All to Get DSL to Work
The frustrations of being a foreigner here can be immense. This week, one element has been particularly frustrating to me. I’ve been without DSL this week, and to get it back has been an incredible story. Let me walk you through what I’ve gone thru:- First, DSL wouldn’t connect last Saturday
- Tried again all day on Sunday to no avail. Kept getting an invalid username profile. Now this meant I could not find out college football scores!! ……… I just wish I hadn’t learned about the Wolfpack game after all.
- Monday, my interpreter, Eric called and was told I needed to add more money to my account. Now, this China Telecom system is a little different from anything I’ve ever heard of in the US. You register for DSL, get connected, get a modem installed, and then buy these credit cards worth a month’s time with a special code under a “scratch-off” to recharge your account. I had been told I needed to do this the first of every month. This was not the first of the month, but I was now being told I needed to add now.
- Monday night I tried to recharge my account with a card worth 100 RMB that I still had in my possession. Now everything on the China Telecom website is in Chinese. There is NO ENGLISH version!! So I was stumbling through. I got my neighbor, a Chinese American working here to interpret what little he could read. He said it was still saying “invalid password”. I was using the proper password. Still no avail.
- Tuesday, Eric called China Telecom again and was told I still didn’t have enough money in my account. I needed to come by the office to let an agent recharge for me. I couldn’t get there for a few days due to other evening business back at the plant.
- Finally on Thursday, my driver and I went back to China Telecom. As you may recall, I had already spent hours here with no one speaking English and my not getting anywhere with earlier business. Here I was again. A kind young man did quickly take my card and recharged my account. But he kept looking at the account with an odd expression, but didn’t say anything more as we left. I wish he had!
- Back home, I tried again, and nothing worked!
- Friday, Eric scheduled an installer to come from China Telecom to check my connection. Meeting him after work, he then informed me I still didn’t have enough in my account. I still don’t see it, but he showed me that one credit was only 65 RMB when 100 was needed. I would have to go back to China Telecom to get another recharge card.
- Not wanting to wait long, I took off as soon as he left to cross town to China Telecom. An hour later, I entered the store. I had never ventured out at rush hour before in Dongguan City. What a zoo! It took my taxi over 20 minutes to get through one intersection. I would have been better to walk.
- So here I was again at my favorite China Telecom on a busy Friday night. A guard directed me to the counter for cards. No one was behind the counter. A lady was waiting in front of me. After about ten minutes an agent from another nearby counter (that uses number system for customers) came over to wait on us. Now anyone that has ever been in Asia would understand what happened next. I was in line behind the lady patiently waiting. As soon as this agent showed up, three other people jumped in front. They don’t seem to have much respect for queuing here. How Disney will succeed with their lines will be interesting. I finally showed the agent the last card I had and asked for “two more just like it” worth 100 RMB each. I got cards and left.
- I should have looked closer at the cards! But remember I can’t read Chinese. When I got home to finally charge again, it wouldn’t work again!! Looking at the card closer, I realized this wasn’t an Internet recharge card! It was probably a cell phone card!! AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!
- So Saturday morning, back to China Telecom. I entered and was greeted by a pretty welcome lady at the front counter that understood English!! YES! She immediately got me replacement for my unopened card, but after listening to my claim that I had showed my last card to the agent the last night and asked for “two just like it”, she pleaded in my behalf with a manager to get a replacement for the opened card. YES!! I got them!
- Back in the apartment, Saturday afternoon I recharged. It took a little trial and error to get through the Chinese screens. But I did. I’m finally back on DSL
Whew! And you thought customer service was tough with US phone companies!
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 10:30 AM
Comments: 0
