<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span>Hi,</span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span><br></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span>We are always giving Safaricom flack on all issues including the lack of rain but today I have realised that they are still the better option.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span><br></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span>I read on the Airtel website, </span><a href="http://africa.airtel.com/kenya/choose-your-number-148" style="font-size: 12pt;
">http://africa.airtel.com/kenya/choose-your-number-148</a>,<span style="font-size: 12pt; "> about a service that allows you to choose your own number directly from your phone. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; "><br></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">So I dashed to the nearest Airtel Shop to purchase a SIM card, I asked the attendants whether this service is available and they said I should go to one of the customer service centres. This already indicates that the information on the web site is obsolete, how much does it cost to update a website, I wonder.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; "><br></span></div><div><span><font size="3">So off I went
to Kimathi Street service centre and for a minute I thought it was a classroom as there where rows of chairs facing the front, of the class. Any customer service centre that has more chairs than a post Michuku Matatu </font>definitely<font size="3"> has serious problems.</font></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; "><br></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">As I had 10 minutes to kill I decided to pick a ticket just to go through the menu and there was no option for SIM card services so it seems that stopped offering this service and since there where more than 14 people already seated in the queue I decided that this was an exercise in futility.</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times
new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">I decided to humour myself by buying an Airtel SIM card and try following the instructions on the web site, alas to no avail. The instructions do not correspond to the menus on the phone, then after cycling through a few options I get the correct one just to get the message that I cannot change the number because i have a pending "Kopa Kredo" balance and that I need to clear it before proceeding.</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Note that this is a brand new SIM card so does it mean that on purchase the SIM card already has a debit balance?</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">I
then go to the "Kopa Kredo" menu option and receive the message "dear customer the kopa kreda system is currently unavailable".</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">After spending 30 valuable minutes on this exercise I got a flash of brilliance and instantly went into a trans.</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">I felt an inner force in me remove the SIM card from the phone, fit it on my thumb and flick it into the direction of the bin where it bounced off the edge and went straight in, what a feeling of relief. I then put back my old trusted Safaricom SIM card and continued with my day.</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new
york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Now I understand why Safaricom had no issues with number portability as they say in Harlem "Once you go "green" they is no going back".</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Enjoy a connected weekend</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Regards</div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div>Disclaimer<font size="3">: This post reflects the feelings of the writer and has been done without any monetary or other kind of incentive from the mentioned
organisations. The tests where done under an impartial and controlled environment, you are free to try the same at home.</font></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "> </div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696</div></div></body></html>