Houston, We Have a Problem

Technical Support in a Foreign Land

Portugal is a technologically advanced country. They invented prepaid phone cards, had the first highway transponder systems, and implemented the multibanco system in 1985. So why can’t I get my MobiCascais app to work?

Cascais Benefits

Perhaps it is because the President of Portugal lives here. I’m not sure, but for whatever reason, there are definite benefits available to residents of Cascais. If you can prove that you live in Cascais, all buses are free. (If you are over 65 you can also use one of the bicycles or locked bicycle parking facilities in the city.) And we are not talking about a few buses in a small city area. The 31 bus lines cover the entire municipality, enabling you to travel as far as Malveira that is 37km away from downtown Cascais.

Given these benefits, and the fact we have no plans to buy a car, gaining Viver (Live) Cascais status was important to us. However, given the bureaucratic processes that are a way of life in Portugal, there were a few steps.

• First, we had to wait to move into our current apartment as we needed a lease that was registered with the authority.

• Then we needed a utility bill in our name for that property. Just to be sure there were no issues we put the MEO bill in my name and the water bill in Denise’s name.

• Next, we made an appointment at an office nearby. We took our NIF paperwork, lease, utility bill, passport, a completed form, and 3,7Euros each to the appointment. A very nice woman then provided us a notarized document stating we were in fact residents.

• After making another appointment at another office, we took said paperwork to be registered for Viver Cascais.

It now gets a bit more complicated. If we had taken a recent passport photo and 7Euros with us we would be given a card. But we wanted to use the MobiCascais app. We always travel with our phones, it’s one less card to carry/lose, and the use of the app is free. It seemed to be worth the 24 hours required to access the app.

Technical Support

The next day we both downloaded the MobiCascais app to our phone. Denise was the first to call customer support. Fortunately, the system permits you to press 8 for English. She couldn’t log in. Technical support sent her a reset link. That didn’t work, but they sent another. And another. Finally, after doing what seemed to be the same thing four times…it worked. She was able to access the app and had the QR code in her app wallet that would allow her to ride the buses for free.

Since I was in the computer industry for 30 years I assumed my process would be smoother. Nope. I have been sent the reset code at least 8 times. I have been hung up on by the technical support rep when I asked him to remain on the line while I tried the reset since “I lack confidence this is going to work since the other seven times failed”.

When I called back, I was told the phone support could not help me and I should go back to the second office where I would get hands-on support. I made an appointment at that office. I walked to that office. I was told in no uncertain terms they had never used the app and couldn’t help me. I then called technical support again.

At this point, I was told to document the problem and send it to a particular email address. I did this…including step-by-step instructions, with screen prints. (It should be noted that during my computer career I did a stint as a Product Manager…so I know how to document computer errors.) Within 3 hours I received an email asking me to send the above email to a different email address. I am not sure why they couldn’t forward it … but I did as requested.

Over the next few days, I continued to try to figure out the problem on my own. I compared Denise’s online Viver Cascais profile to mine. I found what I assumed was a significant difference and documented this … sending it to BOTH email addresses. Finally, at 17:47 (5:57 pm) Friday afternoon, 4 days after this saga began, I got a call. The technical support team needed my password because they couldn’t recreate the problem.

I provided the password and was told, “Oh I see what you mean.”

It’s April 1st

I wish this was an April Fools post … but unfortunately, it is not. It has now been10 days since the MobiCascais saga began, and there is no end in sight. The kind woman that asked for my password no longer takes my calls or answers my emails. If anyone reading this has any pull with the MobiCascais folks, I would forever be in your debt.

Update 21April2021: I received an email from the customer support organization at MobiCascais today. They didn’t send another reset password link. Instead, they said they had resolved the problem and I should try to log in. I did and THEY ARE RIGHT…IT WORKS! Good things do come to those that wait.