09.24.08
How to move in Italy, Part 4
It wouldn’t be a move without a few glitches, would it?
Just before we started moving things in to the new house, I called to get the utilities switched into my name at the new house. I read the meter, and wrote down all the meter numbers and sat down to call the different companies. Everything seemed to go really smoothly. The gas guy came and went in about 5 seconds. The water company didn’t even need to come. Electricity was easy. And the phone company even sent me text messages reminding me of when the technician would come to my house to hook up the phone.
And then it all went downhill. The guy from Telecom Italia showed up right on time and went straight to work checking the phone jacks. I explained to him that the phone sometimes rang and I could hear people talking. “No problem,” he says. We head downstairs to where all of the wires come into the building, and he immediately looks very concerned. He calls his supervisor. He looks things up on this enormous cell phone he was carrying. Finally he breaks the bad news: there aren’t any phone lines left for me to have. I told him that someone lived in this apartment six months ago, and they surely had a phone. But apparently in the meantime someone who didn’t have a phone took over that line. He explained to me that he would go back to the office and explain the situation to his supervisor, who would be in touch.
The next day, sure enough, he calls. He apologizes and says that he will be in charge of following this job from start to finish. He sets up an appointment for November 18 to come and hook up the phone – surely the work will be finished by then. November 18! I told him that I would rather shut the phone off and wait until the work is done so that I don’t have to pay a bill for a phone that doesn’t exist. And he cautioned me and said that if I did shut it off, my job will go to the bottom of the list, because I’m no longer a paying customer. He said I could ask for a reimbursement after all the work is done.
And I’m basically sitting there on the phone trying to wrap my mind around what could possibly take two months. I think they might actually be running a long phone cord from some box on the side of road.
So no phone or internet at the house for us. Oh well – maybe I’ll get some reading done!
Pictures of the new kitchen (and the rest of the house) are coming…
Heather Seybld said,
09.25.08 at 5:42 am
soooooooooooooo funny, but not really!