Tweet
Originally posted by Spiffor in another thread:
Who couldn't?
Interesting expiriences. Some of this seems to be your clash with a huge company bureaucracy which I do not think is DT specific (is it?)
What I find weird is that DT behaves pretty arrogantly towards customers even in Germany where it is exposed to competition, strong regulation and independant judiciary system.
I believed they reserve their arrogance to places where they have the monopolies, like Croatia. What am I talking about?
A short history of Croatian grievancies with HT, DT & government where they act together:
1. DT buys HT (Hrvatski Telekom), already a hugely profitable monopoly with almost completely developed optical cable & digital central infrastructure.
2. Corrupt government makes the true deal with DT secret, so we still don't know all the clauses in it. One very important one: extended monopoly awarded to DT in fixed telephony beyond 2003.
3. HT immediately raises the prices of local phonecalls while lowering the cost of foreign costs. Despite clear evidence that this will increase the average monthly bill, DT launches a campaign ****ing Croatian citizens in their brains telling them this is in their best interest.
4. Instead of corrupt government forcing HT to have detailed printout of their calls sent to the users with the bills, this is won after much media fuss and with an 'ok we do this, but because we are generous..' attitude from HT.
5. HT spends huge amount of money advertising fixed telephony in which it has no competition, offers no new services, and charges more then ever. I am talking millions in TV ads, roadside posters, etc., in a country where most people barely make a living
6. HT, despite being rewarded cable concessions for most of the country, still did not pull one meter of the cables, on purpose. This deal is to be taken from them, but still, they were supposed to have cables all over the country three years ago.
7. ISDN and DSL are tremendously expensive, few times more than in Germany or other European countries where DT has to compete with somebody or is held in check by uncorrupt officials.
Result: DT makes extraprofits here which it then carries away to waste them on dumping prices who-knows-where.
Conclusion:
1. DT is deeply evil. It pulls things here it would not dare to try in a more .. eh, orderly country, such as Germany.
2. A private monopoly is not any better than state monopoly, in some cases it is much much worse.
End of rant
I will not tell you about all the problems me or my friends have experienced with German phones, otherwise I'd write 5 pages...
Who couldn't?
But DT told us that installing a line in my rommate's and myself's rooms would cost 50€ each. We heard by chance that there would be a 75€ extra, and it was a hell to cancel the deal we accepted with false info. One of my friends didn't have this luck, and paid the full price...
For some odd reason, other people from my class (who moved to Stuttgart at the same time, and who were in the same situation) only had to pay 25€ grand total. We have yet to figure out why...
BTW, DT only gives a 10 days delay to wire the money after the bill has been printed, before charging a Mahnung. Obviously, the bill takes about 4-6 days to arrive in your mailbox
Besides, incompetent staff plagues DT, to the point a competent worker is a rare sight. Once, 3 people consecutively given me a false info. I had to bother one of the few good DT employees in Stuttgart for half an hour for her to correct the mess of her many incompetent colleagues.
For some reason, when we all moved to Stuttgart for the first time 3 years ago (we move back and forth between Stuttgart and Bordeaux), we didn't have any problems of this kind with DT. Things were clear, and the staff could inform us. Besides, DT wasn't on the verge to take as much money as possible from gullible students.
This is not only a problem with DT. My girlfriend and a friend of hers are using O2 (partly because they heard about our dreadful experience). Despite having signed contracts for 2 renewable months, they ended up with 24-months contracts. Such a thing was useless to them as they were only to stay in Stuttgart for 12 months. My gf and her friend had the worst time to get rid of their contract: they had to provide proof of them moving to France with a French Anmeldebestätigung ! (there is no equivalent of this paper in France).
In France, where the market is thankfully much less deregulated, a friend of mine took a contract with the private 9 telecom. Because of the ****ty service, he cancelled the contract. The company didn't take it into account and continued to demand money, and even threatened to send lawyers to get it (the contract was cancelled perfectly legally). Countless phone calls did nothing about the situation, and things only got solved when my friend begun to threaten them himself with special mail and such...
These are merely my direct experiences with deregulated phone. Sure, foreign calls are cheaper. And stress related to telephone is now much worse. I wouldn't call that an absolute success.
Please note that I can't blame DT for its behaviour. DT has lost its ways to make money (charging high prices for faraway calls), but yet has to provide cheap local calls and to care of the network. There is no surprise they make huge losses this way. Since cretin politicians demand DT to make money, they have no choice but to hire incompetent staff and to snatch money wherever they can.
For some odd reason, other people from my class (who moved to Stuttgart at the same time, and who were in the same situation) only had to pay 25€ grand total. We have yet to figure out why...
BTW, DT only gives a 10 days delay to wire the money after the bill has been printed, before charging a Mahnung. Obviously, the bill takes about 4-6 days to arrive in your mailbox
Besides, incompetent staff plagues DT, to the point a competent worker is a rare sight. Once, 3 people consecutively given me a false info. I had to bother one of the few good DT employees in Stuttgart for half an hour for her to correct the mess of her many incompetent colleagues.
For some reason, when we all moved to Stuttgart for the first time 3 years ago (we move back and forth between Stuttgart and Bordeaux), we didn't have any problems of this kind with DT. Things were clear, and the staff could inform us. Besides, DT wasn't on the verge to take as much money as possible from gullible students.
This is not only a problem with DT. My girlfriend and a friend of hers are using O2 (partly because they heard about our dreadful experience). Despite having signed contracts for 2 renewable months, they ended up with 24-months contracts. Such a thing was useless to them as they were only to stay in Stuttgart for 12 months. My gf and her friend had the worst time to get rid of their contract: they had to provide proof of them moving to France with a French Anmeldebestätigung ! (there is no equivalent of this paper in France).
In France, where the market is thankfully much less deregulated, a friend of mine took a contract with the private 9 telecom. Because of the ****ty service, he cancelled the contract. The company didn't take it into account and continued to demand money, and even threatened to send lawyers to get it (the contract was cancelled perfectly legally). Countless phone calls did nothing about the situation, and things only got solved when my friend begun to threaten them himself with special mail and such...
These are merely my direct experiences with deregulated phone. Sure, foreign calls are cheaper. And stress related to telephone is now much worse. I wouldn't call that an absolute success.
Please note that I can't blame DT for its behaviour. DT has lost its ways to make money (charging high prices for faraway calls), but yet has to provide cheap local calls and to care of the network. There is no surprise they make huge losses this way. Since cretin politicians demand DT to make money, they have no choice but to hire incompetent staff and to snatch money wherever they can.
Interesting expiriences. Some of this seems to be your clash with a huge company bureaucracy which I do not think is DT specific (is it?)
What I find weird is that DT behaves pretty arrogantly towards customers even in Germany where it is exposed to competition, strong regulation and independant judiciary system.
I believed they reserve their arrogance to places where they have the monopolies, like Croatia. What am I talking about?
A short history of Croatian grievancies with HT, DT & government where they act together:
1. DT buys HT (Hrvatski Telekom), already a hugely profitable monopoly with almost completely developed optical cable & digital central infrastructure.
2. Corrupt government makes the true deal with DT secret, so we still don't know all the clauses in it. One very important one: extended monopoly awarded to DT in fixed telephony beyond 2003.
3. HT immediately raises the prices of local phonecalls while lowering the cost of foreign costs. Despite clear evidence that this will increase the average monthly bill, DT launches a campaign ****ing Croatian citizens in their brains telling them this is in their best interest.
4. Instead of corrupt government forcing HT to have detailed printout of their calls sent to the users with the bills, this is won after much media fuss and with an 'ok we do this, but because we are generous..' attitude from HT.
5. HT spends huge amount of money advertising fixed telephony in which it has no competition, offers no new services, and charges more then ever. I am talking millions in TV ads, roadside posters, etc., in a country where most people barely make a living
6. HT, despite being rewarded cable concessions for most of the country, still did not pull one meter of the cables, on purpose. This deal is to be taken from them, but still, they were supposed to have cables all over the country three years ago.
7. ISDN and DSL are tremendously expensive, few times more than in Germany or other European countries where DT has to compete with somebody or is held in check by uncorrupt officials.
Result: DT makes extraprofits here which it then carries away to waste them on dumping prices who-knows-where.
Conclusion:
1. DT is deeply evil. It pulls things here it would not dare to try in a more .. eh, orderly country, such as Germany.
2. A private monopoly is not any better than state monopoly, in some cases it is much much worse.
End of rant
... ok, ok 
)
) (don't get me wrong, I don't consider Croatia as a tinpot dictatorship).
), and crap like that sure can't do good to DT finances. And the common man pays for this crap 
Comment