A side effect of cottage cheese?

For the past 2 weeks I've gotten a few phone calls from Cellcom telling me they are placing me on a better plan, more minutes, more SMSs, less money.

I wasn't sure why they were doing that, and told them that straight out.

They said as a long time customer they wanted to keep me happy. So I agreed.

But when I got my Cellcom phone bill this month I was shocked because it was a few hundred shekels higher than expected (and higher than the previous months). One particular item that stood out was the charge for my free phone upgrade (which is why I upgraded in the first place), which turned out to be not free at all, and in fact it was quite expensive.

I called up Cellcom support quite angry. After a long wait I got through to their representative. A young-sounding Arab fellow, who heard me out.

I explained that I'm returning the phone, and who needs Cellcom with the blatant bait and switch. Cellcom knew the talk plan I was on when I upgraded the phone, and they explicitly told me that it would be free because of it.

At first he said there was nothing he could do about the phone upgrade charge, but perhaps he could help me elsewhere.

I wasn't sure, but I listened.

By the end of the discussion, he was cutting my fixed phone fees to half of what they were in previous month, and the cost of the phone upgrade (which he couldn't make go away) would be built into that total price.

Between my American accented Hebrew, and his Arabic accented Hebrew, I think we both understood each other.

He said it was important to him that I remain a satisfied Cellcom customer, and he is doing this on his personal initiative.

I'm wondering if the whole Cottage Cheese boycott has gotten some of the other Israeli companies to seriously think about their price gouging and customer satisfaction.

I'm waiting to see the next bill (and I didn't quite understand him well enough to know if it would retroactively affect this bill too), but if he did what he said, then I would say that Cellcom quickly picked up on the lessons of Tnuva.

I'll keep you updated.


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Facebook Leftists Target Ad that makes IDF Soldiers Look Human

Leftists target the IDF with their new Facebook (Hebrew) group, "I too got nauseous watching the new Cellcom ad." (גם לי יש בחילה מהפרסומת החדשה של סלקום)

The photo at the left is the Facebook group's photo depicting their opinion of the video.

Over 167 people have joined this group so far (obviously, most of them Israeli), and their reactions on their Facebook wall range from calling for an immediate boycott of Cellcom, to a letter writing campaign to the government over Cellcom's "despicable" ad.

See the ad for yourselves, and tell me if you think it's "racist." (click here for the youtube video if the one below isn't loading)



The voice-over at the end: "After all, what does everyone want, just some fun in life..."

I'm not a fan of the wall, (nor are most of my friends), but to turn this into a "racist" video is simply pathetic.

Haaretz:

The Facebook group, called "I too got nauseous watching the new Cellcom ad," severely criticized McCann Eriksson's use of the separation fence in its advert.

"We could go into the media messages spouting racism any which way, but if you have come here than you too think they're uncalled for," reads the introduction to the Facebook group. "The McCann Erickson copywriter displayed an unbelievable propensity for bad taste."

The group also centered on what they feel is offensive in the new commercial, pointing out the fact that the supposedly "good" soldiers fear the possibility that the "monster living on the other side of the wall could steal the ball - but when the ball returns to Israeli hands, we discover that that monster isn't fierce at all, and actually feels like playing with the soldiers - oh joy!"

"Good enough reason to set up a beach party under the wall, complete with sexy female soldiers and musical instruments."

The group ends by demanding the immediate removal of the commercial.

"What our group can agree on is the shame we feel seeing a major Israeli commercial company approving such a beastly advert to be aired in its name, and which brings us to demand - take this racist commercial off the air immediately!"

PS: Lurker, do you remember when we played soccer with some Arab kids from Beit Jalla 25 years ago?

hat-tip: JR



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