Nataly 38 #1 February 17, 2012 Today I am connected to the internet from home. I should be thrilled, but whoa the journey here has been painful... Lemme explain... Round 1 - phone line The first problem was that my house has never had a phone line. You need one for an internet connection. France Telecom is the ONLY landline provider... So the internet guys (not part of France Telecom) contacted F.T. to get a line installed... The first guy showed up by himself and without a ladder... Bear in mind, my address clearly states I live on the second floor... The second team brought a ladder but no drill... Not sure what they thought they would use to get the line through the walls... The third team was due to arrive at 10:00 (AM) but called at 4:30 (PM) to let me know they wouldn't be able to make it in the end... The fourth team cancelled the day before, because their truck was out of service... The fifth team arrived this morning. They installed the line, but ripped off one of my shutters. Round 2 - shutter So I am going outside to give the technician a hot cup of coffee... As soon as I'm out there I see my sutter on the sidewalk shattered in about a million pieces... The guy immediately gets all defensive and tries to tell me the wood is rotten and the thing practically fell off on its own. I am horrified and deeply apologetic. When the phone line is installed, I ask sheepishly what they're going to do about the shutter... The guy starts picking up the pieces and tells me he will do his best to repair the thing. Now I feel this is may not be a great idea... So I take some pictures and notice a few things that don't look quite right... 1 - the shutter is broken in half *exactly* at the handle... 2 - the lower hinge is practically ripped out of the wall... 3 - the wood is dry and very solid - not at all brittle... 4 - one of the slates has been taken out put across the frame and 3 brand new screws are sticking out of it... The fucker obviously lost his balance on the ladder, ripped off my shutter when trying to stabilise himself and then tried to cover it up!! I insisted he give me back everything and got his company's phone number... Fucker gave me his number instead of his company's number... Luckily I googled his company name (not part of France Telecom) and contacted his boss and sent pictures... Et cetera, et cetera... His boss tried to tell me he'd try to make a deal with me rather than go through insurance... Holy fuck!! I live in a historic medieval village about 20 yards from the historic castle... You don't just stick a bandaid on a shutter and consider the thing fixed!! And the problem in ALLLLL of this is that as every part of the process is outsourced, no one accepts responsibility for anything... The internet provider is not responsible for the phone line... The phone company is not responsible for the installation... The technician is not responsible for my private property... No contact numbers, no customer service emails, nothing... AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!!! Seriously... I am going to open up a business here... I will ensure each step of the process is outsourced and complicated... I will in fact make it so painful the client will go in circles until he eventually gives up trying to receive the service. In fact I will be selling nothing at all and be making a small fortune doing it. What a *genius* set-up!!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 140 #2 February 17, 2012 bienvenue scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #3 February 17, 2012 C'est la vie ... C'est la belle France (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,590 #4 February 17, 2012 Quote And the problem in ALLLLL of this is that as every part of the process is outsourced, no one accepts responsibility for anything... The internet provider is not responsible for the phone line... The phone company is not responsible for the installation... The technician is not responsible for my private property... Sounds like the same concept as BP and the Gulf oil spill."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #5 February 17, 2012 Quote Quote And the problem in ALLLLL of this is that as every part of the process is outsourced, no one accepts responsibility for anything... The internet provider is not responsible for the phone line... The phone company is not responsible for the installation... The technician is not responsible for my private property... Sounds like the same concept as BP and the Gulf oil spill. It's infuriating, but I gotta admit it's a pretty genius business-model... And the best part is that the consumer has no choice because it's like this all over France - they are either the exclusive provider or they all work together to provide exactly the same over-priced shitty service... Genius... Need to get in on this action!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSpenceFLY 1 #6 February 17, 2012 Sounds like a Skyride operation. You should do well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZigZagMarquis 9 #7 February 17, 2012 QuoteI live in a historic medieval village about 20 yards from the historic castle... You don't just stick a bandaid on a shutter and consider the thing fixed!! Ummmm... but drilling a hole in the wall of a historic building is "okay"? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #8 February 17, 2012 QuoteQuoteI live in a historic medieval village about 20 yards from the historic castle... You don't just stick a bandaid on a shutter and consider the thing fixed!! Ummmm... but drilling a hole in the wall of a historic building is "okay"? Yep. I got permission from the mairie since everyone else on the street has it as well. The line has been chased alongside the neighbour's existing line so nothing "extra" is added."There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wayneflorida 0 #9 February 17, 2012 Sounds like you lost a weeks worth of work waiting around for them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #10 February 17, 2012 Quote Sounds like you lost a weeks worth of work waiting around for them. Sounds about right... A week of waiting spread over three weeks in actual time... Shudder to think how long before I have an even number of shutters again... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Krip 2 #11 February 17, 2012 Quote Shudder to think how long before I have an even number of shutters again... I think you already know the solution to that "mairie". R.I.P. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pincheck 0 #12 February 17, 2012 Ah could have been worse could have been a virgin media customer in the UK Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #13 February 17, 2012 Quote Ah could have been worse could have been a virgin media customer in the UK I actually was a virgin media customer in the UK. Never had any issues."There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #14 February 17, 2012 Quote Quote Shudder to think how long before I have an even number of shutters again... I think you already know the solution to that "mairie". R.I.P. Huh???"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #15 February 18, 2012 QuoteThe first guy showed up by himself and without a ladder... Bear in mind, my address clearly states I live on the second floor... The second team brought a ladder but no drill... Not sure what they thought they would use to get the line through the walls... The third team was due to arrive at 10:00 (AM) but called at 4:30 (PM) to let me know they wouldn't be able to make it in the end... The fourth team cancelled the day before, because their truck was out of service... The fifth team arrived this morning. They installed the line, but ripped off one of my shutters. Not once was someone on strike? WOW!!! My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nataly 38 #16 February 18, 2012 Quote Not once was someone on strike? WOW!!! You're right... I was actually quite lucky when you think about it!! ETA: come to think of it, the trains were on strike the day I had to be home for the 1st appointment... Was a nightmare getting from work to the appartment... Didn't remember to include into my rant I guess because train strikes are so frequent!!"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
