Gombeen Man has always felt that customer service and value in Ireland leave much to be desired. For example, Dunnes Stores only introduced changing rooms after the British shops moved here. Then, during the recent “boom” years, as consumers splashed borrowed cash about like drunken Monopoly players; paying the asking price, or above, for something was nearly seen as badge of honour.It didn’t matter whether assets, goods, or services were in question. Discussing something as vulgar as the price was a sign of fiscal weakness for many. “What the hell! I’m flush. I can afford it!”, was the philosophy - with scant consideration to the constraints of reality.
With such a ready supply of lemming-like custom, who could blame our real-estate, retail, and licenced sectors enthusiastically extracting the yellowy fluid? They only had to name their inflated price, provide their shoddy, costly service - and still the public came back for more! Happy days!
It was during this time that Gombeen Man decided to sign up for broadband, choosing to take the Eircom route(er). Mistake. After a couple of weeks waiting for a codeword and a unsuccessful wrangle to keep his old Indigo email address, in order to avoid a moniker such as jsmith34343534334243@eircom.net (Eircom owned Indigo), the Gombeen Manor internet modernization project was dead in the water. Eircom said that the only way of keeping the old address was to pay for broadband and dial-up!
So, Perlico it was. No such complications on the matter of email addresses with Perlico – they simply didn’t supply them. By now, however, GM was resigned to losing his civvy email addy, and decided to go ahead regardless. Things were reasonably OK for a while, until sent emails began bouncing back on a regular basis. Having checked that similar mail delivered successfully from other sources, it was time to visit the Perlico site and their advertised e-mail customer support facility.
However, it seems that Perlico have much the same attitude to customer support queries as they do to dedicated email addresses… they just ignore their existence. Several have gone unanswered, so now it’s time to look around for another ISP. Mind you, in a country where there is as much genuine competition in the commercial sector as there is in the political one, it’s a tough, erm, call to make.
So what’s a cranky blogger to do in order to keep connected (given, "Anonymous" in comments, that I’m not going to stop the blog)? Can anyone advise?
Answers please, by comments or to: gombeenman(at)lookout(dot)ie
4 comments:
I really enjoy reading your blogs, keep it up man
Jesus, a compliment from someone!!!! I get so much abuse from certain quarters that it's nice to have someone say something nice now and again.
Cheers.
Your blogs are absolutely brilliant, Please keep them coming.
I've been in England for about 8 yrs now and it's fantastic reading things from someone "back home" who isn't afraid to say what he feels.
Too many people these days are too politically correct and totally afraid to say a thing in case it's taken the wrong way.
I do have one complaint though... you need to update them more often... write more
Always looking forward to reading the next thing.
Oh one thing I've not foucnd although it might not be there, is there's no info about you, i.e. male/female/age etc and wherabouts in Ireland.
Obviously you might not want to give too much detail, but some would be a help :)
btw considered a page counter at the top of your page? you might be surprised how many time's its viewed and how often
Aw shucks! Thanks Lew. It's always nice to get a kind comment - the abusive ones generally outweigh the complimentary ones, I'm afraid. But better than being ignored, I suppose - and at least they are from people that I'm happy to upset anyway!
Not much to tell about myself... have to keep the aura of mystery you know ;-) Grumpy male, Dublin (Blanchardsown), but from city centre originally. Won't be any more specific or I'll have them gathering outside my house waving burning torches about. Lived in east London (Stratford) for nine years during in the 80s - 90s. Leeds fan... but enough said about that. I blame Johnny Giles!
Yes, might look at the counter idea. Thanks for the tip. Glad you like the blogs, and I know I'm a bit remiss about doing them at times. You know yourself - it's not as though shortage of raw material is ever an issue; it's just finding the time. But certainly the fact that there are people out there that tune in and like them, is a big (positive) incentive.
Cheers!!!
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