Thursday, 21 October 2010

Cut off from the world

Frustrations seem to add up, once they get started!

Since I've moved into my new house - six weeks ago - I've been trying (very hard!) to get a phone line installed, and the internet set up. I am a patient person, and understand that these things "take time" and am happy to wait whilst cogs whirl away behind the scenes with telecommunication companies.

So - to sum up,  so far  - I have rung one telecom company (a colour!) who said they couldn't set up the internet for me, as they couldn't take over the line so I had to contact another telecom company who I could rent the line from, on a monthly basis, and when I had done that, the other company would take it over...

I did that, and had to wait 10 working days for that to be set up.

Then, when it SHOULD have been set up, there was a problem on the line, and I had to wait for an engineer to come out, to sort it out. This took six days. It seemed to work at that point.....

Then, I rang the new telecomunications company (not the first one, as I want fibre optic internet, as its the only way to get a decent internet connection at this address). They took my details and told me that it would be another ten days (on top of the original ten days wait) to set it up.

The date was arranged. For yesterday.

I waited in for the five hours alloted for the internet engineer to arrive. He didn't come. I rang the company to find out WHY he hadn't come, when they had sent the equipment he was to install two days beforehand. This took a whole HOUR on the fucking phone, and three people, to tell me that the order had been cancelled. Oh, Really? WHO BY????!!!!! (not by me, and not by the telephone company!). How can it be that a third party can cancel my internet connection? I don't get this!!!!

To set it up again, will take, wait for it, SEVENTEEN more fucking days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, they're looking into it. Too bloody right, they are!!!!

And, just to add to the frustrations of the saga. The phone only works to ring OUT, and will only ring ONCE on incoming calls so if I don't answer in one frantic lunge on the first ring, it gets cut off! So, no one can leave a message on the answer phone.

And just whilst I'm having a whinge on this subject, the mobile signal is intermittent at the house, so I have to be on the upper floors to make and receive calls - not on the ground floor at all. So, when I rang the telecom company today to report the fault on the line, I had to explain ALL of the above first, so that they understood my problems. Her response was for me to take a screwdriver, remove the cover on the phone socket and check if the various phones within the house work there. Ok, but in doing it, the whole part of the phone socket came away in various pieces, and part of it is now buckled. (and I am a practical person who is used to using screwdrivers!)  So, now an engineer has to come out to check what the problem is - and if the fault is within the house, then I've got to pay £129 for it to be rectified!!!! Including, mending the broken phone socket - BUT IT ONLY GOT BROKEN BECAUSE I DID WHAT YOU TOLD ME TO DO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fucking frustation!!!!!!!!!!!

(Count to ten. Count again.)

So, to sum up:

After six weeks of being in the house, I have half a mobile signal, a broken phone that rings out, and only in on one ring for anyone ringing me, no internet, various bits of equipment that don't work, and a huge feeling of being cut off from the world!!!! I can only use the internet at other peoples houses......

There's a lot to be said for carrier pigeons.........................

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