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Vodafone Romania – how can u have the same brand, but don’t give a shit about your customers?

Probably many of you have been a customer of Vodafone Europe; probably not many have been using the Vodafone Romania’s services and customer support; if not, then let me tell you that IT’S A BIG DIFFERENCE between how the Romanian customer is treated by the Vodafone customer support and how the European (France, UK, Italy you name it) is taken care of.

For starters, my general impression after being almost 10 years a Vodafone subscriber is that Vodafone now doesn’t give a shit about me, my options, the services they offer to me or anything else except for me having the phone bill payed on time. It’s becoming harder and harder to get to Vodafone support people, and when you have an request that might seem normal in European market and services, you get the answer days away, if they will even bother to give it to you.

It doesn’t matter that you have stayed with Vodafone in crisis times, through changes time and against all odds, you kept on haging on that red and white logo like a beacon in the communication market. You don’t even get a bonus for being in their network after all that time and if you pay monthly bills around 150 euros, you get after 3 years a bonus of … hang on … 100 euro. 150 euro x 12 x 10 = 100 euro. That’s the bonus you should expect when you buy a new phone from Vodafone.

But since the post is about Vodafone, lets talk about the services: if you have a roaming and you want to call in Germany for example, you pay over 80 eurocents, this while the EU legislation is reglemmenting the fees for roaming within EU around 45 cents and lower. If you want to call other mobile networks from your country you get call fees around 16 cents / minute; while in Frances, for same situations you get 3-4 cents / minute call fees.

Now the best of the best: Vodafone mobile. You stay online 7 days, and Vodafone charges you for 2 weeks in spend online times. This while the 3G connection speed is a little bit higher than dial-up connection.

Now, if you are a Romanian, there are chances that you are used to be cheated by almost everyone. The state and government steals from you, makes you pay for everything – like from radio fee, raindrops fee, chairs fee – so Vodafone acts like a Romanian company, although it’s a world-wide corporation. Don’t you love this ? ” I do”

Communication, Internet General, Personal, social fees, romania communication, telephony, vodafone, wireless

Some days ago on Wired, appeard a controversial article about the blogging importance for the internet of late 2008, well written by Paul Boutin. Some say blogging is the news of 2004, and the tool to use for the past 3-4 years, but not anymore, since microblogging services like twitter, pownce and others has taking the face of the blogging programs.

To quote Paul’s original  “Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. It’s almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.“(read entire article here).

My question is what about the country differences? what works for US or Western Europe doesn’t go well in Asia or Africa, or even Eastern Europe, including Russia here. What do you think, it’s better to stop blogging and start texting/ sms ?

Update: opposite view, why blogs will rock in 2009 here

Banking, Communication, Entertainment, Internet General, Personal, Poker / Casino, Web sites blog, blogging, twitter, wired news

Until now the energy that camed directly from the sun couldn’t be stored because of the high price on the storage equipments and the high proportion between costs / energy; starting yesterday, we have an announcement from the enery dept. of Massachusetts Institute of Technology that if it’s totally correct with Daniel Nocera’s declarations, is the most valuable invention of this century.

According to the MIT researcher, he and his team found a way to split the hidrogen and oxygen from the water at the room temperature, and they are doing this without any expensive matterials or items. Again, if this works 100% then within a few years we can forget the oil, we can forget the oil crisis and we can start using the new solar energy everywhere and anywhere; it’s almost like Tesla wireless power invention, but this time I think the US government will no longer classify the information. Good job guy, and welcome into the top celebs of the 21st century!

Read more about this invention and view the video interview here: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

Internet General, Personal, social low cost energy, new discovery, solar energy

Over the last weekend I’ve considered to be a good time to spend some time knowing my city; oh no, that was a total mistake. Except some customization made on a general level, and the pubs in the Pta Unirii – the Timisoara former city square – nothing is changed in the past 3-4 years. Nothing new worth mentioning, nothing new worth speaking about. I can recall most the the places being the same as 20 or 25 years ago, as if the years just made scars on the buildings walls but forget to improve them. Same pipes, same “under construction” with no constuction sites, maybe the same construction workers on the city streets and roads trying to fake the working process over a pet of beer (I especially love the working crews with 1 worker and 5 people watching him doing the jobs, you can almost say the worker is the medic and his bosses – I guess they where on higher ranks in the construction company since they where not working, just watching – as I said you can almost compare them with an student crowd watching the doctor doing the daily round).

One noticeable fact over “my promenade” was the attitude of the sales persons: most of them where more friendly, almost approaching to the European attitude of a vendor/tab person. I’ve even seen ice-cream people selling their products with a smile on the face, which is an totally unseen attitudine in the Romania, happiness and smiles from the person that sells you something can be seen starting from the Romania / Hungary border, heading vest.

Iulius Mall: ofc, I’m there almost every 2 days but now I spend more time watching over people’s faces; and my Romania’s impression was confirmed again: sad or grumpy selling people, with eagle eye, watching you all the time and worring that you might steal from them. WTF’s wrong !!!!

Personal, social timisoara, walking

Friday was the chores day. One of the stops: RETIM – the Timisoara garbage collecting and recycling company. Over the past months, ReTim was trying to improve their image with lots of new programs, ads and improved garbage collection. Their staff has been submitted to qualifications and send to specialization courses for working with clients and software programs. In a word RETIM is trying to improve the image by using the means available on the market; ofc they are doing 10% of the job in marketing, but that’s call for willing in Romania. So, here’s the story:

- After waiting for more than 14 days for the monthly invoice, the person that collects the money from the clients arrived at my house with the wrong invoice

- One visit two days later at their invoice center; it’s morning, 9:30 AM, much too morning for my taste. I got to the office, and took the seat in front of a sales manager; she was talking to the telephone, of course to a friend or relative, about some trivial stuff. As I seat down, she noded at me, but she didn’t rush her call to end. Noooooo. …. telling to her friend what she watched on tv last night and her impression of someone she and the phone interlocutor knew WAS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THEN ME, THE CLIENT WHO JUST ARRIVED. After a few polite attempts to capture her attention, she FINALLY said “talk to you later” in the phone and hung up; this was 7 minutes after I was arriving and took the seat in front of her. 445 seconds counted. RIGHT! 445 seconds later! So I wasn’t important, I’m just garbage people (and BTW, what’s the trend of speaching from the company phone hours with your friends? RETIM, any idea why your phone bills are so high ? ). Finally, I started explaining that they made a wrong invoice, doubling over the night the number of people from the invoice, and the amount they perceived, and that I wanted to be billed by the number of persons from the contract signed 2 months earlier; she told me to make an request asking them to bill me after the contract. WTF did I signed the contract ? Again, for RETIM policy, CLIENTS = GARBAGE = AREA OF ACTIVITY AND EXPERTISE. The good news was that they promised the send the new invoice in two days. There’s no why in discussing openely with the lady in front of me, so I made the request to be billed according to my contract not to some fantasy some worker had over night, and leaved the building with the promise that 2 days later I will have the new invoice.

- 6 days later, oh you already guessed ? no invoice. So I called today, monday at their 0256 499 490 phone number. BIIIIG MISTAKE. The first men that answered was the centralist; with a tone raised he asked me what I want; no hellos, no how may I assist you; just a shouted what do u want. Again the garbage stuff. I started politely to tell him the story of the invoice, and he decided to transfer me to the payments dept. With an irritation on he’s voice (did I interrupted him from a BJ’s or something ? ) he made the forwarding. Again a lady, irritated and shouting at me; I haven’t said a word yet, but I was already yelled at. WTF! Again, I started to explain the invoice story, but the lady, with a more aggresive and much more irritation in voice than the previous men,  decided to interrupt me 3 times, just without reason. As if I was GARBAGE, not client.., After finishing the story, the lady shouted at me: what do you want from me, this is an invoice problem, why did you get here. Ofc, I asked for the invoice phone interior number, and also for the invoice value, which she could tell me. Again, no presentation, no hello, no how may I help. WTF is wrong with the people there? and WTF do you have against your clients RETIM Timisoara? Why do you treat us so bad ? Having the monopol over the garbage market doesn’t give you the right to have grumpy employees that shout just when they answer the call, and ignore you when you seat in the clients chair.

Conclusion: I know I used and abused of this word in the article, but WTF is wrong ? Is anyone responsable for this situation (I’m already guessing not, but what the heck)? Long live and prosper Timisoara and the garbage monopol! I love you RETIM, keep it up the same way, we, your clients, just LOVE to be treated as garbage!

Personal, social Client Treat, Garbage, RETIM, timisoara

In the past days, during some small talk conversations I’ve been asked by at least 5 people, in a way or another, who are the music artists that made their influence over me, in my life. Of course, I’m not a singer , writer or composer, but the question made me think: do I have a top 10 or just a top 10 now. For now I think the music artists (just can’t call them singers) that made their influence over me, through songs I can never forget are:
- Michael Jackson ( a big childhood fan)
- Elvis Presley
- Julio Iglesias
- Madonna
- Selena (have you heard of the Tejano singer ? Or just seen the movie with J Lo? )
- Willie Nelson
- Whitney Houston
- George Michael
- Abba
- The Beatles
of course, almost each one represented a phase in my life, but I can say now that without them, the whole Earth experience would’ve been at least unpleasant. I don’t see myself growing up without black and white or give into me from MJ and for sure I don’t see me as teenager without Vogue, Freedom; I will always love you is probably the most beautiful lie that I can accept, and sometimes, it’s natural to cry in the chapel. Yesterday, the name of the game may have been different, but the words are still the same.

Communication, Entertainment, Personal, social childhood, music, singers, songs

Sunday 29th June. In Romania is St. Patrick’s Day, my name day. As for any aniversary, I should make resolutions, plans to be fulfilled and all the other stuff that most of us do on an special day: plan the future, try to figure out what should be on priority for the next week, month, what and if we should do this or that, try to make up for the wrong we did, and promise to be a better person in the future. And, as most of you, I promise to get drunk!

But, after I’m watching the game tonight. I remember 22 years ago, the final for the World Championship, Germany – Argentina, was also on St. Patrick’s Day. And Argentina won, 3-2 after a great and wonderful game, from which Maradona and Klintsman remain in my memory for a long time. Ofc, I should mention Brehme, Matthaus, Vogler, Canigia, Batistuta and all others. But for that final game, Maradona was the star. I wonder, tonight, after 22 years, Germany will be on a Final Game again, will they lose as they did exactly 22 years ago? Or will they turn around and win this time? they will face again a latin team, Spain, without a concrete leader in the field – Raul is missing – but with a good goalkeeper, maybe the best goalkeeper in the world, Ilker Casillias. I’m ready to bet my money on Spain. And I’m ready to party!

Sometimes, the cyclical nature of the life can take me by surprise. I’m feeling the same stuff as I remember I felt 22 years ago on 29th June; with a great sadness though, because someone is missing, someone who has my name and to whom I want from the bottom of my heart to say happy B’day, but i can’t anymore: my dad, past two years ago into a better world.

Personal june 29 2008, my day