Archive for the 'A bit of a rant' Category
What a difference a day makes
This morning, during those periods of time when working "on auto-pilot", I devoted a fair amount of time to deciding what to do with the three free weekends between now and the end of the year, weekends that I had reserved so that I could go away winter-walking for at least one of them. This coming weekend there'll be an OM meet up at Langdale, I would have been up for it but I've already declined the invitations to it because Chris is on call-out so I'm on kids-duty. But hey, I thought, I've got three more chances later in the year.
So, this evening, Chris tells me that she's rearranged her night out with friends... it was to have been this coming weekend, but it's been postponed until the weekend after, so that's one of my weekends gone. Never mind, there are still two left.
Being an organised sort of bloke, I cranked up the lappy and made the appropriate edits to the M$ Outlook calendar, at which point I was told to enter the details of Chris's work's Christmas Party... yep, it coincides with one of the two remaining weekends.
Well, the choice was gone, I was down to just one weekend, so it was take it or leave it time. I declared that I would be going away for that one remaining weekend, hopefully to find some snow up in the Lake District. That satisfied feeling took over, at last there was a definite window of opportunity, a fixed date to plan for. In my mind I was already mulling over the map of the Coniston Fells and sharpening the axe and crampons. Wetherlam, Swirl How and Dow Crag would be mine.
Chris looked at the calendar intently, studying the entries for her call-out commitments. From her briefcase she pulled out her ace of trumps, and played it... a revised call-out rota... wtf???
The one remaining weekend was consumed by a previously non-existent week of out-of-hours service for her employer, which means that I'm back in the childcare hot-seat.
Chris can't figure out why I'm ranting at anything that moves, nor why I'm kicking things that don't.
More f***d & t**k junk
As predicted, today's postal delivery saw the arrival of another copy of the same f***d & t**k catalogue/flyer combi, again clearly addressed to me, this time with my other allegedly-deleted customer-number in the address panel.
So, just out of curiosity, I tried to log in to my allegedly-deleted account, and, yes, you guessed it...
Fishing farce
Way back in July, Chris gave me a voucher as a birthday present - it was for a half-day of fly-fishing tuition. She really knows how to pick the right present - I hadn't managed to get out fishing at all this year, and this was just the excuse that I needed.
Now, I've been doing this trout-fishing malarkey for quite a few years and I'm already at an intermediate level, so back at the start of September I had a chat with the tutor and we agreed what skills I needed to improve. We agreed to meet at the Pitsford Water Lodge at 09:00 this morning.
I spent a fair part of the last week sorting the tackle, making new flies, stretching the lines and getting excited about the upcoming event. I was up early this morning, packed and away in good time and I arrived at the Lodge at 08:40. There was a very light mist on the water, a gentle breeze and the sky was overcast - fair conditions for this time of year.
I enquired at the Lodge shop as to the whereabouts of the tutor, he wasn't there yet so I went for a short walk, mooched around the shop, checked out the boats etc.. 09:00 passed and no tutor arrived. 09:30 passed, still no tutor. 09:35 passed and I was getting a bit pissed-off. I checked at the Lodge to see if a boat had been booked for our tuition... no booking.
The lady at the Lodge offered me a permit and a boat for the day. The offer was very generous but I had to decline - the day had already been paid for (except the boat-supplement) so I hadn't brought enough cash to pay for it all again. Besides, by then the fun-factor had fecked-off, and I wasn't in the mood any more. Disgruntled, I got back in the car and started back home after texting the tutor to let him know the score.
Chris was livid, she's been told that she'll get a full refund but she feels like she hasn't got me a birthday pressie after all. And as for me? It's just another wasted day (the last free day I have before Winter sets in), it's made a mockery of all the preparation during the week, and 67 miles-worth of petrol have gone up in smoke.
Yes, you guessed it... I'm not very impressed either.
Deep Thought
Maybe I'm being a bit dim, but how is it possible to have multi-grain corn flakes?
Multi-grain flakes... yes, I can understand that concept, that would be flakes made from a range of different types of grain, one of which may or may not be corn... but multi-grain corn flakes? Is it possible to have multi-grain corn? Whatever, it still doesn't sound right.
At last – the refund arrives
Just checked the bank balance - the refund from Gear Zone is there, so my bank can now claim it back to cover the credit that they gave to me last week.
I'll wait for things to settle down a bit before I start taking any further action.
Communication from Gear Zone
Last week my bank's Debit Card Services decided to credit my account with the money that GZ owe me, while they sort the matter with GZ's bank. My thanks go out to Lloyds TSB Bank plc. and their good customer service, nice one!
There was no word from GZ until yesterday, when they sent me an email, details as follows:
Dear Gear-Zone Customer
We have processed your refund as requested. We apologise for any delay and any inconvenience that you may have experienced with your order. We have had some severe technological issues which we have now resolved. We are also recruiting a new customer services team to ensure that your future transactions with Gear-Zone will be to the highest standard.
Again, please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Yours
Gear-Zone Ltd
I wonder how many other disgruntled folk have been given the same lame excuses... just what are these "severe technological issues"? FFS, their computers must be up and running, or they wouldn't be able to take orders. And what's with "recruiting a new customer services team"? You mean they had a whole team that was trained to ignore the phone? Sorry, but it just won't wash. I've been bullshitted by experts, these paltry excuses are so lightweight that I could stitch them together to make a tarp. As for "... to ensure that your future transactions with Gear-Zone will be to the highest standard" - ROFLMFAO... it doesn't take a genius to work out that there will be no future transactions originating from me. Those "sincerest apologies" are not accepted.
A quick check of my account reveals that no such refund has been received yet.
Ho hum.
