The Thunderer July 22 2009 READER.es

A MONTH ago I telephoned Telefonica and
ordered a wi-fi router for my ADSL. I was
promised an engineer would deliver and
install one within ten days.
Despite numerous calls, over nearly 4
weeks, nothing happened. Finally after
being told to go and get one from a shop,
(Really!)I cancelled the order. This company
is a national disgrace. They do not
believe in going that extra millimetre to give
one jot of customer satisfaction.
I have now written to the company asking
for an explanation. I shall report back on
the response.
During one of my calls, the operator gave
me the good tidings that I was paying too
much and had been since I signed with
Smellifonica. I had a commercial line and
an engineer would be out within 48 hours to
adjust whatever. One week on and I’m still
waiting so I put that in my letter, too. No
matter how hard I try to put a brave face on
these setbacks, no matter how hard I tell
myself that it’s the price of living in Spain, I
can’t help feeling that the company is rotten
to the core and
the country
needs more competition.
Have you noticed
how many insurance
adverts there are on
British television? Are
they annoying you?
Well I’m certainly fed up
with the one with the
damn bulldog. The point is, I’m so fed up
with the advert, I’m sure I won’t be ever
using that particular company. Have you
ever had similar thoughts?
Which adverts annoy you?
I remember when I was in the pub trade,
there was an advert for a certain brand of
coffee. You will remember the one; the
lovelorn couple in the restaurant. They are
oblivious to the fact that they are the last
ones in the house and keeping the staff up,
and ask for yet one more cup of coffee. The
b88s.
As somone who has been there, desperately
tired after a fifteen hour day and longing
for my bed, I could appreciate the disappointed
feelings of the waiter. Let me tell
you I would never, ever buy that brand of
coffee.
Adverts that give rise to adverse reactions
are not new. Some of the less young
amongst you may remember the ‘Strand’
cigarette debacle. The brand was promoted
with the slogan, ‘You are never alone
with a Strand’. The advert showed a solo
man on a street corner, under a yellow
street lamp, smoking a cigarette. Sales
plummetted as people saw the advert as
proof that
only loners
(and by
implication,
l o s e r s )
s m o k e d
‘Strand’.