Tuesday, 10 September 2013

If You're Thinking of Using BT...

...you may wish to consider my email to BT below. My mother has recently moved house  - and has been without her BT landline and broadband services for a few weeks. Below is my attempt to get BT to do something about it.


Sirs,
 
I am emailing to complain in the strongest possible terms about the order below and your customer service.
 
I am the son of Isabella Smith, the customer in the email below. She is 76 years old and recently moved home to sheltered housing accommodation. I have helped her with the transfer of her BT telephone and broadband service from her previous home to her new one. Here is a summary of events so far.
 
20 July - completed on-line transfer of service. My mother received a confirmation email to advise an engineer would visit her at her new home on 20 August - three days after she moved in.
 
20 August - despite being advised an engineer would call between 1.00pm and 6.00pm no one called. I tried to phone the BT number 0800 800 150 but, after an hour of 'queueing' could not get to speak to anyone.
 
21 August - spent another hour after work trying to get through on 0800 800 150 - still didn't get through. I sent a strongly worded email.
 
22 August - 8.00am - finally got through (after making myself late for work) and was told an engineer would reschedule a visit for 9 September between 1.00pm and 6.00pm. When I advised that an elderly woman not having a land line for another 3 weeks wasn't acceptable I was told this was the first available date.
 
7 September - my mother receives two emails from BT confirming an engineer will visit her between 1.00pm and 6.00pm on 9 September.
 
9 September - I took a half day off work to be at my mother's home for the engineer calling. No one called. There was no text message or call to my mother's mobile to advise. I phoned BT at 7.30 and after having to wait 20 minutes to speak to an advisor, was told the engineer's report stated my mother's telephone line would be activated at 12 midnight - this despite no one calling or contacting her to advise this.
 
10 September - my mother still has no phone line. It had not been activated as promised. I called BT yet again at 5.00pm after my work and was told by another advisor that a BT engineer had called at my mother's home at 7.00pm on 9 September. This a blatant lie - I was with her at that time and I can assure you no one from BT visited or made any contact.
 
I was told by a BT advisor that an engineer would call round to my mother's on 30 September - nearly 3 weeks later! I replied this was completely unacceptable and that an urgent appointment had to be made. The advisor told me she would speak to her supervisor and phone my mother in half an hour (I had to go out and was already late for a meeting) No one phoned - but my mother received a text message advising that an engineer would visit her on 30 September.
 
Quite frankly, my mother has been treated appallingly by BT. She has been a loyal BT customer for several decades now and has her phone line and broadband services from you. She has paid a full year's line rental in advance in June and has not had a telephone line for nearly 3 weeks - with another 3 weeks delay this will be 6 weeks in total. Obviously, she has had no broadband service for this period either.
 
My mother is nearly 77 years old. She has various health problems including angina and high blood pressure. She lives alone and a land-line telephone is essential. None of this is her fault yet she is being treated like a second class citizen rather than a loyal BT customer.
 
I am extremely angry and demand this is resolved as a matter of urgency. BT have treated my mother with contempt and have blatantly lied to me, her next of kin.
 
PLEASE ENSURE HER TELEPHONE AND BROADBAND SERVICE IS ACTIVATED AS A MATTER OF URGENCY. The order details are below.
 
If not, I shall be seeking legal advice over this matter.
 
Mike Smith (son)

Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Turning Your Front Room Into Your Office


I had the pleasure of meeting former Hearts star Rudi Skacel in Edinburgh last week. The man who has played in and scored for two Hearts Scottish Cup winning sides was spending a long weekend in Scotland's capital city and he was accompanied by his partner Eva.

Eva is keen to write a book about the great man and, knowing I had written a couple of books (still available in all good bookshops etc) she sought my advice on such matters. Years ago, before the internet, getting such a venture off the ground would have been fraught with problems. However, communication is now better than ever and with things such as Skype and webcams the world has become a much smaller place.

She spoke about self-publishing and there is no doubt this is far easier now than in days of yore. You can even turn your front room into an office and publish your work from there. And if you class it as a business there are no shortage of communication companies lining up to offer you special deals. Companies such as talktalk business broadband offer special rates for businesses  - even for small would be self-publishers such as Eva.

I can imagine a book about Rudi would sell thousands in Edinburgh. He will always be a hero to the thousands of Hearts fans who continue to worship him even though it's been over a year since he left Tynecastle.

I wish Eva and Rudi the best of success with their venture.

Saturday, 10 August 2013

Happy Birthday Hannah





'I've had a lovely day today, Marion. My Papa gave me a lovely twenty pence piece for my sixth birthday.

'Did he, Hannah? That's ten pence more than he gave you last year...'

'My Papa asked me to bring all my birthday money with me tonight'

'Did he? Why?'

'Because he is going to use it to pay for this meal in the restaurant'


Okay, okay - it's Hannah's birthday today. I'll pay half the bill....

Happy birthday, darling. The fact she has spent all day with her Papa and is sleeping-over tonight has made it extra special for me.

Thursday, 1 August 2013

Special Delivery

I received an item through the post today. Now, I've ranted on these pages before about the sometimes abysmal postal service in Edinburgh (although it's not as bad as when I lived in Dalkeith) However, credit where credit is due. The item was incorrectly addressed and just had my name and street. This proved no obstacle to the intrepid postie who pushed it through my letterbox this morning. So well played that fella! (or lass)

Sadly, though, this has proved to be the exception rather than the rule. At my place of work we tend to rely on couriers when trying to send something urgent by transport to Edinburgh.

Royal Mail usually does the trick - but you can't rely one hundred per cent the item will get there. Sending items by recorded delivery not only costs more but, as happened on numerous occasions when I lived in Dalkeith, some posties don't get a signature on delivery as they're meant to - they simply push it through the letter box.

Small wonder then that the UK government is looking to privatise Royal Mail. In an age when technology means email and social media is an instant way of communicating, it seems to me that Royal Mail have struggled to adapt to change.

I'm grateful for the delivery of my item today. Sadly though, the days of Royal Mail delivering to their customers are  - unlike the item sent to me today - numbered...

Monday, 22 July 2013

This Girl Needs Help




You may not think she needs help. She's attractive, kind, generous, talented and has a heart the size of Edinburgh. So why does the lovely Marion need help?




She's just agreed to marry me.......



I'm a very lucky fella!

Sunday, 7 July 2013

Are They, Per Chance, Related?




 8 year old grandson Jack, on the left, meets Hearts manager Gary Locke
 
 
 
Jack's Papa about the time he was 8 years old (yes, it is in colour!)
 
It would appear Jack the Lad will be acquiring his Papa's stunning good looks. Lucky boy!

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes


It's a tragic scenario that is sadly often repeated in Scotland - a classic case of 'if only'.

Fella goes out for a few beers at night and eventually staggers back home in the early hours, more than slightly the worse for wear. Having consumed several pints of ale, he feels decidedly peckish so decides to cook something to counter the hunger. A wee drop of oil in the frying pan, cooker at gas mark 3 and sit back for the oil to heat. Of course, the effects of the alcohol make this fella quite sleepy so while he's waiting he closes his eyes. Minutes later, his house is ablaze...

This is a familiar tale and what marks this as having tragic consequences is there is no smoke detector fitted in the house. The fire won't kill the inebriated occupant but the smoke surely will.

I read some startling statistics the other day. Every year the Fire and Rescue Service is called to over 800,000 fires which result in over 800 deaths and over 17,000 injuries.

About 50,000 (140 a day) of these are in the home and kill nearly 500 and injure over 11,000, many of which could have been prevented if people had an early warning and were able to get out in time. The startling statistic is that you are twice as likely to die in a house fire that has no smoke alarm than a house that does.

Buying a smoke detector could help save your home and the lives of you and your family. You can get a decent one for around the £15 mark  - you can try this provider - but you can't put a price on life.

Something to think about next time you come back from the pub and put on some chips...

Back to School 2022

  A wee bit late with this but the little people have returned to school for another term. Except some of them aren't little any more. A...