The actor and musician Stefaan De Winter has waited 6 months for the telecommunications company Proximus to connect come and install an internet connection. A technician was due to visit Stefaan’s father’s home no fewer than 8 times but failed to show up. Countless phone calls to Proximus’ customer service department have also failed to get any result. He told VRT Radio 2’s breakfast show ‘Goedemorgen morgen!’ that “I don’t understand it. If any small company had done this, they would have gone bankrupt long ago”. Since his appearance on the radio programme a Proximus technician has been to carry out the installation.
“50 telephone calls, but no one came”: Stephan waits 6 months for an internet connection.
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Stefaan De Winter is fed up to the back teeth with the telecoms company Proximus. Has been waiting for the internet to be installed at his father’s home in Ostend (West Flanders) since 22 March. “I have called customer services around 50 times, but no one could help me there. I am just shoved from pillow to post.”
A technician had been due to come and install the internet at Stefaan father’s house no fewer than 8 times, but each time something went wrong and the technician failed to show up.
“To make matters worse, my father goes back to Ostend specially when the technician is due to come. He normally stays nearer to my mother that is in a care home in Gooik (Flemish Brabant) as she is suffering from dementia”.
Such was Stefaan De Winter’s frustration that he made a video about the situation that he has published on social media. The film has been shared many times. Proximus too has seen the film in which Stefaan says that “We have great expectations that a technician will show up today. This is even more exciting than the arrival of Saint Nicholas”.
A thorough investigation
Proximus’ Fabrice Gansbeke told the VRT that “We are currently looking into how it could have all gone so very wrong. Our technician went there in April to install the internet, but they still needed to carry out additional work. The technician had entered this into the system, but it mysteriously disappeared. Our customer service department was unable to see anything and as such was unable to offer any specific help”.
In his film Stefaan De Winter also is highly critical of Proximus’ management.
“They have made so many people redundant in order to give their shareholders more money that there are now not enough people to do the work. Proximus reject this claim. “He is mixing two things up that have nothing to do with each other. Nevertheless, we understand the frustration and we are seeking to provide this gentleman with some form of compensation”.
Stefaan De Winter told the VRT that he is happy that the long wait is finally over, but that he has reservations about the way companies like Proximus work.
“You don’t have to wait 8 months when you order 500 grammes of mince at the butchers. Any other company that carried on like this would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.