Dobleve

Telefonica is the Spanish equivalent of the AT&T telephone monopoly from years ago in the US. Lucky for us, they are the main providers of our telephone and internet access in Granada. So of course we signed up as soon as we could when arrived in Granada, after all who can live for long without a decent internet connection? You will soon understand the reason for the lack of new postings for a while…

Telefonica has a very nice website where you can order any of the services you’d like, kind of what you’d expect. Thats where similiarities to other “good” websites end. After filling out my application, providing my bank account and email info I was rewarded with a confirmation page and then, nothing. No customary email confirmation, no phone call, just, well, the lack of a dial tone at our house.

After a week of nothing, I asked a Spanish friend if this was normal. I didn’t get much past saying Telefonica and I ordered something before immediate pity set in. Typically our mis-adventures in Spain do not evoke sympathy, however having spoken to several people now it appears saying “Telefonica” is a good way to inspire an immediate comraderie with everyone else who has to work with them regardless of my Spanish language skills. Our friend was kind enough to call Telefonica on our behalf to ask what was going on, our Spanish is not yet up to the level needed for this kind of discussion. At the end she was told it could take up to 20 days for our phone and internet service to be connected. Ok, well, not so fast but at least the promise of it arriving was there.

18 days later we are ready to begin a trip to the US to attend several weddings, however we still have no phone. Once again a friend volunteered to help us discuss this situation with Telefonica. She patiently explained that yes, we had requested service and understood 20 days was the maximum time it might take, and here we were 18 days later and leaving in 2 days on a trip. The response was somewhat predictable. “They leave in 2 days? We can’t schedule a service call on that kind of short notice.”