Testing Operator Services - Case saunalahti

I have a subscription with Saunalahti. The price of the subscription I made one year ago would remain the same for one year and after that the price was due to go up. It was therefore time to renew my subscription.

The page oma.saunalahti.fi is relatively good. I can get feedback on my usage pattern and a recommendation on what I should buy.

One of the subscriptions I have is a heavy data user. On a single weekend the mobile device might and has consumed up to 7 Gbit of data. It was hence important for me that the use of data would be unlimited and available for the same flat rate monthly price with no degrading of speed i.e. service quality. This information was not readily available through the website and hence I called the customer service.

Service by phone is not readily available. I first waited for ten minutes. The person who answered informed me that he will transfer me to his colleague. He did not tell me that I would have to wait for a further ten minutes. Finally I got hold of a person who could help me. She confirmed twice if not three times that there is no data limit and no degrading of service to their data connection. I was happy with this and will probably be renewing my subscriptions.

However since service has moved to be provided through the Internet can I any longer trust what I am being told by phone? I neeed to learn some new skills. I need to learn to access subscription documents, read them and browse discussions on the net ask friends on Facebook etc. Buying services is no longer a question of looking the salesmen into the eye, or chatting on the phone, asking questions and deciding whether to trust the salesman and the company or not. Purchasing through the Internet is a new skill and it needs to be learnt.

I have also purchased a mobile certificate (mobiilivarmenne in Finnish). I have not realy yet found a place where I could use it and get comfortable with its use. Now I did. The website oma.saunalahti.fi is a good place to test. I tested by trying to log into the website using the mobile certificate. It took about 5 minutes before I was sent a message to my mobile phone and asked to verify myself. FIVE MINUTES is ridiculous and unacceptable. It should never ever be more than 30 seconds.