight to voicemail.” And even with that, they wouldn’t even tell me I had any voicemail – so again I ask, why do I have voicemail notifications switched on? I don’t even know I have anything on there til a week later.
Numerous times I’ve tweeted them asking why my phone is on “SOS only” and time and time again, they fail to provide a basic service. They blame me saying that I hadn’t updated Apple software or their services. They’ve even blamed my handset – which they provided for me or the sim card, which again was provided by them. And even when I thought I might take their advice and replace the sim card, they had the audacity to not replace it – but to charge me for it.
The final straw for me was when I called to cancel my service with them. I had enough. I couldn’t handle it any longer. I was willing to pay whatever I could to get out of their books for good.
Like I mentioned earlier, I work in a hospital, which means I often work nights. I had called just before 7pm and while I was mid-sentence, they hung up on me. 7pm was the accounts quitting time and therefore my call was no longer of any importance to them after 7pm.
When I had tried to call them back to make a complaint, I was met with the most repulsive guy on the phone who made snide comments and didn’t think before he spoke. He was like a sullen teenager who always who was argumentative and had to have the last word. He said, “Well, you’ve been with us for almost four years now, you’re still a customer for a reason!” Honestly, what a thing to say and I wasn’t putting up with it. I switched of pseudo-mum mode and spoke to this ‘kid’ like he was five. (Which is insulting to actual five year-olds because I’ve seen better behaved than this guy.)
And because he didn’t like the fact that I was putting him in his place and didn’t like what he was hearing, he even had the nerve to hang up on me a second time! Yep, threw a big fat boy tantrum and hung up in my face.
That was now two hang-ups in one night. Had I attempted to call a third time, no doubt I would have made a trifecta.
In the morning, when I called them, my number was blacklisted and instead of ringing it went straight to an automated message saying my call was being diverted to a manager. Wow, this was the lowest point of this service provider’s so-called “customer service”. Called twice, one to cancel my account and get hung up on TWICE, it was all my fault that I deserved this.
I remained calm the entire time and said I didn’t appreciate that I was hung up on twice and I wanted out of their contact immediately. The guy tried to reel me in a third time – there was no chance in HELL I was falling for it; first time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me.
In the end he admitted defeat and credited my account with $40.00, advised that I wait til April 6th was a better day to opt out because I won’t be charged. With their last shred of dignity, I have to give them props for that. What a sorry sack of crap.
So, the moral of this story is… when you see those little red flags come up in certain situations or around certain people, they’re waving around for a reason. They are not to be ignored, but try and steer you away from an awful situation. Had I learned this after the first 24-month contract, I wouldn’t be in this situation four years later. I’ve wasted a lot of money paying for service that wasn’t worth it, put up was rude sales and call centers and was promised good things that were never delivered.
It’s time to move on. No matter how strong the friendship is or how much time, effort, money and emotion spent on something… if the puzzle pieces don’t fit – don’t force them to. There will ALWAYS be better things out there for you and as those old saying goes, when a door closes another one will open.
And that’s a promise that WILL be delivered to you.
