# The Unfathomable Mazatlan Megacable Affair



## Jolga (Jun 5, 2012)

Our new condo was recently completed and we were ready to order Internet and TV. We wanted, and still do, to immerse ourselves in the Spanish language and culture so we decided to forgo the standard (for our building) Shaw Cable and the normal 5 or 10 mbps Telmex Infinitum connection. Being novices to life in Paradise …. er I mean Mazatlán we relied on anecdotal evidence from our new acquaintances. This seemed to point the way towards Megacable for a 20 mbps and the basic TV package.
When we arrived there were 4 employees at the door ready to do our bidding so we sat down and with my survival Spanish and lots of smiles we signed a 6 month contract for service. The Rep then told us that that the install tech would come either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday between 9 and 12 AM. He would call before coming over to confirm his arrival. We left the office confident that we had made the right choice.
Monday came and went with no word but that was ok as it was only the first day in the set of 3. On Tuesday we received word that he would be over between 4 and 6 PM. A bit of a change-up, but fine we’re flexible so we waited and …. You guessed it …. nada.
Well in Canada we would have raised the roof about this but we decided to be Good ****** Guests of Mexico and be patient and understanding. We waited all day Wednesday with no technician gracing us with his presence, nor did he take the time off from his busy schedule to contact us.
Thursday morning we drove over to Megacable and explained the situation to a service rep. She talked to her boss, worked some behind the scenes magic and triumphantly announced that they would be coming by after 1PM. We dutifully went home and waited ….. and waited ….. and waited ….. some more. 
After 5 PM we could stand it no longer we returned to the Head Office and asked to see the manager. We told her our tale of woe. We did not rant or rave at her but calmly asked the following question: “Is Megacable a serious company or not?” She answered ‘Of course it’s a serious company!” At first she tried to say that we had not been home. We quickly set her straight on that. She then tried to imply that he couldn’t find our address. We corrected her by stating the obvious: the building is a Mazatlán landmark, right on the malecon, known by everyone, with the name written on it in huge visible letters. Also even if he had been living in a cave for most of his adult life and didn’t know our building, then he just had to call and we would have walked him through the directions.
She then called, I assume, the head of the installation team, she laughed nervously over something he said and told us he would be by between 2 and 3 pm. We looked her in the eyes, and earnestly told her that if no one came today we would be back later to cancel our contract. She just looked at us with a smile which seemed to mean that she couldn’t care less if we cancelled.
We went home to await the non-appearance of the tech. Went through the motions of waiting but all our confidence and hope in Megacable was lost and we were just running out the Hail Mary Clock. After the requisite time had lapsed with, as usual, no confirmed sighting of the elusive tech. We were back at the manager’s cubicle. 
We asked her to cancel our contract and she made a grandiose gesture towards her underlings. We shuffled over to a free rep and all our ties to this Trainwreck Called Megacable were soon cut.
We left the building with a new-found sense of freedom and a conviction that although we hadn’t dodged a bullet .. it was only a flesh wound compared to what 6 months with this outfit would have been.
Of course this is only an anecdotal tale, perhaps an aberration, perhaps a unique black hole in the time-space continuum. Others may say that Mega is great and that it’s always been good for them…. And to those clients more power to them.
I wrote this account to rid myself of any of the residual negative feelings towards my great new adoptive home of Mazatlán. Megacable in a few weeks will only be a dead bug splattered on the rear-view mirror of my mind. 
I hope this cautionary tale will help others in their dealings with Megacable.
Conclusion:
We never did find out why we never got the installation. We do, of course, have many hypotheses, but as is the nature of a hypothesis, they are unproven and unsubstantiated:
I think there is a power struggle going on between the installation dept. and the head office. We were simply caught in the middle.
My wife, on the other hand, thinks they don’t have the service in our building and didn’t want to tell us that. 
What is certain is that we never got an apology of any kind, nor did we get any compensation for being the victims of this Keystone Cops Episode.
When we left the final time they were happy to see us go…. Imagine that! A company glad to lose a potential profitable client!


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

I think you should have simply stayed home and relaxed and waited for a tech to show up and not gone to their office on Wed. to start a war. If you know how things work here you might not have been so disappointed they didn´t show up on time and have cable and 10 meg. internet by the end of the week. IMO

Here the squeaky wheel most times gets the "business" unless you are obviously a local person of importance. It sounds like you got the equivalent to a "Who the heck are you?"

Mexicans usually don´t like confrontational people and threats and think it is "Mal Educado" and sometimes act accordingly.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

Even though it's a pain in the neck, sometimes that's how it works here
Let me tell you something ; you could try to raise hell with one service provider, then, they'll know who you are and perhaps it won't happen again.
In this case, you will have to start from scratch

Are you Canadians or Americans.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> I think you should have simply stayed home and relaxed and waited for a tech to show up and not gone to their office on Wed. to start a war. If you know how things work here you might not have been so disappointed they didn´t show up on time and have cable and 10 meg. internet by the end of the week. IMO
> 
> Here the squeaky wheel most times gets the "business" unless you are obviously a local person of importance. It sounds like you got the equivalent to a "Who the heck are you?"
> 
> Mexicans usually don´t like confrontational people and threats and think it is "Mal Educado" and sometimes act accordingly.


On Thursday not Wed.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

I've been dealing with Megacable for over six years and found that the most competent employees are the technicians who do the installation. Everyone was courteous, intelligent and quick to solve the problem. Those at the agency are not. There they take payments, fill out forms, hand out decoder boxes, etc. The do not solve problems. If you're lucky, they'll give you a phone number to call.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> On Thursday not Wed.


20 meg. internet, not 10 meg.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Welcome to Mexico!!!!!


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## Jolga (Jun 5, 2012)

AlanMexicali said:


> I think you should have simply stayed home and relaxed and waited for a tech to show up and not gone to their office on Wed. to start a war. If you know how things work here you might not have been so disappointed they didn´t show up on time and have cable and 10 meg. internet by the end of the week. IMO
> 
> Here the squeaky wheel most times gets the "business" unless you are obviously a local person of importance. It sounds like you got the equivalent to a "Who the heck are you?"
> 
> Mexicans usually don´t like confrontational people and threats and think it is "Mal Educado" and sometimes act accordingly.


I guess my account wasn't clear enough. I am sorry if you got the impression that we were confrontational and we threatened them in any way. We would never ever think of doing that in our new country. And we are Canadians... therefore professional pacifists  Actually, on that Thursday when the lady assured us once more that they would be coming by that day, we enthusiastically shook her hand, there were smiles all around and we left convinced that we would, in fact get our cable.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Jolga said:


> I guess my account wasn't clear enough. I am sorry if you got the impression that we were confrontational and we threatened them in any way. We would never ever think of doing that in our new country. And we are Canadians... therefore professional pacifists  Actually, on that Thursday when the lady assured us once more that they would be coming by that day, we enthusiastically shook her hand, there were smiles all around and we left convinced that we would, in fact get our cable.


The thing is here we have a bit more patience and many times you will see that many people do not rush around "trying" to be on time someplace else. The long lines give us a chance to relax at the bank and maybe chat with the person behind us. The store clerk doesn´t rush and might chat with a customer she knows for a couple of minutes even if the line is a bit long.

There is a certain virtue in waiting patiently and not getting anxious about not showing up when expected, just to be there when others are not.

It is part of the charm of living in Mexico where many are more interested in chatting a bit longer with you or staying at home a bit longer to help the kids eat a better lunch than running off to an appointment.


Not being on time a high art in Mexico - Los Angeles Times


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Jolga said:


> And we are Canadians... therefore professional pacifists


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## Jolga (Jun 5, 2012)

Ha! Ha! Ha! or should I say Ja! Ja! Ja! Ja!

Probably invented by a Canadian in my age group who was trying to cover up his hearing loss due to too many Led Zep concerts.

Ok back on track. We went down to Telmex. We waited one week for them to put on the evaluation list. Now a tech is supposed to come over to the building and evaluate the degree of difficulty the installation will entail. He has one week to do this, as they asked us to come back next Monday. All should be ok as many people in our building have the Telmex Infinitum modems.

It's interesting that contrary to Megacable, who very quickly had us sign a contract and then nothing happened. They have not had us sign anything yet. It seems that they do it in slow, but methodical exploratory steps, giving us the sense that if we are patient we will get service. 

We will keep you posted on the outcome.


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