John Linton
.....but then perhaps some people appear to need to live their lives in a state of disappointment and anger?
(or is there something more sinister?)
I've commented before on the sheer perversity of some people who, from my direct observation, seem to actually prefer to live at least a part of their lives in perpetual conflict. In Exetel's terms this manifests itself in a type of customer who continually complains, in the most vociferous ways and at great length, about the absolute un-usability of the service Exetel supplies and the total incompetence of every person who has been involved in dealing with his (occasionally her) issues and the criminal nature of the management and directors.
This type of 'customer' often carries out his verbal and written abuse of each person within Exetel with whom he deals using the vilest of language and always at great length. Inevitably this sort of 'customer' couches his complaints in the most untruthful of terms to the TIO and occasionally to one or other of the minor court systems in the different States.
His version of events is not only that the service he refuses to pay for is totally inadequate but it's lack of proper provision has ruined his life and he must be compensated for his inconvenience by the payment of thousands of dollars of damages. This has, often gone on, for 8 - 10 weeks before some modicum of 'satisfaction' is grudgingly admitted (usually when the TIO eventually tells him to take some tiny financial accommodation and accept a no-penalty cancellation of the service and move on to another provider).
A huge waste of time for everyone involved and a great deal of stress and uncontrolled anger by the 'complainant'.
So the account is terminated and everyone involved moves on........except for the complainant.
What does he do?
He does something truly amazing.
Within a week or so, in several cases the next day (and in one case the actual same day as the account was cancelled) this person who has described Exetel as a company, several engineering and accounting employees and the directors and owners as incompetent, criminal scum whose service consists of two 10 year old computers connected by a piece of string (actual quotes and words used by one of these unhappy people) PUTS IN AN APPLICATION FOR THE SAME SERVICE HE HAS JUST SPENT TEN WEEKS 'LITIGATING' ABOUT.
What has happened to turn the service he desperately wanted to be free of in to something that he must immediately start using it again??????
How is this actually possible without making the assumption that there is a higher lunacy rate in Australia than you might expect?
It defies explanation in any rational terms that I can get my mind around. A person who has so vociferously decried a company and a service, who was both genuine in their complaint and sane, could not possibly re-sign for a service that has allegedly been so inadequate that it has affected his health and financial well being and he has had to seek the TIO's assistance, or the assistance of a court, to free himself from the requirement to pay for it on an ongoing basis.
However there have been 15 instances of this conundrum over the past 6 months and there would have been more except, when we began to notice this strange scenario, we began putting in a 'black list' that wouldn't accept applications from specified telephone numbers/bank accounts/credit cards/addresses etc.
I can accept that there are a few lunatics who are not institutionalised that could, possibly, account for one or maybe even two such ridiculous situations. I can't accept that there are 15 +.
I can accept that in some, very few - no more than 1 or 2, cases all the slandering and complaining was done by someone other than the account holder (parent/partner/flat mate) who actually paid the bills and when the complainer got the account cancelled they had to cover up what they had been doing by trying to get it reinstated.
Who are the others?
I now have my suspicions having done some minor research on one of the most ridiculous instances and found that the person was actually an employee of another ISP but I can't believe that explanation would account for more than just one occurrence.
So is Australia getting crazier as a society or are my suspicions that there are some grossly unethical and terminally silly companies in Australia correct?
Neither scenario has any attractiveness.