I had a bad experience buying a new SIM card for my smartphone in Lecce Train Station. The train station opened only in the morning until 1pm, and then open again from 4.45pm to 8pm. A gentleman was running the store and he could speak English.
I was asking only for one new SIM card with only Internet package. As you can see from the picture below, wht WIND website said that the package cost only 9€.
The SIM card activation fee is 5€, as can be seen from the same website :
If you cannot understand Italian, here is the translation :
"Sei già cliente Wind?
Attiva Internet 5 GIGA con un costo di attivazione di 5 euro."
Google translated it to :
"Already a customer Wind?
Active Internet GIGA 5 at a cost of 5 € activation."
So, I only need to pay the total of 14€. 5€ for activation and 9€ for Internet package.
However, the salesman at WIND Lecce Train station branch asked me to pay a total of 25€. I was shocked. I asked for explanation, and unclearly, he said that 5 € for activation, 9 € for Internet package, and 11 € for credit. I didn't really understand why I needed to buy extra credit. I told him that I only need Internet. No phone calls, no SMS needed. He still insisted 25€. I was in hurry to catch the train, so i just paid. I asked for receipt, and he said, "No receipt". He said, "this is phone package, no receipt." I insisted, he just photocopied the paper below for me, which didn't show I paid 25€. And of course, everything is in Italian language.
That's the catch. If a proper phone shop sells you something and cannot give you receipt. Something is fishy, something is defintely not right here! I have travelled in Europe and Asia extensively for the last 20 years, and I have never bought SIM card and phone credit, where the seller cannot provide me with the receipt. Honestly speaking, this is my first bad experience with a phone shop, after travelling to more than 20 countries in the world. Mind you, this is a proper WIND branch shop which I visited.
Anyway, the salesman said, I should restart my phone in 1 or 2 hours and I can use the Internet immediately. So, I boarded the train to Gallipoli. And about 1 hour later, I received lots of Italian SMS, saying that I have paid some credits, but the added up total was not 25€.
I got a few seconds of Internet connection, and then, the connection was broken, and never came back !
1 day passed. No internet. 2 days passed. Still no internet. So, I went to the Wind Shop in Gallipoli at Via Lecce. Damn, the shop was not opened, and it was 10.56am ! I waited from 10.56am to 11.20am, and it was still closed. It's Sunday, so they don't open on Sunday? And the worst thing is, there is no "Opening hours" notice at the shop windows and door. What an I-Wind shop, speaking about professionalism.
After paying 25€ and still not able to use Internet is a really frustrating experience. I have to resort to using home country line for contacting hotel and I happened to miss one important email from hotel asking me about the time to pick me up.
Thanks to Google, I could go to www.wind.it, and learnt a bit more. With google translation, I found out that I was being cheated. And there is a Hotline number 155 which I can call for customer service.
So, I called 155. And an Italian woman picked up, and said that she cannot speak English well, and an English speaking person will call me back in 20 minutes. So, I waited. And a guy called me back with reasonably good English. After explaining my problem to him, he said that the Internet is not working on my phone number because I am not short of 2€ credit ! Now, that is really outragious. I told him, I already paid 25€, and now you are asking me to pay another 2€ ? He couldn't resolve my problem, and hand up on me.
Now what. Not giving up, I called 155 again. And again, they told me an English speaking person will call me back in 10 minutes. I never got that call.
Thanks to Google and Facebook, I googled " Wind Lecce " and found this facebook page.
A very helpful lady, called Leone attened to my complaint. We chatted for almost 20 minutes. She asked questions to understand my problems. She asked me to check my phone credit by pressing 123#. I checked, and the credit is 0.00Euro. In the end, she apologized for not able to help me. I wasn't hoping much, since I didn't think she was not doing customer service work. I just told her to remember the man at Wind Lecce Train Station branch, who was dishonest with me and with 25Euro and overpaid, my Internet was still not working.
An hour later, I received another FB messages, and a phone call. It was Leone. She asked me to check my phone credit using 123#, and I saw I have got 2 Euro credit now. Then she asked me to restart my phone. She will call me back 10 minutes later. I restarted my phone. Then, she messaged me at fb messenger again, and asked me to check whether my internet was working. And Wala! Yes, it is !
Thank God for sending Leone to me as the good Samaritan. I still have another 3 weeks in Italy, and I need the Internet !
Not all Wind staff are bad, and Wind is really lucky to have Leone as the determined customer service officer, who wanted to help customers. I think she creditted the additional Euros into my account, allowing me to have the Internet activated. I don't know where she got the money, but thank you so very much, Leone.
As for the additional Euro11, what should I do ? Tell me, in your comment.
