Sales Truths

Isn't it amazing how much difference there is between what a sales person offers and what you actually get?

My most recent example is with a well known company called BT, you may have heard of them.  In late August this year I received a phone call from BT about their broadband offerings.  Apparently I could switch my broadband supplier to them immediately and sign up for BT Total Broadband, or if I signed up for BT Infinity I could have the high speed of their new fibre system but would have to wait until 1st October for this.

Knowing people who have been lucky enough to get BT Infinity and the speeds they report, I was excited.  Fortunately however I did not contact my existing broadband supplier to start the switch over process at any point.

The sales person who called was very keen that I sign up there and then, I wouldn't be receiving another call when BT Infinity was available.  I enquired and was told that whilst I could wait until I was ready to switch, the 'wonderful offer' would have expired so I would have to take on the standard contract terms - a risk I was prepared to take.

As I say, I am glad I didn't sign up then, because although I have seen the installation of new BT cabinets in the local area and engineers connecting them to the existing cabinets, when I check on availability ( I was told available from 1st October 2011 ) I find that BT Infinity is NOT in my area and is presently expected to be available from 31st December 2011.  Somewhat of a discrepancy!

What would have happened if I had contacted my existing supplier to terminate the contract ( which you have to do to get the MAC code for the new supplier ) - I would have been cut off without any broadband.

I would then have had to resort to my 3G dongle - which only offers about 1.5 meg and of course costs a fortune if I exceed my monthly data limit.

It is another case of buyer beware - it is not always a good idea to sign up to 'special offers' by phone even if they are from a supposedly reputable company!

As an example of a previous instance try this - I once worked for a company implementing an Oracle system.  In 1997 when the salesman made his pitch he was specifically asked about a particular feature and confidently said this was available in the current release of the day.

After installation it was necessary to place a support call with Oracle to ask how to configure it, only to be told it was NOT available but may be in the next release.

I understand from my former colleagues that even now in 2011 it is still NOT available, and I think even the promise of a future release has been dropped!

Beware - Error With Your PC

I am getting fed up with the persistent calls that claim a company has discovered an error with my PC.

These are all from outside the UK and guessing by the accents they come from India or somewhere close.  Some claim to be from London, but if so why would my caller display say 'International'?  Maybe London has moved since I did geography!

It is clear what they are trying to do, entice you to a web site that does try and cause a problem with your PC and then I have no doubt that they will charge you an exorbitant amount to correct the error they have 'discovered'

You are best to ignore these calls totally but they still keep making them.  I think they are working on mailing lists they have bought where you have provided a phone number and an email address.  From this they work out you may have a PC.

If you do try to find out how they know it is a problem with your PC then they come up with a whole host of technobabble designed to frighten the non computer aware. They told me they had the Windows Licence number of a machine at my address which had reported errors.  Interestingly it didn't look like any Microsoft key I have ever seen and certainly was nothing like any of my machines.

It goes without saying - never tell them anything about your computer set up or go to any websites they may mention, you are just asking for trouble.

You could of course have some sport, tell them you are running Linux, Unix, Macintosh or any more obscure system you like and then invite them to explain why they think you have a Windows error - again they are piggybacking on the fact that many people do have Windows.

The bottom line is that they do NOT have any errors from your PC, could not associate any errors with your phone number and ARE out to get money off you.

Be aware of these scams and AVOID like the plague.  Keep your computer protection up to date and never connect to any websites you are invited to by unknown callers.

Must go and apply the latest security patches to my VAX VMS machine!