Freenet is a DSL and VoIP provider in a highly competitive new market in Germany. Having highly automated enrollment processes combined with a very inflexible customer policy this makes the company one of the worst experiences I had in the industry.

Although the DSL service itself is impeccable, the over-all experience is a pain, considering the time I spent with writing letters (on paper! Because they DO NOT accept any inquiries and cancellations electronically – isn’t that cool? Back to the 50ies!) or on the “Service“-line where they charge you up to 1 Euro 24 per minute!

The background is that I paid for two years for the VoIP service I haven’t used once, because I choose a package, where that was an opt-out option. Unluckily that wasn’t so clear to me when I signed up. Bummer. What really pisses me off is that communication attitude they show: as long as it is about luring you into one of their service packages (where you always have one option included you do not really need) you get everything immediately on one click.

Having a question or want to change something? Write us by snail mail or call the expensive Service Line…

And yesterday I got reply by email to the letter I sent them 3 weeks ago saying, they couldn’t respond and I should go online filling in their dumb form…

Heard about Kafkaesque situations? Well, that seems to be one. Welcome in the information age of Europe. Sorry, Information Stone Age…

You can say what you want, but in that sense even those horrible 1-800-lines in the US are more efficient. Very often when I had a legitimate request or complaint they very flexibly gave me credit or immediate help. I.e.: a broken Palm pilot: whoop – next morning there is fedEx with a replacement in the box you can use to send in your defective PDA.