Telecom Italia and the Other On-Going Telecommunication NightmaresWhen my time has not been spent chasing Henry or working, it has been spent on the phone to this number, 187, customer service for Telecom Italia. Our phone company battles have quite a long history.
After Raoul and I first married, we decided that it was time to get Internet at home so that I could easily stay in touch with friends and family back in the U.S. In-home Internet had just become quite the thing here, and new telecommunications companies were coming up in droves to compete with the former monopoly of Telecom Italia. Raoul was quite happy to veer away from the Telecom giant, and we decided to try out a new company, Fastweb. Prices were quite steep at the time, but we happily signed at contract for 85 Euros (about $100) a month for free local calls and constant Internet access. After about a month, we received our modem, and we were happy. The first bills arrived and were in agreement with what we expected; however, they were not sending us a list of our charges, and we politely asked that they do so in the future. Shortly after, bills began arriving with hideous sums. 685 Euros (around $900), 435 Euros ($550), for two months of service and a few phone calls. We kept calling customer service and asking for them to send a list of the charges, and they asked us to send them, in writing, our request for the lists via registered mail. We did just that. We said we would not pay until we received the lists. We canceled our phone service with them, and 4 years later, we are still waiting. Every once in a while we get a phone call from a Fastweb lawyer saying we need to pay these fees. Our response: SEND US THE ITEMIZED LIST OF CHARGES, AND THEN WE WILL PAY.
Feeling discouraged with the little men, we decided to return to the big guys at Telecom Italia. Hence began my relationship with the operators at the number, 187. Our phone service was quickly activated, and a technician came out within two weeks of making the request to set up the Internet line. All we had to do was wait for the Telecom modem...and we waited about 7 months. Now, one would think that to make you wait 7 months for a modem that it would be some kind of special device, requiring a technician to install it with some really fancy tools. No. One evening right before supper, the doorbell rings, and it is a courier with a package. Inside, there is the modem with simple instructions for installing it yourself. When we began to start complaining about the long wait, he said "I don't work for Telecom Italia." I never really understood why we had to wait 7 months for a package to be sent from Milan to Rome...
Up until last July, everything worked very well with Telecom. Itemized bills came with the prices we expected; both phone and Internet worked well. Then I call 187 to say that we are moving. I would like the same phone and Internet service but in the new house. A simple request, I believe. All bills should be sent to the new address. They give me a new phone number because we are moving to a different city. I tell them that I want to keep the modem that I have because I don't want to wait 7 months for a new one. They say no problem. Simple. Technicians will be sent out to set up the phone and Internet lines. Great.
We get into the new house. The technicians came within a week. I even got a confirmation message of the appointment on my cell phone. "Wow!" I think. "Telecom has really got it together!" They came and said everything was fine, and that my new phone number would be activated by the end of the day. The end of the day came, and the phone line was dead. I call 187, listen to the music from "Austin Powers", and the operator tells me that there is some complication and that the next date the technicians can come is October 6th. That was the first week of August. When I asked why there was a problem and why it would take 2 months for them to come out they told me that they couldn't tell me. Hmmmm.....
October 4, 2006: My cell phone rings at 8:00 a.m. It's the Telecom technicians wanting to know if they can come. Wow! A whole two days early after waiting two months! Thank you, Telecom Italia! They came, and before leaving they said that the phone was activated and working. Internet? "Oh, you wanted Internet, too? You'll need to call 187 and set up another appointment." I was upset about that but so happy to have a working phone line! After dinner, the phone rings. "Maria?" "No, you must have the wrong number." "Sorry." The phone rings again. "Maria?" "No, Sir, this is the same number as you dialed before." "Sorry again." "No problem." The phone rings a third time, and I tell Raoul to answer and explain. He does so, and within another 10 seconds the phone rings yet again. "Is this 076162---?" Turns out our technician friends have hooked us up to the wrong line, taking away the phone line of our neighbor downstairs. Great. I call 187.
October 5, 2006: Technicians come back. The neighbor gets her phone line back, and we get ours, too. I ask about Internet. The line is set up, but we just have to wait for activation. "How long will it be?" "Call 187".
October 6th until beginning of November: I call 187 every day. Finally I get a phone call from somebody who doesn't work for Telecom Italia but is hired to handle their complaints. The day after, I had Internet. Don't know what he did, but I hit automatic redial to call and thank him. He seemd a little scared by the fact that somebody called to do so.
So now you would think that all would be fine. This post has gone on long enough.
Two weeks ago I picked up the phone to make a call, and there was a message saying that I could only call, you guessed it, 187. Actually, I had been calling them every three weeks because, since we have been in the new house, we have never once received a phone bill. There were "administrative problems", and they assured me that one would arrive shortly. Nothing. I called 187 again. They said that I had an overdue payment, and I responded by saying that I couldn't know this because I don't get their bills. They blamed it on another department, and I had to call back 187 and then dial 1. This department blamed it on the department that I had just spoken to. I said that I really didn't care whose fault it was and that I just wanted my bill with the itemized list of charges. From then on, every two months a man calls me, saying he's from Telecom Italia, and tells me that I need to pay X amount of money. I go to a place where they sell lottery tickets, give my phone number, and pay the amount that they tell me to pay. I keep telling him that I want my bills but to no avail. He called me three weeks ago and told me to pay, and I did so. Then a week later I had no phone line. Internet, yes. But no phone. When I called 187 they said that I had an outstanding payment from the beginning of 2007. I told them about the fact that I never received bills, of the Telecom man who calls me every once in a while (who had just called me but not said anything about this other payment), etc. They told me to go to the lottery shop and pay. I tried. But when I gave them my phone number and the amount I needed to pay there was a message saying that either the amount was incorrect or that the amount had been paid. I called 187 from my cell phone. The amount was correct. I decided to try another lotto shop. Same thing. And then I tried every lotto shop in the vicinity of St. Peters Cathedral in Rome. I called 187, and I had it out with them then and there, right in the middle of the lottery shop, the last one possible. I lost my cool. "I want to GIVE you money, not take away money from you, GIVE. You won't even make it easy for me to do that. I have always paid, and mind you, this is based on trusting the amount that you say I need to pay is correct because you never send me ANY bills. Please just let me GIVE you the money so that I can have my phone line back." By then, Henry had woken up in his stroller and started fussing, which helped my case because my phone line got turned back on several days later. BUT, I am still waiting for a bill....
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