Bring on the Night

Where we live, the standard cable provider is Telia Stofa. A company that I have had my problems with in the past, and since we moved recently, I can’t say that our relationship has improved. Right this second I loathe them (if you wonder – yes – I do think it is wise to write an entry when your blood is boiling!).

3 years ago they were my ISP. Their Internet is provided through TV cable and the only positive thing about it is that it was cheaper than the competitors. Other that that it gradually sucked more and more in the period they had my business. I have never experienced so much downtime as I did when I had StofaNet. At LEAST in average once a week I had some sort of a Internet fallout. It is pretty critical if you – like I did – spend much time playing Internet games or doing other Internet related nerdish stuff. It’s just not good enough. Besides that, it really was a lousy general connection, which was only acceptable for surfing and mail (if there was a connection at all). Gaming real-time games like Counter-Strike was next to impossible, as all movements and fired shots were totally random.

So I finally wrote a long letter with listed complaints and a ended with a wish to cancel my Internet. It was actually a very polite letter with observations and a list of problems they easily could fix and some they could put on the to-improve-list. A list of why I quit, and what it would take for them to be as good as their competitors.

No answer back, but only a confirmation that my Internet was now canceled. Not even thanks for the input, but I really didn’t care. Just underlined my thoughts about their costumer “service”.

Even though the new Internet provider (TDC) was at least twice as pricey, I have never regretted the move one bit. No more laggy games, lost data and random breakdowns.

There is only one hurdle still. The apartment I live in is forced to use Telia Stofa as cable provider. We could get TV channels from another company, but then we’d have to pay for both. So I relentlessly stuck with Telia Stofa (TS). Now I almost regret that too.

July we moved to a bigger apartment. As always there are a lot of things to move and that goes for our TV channels as well. Before we moved we had the big package of channels (Pakke 3), and we wanted the same in our new home too. When we finally moved homes the channels available were few. So I figured we only had the small package (Pakke 2).

So after moving I called TS to make sure we were scheduled to a re-wire the following weeks. Yes – we were indeed set to be upgraded the 10th July. So we waited, but nothing happened (later I learned that the technician did go and re-wire our streets box, but he must have fucked up, since we still had only the basic channels).

So I called TS again. This time they promised to get it fixed the 17th of July. Back to waiting, but alas, no new channels. The technician never showed up due to busy work schedules, I guess. All the planned visits meant that C had to stay home when we thought the technician came, in the event that they needed to enter our appartment to repair the cable.

Well, ok. Another phone call, and this time a new date were set. 20th of July.

Success! The channels now worked. This time the Technician even made a house call to make sure it worked (unlike the first time). Great, now troubles were over. I thought.

A week later or so, we received the bill for the first period in our new home. Somehow they messed up, and only charged us for package 2 (with the few channels). As the good citizen I am, I phoned TS and told them about the error. They agreed and told me to can the received bill, as they would send me a new one.

Back to waiting (something I was beginning to get used to when we talked about TS). As promised they did eventually sent yet another bill. This time they fucked up the date, and asked us to pay for package 3 from 1. July. Something that I refuse to do since the channels first was available from 20th of July. So I called them again. This time I was getting a bit angry and after a polite scolding the employee promised to send a new bill. This time they would wait until October so we would pay for July, August and the coming 2 months. Ok – sounds fine with me. Just as long at they got it right.

A week before we anticipated the new bill, a letter came from TS. This time it was a demand to pay one of the old bills as (agreed with TS) never were paid. Besides the bill, they demanded a 40 Dkr (7 US$) fee for forwarding the unpaid bill again. I was furious and immediately called TS again. After a long explanation (while the employee probably ignored my attempt to correct TS’s new bummer), the employee read up on previous communication notes, and agreed that they made yet another mistake. As usual he promised to send a new fitting bill.

Today a lovely letter arrived in our letterbox. The dheads actually managed to pull another stupidity out their magic asses. Oh yes – this time they wanted us to pay for packet nr. 3 from 10th of July. Channels that we still didn’t get before 20th of July (as I already had told them plenty of times). No need to say that I was ready to loose the polite attitude. My wife could see I was boiling and told me to call TS right away so the good anger wouldn’t be lost.

Even though I boiled inside I still tried to keep it polite at first. The employee was new to me, and of course she shouldn’t be scolded for her colleagues fuckups. This lasted exactly 10 seconds after she cut me off and told me that I actually got a fitting bill. She also told me that our cable package was working from 10th July. This she could read in her log. As if I was responsible for her colleagues lack of writing. She even suggested that I lied to her indirectly, since her log said otherwise. So I asked her to check up on what times they sent a technician last time, which she of course couldn’t see on her monitor. Apparently she wasn’t allowed access to that information since she was one of the 65% of the employees who had an IQ of 23 or lower. She could only see that another employee wrote that a technician was sent the 10th, and no one wrote about the last visit the 20th.

Now I was pissed and told her that I didn’t approve of being called a liar, to which she didn’t even bother denying. She just put her sigh-another-stupid-costumer-voice on and told that “to make a long story short, since we can’t agree”, she would send yet another new bill. This time it would be from 20th of July as I always asked.

Sweet, they fuck up a multitude of times, and when I call them, I am a trouble-making idiot? Truth sucks and is not important, so to get me off their backs, they just send a new bill. One day they’ll have to do it right, or?

Biatch.

Now I just sit tight and wait for the result. If they fuck up again, I swear I will spend the bus fare to go to their freaking shop downtown and make a loud show for the other costumers.

Telia Stofa – This is a company that:

Play the same message on their service telephone for more than 2 months which is: “Due to sending out bills at the moment you can expect some waiting to get through to a service employee“.

Who for about one week now also played this message “There may occur problems with Stofa Internet at the time in Aalborg and Norresundby, due to the thunder” (the thunder haven’t been around for about 1 week).

A company whose employees have insisted that a ping of 100 is good enough for pro gaming (Danish link). FYI, 30 and less is acceptable if you ask those who actually play.

A company who sometimes want money to help people fix their Internet problems (Danish link), even if they don’t know if the error is at their servers, or at the costumers PC (the only ISP in Denmark who does this I have heard of yet).

A company who insisted that loss should be accepted by costumers as this was something that couldn’t be avoided by any ISP (my own experience from a phone call to support, an btw, then I have had no loss since I changed ISP 2-3 years ago).

Add to that, the above story I just rambled on about.

Dear Telia Stofa employee I talked to today. I hereby award you the Idiot Employee of the Month award:

The check can possibly be cleared in the bank where your equally stupid twin sister works.

There can be only one. Oh no – no need to be modest – no one deserves it more than you….

Blacklisted…

Update: lucky number….. (insert a number, cause I’ve given up counting), the bill we got last actually was correct. I paid it the very same day it arrived. Now I almost regret I didn’t wait to pay and use 2 months to insist I did.