¡Hablame!

Ah, TelMex. If you ever want to REALLY hear foreigners start whining, ask about the telephone service. “Bixaorellana” got a lot of useless advice and heard a heap of woes from others when she started posting her TelMex story on the Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Mexico Message Board (slightly edited)

10 May:

I’m trying to move from one place to another in Oaxaca. The problem is, every time I find a house I like, it’s impossible to get phone service there.

I currently own my phone line, & want it transferred to the next place. For the record, when I moved the last time (one year ago), the charge for moving the line was 543 pesos. It is now a whopping 1,020 pesos.

Monday I went to Telmex on Garcia Vigil, armed with all the info they needed, including the numbers on the phone pole that is directly in front of my prospective dwelling. Upon checking the computer, the Telmex rep immediately told me that “yes, I could transfer my line there.”

She asked me to wait while she called the highway office, since that’s where the maps are kept. She then came back, saying it was not a sure thing, and could I return in a week to check again. She said that in the meantime she would put in the order for service. She returned to her computer, frowned, then approached the manager, who was standing out in the customer area.

She came back to me to tell me the order could not go through, and that the manager said they wouldn’t be selling lines in that area for at least two months.

Upon my return home, I phoned the prospective landlady to tell her what happened. The next day, she went to Telmex to ask for a second line for herself, which would be installed in the rental house (a few blocks from her home). She was told they could install it in two or three days! The charge for this service would be 2,300 pesos.

Now, from my extensive and tortuous relations with Telmex, I know damned well that if it’s possible to put a new line in a house, it is equally possible to transfer a line there.

Yesterday I phoned the 800 number & spoke to a person who told me that indeed I was correct in this perception, but that there was nothing she could do about it. She then passed me to her supervisor. He also said that it was very peculiar that one client was told that she could have a new line, but the other client was denied a transferred line to the same location.
He promised to look into it, taking my phone number and email address. To date I have not heard back from him, and calling the 800 number (the only one I have for him) only gets me put on endless hold.

(later, that same night)

After endless calls to the 800 number, including connecting with someone in Tabasco, I hit on the option for having a new line installed. The pleasant, efficient lady who answered said that the address to which I wished to move is not registered in the system, but for me to call tomorrow at the same time. She gave me a folio number to reference when I called back.

Afterwards, I phoned the prospective landlady to tell her what was going on. She said that maybe I’d rather look for a different place, since this has been so difficult. ??? NOW, when there’s a ray of hope? Turns out that two guys turned up willing to pay more for the house than what she was going to charge me. Well, fine. I didn’t argue with her, as what was the point.

Then I called Telmex back to ask them to cancel the order that had just been put in. Ha! I can only cancel it tomorrow afternoon for some reason.

Interesting side note about the “consideration” [as someone suggested]: in the process of trying to get a phone for a previous prospective rental, I buttonholed a phone guy on the side of the road. He’s an electrical specialist for the phone company, based in Oaxaca. He said he’d see what he could do. He phoned me the next day to say that there was a possibility, and that he would keep me informed. At that time I delicately asked if there was anything I could do to speed the process, such as giving the installation man a gratuity. My Samaritan gasped, saying such things were strictly prohibited by Telmex, and that getting people phones was their job.

It turned out that he was not able to get me the line unless I was willing to wait several months. When I got to know him better, he told me that Telmex is rife with corruption, internal politics, & the dreaded envidia. Who’d have thought it?!

15 May

I reported above that I had to cancel my solicitud, due to the landlady renting the place out from under me. When I called to cancel, I got contradictory information from the several Telmex representatives to whom I spoke. (due to calling multiple times, trying to get a straight answer)

Yesterday I got three (3) phone calls from Telmex! The first one was to ask me if I had indeed requested that my solicitud be canceled. I said yes, & the person told me it was “pendiente”. Okay, that was encouraging. The second call was to inform me that Telmex was getting ready to transfer my service to the new address. (the one that was rented out to someone else).

No, no, no! I explained the whole cancellation thing to this person. Then I got a third call, asking me to confirm that I wanted the solicitud canceled, and wanting me to prove my identity. I read off the number from my passport, which satisfied this caller, although I suspect it could have been any string of numbers.

I guess all’s well that ends well, but SHEESH ~~ what if I’d not been home for the 2nd caller?

And, finally, May 16

This morning I went to look at a house that I agreed to take if Telmex would move my phone line over there.

The area is rural, so there are no numbers on the houses. However, armed with the name & phone number of the neighbor across the street, plus a rough croquis, I tackled Telmex.

THEY RECOGNIZED ME.

Yep, as I was sitting there waiting my turn, one of the phone reps asked me what I needed. I didn’t think that odd, as they often go up and down the line asking that. He said, “Didn’t you just get a solicitud?”

I explained about having that house rented out from under me. Then the manager walks up, and the two men converse. I didn’t pay any attention until I realized they were talking about me. This allowed me to paraphrase Robert DeNiro (in “Taxi Driver”), and, indeedm they were discussing me. I re-explained why I canceled my solicitud.

When my turn came up, the phone rep with whom I’d been talking went out of his way to tell the lady at the desk to BE SURE to use my datos that were already in the computer. The gerente made sure they were in the computer! He was adamant.

After a roller coaster of emotions wherein I was told, Yes! you can get a line, and Whoops ~~ maybe not, and some murmured phone calls by the lady, I was informed that indeed the transfer can take place, & I can keep my current phone number. Just to make sure that my attitude doesn’t become too positive, it seems that the transfer can take up to 90 days.

*sigh*

I find it interesting that after my phone conversation with the supervisor the other day (a) the original denied line was miraculously able to be installed, & (b) it looked like heaven & earth were being moved today to insure that I got the requested service.

Hmmmmmmm — is it possible that the squeaky wheel got the grease?

[http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Talk_to_me_luck_and_patience_needed_in_Mexico/blog]