Has Starcomms’s star gone?

As i sat in my room on this particular night, i was almost cursing my internet service provider namely Starcomms. i sat in front of my laptop and began to wonder why i was still on this Starcomms issue. I honestly should have dumped them a long time ago.
I sat there wishing i had their CEO’s number so i could give him a piece of my mind and also ask him how things got this bad, since their sales reps don’t do a good job of representing them or delivering my distress messages.

Paying N15,950 as monthly subscription fee excluding the transport fare of the man who goes to the bank to pay this fee is not a joke. I felt cheated and frustrated.
I need to give an explanation of what went wrong that night...

I got home from work; connected to my internet to send an urgent email to my friend in America who was sitting in front of her computer waiting to receive this vital document from me. The only headache i had apart from being tired already was that my internet would not allow my message send. My friend kept pinging my blackberry refusing to understand why it should take so long to send one email(which of course added to my headache and frustration). Though the internet claimed it was connected the email refused to send. I couldn’t use my blackberry to send the email because the document i needed to attach to the email was on my laptop. I tried sending this email for a couple of hours like 2, 3, 4hours, dozing off and waking up until finally at midnight the message sent, “Hallelujah” i shouted. By that time i didn’t know what i felt, but i knew i was angry at myself (as usual...this happens every time) for being such a loyal customer to Starcomms.

Though renewing my monthly subscription didn’t make that much sense because the internet hardly worked but i kept having faith that the service will get better thereby throwing money away , unfortunately it only got worse.

In this new age where many internet providers have sprung up, i wonder what a company like Starcomms that has been in the telecommunications industry (in fact one of the very first internet service providers) for so long is doing messing about in the same industry they pioneered.

Try calling their customer service line; they have never for once had a solution to any single one of my problems. But as soon as they notice that you haven’t paid your monthly subscription fee, they call your phone asking politely why you haven’t. They go ahead to encourage you to pay because they have rectified all the problems your internet might have (Big lie!!!) which is just a gimmick to make you pay for another month of frustrating internet service..

Not long after this incident, as you would imagine, i ditched Starcomms for a more sensible internet service provider that provides me with a better, faster and even cheaper service, GLO 3G internet.

Sometimes you lose by being too loyal a customer..

Strands ...Happy to let my money go

I am very loyal and faithful when it comes to choosing a hairdresser. I am also used to having a special bond with whoever does my hair; this is why I try to stick to getting my hair done in one place.
My loyalty led me to tolerating and accepting a lot of rubbish from my salon in the name of loyalty... let me just sugar coat it and simply say nowadays their service can be appalling and by appalling i mean terribly bad...

I had planned to get my hair done on this particular Monday but unfortunately i was informed that my salon would be closed for the day. Immediately, i felt distressed, i couldn’t imagine where else i could get my hair done. I explained my trouble to my friend and she immediately recommended her salon, still i was reluctant. My friend called her hairdresser when she was unable to reach him she sent him a bb message and he responded almost instantly that he was at church. He promised to call her back as soon as he was done which he did. My friend told him about me, immediately he booked me in for an appointment for the following day and even gave me a discount.

The following day when i got to Strands (the salon my friend recommended), i was so warmly welcomed that i actually felt i was mistaken for a celebrity. I introduced myself and I was immediately given a seat, towel around my neck and nicely the service commenced. I kept wowing and whoaing and couldn’t stop sending my friend messages telling her that i felt i was in paradise. The hairstylist offered me everything (from snacks to drinks) and refused to let me rest until i accepted to have some lunch. I felt so comfortable that for the first time i wasn’t in a rush to go home. Everything started with please and of course a smile.

Washing my hair felt so good i almost fell asleep with my head in the sink, the girl who took over was good too she kept on assuring me that my hair was fantastic but that didn’t stop her from confirming that I was okay with what she was doing.

By the time i was done with my hair, i had a huge smile on my face. I left there feeling like a princess. To make me even feel more special, they explained to me:that they were normally closed on Mondays but they opened the salon just for me. OH MY GOD catch me... I almost fainted (i confirmed this from a number of people and they agreed that it was true). I was sooo happy with the service that i didn’t act surprised when i realised my bill was higher than that of my salon.. The quality of service i received was worth every penny of what i paid.. i was happy to let my money go..