just an example here

Portugal - Vodafone Fail, Thanks for Nothing!

I have a huge issue with Vodafone. At least with Vodafone in Portugal.
I can speculate that the problem is not just with Vodafone in Portugal but perhaps with all of Vodafone.

My biggest issue is that there is no help, that there is no assistance… no one with whom you can speak And most of all, there is basically NO help in English!! Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am overly apologetic for my inability to speak with local people in their local language and that unlike many people I know… I do not expect people to have to speak with me in english if I am in YOUR country!

However, having said that, do not be disingenuous either…

• YOU published an advertisement in ENGLISH offering me an eSim while I am traveling in Portugal!
• YOU had no issue explaining the terms and conditions to me in ENGLISH!
• and YOU had no problem taking my money in the form of a credit card transaction in ENGLISH!

So, when your stuff does not work, or I have questions, or your instructions are unclear, do not point me toward your websites and to URLs that only present to me in Portuguese!

• YOU told me to install the esim on my iPhone before I embarked on my travels
• YOU told me not to activate my eSim until I landed in Portugal
• YOU told me that at that point I would be ready to go
• YOU LIED! And now I was in a foreign country with very few ways of getting help.

part of a conversation with my son

Me: hey bud! you there? 🙂
the plane landed, I turned on my phone activated my eSim and my phone didn’t work… no internet, no voice… !!!

Son: That’s not good

Me: omg… you have NO idea how not good that was!!!

Son: In a foreign country I can imagine

He had no idea how bad it was!

Maybe I can deal with all of this later

I am tired, I don’t know where I am going, and I still have 3 more hours to get there.
Mahybe I could fix the phone thing after I got to my house… Just get me to my car, let me get to the house, let me take a nap, and then I will deal with not having a phone.

I walked over to the Hertz counter to get my rental car. I handed them my information and was told that they did not have my reservation. I don’t know, I had rented the car using my USAA perks. Maybe it was a USAA perks thing? Maybe it was them or most likely, it was me… The car wasn’t at the airport… it was at a nearby off-airport site… !!

Do you realize how much you actually need and use your phone?

I do. Well sorta… but like most, I tend to take it for granted now. Until I don’t have it or cannot use it!

I asked the guy, who was helping me, how to get there… he said the easiest thing you could do was call an uber…. um yeah, except my phone, my internet, and my apps weren’t working… I couldn’t open the app or schedule a ride, and Uber has no phone numbers that I am aware of.

I couldn’t even translate signs since all my translate apps are apps on my phone and they rely on the internet… how do you even say rental cars in portuguese? I know now and probably will never forget haha (aluguer de carros)

I didn’t even know if I could talk to a cab driver… I mean, think American… “in my country you speak my language…” how many ‘muricans’ can speak other languages? I didn’t even have the address, it was on my phone!!! And where I was going, that was in my email also! I still didn’t know how to get to where I was going, my navigation was on my phone which wasn’t working! I didn’t even have the information about the wifi or the lockbox in order to get my key to the house. I was able to connect my laptop to the airport wifi and was able to log in and collect my addresses and other information that I needed.

I walked outside and was accosted by some local asking me if I needed a taxi… why? because the taxi line was so long (it wasn’t). I started talking to this guy and then my inner New Yorker kicked in and I remembered that this is probably a scam or a concept for a plan to rob me. I told the man I wasn’t interested and walked away. I walked back into the terminal in order to walk out the correct door to get to the taxis.

I was hailed by one of the taxi drivers and spoke to him. He said he couldn’t take a credit card because he didn’t have a machine.. Great, my inner New Yorker again… New York taxis going to or from an airport need to charge a flat fee to and from hotels… this guy was going to over charge me… I just know it… and then next stupid thing, I showed him the address and told him that I only had 20 euros and he said that would be more than enough. Why did I even have 20 euros in my wallet? Fortunately I had it, but don’t ask… maybe from my last trip to France I guess…

I got to the Hertz location, the ride, with the tip was 20 euros… I think it was legit, I threw in the tip as grateful as I was to have gotten this far!

So, I walk into (okay, more like a schlep, me with one very large suitcase, my carry-on and my backpack…) the Hertz office and the guy working there, probably close to my son’s age… and of course he spoke English… see what is happening here?!!! amazing… they all speak english and I can barely say thank you in their language… how horrible for me…!!!! Anyway, he gets me all set up, I’m telling him that I can’t use my phone…

I figured I would have to pay more for the Hertz GPS..but guess what, they don’t even do that anymore because everyone has phones!!!! Hertz Never Lost is a relic from the past… they guy’s co-worker digs through some junk, it actually looked like a lost-and-found and she finds a GPS unit, but of course it isn’t working!

I am chatting with the guy and he is telling me that the car has a navigation system… he kindly upgraded me to a 5-speed Audi (I think most of the rental cars are manual transmissions)… but, when they bring it around to the front, there isn’t any navigation in it. I go back and talk with him and I tell him I need to get my phone working, no way around it. Maybe he could direct me to a nearby Vodafone location? There was a moment when he said that it was just near the mall and that I should just go there… I asked how, and he ALMOST said that I could use my phone….but stopped and laughed.

He asks me if I have Waze installed on my phone (I don’t) so he downloads waze onto my phone for me. I don’t use it…but it can do offline maps… so he gives me directions on waze to a Vodafone place in a mall somewhere!!! haha

so off I go, following the directions to the mall… (urban mall not suburban). I have never driven in Lisbon, Portugal, it was a 5-speed and I needed to shift, steer and hold the phone so I could see which way to go… I have never seen so many traffic circles in my life and not all of them were 2nd exit in the roundabout means to basically go straight… After missing a few turns and accidentally calling 911 (I have no idea who got alerted where!) I finally get to the mall. Now I’m trying to park..I don’t know who takes credit cards or what… the parking garages say parking and have some word after them… I don’t know if it means available spots or full… haha… so I’m not going in there… I finally find a place to park, not even sure if it is legal because I can’t read the stupid signs… I don’t know if it is parking by permit only, no idea! But I run into Vodafone taking a chance that it won’t take too long.

Their systems are down and he can’t do anything about my eSim issue….and of course he tells me this in perfect english too!!!! He tells me to come back in about 20 minutes and it should be fixed… so I go and sit in the car…I had visions of it being towed, or my stuff stolen which would have been wonderful…

I go back to Vodafone, the systems are still not working… I have wasted so much time between wandering through the airport, trying to get to the car place, getting lost on the directions, finding parking… I ask the Vodafone guy… let’s just fix my problem not the esim… he says he can’t do any esims… but I ask him about just a regular sim card… my phone still has a slot…

He says that he can do that, gives me a 25GB sim card sells me a simc ard 25GB data… we start up google and apple maps and it all works!!!

Anyway, the plane landed at 7:30am and I didn’t get to the house until 3:30 (it is about a 2 hour drive…)

the speed limit on the highways is 120km/hr which is about 75mph I think…. and no one drives the speed limit…!!!! I’m doing 150km/hr and am getting the autobahn flashing lights because I passed a car and couldn’t get over fast enough haha…

anyway… I made it :) hah

Getting to VFS NYC

Resources & References

NSM Lawyers

Contact Information:
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Email: geral@nsmadvogados.pt
Visit: www.nsmadvogados.pt
Address: Av. Fontes Pereira de Melo, 21, 2º 1050 116 Lisboa

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click here to request free 30 minute consult
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Visit: outboundmigration.com

USA
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(I will set up comments eventually ;)