I thought we had enough of Etisalat's adventures last week until I came across this rather curious advertisement on today's Gulf News.If they are trying to send some subliminal messages to customers, they are sending all the wrong ones.
31 July, 2006
Life without choices
I thought we had enough of Etisalat's adventures last week until I came across this rather curious advertisement on today's Gulf News.If they are trying to send some subliminal messages to customers, they are sending all the wrong ones.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
8 comments:
the irony/hypocrisy in that advertisement is nothing short of a level i'd expect in the UAE
Ha!
I think they had SD as their copywriter!
Next thing they'll be contacting her to ask if they can use her special logos that she designed!
:-)
Eight convenient choices, eh?
1. Go online.
2. Go to a cash payment machine.
3. Special trip to Etisalat, where you'll be told to use a cash payment machine. Same as 2 then.
4. Special trip to the post office.
5. Go online. Same as 1 then, but only if your bank has the appropriate facilities.
6. Go online. Same as 1, except only available if you bank with NBD.
7. Same as 4, except you pay money rather than post a cheque.
8. Same as 3, except you post a cheque rather than use the cash payment machine.
So, in summary:
1, 5 and 6 are virtually identical.
3 is virtually the same as 2 and very similar to 8.
4 and 7 are very similar.
So according to EggSalad, "eight is the new three", and full use of this magnificent choice depends on co-operation from your bank.
As for "Imagine your life without choices" [of service provider], I feel no comment of mine could possibly exceed the irony of the original.
ROFL
I'll never forget the time I came back from holiday to find my internet and landline had been cut off. It was a Friday, and it was 6am. I didn't have a car, because I lease one and had handed it in for a service. I was stuck in the gulags with fk all to do, desperately needing to catch up on backlog, and severed from the outside world.
My mobile still worked, so I rang Etishite. Could they do phone payments? Could they fk. They're a telco after all, god forbid they actually pioneer advanced communication services such as telephone payments. It was too early to ring anyone in the UAE, this was before Ibn Spud opened so god knows where the nearest payment machine was even if I did call a taxi (and at 6am and jetlagged I had little desire to leave my cell again).
In the end I rang a friend in Australia (timezone awake at that time) and he went to an internet cafe in his lunch break, logged on to Etishite4Me with my username, password and credit card details, and sorted things out.
Incidentally, had they sent me one late payment email while I was overseas I could have paid. But they don't send payment reminders, do they? God forbid that a telco should actually use email for the convenience of its users (unlike Dewa which has been doing it for half a decade).
I'm curious to see how "different" life with du will be.
In the end I rang a friend in Australia (timezone awake at that time) and he went to an internet cafe in his lunch break, logged on to Etishite4Me with my username, password and credit card details, and sorted things out.
Hah! I did that once...called my friend, gave her my details, etc. and got her to pay on my behalf.
I used to pay on behalf of a friend, even when i left the country ... sadly, my e4me account has been deactivated for the lame reason that I no longer have a landline to "link" to my mobile.
So, Etisalat went to the trouble of cancelling my online registration, leaving me unable to top up my UAE mobile SIM card online ... yes, they are WILLINGLY turning down my money.
So, I'll have to get a friend to pay for me now!
Post a Comment
NOTE: By making a post/comment on this blog you agree that you are solely responsible for its content and that you are up to date on the laws of the country you are posting from and that your post/comment abides by them.
To read the rules click here
If you would like to post content on this blog click here