Here in Greece, the weather has been sweltering hot as it usually is during the month of July. We’re here, putting some of the final touches on our European office, located in Nea Ionia, a suburb of Athens.

We have some staff training to do as well as some other tasks, and all require a decent internet connection. Mobile data has worked for us for the most part but it can get expensive but on a temporary basis, it’s done the job. But now our office is at a point where more stability and increased bandwidth is required.

Like many things in Greece, it seems enjoying life at a slow pace is a big priority, and when it comes to sipping Greek coffee, or enjoying an ice cold Frappe on the beach, absolutely! On these hot sweltering days, even walking down the street takes on a slower pace.

But, when it comes to business needs and getting important things done, sometimes this pace of life has big annoyances as well as missing out on opportunities. This was our first experience when dealing with a major Greek telecommunications company and bringing in internet to our office. In fact, the process was quite unbelievable with several appointments promised with no shows by the technician. Originally, we were advised it would take two weeks (an inordinate amount of time to be honest), but instead, we cancelled plans on several different days after being advised we would be connected on those days, but were not.

This did not motivate much confidence in this particular telecommunications company (even though we use it for our mobile communications), and so their service was cancelled because it was obvious they could not keep their appointments. We can understand a mistake, but there were multiple mistakes that caused a great deal of inconvenience and no explanations were forthcoming.

So, we went to the Cosmote office in Nea Ionia, spoke with a gentleman there, and advised him of our frustrations. He took a great interest in our situation and went out of his way to get us a firm appointment and a successful internet hook up.

We want to extend our appreciation and thanks to both the Cosmote representative and the Nea Ionia manager who helped expedite things and ensured that we did not have the same negative experiences that we had with their competitor.

Thank you very much, Cosmote!