CarrotyEnds
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You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry…
On Wednesday, I spent the best part of two hours (off and on) speaking to members of staff from the mobile network provider 3. The reason for this is documented here.For those of you who can’t be bothered to read through all that, the crux of the issue is that I dropped my broken smartphone off at a 3 Store three weeks ago and was assured it would be fixed and sent back to me within 10 days.
Earlier this week, concerned that I hadn’t heard anything from 3 about my phone, I called their technical support line and established (over the course of several phone calls) that my phone had gone missing, and never arrived at the repair centre.
It also emerged that the shop didn’t send my phone off to the repair centre when they said they would, and left it sat in their storeroom, waiting to be despatched for a week and a half. So, their assurances that I would get my phone back, and fixed, within 10 days were completely false.
The person I’ve been dealing with at 3 about this is a chap called Raghu. Thanks to the amount of time I’ve spent speaking to him recently, I now consider Raghu to be one of my closest friends.
When I spoke to him last on Wednesday, he assured me that 3 was “working very hard to resolve this situation” and that my case was being treated as a “matter of urgency”. A statement he immediately contradicted by saying he’d call me on Saturday (today) – three days later – with an update.
I finished speaking to him a couple of hours ago and have been sat here (not so) quietly seething ever since, because I still don’t know what has happened to my phone. Also, if it does turn up, Raghu told me it could still take up to two weeks to get it back.
He also told me that the 3 Store I went to (it’s in Windsor and I’d steer clear, if I were you) is now liaising with the courier firm responsible for taking my phone from the shop to 3’s Repair Centre to see if they can shed any light on what has happened to it.
Apparently, this is going to take five days to do, as Raghu has arranged to call me next Thursday with another fucking update about “where my phone is”.
Feet dragging
Making me wait another five days for information, I pointed out, doesn’t really strike me as a particularly fast response from a company that is treating something as a “matter of urgency.” But, don’t worry, Raghu assured me it is. Silly me.
I also asked him for verification that the store is in contact with the courier firm, given that they haven’t got a great track record with doing things when they say they will, as far as I’m concerned. According to Raghu, this is something I can do by phoning the store and asking them. Excellent!
So, that’s the state of play with things now. Except, I’ve also ditched the SkypePhone S2 that 3 gave me (in exchange for a £30 deposit) for an iPhone 3G that my brother-in-law had knocking around.
The reason for this is because – having made half a dozen calls on it – I soon realised that you can barely hear what the person you’re speaking to is saying, and I needed access to Twitter (honest, gov) to “live tweet” a work event, and that was never going to be possible on the SkypePhone.
According to Raghu’s parting words, 3 consider me a “highly valued” customer, but at no point during any of this do I think I’ve been made to feel like one.
Without going over too much ground again, their staff didn’t send my phone off when they said they would. They didn’t bother to notify me when it didn’t arrive at their Repair Centre, and now they are dragging their feet over something that I feel should and could be resolved a lot quicker than the timescales they are currently working to.
Seriously, how can it take five days for one of their staff to contact a courier and find out what happened to one of their deliveries?
Personally, I think all this has been going on far too long, and – although this is a situation I was determined to handle myself – think it might be time to call in for backup. I think it might be time to call in my Dad.
Don’t get even. GET DAD
The reason for this is my Dad’s got previous for setting straight phone shops, particularly Orange-flavoured ones, about what constitutes good customer service. So much so, whenever someone in my family kicks off about bad service, the phrase “it sounds like an Orange Phone Shop situation to me” usually follows.
This is in recognition of the almighty fracas my old man caused a few years ago at an Orange Shop in West London.
The story goes that my big sister (an Orange customer at the time) bought a new phone that broke within days of her “14-day new phone warranty” expiring. (The warranty length alone should give you some indication as to how old this story is.)
Anyway, my sister asked for the phone to be replaced with a new one, given that it had conked out within a month of her having it. Orange refused and my Dad got involved, telling them that they should give her a new phone as a gesture of goodwill. Once again, Orange said no.
What exactly happened after this is unclear, although it is well-documented that my Dad told the person serving my sister that Orange could shove her phone and the accompanying contract somewhere unpleasant, and called the company a series of not very nice names.
As my sister told me this week, “the bloke serving us kept saying, ‘for the record, sir, I haven’t sworn at you,’ and that made Dad even madder.
“In the end, Dad argued back, ‘I haven’t sworn at you either. You’re not listening to me. I was swearing at your company.’ ” Touche.
As a result of this exchange, my sister left the shop with a new phone and my Dad ended up with a brand, spanking new, top-of-the-range DVD player. No-one is exactly sure why or how the latter happened, but there is no denying that using the “Dad card” gets results.
I just hope 3 knows what they have let themselves in for…
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Three is a magic number (as long as you don’t need your phone repaired)
I don’t feel great about posting this, because I’ve worked in retail and know what a bloody hard, low-paid and thankless task serving the general public can be.
But, I’ve been on receiving end of some seriously shoddy customer service today, at the hands of mobile network provider 3, and think I’m justified in wanting to vent my spleen about it.
Especially as I’ve told the company how unhappy I am with the service I’ve received and their response has left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed for reasons that should (hopefully) soon become clear.
At the end of last month, my smartphone (it’s a Sony Ericsson X10) started playing a rather cruel trick on me. I’d plug it into the wall to charge, it would tell me that it was charging and then fail to do so.
It’s a problem I’ve had before with the phone. The last time it happened, I took it into the 3 Shop on Oxford Street. They sent it off for repair and (less than a week later) they sent me back a brand new handset. Job done.
This time, I decided to take it to the Windsor branch, because it’s closer to where I live and the Oxford Street store is usually busier than a WeightWatchers’ meeting the week after Christmas.
I took it in on Sunday 9 October, and was told they would send it off for repair the following Tuesday. This struck me as slightly odd, but I decided not to query it as the guy serving me was fairly confident that I would have the phone back and fixed within 7-to-10 days of it being posted out.
In the meantime, I was offered the use of a loan phone (in exchange for a £30 deposit) to tide me over until my phone was fixed. To be frank, the phone (a SkypePhone S2) was a step up from a Nokia 3210, in that it has a colour screen and the promise of internet access.
Still, it was better than nothing and, I reasoned, it’s only for a week. Ten days at most. Or so I thought.
Fourteen days later, I was still without my phone and decided to give 3 a call to find out what was happening with it.
I would have done it sooner, but I was out of the country last week (oh! Get me) on a press trip. Probably didn’t need to tell you that, but – what can I say – I like to brag.
Anyway, I called the 3 Repair Centre this morning, spoke to a very polite young man called Raghu and, according to his computer, my phone never arrived. This, he explained, could be because the (a) shop never sent it out, (b) it got “lost in transit, or (c) there is no such thing as smartphones and all of this is just a dream.
One of the above three options is not a genuine 3 customer service response. If you guess which one, you can have a free SkypePhone S2.
Anyway, my friend Raghu advised me that I should phone the store, ask them if they still have my phone and/or if they have a record of when they sent it out.
This I dutifully did, and was told by the first 3 Store employee I spoke to that he was going to have a look “in the back”, then phone me back in an hour. Except he didn’t bother to do the latter, and I’m almost certainly sure he probably didn’t do the former either.
Four hours later, I called the store to see if they had managed to locate my phone, and was told they have absolutely no idea who I am, what I’m talking about or who I would have spoken to about it.
The last point is my fault, because I should have taken his name. However, they, too, promised to look into it and phone me back in an hour.
To be fair, the bloke kept to his side of the bargain and called me back to say that they have no idea where my phone is and no record of when or if it was posted out. Not exactly great news, but at least his response was punctual, and he did offer to carry out a “thorough investigation” into where my phone had gone.
Oh, a “thorough investigation”, I thought. “What form will this take? Will it be a multi-agency effort? I assume the United Nations will be involved? Should I use the SkypePhone to notify the Pentagon?”
An hour or so after this, he phoned me again with an update (of sorts). It turns out his “thorough investigation” had revealed that my phone had been sent out on 21st October, which means it should have arrived at the repair centre the following day. Except it hasn’t, and I was told it would be sent out on the 11th.
“Yeah, it got sent out later than expected because we’ve been really busy and had three new people start,” was his response when I queried why it had taken nearly two weeks for them to ship my phone out for repair.
Surely, if they’ve got more people working in the store than they used to, that should mean they have a better chance at getting stuff like this done? His response was, “I can only apologise.”
I spoke to someone else at the store just before I left work tonight, because my new best friend Raghu told me I needed to get hold of the job or consignment number, which would have been assigned to my phone for tracking purposes (I think) before it was sent off for repair.
Turns out the number they assigned to my phone in the store tallies with absolutely nothing on Raghu’s computer screen, so that was a rather pointless exercise.
By this point, I had completely had enough. I’d spent most of the day on the phone and was in exactly the same position as I has been eight hours before. I didn’t have my phone, no one really knows where it is and I’m no closer to anything approaching a resolution.
I pointed this out to the last of the 3 “wise men” I spoke to today, adding that I’d now been without a smartphone for nearly three weeks, despite paying his company over £30 a month to use one and get access to services that can’t be reached (and I know. I’ve tried) using a SkypePhone.
He said, I *might* qualify for a two or three week line rental refund, but it’s not something he can guarantee and it would be completely at 3’s discretion. I think what he meant to say was, this “would just be for starters.” Because I won’t accept anything less.
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A brief history of my music collection: 1990-2011
If we ignore quite a lot of the music I’ve ever heard, my life can be neatly divided into the four musical eras: Good/Crap, Britpop, Miserablism and Pop.
Good/Crap Music – 1990-94
I don’t think I’m doing anyone (aside from the Outhere Brothers and Scatman John) a disservice by describing the music I listened to between the ages of six and 10 as a bit crap.
It’s not my fault – I was completely at the mercy of what was being played on Capital Radio during the early to mid-90s, because (a) I shared a room with my older sister (Annie), (b) the radio was above her bed, and, (c) neither of us had any money to buy our own music.
So, we had to make do with recording the Top 40 countdown on a Sunday before copying the best bits on to mix tapes with excruciating names like, “DANCE TO THE MAX x100” and, “TOP POP 3!!!!”
If you were a fan of 2 Unlimited, Culture Beat, Shaggy, Charles and Eddie, Enigma or Snap, your tastes would have been well catered for by our tapes.
Britpop – 1994-97
As time went on, the choice of music we could listen to got a million times better once my oldest brother (Andrew) realised that there were other bands, aside from Metallica, Slayer and Iron Maiden making music. I couldn’t get into any of that stuff. It was just shouty noise.
Andrew’s bedroom was next door to mine and Annie’s. It was also where the Mega Drive was kept, meaning we spent quite a lot of our after school time in there (until Andrew got back from work at 6pm and chucked us out, of course.)
While taking turns to play Sonic the Hedgehog, we used to idly rifle through his growing collection of CDs, which started to feature names of bands I’d seen on TV and really liked. There were records there by bands like Blur, Pulp*, Oasis, Supergrass, and The Manics (as well as a few other Britpop also rans I don’t want to embarrass Andrew by revealing he owned).
Soon enough, mine and my sister’s music piracy racket soon expanded to include many of these CDs, and my life started to feel a lot richer for it. Like I’d finally found a genre of music I actually liked.
It’s probably worth noting that the Spice Girls also launched around this time, and I absolutely adored them, too.
*It was watching Pulp’s performance at Reading yesterday, that prompted this post in the first place. I’m going to do a separate one about them later.
Miserablism – 1997-2002
I started secondary school in 1995. It was horrible because I was a fat speccy and used to get bullied on an almost daily basis. Sometimes by kids even fatter than me. I seriously couldn’t catch a break.
After two years of this, I decided I’d had enough and embarked on a sensible regime of healthy eating, which (sadly) soon turned into a something a whole lot more extreme.
I ended up losing over four stone (which I now know to my cost isn’t a good thing to do during puberty). Despite this, the bullying continued because I got braces and my glasses were now far too large for my new slim face. Told you I couldn’t catch a fucking break.
Around this time, (and I know I sound like a massive cliché) I really started to get into the Manic Street Preachers, particularly their earlier, Holy Bible stuff. Garbage were also a big band for me at this time. So, too were The Offspring, sadly.
I was such an insufferable and miserable sod during this time, I remember my older brother, Nigel ( a psychology graduate) telling me my mood might improve if I listen to something a little more upbeat, like Kci and The Sunshine Band or the Vengaboys.
Things did improve by the time I reached sixth form, though, as most of the idiots who took the piss out of me were too thick to do A-levels, and left my school. RESULT!
By the time I left, I was in to The Strokes, The Hives and The Vines. Basically, if you were in a band with “The” in the title during 2001, it’s safe to say I had your album.
N.B: If you’re feeling sorry for me while reading this, you shouldn’t. Instead, spare a thought for my youngest sister, Christine, who was sharing a room with me at the time. The stereo was above my bed now, meaning she had no choice but to listen to Gold Against The Soul on repeat for most of her early teens. She now listens to nothing but show tunes. I feel responsible.
Pop – 2002-onwards
Going to university was, without doubt, the best thing I ever did, and resulted in my CD collection becoming a lot more fun.
Before I went to university, my social life was non-existent, because my parents were dead against me going to the pub (I was underage, after all) with anyone other than Andrew, Nigel or Annie.
Also – as explained above – I was such a mardy cow, almost everyone else my age stopped asking me to go out anyway.
But, at university, I suddenly had a group of people (many of who I’m still friends with today) who had to go out with me, because they didn’t know anyone else and there was nothing else to do. Suckers!
Almost every night (except Saturday and Sunday, bizarrely) was spent drunk on a dancefloor, and the brilliance of pop music, and its production, started to creep up on me.
Now that’s not to say I wasn’t aware of the musical output of Britney Spears, N-Sync (and Justin Timberlake), S-Club 7, Sugababes, and Liberty X. I was. I just don’t think I really appreciated it.
Around this time, I started reading the website Popjustice, which switched me on to a lot of good pop I would have otherwise missed (did YOU know that Lene from Aqua had a solo record?).
Crucially, Pop Stars: The Rivals aired during my first term at university, which resulted in the creation of Girls Aloud, who are now one of my all-time favourite bands.
Nowadays, my MP3 player is chock full of songs spanning all these eras (including 10 hours’ worth of Girls Aloud), and my taste in music is evolving and expanding all of the time, which should see a fifth era being added to this list (starting from 2007), but I’ve written enough for today. Ciao!
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WOMEN! KNOW YOUR PLACE…in the IT industry
Every once in a while a PR will get in touch to ask if I have any plans to write an article about the dearth of women working in the IT industry.
In all cases, the reason for this is because the PR represents a company that employs one or more female executives (WHATTA SHOCKA), who can provide insights into the challenges they’ve faced while pursuing a career in a male dominated industry.
The overarching aim being that detailing how some women have gone about forging a career for themselves in IT will encourage others to follow suit.
Despite my feminist leanings, this kind of pitch always leaves me a little conflicted. On the one hand, I do think it’s an important issue that needs tackling, but it’s difficult to do so without coming across as patronising.
For example, the last thing you want to do is write something that reads like you’re backslapping someone for making it as far as they have in an industry because they are a woman.
I’m also not convinced that covering this topic in a trade magazine (which is read by people already working in the industry) is really the best way of changing things.
That being said, for women already working in IT who aspire to be “on the board” some day, for example, hearing how another has gone about it, can be valuable career advice. In that instance, a trade mag article is justified.
I think a better way of getting more women in IT would be to give girls access to this kind of information at a much younger age, though. Before they’ve decided what they want to do with their lives and the subjects they’ll need to study to get there.
The kids aren’t alright
For a time, I did have a theory that, with kids seemingly becoming more tech savvy at a much younger age these days, this could lead to more girls doing IT-based subjects at school, sixth form and university.
However, given the stats out this week showing a marked decline in the number of kids of both sexes taking IT at GCSE, this idea of mine is clearly complete bollocks. Or, the syllabus content is so dull, no-one wants to do it.
The latter is a judgement I’m in no position to make, as I’ve not looked at a GCSE textbook for a good ten years. Although, now I’m thinking about it, I wouldn’t mind finding out more about what kids are being taught in IT at school and how this tallies with their interest in the subject at home.
However, what is interesting about the article I’ve linked to a couple of paragraphs above is where it states that fewer girls than boys study GCSE IT, but the ones that do often get higher grades than their male counterparts.
This is heartening stuff, but we need more girls to take the subject (and then carry it on to further education), if things are going to change. Although, not everyone woman I’ve spoken to who works in IT has gotten into the industry this way.
I don’t know - this is why I find this whole subject so conflicting - because, and this isn’t just a “women in IT” thing, people’s career parths are all so different. You can’t just push people in the same direction and expect the outcome for all of them to be the same.
What I do know is that I definitely don’t subscribe to the notion (one that has frequently been raised when I’ve discussed this topic with PRs, industry-types and “friends”) that we should just accept that there will always be industries that are better suited for men to work in, and women, too.
No. Men and women should feel able to work in whatever industry they want to. Because, when it comes down to it, it’s about skills, enthusiasm and a willingness to work. Not whether or not they have penis.
*Apologies for the shocking piece of stock photography I’ve pasted next to this. It’s impossible to find a good, copyright free picture of a woman using a computer. The patriarchy strikes again…
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Number One - We Were Evergreen, with their song “Penguins & Moonboots”
Despite subjecting us to one of the longest soundchecks in the history of live music, this Parisian trio were my favourite band at this year’s Green Man.
Considering they were the first act of the day on the Green Man Pub stage, it didn’t stop them from getting the (extremely hungover) crowd on their feet to dance to their adorable, nursery rhyme-like melodies
Their song, Penguins and Moonboots, was on a playlist of stuff my boyfriend put together for me a couple of months ago, as part of my “Green Man homework” and the “Bada-ba-ba-ba-ba-baaaa” bit never fails to put a smile on my face. I guarantee it will also have the same affect on you.
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Number Three - Ellen & The Escapades, and their song “Without You”
By rights, I should absolutely detest this lot because they’re younger than me and far more talented.
Since watching their set in the Far Out Tent on Saturday, this song - which really reminds me of some of Camera Obscura’s earlier stuff - has been firmly lodged in my head. I absolutely love them, even though watching them makes me feel like a middle aged hag.
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Number Four - The Cave Singers with their song “Dancing On Our Graves”
I don’t know if it was the cider, the sunshine or simply their tunes, but I really loved The Cave Singers’ Friday afternoon set.
When my boyfriend told me we were going to watch them, I wasn’t really fussed and was planning on using their performance as an opportunity to top up my pint in the Main Stage bar. I’m so glad I didn’t, because those guys really rocked and I would have missed out on something very special.
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Number Five - Moddi, and their song “Magpie Eggs”
This Norwegian three-piece were pitted against Laura Marlin who was playing on the Main Stage on Sunday as they started their set in the Green Man Pub.
Admittedly, the place wasn’t exactly packed when they took their positions on stage, but the same could not be said once their 30 minutes were over. Thanks, in no small part, to their lovely brand of pastoral, acoustic songs, and their charming use of pigeon English.
A good example of the latter was when the band’s lead singer announced at the start of their set (upon seeing that their percussionist had gone walkabout) that you should “never sing a song if your siblings aren’t there.” Wise words. :)
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Green Man 2011: My Five New Favourite Bands
Over the course of our three (and a bit) days at Green Man, we saw approximately 27 bands.
Some made more of an impact than others. In fact, some barely registered at all. Take Zwolf, for example. It wasn’t until he was halfway through his set on Sunday that I realised it was him performing and not just some backing track playing out in The Green Man Pub. Oh, for shame.
That being said, I don’t think we saw anyone who was awful, thanks to my other half’s thorough vetting of the Green Man line-up in the lead up to last weekend’s festivities.
However, I’ve decided (because it’s my blog and I can do what i like) to compile a list of my top five favourite performers from this year’s Green Man.
I’ve decided to limit it to five because, (a) I’m lazy, (b) I have a very short attention span, and (c) I could waffle on about all this for weeks otherwise.
Feel free to disagree, add a few suggestions of your own or simply congratulate me on my excellent taste in music.
Blog posts and YouTube videos (sadly not from The Green Man) to follow.
