My basketball coach in 12th grade told me that line, and at the time I was naive enough not to question it. We had a terrible defense, and I think he was saying it just to make us feel better.
Here in Israel the meaning of that slogans somehow got lost in translation. In Hebrew its translated to, “ bad customer service means you can charge whatever you want whenever you want”
Let me explain – I got my phone bill last night, and naturally, being the good Samaritan that I am, I paid it on time. I threw the bill somewhere to be looked at “in the future just in case”. Weird thing happened today, I saw the bill and was interested enough to check it over. “That’s weird” I thought to myself. I have a 35 nis charge for reconnecting my Bezek line, and a 55 nis charge from 013 Barak for long distance calls.
Being as my phone was never disconnected, I had no idea why I would be charged for Bezek reconnecting my line. Similarly I have a VOIP line in my home, and therefore would never use 013 for long distance calls ( not to mention the fact that I am not a customer of 013.)
I put on my investigative hat and called up Bezek…
“I am sorry, you are being charged for the reconnection of your line because it was disconnected for 12 days and we had to reconnect it for you”
Hmm.. Wouldn’t I notice not having a house line for nearly 2 weeks?
I pushed her a bit and she refunded me the money that I was wrongfully charged. I asked about the 013 charges for long distance.
“ I am sorry, we are simply forwarding the bill that 013 is charging us for you long distance calls. You need to take up your issues with them”
I called up 013 Barak
“ I am sorry I see here one hour of calls made to Texas and Montana” If only I had actually known someone in Texas or Montana then this whole little scam would be plausible ( still not actually believable though... )
013 refused to help me ( no surprise there) They refused to let me speak to a manager or anyone who had any authority greater then a speaking peanut with bi-focals.
This whole episode got me thinking… could they be putting on a strong offense to show that they have no defense? Do they purposely just make up charges in order to increase their profit margins? Is there anyone else who feels like the supermarket is purposely charging you more for the items at the checkout register then what was clearly written as the price in the shopping isles? It may be lying and it may be out right dishonest, but for some its not a bad sales strategy. No one really pays attention anymore. We just hand over our charge cards similar to the way blind men do when receiving their paycheck in cash “I guess this makes sense”.
There has got to be a better way…
