So, I am renovating a house in Veldegem, which is really fun to do actually. Together with my father and brother, we do everything ourselves. Some things however, need 3rd party involvement.
Two weeks ago I wanted to install an DSL-connection in my house. So I needed a telephone-line to boost the ADSL-signal over. In Belgium we have 3 choices for such a line : Belgacom or Belgacom or none.
As I mentioned, it's a renovation, which means there used to be such a connection to my house, but it got cut away, forgotton and I placed a new "aansluitbocht", so all my connections ( gas, elecricity, water, ... ) enter my house in one place. The old connection still is in Belgacom's database somehow, and that might have been the root-cause of my problems with them.
Since Belgacom is the Telecom-leader in Belgium ( read: monopolist ), you'd expect everything to go smooth.
Anyhow, I went to one of their shops to order myself a new line, all went well, adding a new customer probably is the only thing they do 'quickly'. I even mentioned twice that the previous person who lived in that house is no longer amongst the living and they can consider that account closed and I needed a new connection. I asked when the line would be installed and they answered me "Next monday at 16.30h. dear polite man!". I found this time of the day rather weird since Belgacom is a government agency and they are well known not to work after 16.30h. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and I was at my house that monday at 16h. Yes, you guessed right: no one showed up. So I phoned them up, asked where they were and some lady informed me that my line had been successfully activated! Hey, I'm no telecom expert but without any cable in my house, I was sure I could not make 1 phonecall with my new account. So the lady arranged me a new appointment, "This wednesday someone will come over and put the line in place, have a good day really friendly and polite man!". Also, in this conversation I mentioned twice I needed a new line, the old line had dissapeared and there's no possibility of re-using that line cause it's gone , I even mentioned tearing up the sidewalk.
So, next wednesday, I was present at my house again, and waited and waited... Suddenly at 11.30h. some small Belgacom-van showed up with a near-pensioner showed up, and suspicion at my side arose. So I asked the man if he would dig the hole all by himself, he looked at me with confusion in his eyes and told me on his job-description for my address it said: "malfunctioning plug box" , COME ON ! They guy told me this happens a lot and arranged a proper ticket for my address, mentioning a new line, and a new appointment was made : "This fridaymorning some guys will show up , dig the hole, connect the line, place a plug box and all will be well really-patient-sir".
OK! So... getting really frustrated about this whole situation, I again, waited and waited and waited that fridaymorning, no one showed up .... *sigh*. So, I changed into my angry-voice, phoned them up asking what took them so long! A really nice girl answered the technicians were still working somewhere else, not knowing if they'd be able to make it to my place that day ... I got quite angry ( knowing that girl could not do anything about it, so with a friendly tone ) telling her this was my third day off from work that week for her company and that I'm getting tired of it! She promised to try and help me, but could not make any promises.
10 minutes later, I receive a phonecall from one of their technicians telling me they would be there in 15 minutes ( *joy* ) and asking me "what kind of disturbance i'm having".
When those guys arrived, all was well, they laughed about it cause these situations happen all the time, they placed my connection and 3 hours later, all was well.
You know Belgacom, for a "leader in telecommunications in Belgium" you guys really suck big time at communicating, really :). I cannot seem to justify all the effort I had to make for you guys to do what was needed.
Oh, and if it wasn't for your company owning all wired-cabling in Belgium, I'd go with some other operator, who offer me telephony+internet at reasonable pricing. Now I'm stuck at a one year obligated contract with you guys for telephony, cause else you would not even place that line on my premises.
It really frustrates me I have to choose Belgacom for 1 year, while it is way cheaper somewhere else. Even better: If I for example take the offer from Tele2 ( see attachment ) from day 1. I'd be paying Tele2 for telephone+internet, which sounds reasonable, BUT I'd have to pay Belgacom also for 1 year cause else I can't even take Tele2 !
That said ... We urgently need more competitors on that market in Belgium.
