Terra.com.br - Internet Portal
I have been using Terra for several years. I use them because the phone companies offering internet access require me to sign up at one of these Portals – there are three in Brazil, I think. I pay R$22.61 per month.
Last week they sent me a notice, by post, informing me that my credit card had expired. The notice said to update my credit card information to prevent my account from being discontinued. I update my info and move on; however, I wonder how in this day and age, teh company doesn’t send out an email alert advising me that my card on file with them is about to expire. Other companies do this. Very helpful. Prevents extra hassles for me and them. But not with Terra.
So, today, Saturday afternoon, Terra calls me informing me that my card has expired and would I give them my card number. Gave them a big “NO” and informed them (a young woman or an old one with a voice of a young one) that the information was in my account at Terra and to debit the new card. That is when the woman did a Bill O’Reilly on me. Started explaining everything again and TELLING me I didn’t understand….blah, blah, blah. She got rude, I got rude…I’m not into rude on a Saturday afternoon.
Well, now Terra is going to send me a Bulletin Bancário, which will require me to go stand in line at the bank (maybe payable at the ATM…not sure), but regardless – they take my time, to get my money. All this on a Saturday afternoon….. This ain’t the way things should work.
So next week begins my “Change The Way I Access The Internet” mission. It will be a mission. I have little hope that it will go smoothly; nor quickly. I expect there will be much ‘rude’. I’ll be the pissant against “the system”, but….such is life in the modern world. It is at times like this I wish I were rich ……. :-)
LINKS:
Hey there. This is my day for dumb questions. I, too, use Terra.com as my access. I would be very interested to know how you fare. I pay a higher rate that you do for access (I live in Rio) and I have never been able to get an answer to the question: Why do I need a “portal” and why does it cost so much?
Peter
Hi Peter,
Got sidetracked last week. Will see if I can get this done this week.
I have no idea why you pay more. Terra may not know either.
As to why it is necessary to have “portal”, I can only assume the they lobbied Brasilia to make it a requirement. Maybe there was a technical reason back then, but there is none now that I know of. These portals would go broke if one could connect directly to the Internet.
Will post the outcome of my changeover.
ExpatBrazil