Our Internet Fiasco

It's hard to believe that my last post was two weeks ago (I'm writing from Starbucks again, whose wifi is about 93% reliable). But then it's hard to believe that we still don't have internet access at home!

We moved into a new place 3 weeks ago, 1 week after telling our new housemate that we absolutely 100% needed internet access before we moved in. No problem, he said. He would arrange it. Sure enough, it wasn't ready on moving day. Oh well, we thought, how long could it take.

The next day, that housemate had a dispute with our other housemate (his friend) and decided to move (that's a whole other story).

Anyway, no problem. Housemate #2 assured us that he would take care of things (as we are not on the lease, only sub-letting). Nevermind that the existing contract was in the name of Housemate #1. Hmmm.
Housemate #2 soon told us that he had a new contract with Cable Mas & that they would be coming "maybe Monday of Tuesday." Great. It's bad enough when Rogers Cable (in Toronto) tells you they're coming sometime in a 3-hour window. How's a 2-day window? Welcome to Mexico.

And, it's not a 2-day window. Sure enough, they didn't arrive on Monday or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or Friday...

On the verge of exploding, I visited a Cable Mas outlet (near Sears in Plaza de las Americas) to see what the hell was going on. The Cable Mas CSR was actually very helpful (& spoke English!)... as helpful as an employee can be when she can't find your house on their map. That's right. Housemate #1 gave us the wrong address (manzana & lot #s), and Housemate #2 goes by a few different names, so the CSR couldn't find the contract...

Housemate #2, who is only around on weekends, called Cable Mas again and assured us that they would be able to come on Saturday, when he was back in Cauncun. Great, finally!

Right?

Ummm. Guess what happened when he called Cable Mas on Saturday. Maybe some of their employees realized that Saturday falls on a weekend & it would be more fun to go to the beach than fix someone's internet. In any case, no one came. They didn't have enough staff.

Which brings us to this last week. 

On Saturday (August 25), Housemate #2 gave us a contract dated August 25 (leading us to wonder what happened to his first contract, if it even existed) and assured us that Cable Mas would be coming "maybe Monday of Tuesday." 


Sure enough, they didn't arrive on Monday. But (would you believe it?) they arrived on Tuesday! Yay! Joy! Except that the installer looked at the contract & said he couldn't do the installation. 

WTF? Porque? He spoke no English, & all I understood was something about having to wait a week from the contract date for the installation. So why did he come by? It was, and remains, a mystery.

Well, on the verge of exploding again, Jen & I visited a Cable Mas outlet (near Sears in Plaza de las Americas) AGAIN to see what the hell was going on. The English-speaking Cable Mas CSR wasn't there. And the CSR we spoke to was much less helpful. She could not tell us when the installation might take place, and explained that (A) Cable Mas just calls customers (on the same day) before they come to do an installation & (B) it would likely be 10-15 days from the contract date. OMG!


One funny moment: I asked the CSR if I could use her phone to call Housemate #2. She agreed and asked for the number, which she dialed for me. I noticed that she skipped a digit, before telling me it wasn't working. Hmmm. Try again, I suggested, and she did. This time she dialed the whole number but added about 6 digits, like it was some kind of code. Not working, she said. Then I asked her to try our landlady, with similar results. I'm still not sure whether she was pretending to be helpful. The alternaitve -- that Cable Mas, a TELECOM company, can't complete calls from their phones, hello! -- is even worse.


Anyway, you already know that Cable Mas didn't arrive on Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday... (today). Oh well. As they say in Mexico, maybe manana...

BTW: Is it just me, or is it not strange that Cable Mas has to call customers before an installation & can't give a more accurate estimate of when they will be able to do an installation. A 10-15 day backlog is embarrassing even for government agencies & communists. Though it does offer a handy excuse, if the real reason is corruption: maybe they need some leeway in case a client offers a bribe for quicker service?

I think I'll call & ask. Maybe manana....