The whinge thread

[kathlyn]

I'm trying to get compensation for all the days we've had no phone due to phone cables being stolen and BT are telling me that we had to notify them that we were without connection to be able to get compensation!!!!!!!!! The whole village was off because of it and mobile signals are virtually non existent where I llive!!!!!!!! They even asked me to tell them the dates we were off!!!! Thanks to the forum I was able to go back and find the dates. Still waiting and if they don't email me tomorrow I'll be on to them again.

[Bunnylump]

OK. So BT have really nice but dim call centre people, but they have wonderful engineers.

Yesterday, the Welsh gentleman quite specifically said that an engineer would be out at 5pm today. I asked "Will someone need to be there to let them in?" and was told "No, it's definitely an outside problem, so they don't need to get into your house.

FORTUNATELY I wasn't at work today, because I got a phone call at 10.30 from the engineer (woke me up - yes folks I HAVE SLEPT!! ) saying he'd be with me in 5 minutes and needed to get in the house!

BUT I must say, he was lovely. He told me that the line from the telegraph pole into the house was more than 40 years old. It was one of those "trying not to look out of the window and watching him up the top of the pole because it made me feel sick, but couldn't quite help myself" moments. He found that the wire was just about to snap half way across the road. So he's replaced all the wire, but also the wires coming into the porch (having negotiated my climbing roses up the front of the house to do it). He then said "You've got internet on this, haven't you? Well, yes I have but it's through Orange. So he told me he was actually an engineer with the internet side usually, so he'd fit me a new box in the porch and a new, better box in the hall to improve that too. He was supposed to have finished by 12:00, but ended up here until 1:00, having done some extras for free!

Faith restored in humanity.

(Oh and now, I have my BROADBAND working, maybe I can do a googling task set for me by a certain puzzle setter without going stir crazy!!! - Well I could if I wasn't away this weekend taking son and heir's stuff back to the back end of beyond in Cornwall, 600 mile round trip! )

[Bunnylump]

It's a bit of a worry how it always seems to be me posting on this one. Maybe it should be renamed "The Grumpy Old Woman Thread".

New neighbours.
We got new neighbours a week ago. They haven't spoken to us yet (apart from a quick hello), but so far, not impressed.
1. They have an enormous red four wheeled drive thing which takes up half the road plus lots of other cars, which they frequently park across our drive ( you will recall that we spent weeks digging out our front so that we can park all our cars on the front).
2. They have a yappy dog which barks continuously when they go out to work.
3. They have just installed an enormous wooden wind chime in the back garden which is keeping me awake.
4. I've just looked out of my bedroom window and there is the biggest trampoline you've ever seen (at least8 feet across) which has massive high black netting guard all round it. Since our garden slopes upwards it is a complete eyesore.
5. They appear to think it's ok to send their 5 year old out into the garden at 7am on a Sunday on his own, where he makes loads of noise and then they periodically shout at him from their bedroom window.

OMG what next?
Suddenly all my other weird neighbours who have lived in that house over the years seem less weird, including:
The old lady who turned out to be dead.
The man who liked to do dodgy diy whose chimney fell through his roof while I was looking after his cat who subsequently married a mad woman who would go round the house screaming on her own and then I found her hacking down rose bushes in bare feet in November.
The racist policeman who used to squirt me with the hose every time I went in the back garden.
The teachers who assumed any cat poo in their garden was from my cat, and used to put it in black bags and lob it over our fence.

Anyone else have these kinds of issues? (I do know Gill has a REALLY scary neighbour...)

[giraffe]

I'll pm you a link to my neighbour's antics.

[Laura]

My neighbour just hides behind the fence so he doesn't have to speak to anyone.

[pebbles]

You know what my neighbour has done Bunny!

[Bunnylump]

Yep, another nightmare neighbour!! Actually the more I hear of others' experiences, the more tame my current neighbours seem...

[giraffe]

We lived in a house that was set back slightly from the next in the terrace and the next door neighbour attached a basket ball hoop to the side of our house. That was annoying. The Thud thud thud of the ball against the house used to make me want to scream.

[Bunnylump]

That's why when my son got a basketball net for the garden I refused to let him attach it to the back of the house. Instead we put it on a pole right at the end of the garden, nice and near to the woman at the end who shouts all through the summer and plays music so loud (in the garden) that when I finally rang the police to complain from my house(bearing in mind the garden is at least 150 feet long) THEY could hear it without me saying what the problem was!! My view was that the basketball net was a slight bit of revenge. So they probably think I'm a nightmare neighbour...

[clvrlad]

TI'm a nightmare neighbour...

sofa's on your lawn... yep id agree

[Biscuit]

I am so lucky - my neighbours are brilliant - next door has three youngsters but to be honest when the "screamer" gets going its just a relief we dont have to deal with it.

The other neighbours are great too .. except that her personally training comes around a couple of times a week with lots of exercise of the drive way!!

But to be honest I am lucky - there are only 7 of us so we are a close knit bunch. In fact one night we had a power cut (i was stuck in the bath) and fristly my oldest went to investigate (she didn;t come back) then the middle child disappeared up the road and finally my youngest. I got out of the bath with hair soping wet and dressed in a trackie and investigated. I went and found that for some reason one house out of the 7 hadn't got a powercut and my children were all there (all our children are the same age and some went to school together so a close knit bunch). I turned up there,found my children and had a wonderful impromptu party - even when the lights came back we carried on partying. Wonderful evening.Totally unplanned. In fact most of the estate were there and it was lovely to catch up with everyone.


In addition I was bought up on an estate where everyone was very friendly as well. In fact considering this must have been 35 years ago some of us still meet up on christmas morning for a drinks party and when we were younger we woud play badminton each friday and went on holiday together - the funny thing is that my daughter actually mixes totally unconnectedly with a son of one of the children that we went on holiday with. Lots of Viva La Spainya. it was a bit like carry one abroad - i cant lie.

Just thought I ought to put in a good note for some neighbours.

Biscuit

[Bunnylump]

I must say that my OTHER neighbour is wonderful. She's 80, but perfect in every way:- quiet, considerate, not intrusive, pleasant and would do anything for you, and with a wonderful sense of humour. Oh and she's really deaf, so on the odd occasion when we are noisy, SHE CAN'T HEAR It!!

Oh, and the sofa has gone now, sadly, Clvrlad.

[clvrlad]

the sofa has gone now, sadly

well if you miss it.....

[Bunnylump]

Do you know what? It was FANTASTIC being able to sit in the garden under the tree all comfy with my feet up reading a book on my sofa. Yes, it had to go (it would have been a soggy mess by now) but it was SUCH a lovely lazy luxury!! Maybe one day I'll invest in a hammock, which must be similar...

[Laura]

I'm surprised to see no-one has been on here for quite a while. About the same length of time, in fact, that I've been tring to order a hoodie from the girlguiding shop. One of our Young Leaders has no uniform - her parents are not particularly supportive of her being a Brownie leader, so I was going to get her one for Christmas. Except the online shop was closed from October to Novemeber for essential maintainence (sp?). By Christmas, it was still not up and running. February came and went and it still was not working. The telephone ordering system gives you a 'Press 1 for so-and-so' option, but then tells you that 'this is an invalid command' when you press 1. I have finally, today, managed to order the jumper, which will now no doubt arrive closer to next christmas than last. And its getting warmer by the day, so she won't need it til then anyway.

AAaaarrrggghhh!!!!!

[giraffe]

Is there not a real shop locally where you can get the uniform? There are several round here, but one only opens for one hour a week, so is a pain to get to.

[gill216]

Laura, there seems to be loads of shops in the Leeds area.

I know what you're going to say- you get lost and it takes hours If you can find what you want ask them to reserve it for you and I'll go and pick it up. Then we have 3 options- I can post it to you, I can drop it off to you ( It would be nice to meet you and what better excuse) or a friend I see every couple of weeks lives in your neck of the woods and you could collect from her.

Just say the word.

[Laura]

Thanks, there is a shop in Wakefield, it just annoys me that the website and phone service is so rubbish! It's ordered now - got it to work on my Mum's computer. I've no idea why that worked and mine didn't.

[Bunnylump]

Those phone lines drive me mental, I know just what you mean.

[Biscuit]

i hate banks, i hate banks, i hate the way banks make a mistake then it is up to you to spend hours on the phone sorting it out.

suppose to put a payment through on 10th March - decided it was out of character and didnt and wrote to me letter received on the 16th to say they hadnt and this has mucked up a surprise for my daughter - i am so cross - i did all the security including a special mobile phone individual authorisation code. When i got the letter rang them up and spent 15 minutes getting through secruity etc and they promised a chaps payment that would go into the recipients account yesterday. Today they still hadnt got it and i phone back and they say they couldnt do it on chaps but now as an apology they will do it by cancelling payment with central accounts and putting a chaps through first thing tomorrow and will ring me and confirm within half an hour this evening. ((Oh and as way of compensation they will not charge me for the chaps (which i would not have needed in the first place if they had processed my payment - how generous))

Didnt ring back , now cant get through to the two named poeple and through to the manager of the third who says that dept has now gone home and they cant look at whether it can be sorted out until tomorrow. seriously fed up now. Santander is the company - i would say move your accounts but i think they all seem pretty average.

Biscuit