THE SYSTEM IS NEVER WRONG

<p>On fine Sa****ay, after having used the same decoder and same smart card for years, things went wrong. I sighed, made sandwiches and a flask of coffee to fortify me through the long hours ahead and 'phoned the call centre.</p> <p>Imagine my pleasant surprise when the consultant and, eventually, a supervisor (because I wouldn't believe the consultant) insisted that that all-knowing, all-powerful, infallible, god-like thing called The System has decreed that my smart card now belonged to an upmarket new HD decoder. Hence, decoder/smart card/available service mismatch. Trouble was, I could see this coveted new machine nowhere and the supervisor wasn't terribly nice about it; he kept saying I was wrong and he was right because The System said he was right.</p> <p>I reasoned. I laughed. I pleaded. OK, I did raise my voice - a little bit. Eventually the supervisor (what an opinionated young man) condescended to put me through to a manager - but not without the parting shot that the manager was going to tell me the same thing (because The System says so...). I held for the manager for two sandwiches and then hung up.</p> <p>Two calls later, someone at Multichoice (bless her soul) conceded that maybe, just maybe, they were wrong. To prove that, so that they can fix my account, I have to take my nineteen voertsek model decoder to a branch so that they can verify that it is not a new HD model. Sorry? Run that by me again?</p>