The hit-and-run culture, Somalia, and Digitürk

If you ask why the Japanese are so successful, there is a one-word answer:

Because they are honest.

Years ago, I was checking the price of a Nikon camera in Tokyo; there were two identical models standing side by side, and the price of one was almost a third cheaper than the other. I asked the seller, “Are these two the same?” He said, “Yes.” When I asked, “Then why is this one cheaper?” he replied as follows:

“Yes, they are both the same, but the expensive one was made in Japan, the other is a product of Indonesia.”

If this were in another country, including ours, since they are both the same, they would put the same price on both and sell them without a second thought. Again in Japan, when the taximeter of one of two taxis going to the same place showed a higher fare, the driver charged the same amount as the other and did not take the excess. That was the difference in Japan; it wasn't about robbery or a hit-and-run culture, but honesty that mattered.

When I saw the way Digitürk treats its subscribers to deceive them in the example I will describe below, I was reminded of this honesty of the Japanese. Now I will write to you about what a Digitürk subscriber went through; they explained it as follows:

Xxx

“As you know, the weather started to get bad. After one such stormy night, the Digitürk at home broke down. As a subscriber, I applied to the call center. After stalling for a day or two, they sent a service technician. In the end, they decided that the Digitürk box at home was broken and replaced it with a new one. While replacing it, they didn't mention any fees. I even asked them, ‘You changed the box, shouldn't the remote be changed too?’ They said, ‘No, use the one you have,’ and left. And what do you think happened? After a while, wouldn't a bill of 1,839 Turkish Lira and 33 kuruş arrive? That is one-sixth of the minimum wage; in other words, if I were working for minimum wage, they reflected all the money I earned in 5 days as a single bill. Then I looked at the details of the bill, and they are as follows:

1625 TL hard drive cost

70 TL lost remote control fee

80.33 TL main package

64 TL additional packages.

Total: 1,839.33 kuruş.

I immediately called Digitürk's call center at 4737373. They said, ‘Sir, your device broke, they replaced it, that's why.’ Well, you said you provided the device for free. Also, if you installed a hard drive in the device, why didn't you warn me that the price of this is 1625-plus lira? Why did you leave me a 1625-lira device without getting my approval, and how did you just slap the bill in front of me?

No answer from the other side.

Well, you didn't give me a new remote control either, why did you charge for this?

No answer to this either.

I wanted to cancel my Digitürk subscription, and they brazenly said, ‘We can do that, but you have a contract, and we want 450-plus lira for that too,’ even though I hadn't signed such a contract.

Also, you will leave your box at an office somewhere (of course, at the other end of the city).’

In short, the money spent for a Digitürk box that broke after a stormy night exceeded 2000 lira, the citizen's 20-year subscription ended, and going to a branch at the other end of the city was just the icing on the cake.

We know that Digitürk belongs to the Qatar-based beIN Media Group. It seems we are not facing Japanese honesty; on the contrary, we cannot explain our troubles in Turkish to those who speak Arabic.

While they take care to keep regular bills cheap, they have found a method to inflate the bill with other excuses; if someone's Digitürk box at home breaks down, hit them with a bill. After all, there is no justice in Turkey, no place to object, and if you seek your rights, you will get an answer three years later.

Yet we all know that even if you buy a refrigerator online, you can return it if you don't like it, but it seems this rule does not bind the Qataris' Digitürk.

Turkey has now reached such a state that the son of the President of Somalia comes, hits the unfortunate courier, a father of two who is a citizen, kills him, and flees, and you only realize it later.

The son of a Yemeni minister comes, hits a citizen, injures them, and flees.

When you ask an official like a minister about these, they close the subject by saying, ‘My brother, is now the time? There is Palestine.’

Yet you know that regarding Palestine, the ships are headed in a different direction, and the statements are in a different direction.

The country has turned into a complete arena of ‘every man for himself.’

May God have mercy.