Phone chaos

Following on from my post on broadband becoming a fast, ever changing market, the mobile phone industry is just the same. My contract is due for renewal come April, and I called my service provider for a list of options. The mistake I made was calling them a month before the date. So much for attempting forward planning. A month seems to be several lifetimes in the mobile phone market.

Honestly, it causes so much hassle and is so much a, "here and now," service that I could do without the stress. I'd go back to string and tin cans except that I can't afford the few hundred miles of shaggy brown parcel wrapping string it would take to connect me to my nearest and dearest. Also, as mobile phone prices are still falling steadily, landline charges are starting to creep up again; I don't know if anyone has noticed.

All I want is a stable life; to pay my money and get the service I want; but, oh no. Contract terms seem to change on the fly and the service I had yesterday isn't available on the market place tomorrow so I've got to re-evaluate everything again and choose another package. People are sending SMS messages to my landline, and when I'm on the phone, other people get a B.T. answerphone that I didn't ask for. Excuse me, what was wrong with the engaged tone? They leave a message and I've got to call THEM back! I didn't ask for this crap. **breaks down on the floor and weaps with frustration**

What ever happened to customer service? Ah, yes, that's gone abroad and doesn't speak English any more. I had a long battle with BT when I needed to report a fault. It took three phone calls before I got through to someone who could understand what I was asking. Fair play, once they did work out what I was saying, they sorted the problem out, but I'd rather not have gone through the hell of language barriers first.

Technology. It has changed our lives for the better, but the impotus has now gone far beyond the usefull. For some reason, it thinks it can not stand still. It pressures itself in to progressing and creating new features and services. It doesn't seem to matter that these new services are driving everyone batty. Look at Royal M(sn)ail. They've been delivering letters for decades. O.K., they've gone from hay powered horses in the days of powdered wigs, to petrol powered vans in the days of telecommunications, but the crux of it is still the same.

We are no longer driving technology; we long ago reached the plateau of benefit to everyday life; technology is now driving us. The rule of the machines, has started.

And what kind of trip is BT on these days? If you don't pay your bill fast enough, they are on the phone to you; but they won't talk to you about your bill unless you confirm who you are by giving them confidential details about yourself. Me, tell confidential details over the phone to an unidentified caller? I think not! Just give me the red bill; then I know where I am.