I am commencing my second blog and it’s all down to someone I have never met.

I joined the ‘WordPress world’ just two weeks ago and have been almost paralyzed with inertia since. My Son, an acknowledged computer expert, started me on my first tentative steps but then got called away. Each day I procrastinated the harder it was to start, I needed a secondary source of help.

Here’s where this becomes something of a commercial, it is not intended to be that way, more a testimonial to superb customer service. Here’s the story.

A year and a half ago we switched service provider to Telstra. Three months of abject disruption, no internet and virtually no help was finally resolved. In a heated discussion with a Telstra staffer, I related the litany of false deadlines, offhanded personal contacts and a general feeling that I had made a terrible mistake. ‘We do have support staff on call for a fee,’ he advised. I was amazed at his conceit, having done nothing that had been promised he was now offering me more of the same at an additional cost!

I grudgingly took the brochure and read it when I got home. ‘Telstra Platinum’ promoted itself as the fix-it option for virtually everything that can communicate electronically. As a member of a generation where a spanner was often the answer to repairs, this looked too good to be true but I took the plunge and signed up.

That is the background. On occasions too numerous to mention I have since called the Platinum Service line and been greeted with nothing but professionalism, courtesy and, most importantly, results.

Today is a classic example. Ian, based in Manilla, drew the short straw. His mission, unshackle this dinosaur from his moribund mindset and show him how the modern world communicates.

He set to work with an air of benevolent knowledge that he seemed only too happy to pass on. Even getting access to my computer screen proved to be a bit of a trial as my nervous fingers refused to hit the right keys in response to various log-in codes. Every obstacle was confronted, analyzed and overcome. He even described the process as a tutorial with a two-way flow that saw him picking up tips that he had not thought of before.

WordPress came and went. Facebook was next and then ‘Maestro Ian’ completed the process by ensuring my accounts were linked to a Domain and my iMac and MacBook Air were on the same page.

I guess tonight Ian will go home to his lady and not give this Australian dude a second thought.

For me, I will be forever in his debt for opening up so many new pathways and opportunities.

Telstra has more than redeemed itself in my eyes and Telstra Platinum should be promoted as it’s flagship.