HP Customer Support

Is this the worst Customer Support I have ever experienced?

I have just spent a considerable amount of time on the phone to HP Support trying to get a simple bit of information about a device that HP produce and sell.

Initially they bounced me around their various departments as they could not decide who should assist me. Each time the wanted ME to call a different number, but relented and transferred me when I objected. Eventually, when they could not find reference to the product I wanted I got through to their complaints department.

They took all the details and then 24-hours later they called me back and said that they had found the info that I require, but they would not give it to me as I do not have a support contract!! They actually do not know if I have one or not as I have not given them the serial number of the device, just the Model number. They said if I paid £15 they would give me the info! How much trouble must they be in to be scratching about for £15????

All I need to know is the maximum supported resolution of the device. That could be read off a data sheet by a monkey!.

When I asked to escalate it I was told that I can't all I can do is write in, but that would go to the same department that I had just spoken too. The management will not talk to clients.

I think I now know why HP are coming out of the PC market! This is so far from my definition of customer service that I am lost for words.

If you want to talk to them you need Alex on DCVC_EMEA_EN@mail.support.hp.com if that is not an address that is designed so that it cannot be used then I don't know what is.

The final irony is that I actually found the info that I was looking for, just not on the HP website.

How is it that Dell keep records of all the PC's I have ever purchased? All I have to do is enter the TAG number and all the specs of the machine, as it was shipped, appear (even for some machines that are many years out of maintenance!!)

They world is rapidly becoming one where service is tops. Apparently HP don't know that, can't do it, or just don't care!

Guess this explains why HP are getting out of the PC market.....

Tick Tick Tick

Tick tick tick
the sound of my life ebbing away.

Daddy Daddy Daddy.
'Enjoy them while they are young', "they will soon stop asking"

Will there be any me me left by then?

Is there any of me left now?

Nokia Raise A Genius Call

Well on we go.

On Friday I get a call from the local expert.  He has escalated the issue to “Nokia” I presume he means Finland.  I waited till today to chase only to be told that though they have raised what they call a “Genius Call” it could take months to get a result.

Glad to know that the customers concerns are Nokia’s.

By the time they get back to me, which I very much doubt they will, I will have moved on to the next phone.  I was quite looking forward to a Nokia Windows Phone 7 phone, but an HTC or Motorola Android phone could be in my future.

Such a shame. 

Brave New World

The world is changing.  There was a time that a phone was a phone.  You made calls, maybe took pictures, and that was it.

Today a phone is a small computer.  It has my diary, my pictures, my numbers.  It syncs with various services, accesses many wireless networks and does a myriad of other things.

So what?  Well So I do not want to do a factory restore!  In my phone I have wireless keys for numerous hot spots I regularly use, but I do not have record of these keys.  I have finally managed to settle down the syncing so that I do not get duplicates all over the place.  My address book has settled down.  Do I want to go though all that pain again?  NO!

The does come a point at which I will just say sod it.  I will ditch the so called smart phone and just use a dumb phone.  Or maybe I will be like 90% of the rest of the population and will just use the phone for calling and pictures.  When I upgrade the phone I will loose all my pictures and have to re-enter all the numbers by hand.  Just like a friend of mine that has just posted on FaceBook “Please inbox (Grrrr..  she means email)  me you number, my phone has gone and I have lost the lot!”.  Yer right! I can really see me doing that!

Phone companies have to realise that their devices are now computers and they form and integral part of peoples lives.  I cannot be without my phone for a week while you blow it away!  I do not want weeks of agro setting it up again.  You have to treat this things like what they are.  When they fail your staff have to be skilled enough to get in to the guts and fix them!  I was impressed when the tech in Manila remote controlled my phone, that is the way it SHOULD be done.  I was not impressed when all he did was bugger up my access point priorities and reinstall the app I was trying to fix.  Here’s the news.  "I ALREADY DID THAT!”.

Nokia are already in trouble as they have dropped the ball with the N97 and the N8 (as it was basically obsolete before it was released).  The N8 is a good phone.  It has a great camera, a real flash and in general I like the way it works.  The problem is that it is slow and the touch is not great.

I am looking forward to getting a Windows 7 based Nokia.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Symbian.  I have been using it since I hade a Psion 5!  It is just a shame it has fallen behind, both in performance and in technology.  I like Nokia engineering. The phone looks good and feels good.  Now get the innards up to spec and we will all be happy.

But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE get the support people up to speed and change the mentality.  A factory reset HAS to be the LAST thing you do when ALL else has failed.  And there MUST be a way of imaging the phone so that when the factory reset has not fixed the issue I can at the very least get back EXACTLY where I was when we started (just restoring my data is NOT enough).  At least that way I will not be in a worse off position than when I started.

Technorati Tags: Nokia,N8,Rant

ition.

Nokia Support Takes the Biscuit!

The story so far……

I made the fatal mistake of applying a Nokia update to my Nokia phone! 

Result………

The social app will not work.

I called Nokia about this last week, and after some messing about was told that I would be called back. 

Silence….

Yesterday I got annoyed and posted on the Nokia UK FaceBook page and lo and behold I get a call today.  Coincidence?

So what’s the story?….

Well.  After some messing about (using a great tool that allowed him to remote control my phone) I am told that I have to cold reset my phone and reinstall! I pointed out that I did not want to do that as it had taken me a while to get the phone the way I like it and I do not want to lose all my settings etc.

Cutting a long story short…  It appears that applying the phone update tried to upgrade my phone to Social App version 1.3 but this failed.  Now all they can give me is version 1.2, but this will not over write the scripts for version 1.3. 

I cannot understand why they cannot either give me 1.3 to install or just the scripts I need for 1.2 to work so I can manually over write the damaged ones.

Well, would you believe it?…

In the space of 2 minutes I get a call from Nokia UK Complaints department and then at the same time from the Manila support department.  He has found 1.3 for me and she wants' to talk.  Well I have installed 1.3.  No joy so I am about to call her to talk.

The Lady at the UK help desk is going to escalate to a UK based support person.  This is good as Symbian originated in the UK with Psion in Milton Keynes.  Is it beyond the wit of man to manually remove the elements of the social app or fix the defective scripts and reinstall it, without flashing the whole phone?

We will see.  I have promises from The UK and Manila for a call back…

Nokia N8–Friend or Foe?

It’s now been a few week since I got my N8 and I am quite confident that I have been in to just about all of it’s nooks and crannies. 

I am please to say that the only disappointment so far has been Nokia. 

Lets start with the negative, to get it out of the way.

For some unexplained reason the device ships with no podcasting (podcatcher) software installed and despite my best efforts I have not managed to get one of the .sis files offered on the Nokia website to actually install.  I have spoken to their help desk and been promised  a call back but, as is their way, none has been forthcoming.  It has been a couple of weeks since I last tried, and I will try again (as this is really the only fly in the ointment).

The only other thing that does not work is the Audible player (so I can listen to audio books) but I do not hold this against anyone (not even Nokia) as it is a very new phone and I am sure they will come up with a version that works asap.

So let’s move on to better things…

I manually copied some podcasts and music to the N8 and, as is my way, proceeded to delete them as I finished listening.  Arrggghh!! an old N97 “feature” appeared.  One of the podcasts refused to delete and kept on telling me that it was “in use”.  This was not possible as I was playing other media in the player.  I tried using the file manager to remove the file, but to no avail.  Eventually I connected it to my laptop and delete the offending file (brute force and ignorance).  I was expecting the file to still appear in the music player and clutter the place up for ever and a day, as it did in the N97, But NO!!  When I went back in to the player it was gone.  Joy!!

I have had a few syncing issues, duplicate calendar entries, addresses etc, but I suspect that was because I was using Goosync and the Nokia Ovi over-the-air Sync AND Ovi Suite.  Since I stopped doing that and restricted myself to Goosync and the Ovi Suite things have settled down.  I am syncing, via the PC to Google and Ovi, but can’t decide if their is any point to the Ovi stuff.

Other than that the Phone is great!  Email syncing with Gmail and Live Mail works well.  Why would you want a Blackberry?  I have loaded a game or two, just as a test as I really am not a gamer, and the graphics are stunning.  The Camera is beyond fantastic, although I currently have 2 stuck MMS’s that have gone but will not clear from the Queue.  I suspect it is because I sent very high res images.  Doh!

One bit of good news since I started writing this.  I have found a site that has great Free Symbian applications http://www.drjukka.com/index.html I have loaded a podcatcher from here.  It is a beta, and a little flaky, but does do the job and I am sure it will get better.  I also have a file manager that makes the inbuilt one look like a bit of an embracement. The site has loads of other tools and apps that can really enhance your phone.  Or bugger it up.  So beware and load them at your own risk.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

One feature that I really like is the ability to lock the phone by sending a text message.  One message with a secret code word in it and the phone locks itself, the SIM and the memory card. Fantastic if I ever leave the phone somewhere.  It means that I know that it cannot be abused while I figure out what I have done with it.

Anyway, I will end now and may add some more comments later.  Suffice to say that this is a major improvement by Nokia and it sounds like Symbian ^4 is on it’s way which should be a good thing.

Shame Nokia support is so poor.

Anyone know how I can get rid of the stuck messages?

Nokia N8 – First impressions

After a long wait my new Nokia N8 has arrived.  I will, over the next week or two give a bit of a review of it, but lets start here with some initial thoughts.

Looks – This phone looks great!  unfortunately the camera lens sticks out of the back, but I am willing to live with that for 12mp camera with auto focus and real flash.  On the back of the unit there is a logo that sticks out too, which is rather irritating.  I would have preferred it if the back was covered in a non-slip coating like many of the Android phones out there.

Keyboard – There isn’t one. That is one thing I really will miss from my N97, except the hinge was starting to go so I wonder how much longer it would have been before it completely failed.  The onscreen keyboard is actually quite usable, when you turn the phone sideways so you get the qwerty keyboard.

What am I expecting?  Well, what I would like is the N97 that works! 

So far that seems to be what I have.  Alas it does not have the podcasting app installed as standard (why not!!????!!!)  but I am working on that (as the ones I have found on the Nokia site do not work).  Also the Audible player will not play! but it does install?  Very strange, but again I am working on that.  My laptop has decided that it does not want to see the phone in Ovi or  PC Suite; strangely it does allow me to access the disk on the phone, so I am not too upset.  I really need internet access on the move, but I have some alternative tethering tricks that I will be trying over the next few days, so all is not lost.  I must say that I think that my laptop could probably do with a reinstall so I don’t blame the phone for the last 2 failures.  Windows 7 also does not seem to have all the required Bluetooth drivers, this is probably due to the fact that the phone has not actually been released yet, so I am willing to  give Nokia the benefit of the doubt for a week or 2.

I like the 3 home screens, and the onscreen widgets are great.  I especially like the way it integrates with Gmail and gives me Blackberry like functionality buy checking mail on a schedule and buzzing when it finds some.  Made doubly useful by allowing me to select a “Blackout” period (11pm-8am) when it will not bother me.

So far so good.  I have not had that many calls since I got the phone so I have not yet had a chance to experience the worse failings of the N97 (i.e. missing calls because the pesky thing would not let me answer them and not giving me access to a dial pad so I can choose 1, 2 or 3 to control my auto attendant).

One feature that does seem missing (possibly because I have not looked hard enough) is the ability to lock the phone remotely by sending a text.

Anyway, enough for now and I will post some more in a few days when I have had more time to use the phone.

Quote from Edith Wharton

"Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before."

View article...

Senna and the death of F1

This weeks Top Gear was a cracker.

The film celebrating Senna (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mj59) really brought it home that F1 has slowly been drowning under a sea of technology. (oh and, had Senna lived, that would have been one of the greatest F1 years ever!).

Don't get me wrong. I love technology and I think that for mere mortals it can be the difference between a nice fast drive in the country and a hospital ward. But there is nothing finer than watching a skilled driver tame an F1 car and drive on the ragged edge. Some of the shots of Senna controlling 1200 BHP as the car squirms it's way down the road are amazing. Even Mr Hamiliton (who is no mean driver himself) admitted that it was a totally different driving experience.

I know that F1 is a test bed for new car technology. But to survive as a spectator sport it needs to bring some of the "fun" back. Michael Schumachar, great driver that he is, is just boring to watch. Get him in a good car and he just wins, he is a machine. Well I have a Playstation if I want to watch a machine drive. All the races I have watched recently are just to clinical. The computer is controlling big bits of the car and preventing all the shimmies and squirms. Until the point the driver cocks up or something breaks, in which case it crashes. Where's the skill? (no I am not saying they are not skilled drivers, anyone that can can control a car at those speeds is clearly a skilled driver, and has nerves of steel) I want to see cars scrapping and duelling for position. Wheel to wheel combat. I want the guy at the front to have to fight for it and then defend it all the way to the line.

Currently, who ever has the best technology, gets the best grid position and wins. BOOORRRIINNNGGG!!!

How about randomising the grid? Just pull starting positions out of a hat? or reverse the grid so that the winner of the last race starts at the back? or have the drivers pull a car number out of a hat? (that would make the constructors and drivers championships really mean something!) or simply have a rota so that every driver drives every car (over the course of the year) not sure if the numbers work on that one, but you get the idea.

Get rid of the driver aids! I can see the argument for ABS but surly this level of driver can cope without traction control and launch control? I can see the point of flappy paddle gear box's but lets make them dumb. Press the button and the gear changes, do it at the wrong speed and the gearbox explodes!

Let's make the drives DRIVE not just be passengers is a glorified video game. Actually. We could take the drivers out of the car, make them drive by remote control and then take all the restrictions away so the cars can go as fast as technology (dam!) can make them go.... Hmmmm... Now I am being silly.... Or am I?

It's been said before... The 80's were a great decade. Let's wind F1 back a bit.

Weight Loss Using The Dog Food DIET

I was buying 2 large bags of Purina dog chow at Wal-Mart for my dogs, Winston, Chief, Gus, and Maximus. I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

 

Surprised by the question, I asked her: 
"What do you think I have? A small elephant?

Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her: "NO, I didn't have a dog. I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital last time I was on it. However, On the bright side though, I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms.

"I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again."

(I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me.

 

I told her: 
"No. I had stopped in the middle of the parking lot to lick my butt and a car hit me."

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard!

WAL-MART won't let me shop in that store anymore.

Linux

Well it had to happen.

I have just spent the evening messing with a virtual Ubuntu 10.01. And I must say I quite like it.

Being as it is on a VM none of the visual effects (if there are any) work, but other than that it was easy enough to install and get working. Actually all I did was install it and it started working by itself. I did manage to break the network connection for a short while, but that was down to it being on a VM and it did not take long to fix.

Most of the pre-installed apps are ok, but the messaging tools are great. Being able to login to all my assorted messaging apps in one place is really handy.

Considering that it is running on a desktop PC that is also running a virtual XP and only has 512Mb allocated to it the performance is great.

I would like to give it a more extensive trial, but am not quite brave enough to make it my main platform yet. This is because by laptop is critical to my work and I am not au faix enough with Ubuntu to be 100% confident that I can get it to do everything I need in double quick time. This laptop is ageing and as soon as I can replace it I think I will make it 100% Ubuntu and run it in parallel to what ever new machine I get.

As I have said before, the platform is far less important that the tools (apps) that I need to use. Maybe I will be able to find free, Linux based, alternatives to all the tools I use. Alas there is no MS Office for Linux (Open office is just not compatible enough) <flame suit on>, Maybe XP (Win 7) in a VM ;)

Just My 2C worth.

Homebase Finally Respond

Well, Well, Well….

 

Finally got a response from Homebase.

 

They have basically totally failed to respond to any of my questions and comments, but have apologised for “inconveniencing” me.

 

They have also given me £30 worth of Homebase vouchers.  That does not really cover the time I have wasted on this or address any of my issues, but I really don’t want to waste any more time on them.

 

A result of sorts….

Homebase Enquiries

Just spoken to Paul at Homebase.
He has promised to get back to me within 24 hours.

We will see....

Re: Your Appalling Service

The Arrogance of this firm is outstanding! The cannot even send me an email that is written in decent English!

Lets's not forget the fact that that they refuse to address my issue!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Homebase Enquiries <info@homebase.co.uk>
Date: 18 May 2010 15:17
Subject: re: Re: Your Appalling Service


Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Your Appalling Service parking fines.

I am sorry for the delay in responding to your e-mail, whilst we do aim to ensure that all e-mails are answered within 48 hours, due to the high number we receive this
may not always be possible.

Whilst we never like to hear that anyone less than satisfied with the service they receive we do appreciate knows where we need to make improvements.

I am sorry you received a parking fine while shopping in a Homebase Store, as you do not state which store, could I suggest you take your receipt and parking fine into this store and speak to the manager who will try and assist you.

Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at info@homebase.co.uk or call us on 0845 077 8888.

Regards,


Carol Grace
Homebase E-Commerce Customer Service Team.

The Downing Street Siege

The Downing Street Siege ended peacefully this week when a fifty nine year old man (of no fixed address) was taken into custody to answer charges of impersonating a British Prime Minister, electoral fraud, and causing wilful damage to the economy. The accused reserved his plea, and was bound over to be on good behaviour until his next appearance.

The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher

Homebase

Still no response from Homebase…

The sound of silence is deafening.

Is that what they think of their customers?

Think I will have to investigate the head office number and pursue it there.

 

Re: Your Appalling Service

Sara,

On 12 May 2010 13:28, Homebase Enquiries <info@homebase.co.uk> wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the service you have received.

I am sorry you have been unsatisfied with the service you have received.

Please forward us your complaint so we can investigate further.

Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at info@homebase.co.uk or call us on 0845 077 8888.

Regards,


Sarah Gate
Homebase E-Commerce Customer Service Team.

For your reference the above reply is in reference to your earlier email

Much though I hate to repeat myself....

I am dissatisfied with the following....

1. Wasting my time having to make several phone calls and send several emails just because we wanted some of your products and had the temerity to spend more than an arbitrary amount of time in your car park.
2. Receiving a demand for £95 that is made up to look like an official PCN. I am now led to believe that these documents are not legally valid and I should have just binned it! That is just extortion.
3. The fact that having made 3 phone calls to 3 different members of your staff, I was told 3 different things!
4. The fact that having made a formal complaint to you I receive no formal responce.
5. Repeating myself because you do not keep track of cutomer interactions.

Need I carry on?

Any Decent Company would have a manager contact me in order to resolve my issues.

Clearly Homebase does not care about it's clients!

Clear?

By the way http://cosmap.blogspot.com/

The "Conversation" Continues..

From: Me
Sent: 12 May 2010 13:17
To: 'Samantha Stevens'

Yes, I read that in your 1^st message.

During the many conversations I have had with your company I have raised a number of specific complaints. These should be on the record.

I am formally requesting a response from Homebase to my questions.

And one more question,

You Say “However, we do also appreciate that there may be occasions when customers are shopping in our store longer than 90 minutes. Under these circumstances, the store does have the discretion to advise the car parking agent to ensure no penalty is issued.”

Your store staff do not seem to know that as they were adamant that there was nothing that they could do, when I called the store. What do you intend to do to ensure that your staff have the correct training on such matters.

I cannot believe that I am the only person to suffer from this situation that is nothing more than extortion.

By the way… http://cosmap.blogspot.com

Parking in Homebase

This appears to be Homebases way of saying “Go away and annoy someone else!”

They really value their customers….

From: Samantha Stevens [mailto:Samantha.Stevens@homebase.co.uk]
Sent: 12 May 2010 13:05

A waiver letter was sent by G24 on the 6^th May.

If you haven’t received this I can arrange another copy.

Regards
Samantha Stevens

Retail Operations

My Reply to them

Actually it does!

 

1. I would have though that you would have been pleased that people were spending time in your store, not penalising them and inconveniencing them!  I have had to make several calls to clear up this mistake on your part.

2. You had better train your staff in store better.  I spoke to them and was told that there was nothing they could do.  Either they did not know what to do or were too lazy to do it!

I am totally lost for words by the poor level of service Homebase provide.

 

Homebase Finally Reply

On 11 May 2010 17:31, Samantha Stevens <Samantha.Stevens@homebase.co.uk> wrote:

 

Thank you for your e-mail of 6th May and apologies that you have not previously received a response.

Car parking regulations have been installed at a number of our sites as a measure to ensure our customers have access to our store at all times. We would not wish to think this deters any of our loyal customers from shopping with us.  Due consideration was made prior to this measure being taken and it was felt that 90 minutes would be adequate parking time.   However, we do also appreciate that there may be occasions when customers are shopping in our store longer than 90 minutes.  Under these circumstances, the store does have the discretion to advise the car parking agent to ensure no penalty is issued.

With regards to your own circumstances, having since consulted with G24 they have confirmed that you have been in contact with them directly and that your PCN has now been waivered. Therefore I trust this matter has now been resolved to your satisfaction.

I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you and I trust this incident does not deter you from shopping at Homebase in the future.

Regards

Samantha Stevens

Retail Operations

 

Your Appalling Service

FYI – The world is now aware of what you think of your customers!

Update on Homebase's rubbish Customer Service http://bit.ly/4e3EI

Update on Homebase's rubbish Customer Service

Can I request a reply!!!!!!

I have made a formal complaint to customer services!!!!

Update on Homebase

Well they have caved.

We received a letter to day saying that they have cancelled the charge.

Funny thing is, BBC TV’s Watchdog program says that the best thing to do with that sort of ticket is bin it!!  So it is gracious of them to cancel it NOT!!!

I shall remember this and use a match next time.

What a shower!  Can you believe that a company fines it’s customers for daring to go in and buy things.

We shall not be returning to Homebase.  Hopefully other customers who get fined will do the same and they may wake up to the fact that this is a bad policy.

By the way.  Even though I made a formal complaint to them they have not deemed to reply.  What high quality customer service…

Homebase Fines it’s Customers!

It is with great disgust and annoyance I find myself having to write this.

On the 27^th of April we went to the Kidbrooke Homebase store and spent some money. I think you will agree that in these times of rescission that is a good thing for them.

We left with our purchases and thought no more about it.

You can imagine my surprise when, today, I received a £95 charge for having the nerve to use their car park!

I have called their help desk (3 times) and been given 3 different stories. I have called the store, on the basis of one of these stories and been told something else. Now Becky tells me to email hdcc@argos.co.uk and let them know. That I have done and have sent copies of all relevant docs (fine, receipt). Oh and apparently I have to have a valid excuse for using the car park!!! How about SHOPPING IN HOMEBASE!!!!

Basically the story is that the car parks are not theirs and so bad luck!

What a joke.

I will keep you posted.

Home Automation and AV Distribution

For the past 3 years I have been arguing with AV equipment vendors about their chosen method of AV distribution (extremely expensive cables).  Their argument has always been “Users want the best quality and CAT5e can’t deliver it!”.

My thinking has been good enough is good enough.  In the front room I want the best quality on my huge TV.  In the bedroom, other rooms, I only have small TV’s and I am, generally, not settling down to watch a film or some such.  In these other rooms I am doing other things and the TV is background (such as sleeping).  If I am watching YouTube or standard television the quality, as long as it is reasonable, is not paramount.

I want to be able to use my laptop to view, or pretty much any device I have to hand that is capable of displaying video.  I also want to be able to control the devices in my house using the same device.  Why do I have to pay a huge amount of money for touch pads that have less functionality than my laptop.  I am not saying that these devices do not have their place, just that I want the option.

My TV (all of them) should be capable of connecting to my LAN, as should other devices (but one step at a time), all using standard IP protocols.  Slowly some OEM’s have been listening and there are now TV’s with CAT5 sockets and wireless adaptors built in.  I can now browse to my media server and play a film!!!  I even have a cheap device (£100) that allows my non-IP enabled TV to do the same!  I can’t control it, but we are heading in the right direction.

Imagine my surprise to see in the April edition of HCD (Home Cinema Digest) an article entitled “The IP Crowd”.  I am shocked to see that they are starting to swing to my way of thinking.  There is money to be made integrating and future proofing a house.  Software (as in control systems) is important, the current slew of software controls for iPad etc are basic and non integrated, but early days.  I do detect some resistance from the existing cable based installers, but hay ho.  They will learn and bend to my will!!!

I am a very happy person today.

Anyone for Tea?

27/03/2010
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

The boys have a party in the garden.

Park Right!

Customer Satisfaction
------------------------------------

Dear Tide:

I'm writing to say what an excellent product you have! I've used it all through my married life, as my Mom always told me it was the best. Now that I am in my fifties, I find it even better! In fact, about a month ago, I spilled some red wine on my new white blouse. My inconsiderate and uncaring husband started to berate me about how clumsy I was, and generally started becoming a pain in the neck.

One thing led to another and somehow I ended up with a lot of his blood on my white blouse. I tried to get the stain out using a bargain detergent, but it just wouldn't come out. After a quick trip to the supermarket, I purchased a bottle of liquid Tide with bleach alternative, and to my surprise and satisfaction, all of the stains came out! In fact, the stains came out so well the Detectives who came by yesterday told me that the DNA tests on my blouse were negative and then my attorney called and said that I would no longer be considered a suspect in the disappearance of my husband. What a relief!

Going through menopause is bad enough without being a murder suspect!

I thank you, once again, for having such a great product. Well, gotta go. I have to write a letter to the Hefty bag people.

Scuba Humor

(Turn the sound off if you speak German!)

I can't make Mass this week

Perils of a Catholic Upbringing

As I walked down the busy sidewalk, knowing I was late for Mass, my eye fell upon one of those unfortunate, homeless vagabonds that are found in every city these days.

Some people turned to stare. Others quickly looked away as if the sight would somehow contaminate them.

Recalling my old pastor, who always admonished me to 'care for the sick, feed the hungry and clothe the naked,' I was moved by some powerful inner urge to reach out to this unfortunate person. Wearing what can only be described as rags, carrying every worldly possession in two plastic bags, my heart was touched by this person's condition.

Yes, where some people saw only rags, I saw a true, hidden beauty.
A small voice inside my head called out, 'Reach out, reach out and touch this person!'

So I did.......

I won't be at Mass this week.

Oldy But Goody!!

This is great fun but a real time waster as its hard to give up !!!!!!!

This is cool! Try not to spend all day at this... Hint: watch the wind sock.. err undies... for wind speed and direction! Click here: PARACHUTE JUMP

Standards of Service

So Katie has done me a favour!  Well thanks, Really I would have preferred a router in double quick time, or quick time.  Not 2 DAYS time...

 

In case you are interested, we qualify for £25 for being down for all that time.

 

I am bowled over.  NOT!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Venus Katie <Katie.Venus@thus.net>
Date: 2009/12/4
Subject: Standards of Service

Dear Mr. Papouis,

Further to our conversation today, please find below the link to the
Standards of Service for Demon Business ADSL, and the request form for
Service Credits:

http://www.demon.net/helpdesk/producthelp/broadband_sos/

I have requested the credit on this occasion and you will receive an
email once it has been added to the account.

A wireless router has been ordered and will be dispatched on Monday, due
for delivery on Tuesday. Once this has been received we will issue a
returns bag for the wired router so that this can be sent back.

I hope this information is of some assistance however please do not
hesitate to contact me should you require any further details.

Kind Regards

--
Katie Venus
Customer Relations Advisor
THUS, a Cable&Wireless business
Tel: 0845 270 0052
Fax: 0870 051 8740

It Has Arrived!!

Well the router arrived!  At just before 3pm  Almost exactly 2 days!!! since I requested it.

Guess what??  Yup.  They sent the wrong one!  Our previous router was wireless, this one isn’t! Good thing that we can survive without the wireless functionality (for the time being).

All excited (as I really don’t like lawyers shouting at me) I plugged it in and connected it up.  Guess what???  It did not work!

I checked that the correct password was entered, and finally gave up and called the Help Desk (Glutton for punishment that I am).  10 mins of waiting on the phone and a human answered.  Would you believe it the connection sprang into live that very second.

Great!

The chap on the phone said he would ask the supplier if they will send us another correct one.  He did not sound to hopeful.  If they do I suspect that they will want to swap the one we now have, on the spot.  That is a non starter, unless the office is empty.

I tried to call Katy to tell her.  But she has gone till 4:00pm.  Her colleague promised that she will call me.

So now we need to talk about compensation.

There is the 48 hours of down time.  There is the cost of my time chasing Demon for what should have been, at worst, a next day delivery (with no chasing).  There is the time the lawyers have wasted having to send long emails on Blackberry (actually I suspect some of them slunk off to a local internet Cafe, but even that costs).

I am now going to send a text to Stuart to let him know the current status.

Oh and by the way, the left hand needs to talk to the right.  I am now informed that the delivery cut-off time is 2pm.  Had they told us that 2 days ago I would have gone out and purchased a router and not gone through all this pain.  Shame that this information has not percolated round Demon.  Katy tells me that she did know this.  Nice of her to tell me.  Or is this all part of the Demon Fantasy land?

Katy has just called.  Apparently we can request “Service Credits” to compensate us for loss of service.  Apparently I have to go on their website and fill in some forms.  Bit of a cheek really, considering how much time they have wasted.  I asked her to do it.  Let’s see shall we.

All in all, this has to be the worst service I have received from a company, that I did like a lot, for a long time.  I used to recommend Demon to my clients, but I shall have to give this some thought.  Can I in all honesty recommend them?

Clearly Demon do not give a hoot about their clients.

Watch this space…..

The Boss Sends me a Text

Stuart Smyth has just sent me a text, telling me that the router should be here by 3pm.  And apologising.

I appreciate the gesture, but am not sure that it will placate the ravening hordes that have not been on the net for 2 days.

Before you ask, I am posting this from email on my phone.

The Clock Ticks…

How long does it take to get from Birmingham to London?

I always thought you could mask this journey in under 3 hours (on a motorbike so that traffic is not really an issue).

Well Demon Internet have taken 2 days to NOT get a router delivered from their Birmingham based router provisioning department (external supplier).

The story so far…

On Wednesday at approximately 2:00 I called Demon to tell them that our router had failed. Foolishly I called the standard fault line 0845 2720040. After about 15 minutes of talking to a lady she still could not find us on the system and would not discuss our issue. I got fed up and tried calling the number I should have used in the 1st place. Yes I know, it was my mistake, but it was a simple fault (viz the router had died).

I called the correct number 0845 2720054 and, after a further 15 mins waiting, spoke a knowledgeable young man that correctly diagnose that the router was broken. I explained to him that this was urgent and that we would happily pay for a courier to get it here ASAP. He said that the “Cut-Off” time for deliveries was 3:00 and he should be able to get it in for next day delivery. He promised to call back and confirm, if there were any issues. As we did not hear I assumed all was OK.

Thursday. Morning. No delivery. Wait… 12:00 No delivery. Call Demon.

Apparently even though we had made the cut-off time we had only done so by 5 mins and so our order had not been processed. Surely a cut-off time means that that items received before will be processed and items received after will not. Perhaps they should rename it “Cut-Off time’ish”. We will process stuff received before, if we feel like it. Or perhaps they should move the cut-off time forward to 2:30.

We again offered to pay for a courier and were told it would cost £175 and may get here by 8:00pm! (5 hours from Birmingham??). We were advised that we could have it delivered by 9:00am for free. We agreed, assuming it would definitely be here.

Friday. Morning. No delivery. 10:00 Start to chase.

1st Steven Costello (allegedly a manager – 01702 2446611) tells me that they had tried to deliver it this morning, but they could not find us. We are in the Lloyds Building in the centre of the City of London. It is quite a distinctive building and hard to miss (http://www.lloyds.com/About_Us/The_Lloyds_building/Pictures_of_the_building-exterior/)

He says he will chase it. 11:00 I get a call from Minesh. He is from the provisioning department. I tell him that I want it delivered by 12:00. He cannot do that so I request that one be put on a bike in Birmingham, he can’t do that either. I ask to speak to his boss (Sally Barton). She is not available so I said that I wanted the issue escalating. Apparently that is to Anastasia Carter. But she is not available so I get Katy Venus (0845 2700052).

This is like talking to a brick wall. She ignores the fact that it should have been here at 9:00 and discovers that the courier has apparently gone AWOL (http://www.hdnl.co.uk). If that is the case then how do they know that he had tried to deliver it and couldn’t?

I asked for the name of the Senior person at Demon. Apparently it is Stuart Smyth (0141 567 1234). I call and leave 2 messages.

Katy is chasing. I make repeat requests for the router to be put on a bike. All refused. She starts to quote SLA’s (Service Level Agreements) and I point out that regardless of what the SLA says 2 DAYS! is too long for a company to be down and to get a parcel from Birmingham. Silence.

1:00pm I get a call back from Stuart, he says he will look into it. I then get a call and a text from Katy telling me that the couriers are in the area and may get it here by 3:00pm. I asked “if they are in the area, can I go and meet him and collect the router?” apparently not. I asked about plan “B”. What do you mean? I mean what are you going to do if it is not here by 3?? Nothing. There is no plan B.

She gives me a tracking number and a website for HDNL. She does not seem to see the irony in this (i.e. How can I check the website when out router is dead!!).

A quick visit to an internet cafe and the lies start to appear…

03/12/2009 20:49:00 DROITWICH Sorted at our hub
04/12/2009 05:53:00 NEW CROSS DEPOT Received into depot
04/12/2009 09:24:00 NEW CROSS VAN Loaded on to the drivers van

If it only got put on the van at 9:24 this morning how could they have failed to deliver it BEFORE 9:00?

Draw your own conclusions.

OK, so it’s now 1:20pm… Lets see what happens shall we. I will not be holding my breath.

Watch this space…

Her Diary-- His Diary

Her Diary, His Diary
 
Her Diary

Tonight I thought he was acting weird.  We had made plans to meet at a bar to have a drink.  I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment.  Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk.  He agreed but he kept quiet and seemed so absent-minded.
I asked him what was wrong. He said nothing was wrong.  I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset.  He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry.  On the way home I told him that I loved him and he simply smiled and kept driving.  I can't explain his behavior.  I don't know why he didn't say 'I love you too.'
 
When we got home I felt as if I had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore.  He just sat there and watched TV.  He seemed so distant and aloof.
Finally, I decided to go to bed.  About 10 minutes later he came to bed, and to my surprise he responded to my caress and we made love, but I still felt that he was distracted and his thoughts were somewhere else.  He fell asleep - I cried.  I don't know what to do.  I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else.  My life is a disaster.

His Diary

I shot the worst round of golf in my life today, but at least I got laid.

Nokia Support

Let me start by saying that I am a long term Nokia fan.  I am also a big fan of Symbian (having owned many a Psion).   So you can imagine how pleased I was when I heard that the N97 would not only be Symbian, but would also be a new version.

You can also imaging how disappointed I am with the reality.

I shall not list the problems I have had with the N97 as many other people have had the same and you can find plenty of other write ups about it.  Basically I still like the phone and it does mainly do what I want (love having a “real” keyboard”).  I can live with some of the foibles, although the inability to answer some calls is getting a bit annoying.

The thing that has really started to wind me up is the corruption that is occurring in the music database (or more specifically the podcast database).

Basically what is happening is that the database is getting out of sync with reality and so some podcasts are getting “stuck”.  What this means is that I cannot play them, and I cannot delete them.  I cannot even re-download them, in the hope of clearing the blockage.  The files themselves are gone, but the music player program shows them as still present, and they are building up.

Now, as you may know, I am an IT person and have a good idea how this stuff works.  I have given this some thought and have come to the conclusion that the application must hold it’s own database of files that it builds from the real files on the disk.  So surely the cure must be to remove the corrupt file, rebuild the database.  Easy.

Now the fun begins.  I called Nokia support to see if they can give me some guidance. The 1st couple of people I spoke to seemed quite clueless, but then I managed to get through to Alex.  He seems quite knowledgeable, but alas his knowledge does have limitations.

The only cure he could give me is to reset the whole phone, back to factory default.  This does seem to be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut!

Nobody at Nokia UK seems to know how this phone works.  All they seem to know is how to reset it!

I have requested that the call be escalated, but he is not sure that he can do that.  I have been promised calls from a manager twice, but none has called.  I have asked if I can upgrade to the new 20 firmware, but apparently this has not been authorised by T-Mobile.

That is the end.  Bog off and bother someone else.

Nokia.  Here is some free advice…

Your flagship phone has to WORK AS ADVERTISED
Resetting back to default is NOT A REPAIR

If you want to compete with the likes of the iPhone You need to up your game and start to provide some service.  You are transitioning from a phone company to something else.  The Smart Phone is not just a phone it is a computer that forms the center of my data life.  My diary is there, my phone book is there (surprise surprise), my email is there and, as I find more useful apps, it is a very important tool in my work life.  It is not just a phone.

If I know that every time I have a minor bump in the road I will have to reset the pesky thing, I simply will move to a more reliable platform.

Oh, and one last thing.  Pretend that you care when a customer comes to you wanting to work through an issue!

del.icio.us Tags: Nokia,Phone,Issues

The Power Of A Great Story

This is great

 

click here

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here are a few pics from the past

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

More Blasts from the past

More Blasts from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here's some more pics from the wonder years.

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here's some more pics from the wonder years.

Here are a few pics from the past

Here are a few pics from the past
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Here's some more pics from the wonder years.

Scottys Wedding

Scotty Senna

Race of Champions

Race of Champions
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Race of Champions

Race of Champions
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Race of Champions

Race of Champions
Originally uploaded by CosmaP

Can your pecker touch your ass?

A five year old boy and his grandpa are sitting on the front porch together, when gramps pulls a beer out of his cooler

The little boy asks: 'Can I have a beer Grandpa?'

Grandpa replies: 'Can your pecker touch your ass?'
The little boy answered : 'No Grandpa. It's just a little pecker'.

Gramps says: 'Well then, you're not man enough to have a beer'.

A little later Grandpa lights up a cigar.
The little boy asks: 'Can I have a cigar Grandpa?'

Once again, Grandpa asks: 'Can your pecker touch your ass?'
Once again the little boy replies, 'No, it's too little'.

Gramps replies, 'Then you're not man enough to have a cigar'.

A little later the little boy comes out of the house with milk and some cookies.

Grandpa asks, 'Hey there young feller, can I have a cookie?'

The boy asks, 'Can your pecker touch your ass?'

Gramps replies , 'Hell yes, my pecker can touch my ass'.

The little boy replies, 'Then go fuck yourself'. Grandma made these for me'.

http://www.freejokesrus.com

Free Jokes R Us

Free Jokes R Us

Shared via AddThis

Though for the day

Always be yourself because the people that
matter don't mind, and the ones who mind, don't
matter.

The special dish

A gentleman goes to Spain to watch the famous bullfights... He watched in awe and sheer thrill as the faena ended and the Matador killed the bull...
Post the fight he walked into a nearby Spanish restaurant for his lunch.. He noticed there was a Special Dish of the day, also the most expensive on the menu... He ordered the same and was served a delicious meal of two large meatballs on spaghetti with a delightful sauce... He enjoyed the meal, passed on his compliments to the Chef and went back to his hotel...
The next day, due to a packed schedule he missed the bullfight, but nevertheless makes it to the restaurant for lunch... He orders for the Special Dish of the day... And this time is served a meal with two very small meatballs on spaghetti with a delightful sauce... He summoned the head waiter and complained about the size of the meatballs in the meal...
The headwaiter listened to his complaint in absolute silence, and then said, " Si Senor, but you see, the Bull... he does not always lose"

New sites go live!

So after dithering for ages I bit the bullet and had my two main sites rebuilt.  I think that they have both come out really nicely.

http://www.cosmapapouis.com showcases my professional skills and the services I offer.  I think it has a great clean look and is modern, without being “in your face”.

http://www.freejokesrus.com makes it really easy for me to add new material and gives users the chance to add stuff as well.   I hope to add more features over time.  Currently the only comment mechanism is to email me (the owner) but I hope to add a comment system soon.

Thanks to Colin Jarvis of Jarvis Web and Graphic Solutions for all his work on this.

If you would like us to take a look at your web site or wish to have a web presence drop me a line and we will be glad to assist you.

del.icio.us Tags: Business-Webdev