A while ago I was sitting at EWK and had an hour to kill. To ease off the 3G bill for my boss, I scanned for wireless networks, and found Boingo. I had some trouble connecting, and searched for solutions. I found the solution, but even more interesting, I came across this. The author Annelie Näs had signed up for Boingo (also at EWK), and back home she’d been surfing the free wireless network at the café next door. Or so she thought, but the Boingo program chose the paid services of Boingo instead. Whe she got the bill, she contacted Boingo customer service, who refused to reimburse her. So she got mad and wrote the post.

Anyway, Boingo representative Lauren Sanyal found the post, wrote a comment explaining the issue, apologized and offered her the money back. That’s the way to go! It’s people like Lauren (and thus companies like Boingo) that makes us hope for a better tomorrow!

Booli.se is a Swedish site for people looking to buy or sell their homes. They scan the sites of all the house broker companies, and make the houses searchable for their visitors. They add the housebroker objects into iframes, and leave their own bar at the top. The big Swedish house broker Svensk Fastighetsförmedling contacted Booli.se, threatening with lawyers, fines and imprisonment if they didn’t stop doing that. Booli.se responded with a nice invitation to sit down and discuss the matter, and try to find some way to cooperate making both sides happy. Svensk Fastighetsförmedling replied with a rude mail making clear that they didn’t want any discussions, and again threatening with legal action.

That’s not the way to do it! You haven’t learned a shit! Keep that attitude, and you’re going down the same drain as the entertainment industry!

I will definitely use Boingo again, and I will definitely NOT use Svensk Fastighetsförmedling.

Edit: Now they can sue me too…

Update! Svensk Fastighetsförmedling posted a comment, make sure to read it.