Pesky Mobile Service

 

I had asked at the Vodafone Customer Center about putting our service on a vacation package since we are contracted customers. They informed me this was possible, but I had to call it in, they were not equipped to do that service. I went home and called Vodafone, pressing all the correct numbers of the various menus for English and then the various services and needs. Of course, I received the recording that all operators were busy with other clients…blah, blah, blah.

After a 15-minute wait, it was my turn to be served. The woman addressed me in English, so I explained what I needed. She did not understand. I tried again using different vocabulary. She still did not understand, but said she would have someone with better English call me back within two hours.

Someone did call me back and he did understand my need. Then he asked for my personal code. After explaining that whatever the code was, it was created in 2001 and not having a need for it in years, I had no idea what it could be. He said it would be on my original contract. “Great,” I said, “the contract was created in 2001. Do you know where your paperwork is from 2001?” As I finished that speaking that thought, I realized in 2001, he was probably in 5th grade so his work is probably in his mother’s keepsake box, so sure he knows the whereabouts.

I asked for a clue. He offered that it could be four digits. After exhausting every combo of 4 digits I would likely use, he suggested that I return to the Vodafone Customer Center to either get the code or have it reset. He was not able to do it over the phone.

Ron and I headed down to the Vodafone Customer Center on Monday, my birthday. Whoopee! What a celebration. I explained to the young man what I needed. He started to look up the information using our mobile phone numbers. Once he found out phone numbers he realized that this was a business account that personal accounts. This seemed to change things, he asked for our business papers. Of course I didn’t think to bring our business papers so I didn’t have them on me. He told me he couldn’t do anything without proof that I was one of the owners. I asked why my name was not identified with the account so that I could just show personal proof of identity and be done with it. He said that back when this account was opened in 2001 associate names with business accounts; when they change the system they never updated that information. Trying to keep myself from causing this man out, I walked out.

I went home and decided that I needed to get this done immediately; there were too many things hanging over our heads before we left. I picked up all of our business papers which is a folder containing about 50 pages and then headed back to the Vodafone Customer Center. The young man from earlier was gone and replaced by a young woman. After repeating my need to reset my password, she asked my telephone number. As she was retrieving it, I told her this was a business account. Without any other questions she immediately showed me the code that I needed. It was not a four digit code, but a six digit code. Had the man on the phone told me it was six digits I could definitely have told them the code without any hesitation. I asked her if it was possible for me to put the funds on vacation service while I was there. She said as I had been told before they did not have the capability of doing that at the service centers; I would need to call Vodafone to have it arranged.

I returned home and without further ado I called Vodafone again. Once again after going through various menus and being on hold for an unruly amount of time, I was speaking to a woman who claimed her English was not good enough to understand what I needed. Again I received the offer for a call back. When the call came, it was a young man’s voice which sounded vaguely familiar. With great ease I gave him the six digit code as he request in order to access the account.

The problem however came when I asked to have the phones put on vacation service. He didn’t understand what I meant. I tried asking to have the phones suspended for a time. He did not understand. Then I said “I’m going out of the country for three months I don’t want to use my phone during the time I am gone; therefore, I do not want to have to pay the bill.” Still he did not understand. I tried one more time, but honestly I have no idea how I reconfigured my wording, but he finally grasped my meaning.

I made sure to say I do not want the service to be put on hold until January 12. After a few minutes, I heard him gasp, and then he shared that he accidentally ended our service for that day. He continued “I hope I can get it changed before it goes into effect.” I said “I hope you do, otherwise are going to be disconnected.” The service will be disconnected for six months, even though I only requested it for 90 days. Their system is incapable of putting in an end date, but their default is six months. I was informed that when I return, I will need to call them again to have the service reactivated. Of course we will have to call from a landline, since our mobiles will be turned off.

Just one of the aggravating things needing to be done before leaving on a long trip.

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Mobile Madness

I was actually working with diligence on my book proposal today when my mobile rings; caller is unidentified. No problem, there are many students who call me who I don't have plugged into my phone, so I answer it. Hungarian spiel not taking a breath, not letting me get a word in. Finally, I decide rudeness in breaking in will save them from dehydrating. What? "English? Wait please." 

The new person comes on the line, it is my mobile phone carrier telling me the plan I have had since January 2002 is being discontinued so I have to choose a new plan. Okay fine, let's do it.  First I need to give them all of my personal details, but then comes the hard part. What is my security pin number? Sorry, don't know it. I choose it over 9 years ago. Well then what is the &(@(*$^(# number on your original contract? Excuse me? That was over 9 years ago also; do you think  have it in my back pocket awaiting your call? Sorry, but I will have to look for it. This persistent Miss, told me to go ahead and look. In the back of my mind, I knew where it was, but the conveyor belt from the back of my mind to the front of my mind was out of service, so it never appeared. 

I took random guesses at the pin number, but none of them worked, because she said it was 4 digits long. We finally agreed that I would have to go into their store to work this out. This is a fate worse than taking a trip to hell and back. When I asked if I could do this over the weekend, she said "Good luck and be prepared to use both your arms and legs to act out what you need, but try to tell them we called you first." I have had experiences with Vodafone going alone; it has never been an experience that has made me what to send flowers of thanks afterwards. I decided to bite the bullet, go this evening and get it over with. 

According to my number 414, I obtained it at 5:14pm on July 1, 2011 using English > small business > change in services. The numbers flashing on the electronic board were all in the 900s. Not a good sign. I had no where to go and nothing to rush off to, so I sat it out. By 6:02, my number appeared and I rushed over to speak to Tamas. Tamas is wearing a mandatory Vodafone uniform shirt, but his has a British flag under his name. My spirits soar as I share with him why I am there. He is staring at me as I speak with intent interest, until I finish when he shares his dirty little secret. He doesn't speak English. I wanted to rip that little Union Jack from his chest. Thinking back to the advice of having to incorporate hand and leg movements, I went into my routine.

Success! Tamas was able to show me new plans which were approximately equal to the current costs. I agreed, signed, and asked about why my voice mail has not worked for the last 2 phones I have had. Stupid me, asking someone who clearly is an English fraudulent speaker, but I lost my head. He did point me to the corner where they answer questions such as mine and I did not have to get a new ticket either.

Not being one to have a service that is included in my contract and not being able to use it, I went to the corner like a bad pupil waiting for the principal to come scold me. A young man came to my aid immediately, spoke good English and started in on the problem. The problem was he could not fix the problem. After pulling numerous others into this band of brothers to solve this issue, they could not. I kept saying we should just forget about it; I have done without this long, it really doesn't matter that much. They would have none of that talk. They were determined. Then the thought came to them that the SIM card was too old. Tamas number 2 had to take over from here. Tamas #2 did speak English well. He replaced the SIM card without changing my phone number. 

Now the voice mail supposedly works, though I am reluctant to try it, but either way our SIM cards were outdated and in need of replacement. Now I have to find Ron's phone, charge it and bring it back on Sunday to catch Tamas #2 before he goes on vacation.  

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It Is All About i

Personally, me is getting sick of the i, i, i. iPad, iPod, iPhone and all of the other egocentric products out there. Okay, sour grapes, Apple hit over $300. a share today. To be exact, $300.13 a share. I have such a horrendous track record with stock purchases, if I had bought it, they would have been bankrupt by now. It started with some stocks my grandmother had given me. That company went under. I had purchased stocks in a Philadelphia bank in the 80s and that went under. Every other 'sure bet' I tried investing in since has been a nightmare. Be nice to me or I WILL buy stocks in your company.

With all of the i going around, Vodafone announced that they are bringing the iPhone 4G to Hungary by the end of the year. We have been Vodafone users since our arrival in Hungary. I like the service, but after my first phone, a Nokia died after 6 years of service, I have only bought unlocked phones. This has given me the opportunity to buy a Vodafone SIM card in both South Africa and Australia allowing me to make local calls without incurring roaming charges. This was especially handy for calling a taxis in Cape Town where living through the day is an extreme sport. 

So with all of the hubbub, the iPhone could have been a strong contender on my "Things I Deserve to Have" list, but then I read some reports on the glass front of the phone. 

"iPhone 4 is so fragile and the surface area can scratch or break says SquareTrade. It's so fragile that the chances of the Apple iPhone 4 breaking has doubled....Owners of Apple's newest smartphone are 82 percent more likely to have their device damaged, according to a report by SquareTrade." SquareTrade is one of the companies that sells warranties for electronics products. Well this news is going to take the i off of my list. Me is waiting for the HTC Android phone instead.

Related articles

• SquareTrade: iPhone 4 glass breaks more than 3GS (macworld.com)
• Study: iPhone 4 more fragile than previous models (cnn.com)
• iPhone 4 82% higher screen damage rate than 3GS? (slashgear.com)
• iPhone 4 screens break 82% more than 3GS (geek.com)

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Vienna, Zurich, Nairobi

The flights from Vienna to Zurich and then Zurich to Nairobi were nondescript. On the long haul, we had emergency row seats, so extra leg room. The movies were on a continuous loop, depending on the channel, so one could not start and stop a movie. If you tuned in too late, you missed out on part of the movie. Our screen resolution was not the best, so we did not bother with the movies after twenty minutes of eye strain. Most of the time, we either read or slept. I think I basically slept through the majority of the 7 hours - 50 minutes of the flight from Zurich to Nairobi. The flight attendants gave us six different forms that had to be filled in upon arrival.

When we landed, we had to get entry Visas. There are separate lines for Visas as opposed to those who can enter on a passport only or who already have their Visa. One of the airport attendants directed us around the corner where there was no waiting, supposedly. However, when we arrived, the line was just as long as the one we had left. It took us over two hours in line to get our Visas. I thought for sure our luggage would have been dropped off, ripped off, and forever missing during this time. Our flight was continuing on to yet another country after depositing us here in Nairobi. How little faith I have, it was there without a hitch. 

As we left the secured area, our driver was waiting with a sign in hand. He drove us to our hotel. Along the way, the modern buildings did not escape my attention. The three story high billboards were quite alarming also; each showing the latest in mobile phones and Vodafone being the mobile carrier of choice here. Had I brought my mobile, I could have connected quite easily. So much for this being behind the times. 

Our modern and tasteful hotel the Upperhill Country Lodge, where we will be spending the next three nights has free WiFi for guests. Get a clue Australian properties.  Regardless of the sleep we had on the plane, we were still anticipating a full night's sleep here too. It is two hours ahead from continental Europe. Although, it is approaching summer, it was dark out at 7:00 pm when we landed. We were told that being close to the equator, the dusk is about thirty minutes long. Sunset...boom...darkness.

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What Has Been Keeping Me Busy

Sometimes it is not the complicated things that keep a person extra busy. The little things can be annoying time consumers.

My new phone, the Nokia N96 is all I could have hoped for, but... It seems all of my contacts from the old phone were never saved onto my Sim card. What that means is that all 300+ contacts have to be reentered into the new phone. I have looked everywhere and have not found a way to import my contacts from a file, for example, my Gmail address book.

One other problem. I can make calls, but when someone calls me, they receive a message that the number is not working. This is not a phone issue, so I will have to make a trip to my provider to figure this out.

For our university, there is a teaching load calculator we have to fill out at the beginning of one semester for the previous semester. I usually am really good about getting this done right away, but did not get to it until today. None of my BA classes were listed. I have no control to make changes, just add in the numbers of students I gave grades to. Even ignoring the BA students, I get an error message each attempt. Only the department secretary has control over this, but it seems it is beyond her time limit to make changes. We will see how this plays out.

Speaking of the department secretary, I bought her a plant today and made a "You Are Highly Appreciated" sign. The university let my health insurance expire in November. I did not know it until I went for my flu shot. It took until yesterday for it to be resolved. The secretary had to return to the health office five times. Each time, they wanted different information, which they had not told her on the previous trip. Finally, she had me bring in everything I had, photocopied it all, had me sign each sheet, took everything she needed from the Dean's office and I now have my card again.

The Writing Center, I created at the university with the ten computers I was able to get donated has been a blessing for the new courses I am teaching this semester. Only six of them were able to be hooked up to the Internet. This made teaching a blogging course difficult. After discussing it with our computer person, he stated that for 15,000 Huf, he could get a router to connect the remaining four computers, but that the department had no money. I gave it to him, thinking in a week, I would have the router and full functioning computers. Two weeks later, he told me he ordered it. The week after that he said they sent the wrong kind. If I had known, I would have gone down to the store and bought it myself. Today, he e-mailed me. He has the correct one and will set it up. Different people and cultures have such different senses of time.

On a brighter side, I finished my first assignment for the NileGuide at www.nileguide.com. It was a smallish one, but I had some good fun working on it. It was quite challenging finding the names of all of the districts in Budapest, but as it turns out, not all of them are named, just numbered. The best part is I get to continually review all that I love about this city repeatedly.

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