I write this while left holding the line on Melita’s customer care help centre. It has already been 45 minutes so far. I am calling for the third time and already visited their Valletta outlet regarding a seemingly simple issue.

My little saga started as follows: I was called on my mobile phone in an unsolicited fashion and politely asked if a complete stranger could inform me of how to save money by finding the right data and telephony package deal for me.

I inquired about their deals and asked if they could send me the details via e-mail. They did so promptly.

I had also asked if there was the possibility of getting something else instead of the free smartphone they were offering. They said I could be given extra mobile phone credit instead. This is all in writing.

When the time came to install internet I called back and informed them I would like to get the deal I was offered. I was then told that getting the credit instead was now not possible since it was part of an offer that was no longer available.

After one hour (exactly) of waiting on the phone for a customer care representative, the line has just now been disconnected. (Back to the above story) I decided not to pursue the issue of the replacement credit and accepted the phone instead. Part of the deal was €10 of credit every month.

My mobile number has been ported, as I requested. The unused credit I am owed for two months however, was not.

The humorous side of the story is that when I went to the outlet to ask for the credit I paid for and not given, I was told I could buy more credit… Can you imagine going to a shop, paying for an apple, not being given the apple and instead being told that you can pay for more apples?