Credit where credit's due

The execrable Itisalot is at it again.

When I moved from Sharjah to Dubai in order to live with Beloved Wife, I unsurprisingly had to close down my Sharjah telephone land line. As expected, Itisalot sent me a final bill that showed a credit. I dropped into the Sharjah office, one of those green cylinders with a golf ball on the top, and explained that I wished to credit the balance to the new Dubai land line that was in Beloved Wife's name. The man behind the counter gave me a form to fill in and then said that all the paperwork was done and the transfer would be effected in the next few days.

A month later I received another bill, showing the same credit, for my non-existent land line. I rang Itisalot, was regaled by ten minutes of "Your call is important to us" music, and explained the problem.

It's all my fault, apparently. I'm not allowed to move my credit balance to a telephone account in someone else's name. In order to do that, I need a No Objection letter from Beloved Wife. Then I need to visit Itisalot's golf ball again and humbly beg that the credit be transferred.

This is from the same company whose website includes a "Pay 4 A Friend" [sic] facility. Anyone can go on line and use a credit card to pay anyone else's phone, internet, mobile or e-vision (cable TV) bill provided that the account number is known. So why can I pay my wife's phone bill with my plastic card but not with my credit note?

On a related subject, the broadband connection at home, promised "in two weeks" from 10th August has to date not materialised. Apparently there aren't enough spare wires in the street to support more internet connections. This is despite ADSL's alleged ability to use the same pair of wires as the telephone.

And the reason why this deplorable state of affairs prevails?

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( (..) )

and of course