16 February 2010

To BT or not to BT

Well, I am back again from my "holiday", though things did not go entirely according to plan. At my mother's, I was supposed to i) get broadband set up, ii) meet up with my best friends for a reunion and iii) have a relaxing time (well relatively) away from Alcoholic Daze Towers. Well how many of those do you think I achieved successfully?


Let's take i) to get broadband set up. I had decided that, given the infrequency and varying duration of my visits to my mother, setting up a permanent broadband hub was not worth the monthly cost and I decided/was advised that a pay-as-you-go dongle was a better option. As our home broadband is provided by British Telecom, I decided to get the dongle from them too, but dealing with a large company is never straightforward.


Since Christmas we had already been having problems with BT, as they also supply our freeview TV channel system (BT Vision). The TV had been playing up and and we had arranged for a BT engineer to call. The appointment was made a whole week in advance but the engineer did not turn up. We rang BT and were told the order for him to visit had not gone through to the right department. We were promised the order would now definitely go through but we had to wait another week. When that appointment was due the engineer again did not turn up (surprise, surprise)and again we were told the order had not gone through to the right department (yawn). What is it with these large orgnisations? Is there some huge switchboard centre somewhere just swallowing up orders or throwing them in the virtual waste bin? Anyway, third time lucky an engineer did come eventually and sort out the TV problem.


When I subsequently decided to get a BT dongle, I was slightly apprehensive. Well, I was more than that, but I always live in hope! I was told there would be an 8-day wait and I was assured several times that the dongle would be sent to my mother's address. Suffice to say, the appointed day for delivery came and went. No dongle. Then Greg phoned me to say that a BT parcel had come to our home address. When he opened it, it was not a dongle but an unsolicited hub phone (we are still not sure why that was sent to us and even what we are supposed to do with it, but hey ho BT have since told us we can keep it, as it was their mistake!) They then promised they would deliver the dongle to my mother's address the following day and I am pleased to say that it DID finally come and I was able to access broadband for at least the second week of my holiday.


ii) As for meeting up with my two close friends from university days, that went pear-shaped too. The day before we were due to meet up, the one went down with a nasty cold and, as the other has to avoid exposure to such viruses wherever possible, the reunion weekend was cancelled, literally at the last minute. Such a shame, as were all so looking foward to it. All dressed up and nowhere to go.


iii) As for relaxing, I did manage to have a lovely time with my mum and help her around the house into the bargain, but the fortnight was unfortunately marred by Snoopy falling sick. He had a personality change while he was down there, became very morose and hang-dog-looking, was pooing for England with what looked more like cow-pats than anything else and lay lifeless on the bed, not even lifting his head when anyone came into the room. Definitely not his usual self. I sought out a vet nearby and Snoopy was diagnosed with colitis. Over the week, he got gradually better with antibiotics, steroids,painkillers and special diet; I got gradually poorer because of the vet's bill (to the tune of £110, as there were two consultations and all the medication.) I am pleased to say Snoopy's now fully recovered and glad to be home to chase the cat and ruck up rugs. Phew. Was definitely very worried about him for a few days.

On my return I have decided to have a bit of a personality change and am going to rename myself Addy. Rosiero was not my real name anyway and people were calling me all sorts - Rosario, Roseiro, Ros to name but a few - all very confusing, so I decided to play on the Alcoholic Daze (AD) and it morphed into Addy. Hope this will be easier to identify me with the blog title in future. I feel like a new woman..... as John Terry might have said !!

14 comments:

DogLover said...

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet - welcome, Addy. Even though I did eventually learn to spell Roseiro. Or was it Rosiero?

Why use BT? They very nearly killed my friends' newfound business some years ago - we sued them and got over £90,000 damages plus costs. Luckily the business survived to become very profitable.

Glad you were with Snoopy when he got colitis - imagine what might have happened if you'd left him behind!

Anonymous said...

Hi Addy (That will take some getting used to ;) )

Sorry to hear about Snoopy but he is on the mend now. It can't have been a nice time for him and an additional worry for you.

We have BT Vision and broadband too. I think its an excellent service but when we first got it we had a faulty hub and convincing them of that tried my patience no end. I can sympathise.

That is a shame about the meet up. I do hope you get the chance in future to arrange another one.

All the best

Nechtan

Furtheron said...

Same old same old :-)

Unfair actually - it's been a good couple of weeks (I need more positivity in my view of my life!)

My son had loads of hassle with BT / Virgin. They went through Virgin for internet at their flat as BT would not do a 1 year contract - crafty knowing that they were students I thought. virgin would and were cheaper but needed BT to reneable the line for broadband... you can guess the saga each blaming each other etc. took ages before he was on line

Now there is a funny - the word veri is "chears", there's a laugh given your blog name, do you think they generate these things cleverly?

Nota Bene said...

Addy uppy on a good day then...! BT...complete nightmare...but then all the broadband telephone people are really....

Robert said...

Hi Addy -

If you had as many problems with BT as I've had (business-wise...my private line is with anyone-except-BT), you'd never go near them again!

It's a shame your few days respite didn't go as planned...shows that even the best-laid plans can go wrong.

Re changing your name - enjoy reinventing yourself!

Working Mum said...

I can sympathise with the broadband thing, I've been setting up my new laptop and my Pipex e-mail has been the biggest problem!

Hope you did mangage to have a nice time despite all the problems.

Like the new name, will it appear in your comments now as well?

Kit Courteney said...

Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy Addy....

Right.

Just needed to get that out of my system. Shame really as I used to enjoy looking at the odd spelling you received!

Hoorah for Snoopy getting well again!

em said...

hi addy

glad snoopy was ok, such a worry when pets are ill. i had a bit of a name change a couple of months ago.
x

DD's Diary said...

Gosh, Addy, well I never ...though I did find Rosiero hard to spell!! Hope Snoopy is much better. I can never take the word 'dongle' seriously, good job it wasn't me making all those calls, all they would have heard was deranged snorting! Well done for getting it sorted, I hope you have a glow of righteous satisfaction xx

Anonymous said...

So it was you who left a comment on my blog!! Thanks for that, love xx

Well, what a mixed up fortnight. BT are a pain in the arse as far as I'm concerned. They have no customer service at all and they treat their customers like 2nd class citizens. I think they need a complete overhaul and to go on some decent courses on how to deal with the public.

ADDY said...

Thank you for your support. I was not sure if changing the name was worthwhile, but others have layout changes, so I thought it worth a go. It'll take some gettng used to myself, but in a few months, it should be easier!

Doglover - £90,000 sounds serious damage. I'm glad your friend's business recovered.

Nechtan - everyone seems to have had problems with BT.

Furtheron - I often find funny word verifications. I'm sure they're accidental, but sometimes they are so relevant.

Nota Bene - it's the big companies that cause problems. Theyre too big.

Robert - It's funny what difference a name can make.

Working Mum - I think it does. But It also shows Alcohlic Daze too, so I must have altered something wrong. I'll change it to just Addy hen people get used to it.

Kit - you got it right!!

ADDY said...

Em - thanks. Snoopy is much better this week. It was one hell of a worry to see him so listless.

Dulwich Divorcee - I always have to laugh at the word dongle too. It sounds like i've had a sex change!!

Crystal - I am sure we could run those companies better ourselves. Just let me at them!!

nuttycow said...

Addy - nice to meet you! Glad to hear Snoopy's better.

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