Good customer service != good company

I used to get my mobile phone broadband from Giffgaff. They're a company with a nice fresh image and they offer unlimited data for 12GBP per month. They've always disallowed tethering, but until recently they didn't enforce it. I really need the tethering though, because my home internet is utter crap (thanks Virgin) due to a technical problem that my landlord has to fix, so I can't do anything about it myself.

So naturally, when Giffgaff started enforcing the no-tethering rule, I switched to Three. They offer a 15GBP/month contract that allows for unlimited tethering. Their website said (and still says) that coverage in my postcode is good, and when I first received my sim card it was fine. But not long thereafter I lost all signal inside the house. I notified Three about this and they promptly came back to me and let me know there was an issue with the cell phone mast, and then I had signal again. But not for long. It's been broken for three weeks now, and I've finally had a chance to contact Three about it.

The situation is pretty crap. Apparently there have been 'changes to the network' and they're not going to fix the signal in my house. They didn't say that outright of course, but that's how it is. They continue to claim that they have good signal in my area, but that's basically a lie. And instead of fixing it, they've offered to send me a box that I connect to my broadband connection which will give me good signal inside the house. Given the flakiness of my internet connection and the fact that it's actually my landlord's, not mine, I doubt that I can take this option. The other option they offered was a discount of the monthly rate, which I think is pretty damn good actually, at least until they've solved the network issue.

I've noticed this phenomenon a lot lately: companies mess up, but they're extremely quick to react to any mishap and offer compensation via polite and adequate service. The only problem is: it doesn't reduce the number of fuck-ups! I am no longer impressed by companies having good customer service; it's pretty much the standard these days. What impresses me is a company that doesn't fudge the facts about their signal coverage.

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