Customer Service - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 105

sub-section that focused specifically on the satellite/modem service to which I had recently
subscribed. There were nine different customer reviews and not a single positive comment.
The dominant motifs were anger, disappointment, frustration, disillusion and denunciation
of fraudulent claims.
Online reviews for almost every product or service usually feature at least one disgruntled
customer for whom things didn't work out, offset by others who had better luck. But, as
I read my way through this batch of reviews, there was unanimous repudiation: everyone
claimed that the service was even slower than a dial-up modem, but much more costly
since you paid upload surcharges whenever you were connected. Less, for more—a com-
plete rip-off.
I called Telecom Italia the next day to say that, upon reflection, I had decided to cancel my
subscription to their satellite service and would follow up with them soon regarding other
options. I was hoping, since the marriage had never been consummated, that the divorce
wouldn't be too painful. They seemed quite willing to nullify the contract.
Eventually another computer user in town recommended a service called ISDN. It offered
online connection at 128 Kb—four times as fast as the standard dial-up service. It also fea-
tured an option to browse at half speed, but talk on the phone at the same time. Best of all,
I knew a real person who had used it and who could confirm that it actually worked.
I called the phone company the next day to sign up for the ISDN service. They verified
my vital statistics and said that a technician would contact me in the next couple of weeks
to set up a time for the installation. Now here is where things start to get truly surreal. I
waited more than three weeks and no one ever contacted me. I called the phone company
to find out what the hang-up was. The customer service representative told me that I was
subscribed to their satellite service. Was I not happy with it?
“I cancelled my satellite subscription three weeks ago, and I placed an order for a new
ISDN line.”
“I show no record of that.”
“How is that possible?”
“If you would like to order an ISDN line, I can take your order. Otherwise, I really can't
help you. Did you want to cancel your satellite subscription and order an ISDN line, sir?”