scott's stuff

Goodbye Luna

We lost another rabbit to the horrid Encephalitozoon cuniculi virus on Saturday.

Luna, our littlest baby bun, was put to sleep on the 13th of September at around 12:30 in an emergancy vets appointment. We knew she was going, as the week before she showed all the classic symptoms - massive weight loss, unbalance, and bladder weakness. On Friday evening, we decided we would have to book an appointment for the vets on Monday for her to be put to sleep.

However, on Saturday morning, she was twice as worse and had lost almost all her weight. When I picked her up, she was literally a skeleton draped in fur - exactly how Joey was when he left us. And there was no way either Maxi or myself would want Luna to die in our arms. Doing that with Joey was so painful for everyone.

I phoned the vet, and they were good enough to see us right away. We gave her a cuddle, and took her to the vets. We explained that we knew it was her time, and the vet agreed. She was taken from us at 12:30.

We’re now totally bunnyless. And I seriously doubt we’ll ever have any more. Sure, they’re lovely pets, but they have caused so much heartbreak, stress, worry and financial strain, it barely seems worthwhile.

We’ll always remember our time with all our bunnies, and we’ll always look back with fond memories mixed with very sad memories. But, times do move on.

Rest well Amile, Charlie, Earl, Sun, Joey and Luna. And good luck to Macy and Fae in their new homes. We’ll always remember you all.

Tiscrapli

After moving in to our new home, one of the first things we needed to do was get a phonline and broadband. We phoned BT for the phoneline first of all, and found out we needed to pay a £150 connection fee – a fee we couldn’t really afford.

After shopping around, Tiscali’s phoneline, broadband and TV package for £19.99 a month was ideal.

I signed up over the phone on the 11th of August. I was told by the guy I would be connected and online in five days – something I was surprised at, and asked him to repeat and clarify that I would have a phoneline and broadband in five days time. He said yes. I said “where do I sign”.

On the 18th of August – seven days after signing up – I had received no communication from Tiscali, so I phoned them. They said an engineer was coming to install the phone line, and was booked for the 21st. The engineer needed access to my home, but this was the first I had heard an engineer coming to visit. I wasn’t given a time, or even a morning/afternoon, of when the engineer will show up, and was told it would either have to be the 21st or 2 weeks later because the engineer only visits my area once a fortnight. Considering that I live in the center of Cheltenham, I find that hard to believe.

I arranged a day off work at short notice, and the engineer did indeed turn up at around 9am and install the line. I was now on the phone system!

I called Tiscali and informed them I now had a phoneline and gave them the number. They said they can’t do anything, because the system will pick it up automatically and install broadband in around three to four days.

Two days later, on the 23rd of August, I got an automated email telling me my broadband activation date is on the 7th of September – around two weeks from what I had expected.

I phoned them again and asked for clarification, and found out the activation date was actually the 1st of September, and that the automated email was wrong. This was 8 days after the phoneline became active.

The 1st came and no broadband. I phoned again, and was told the activation date is now the 2nd.

The 2nd came, and still no broadband. I was told it could become active any time during the day until midnight, and there was nothing that could be done until the the 3rd, when the activation date has passed. I asked when I would receive my broadband and TV pack through the post, and was told that I couldn’t actually receive TV in my area even though I was going to be paying for it. I asked for it to be removed from my account, and for an explanation of why I was told I could get it when I first ordered. The agent told me the sales guys usually put it on “just in case”. Nice of them to let me know I couldn’t get it!

The 3rd came, and still no broadband. I phoned up, and was told there is a fault on the line which was recorded on the 1st of September, and an engineer had been booked to visit the exchange on the 17th of September (in two weeks time), and depending on the nature of the fault, at least another week after that until broadband would be active.

I complained, rather strongly, about this. I was promised a callback from a supervisor, since no supervisors apparently work at Tiscali before 1pm.

I called them back at 3pm, to see why I hadn’t been called by a supervisor yet. They said the supervisor was busy and out of the office, but I would get a callback “soon”. I complained again very strongly, and was told an engineer would be send out tomorrow on the 4th.

On the 4th of September, I phoned first thing at 8am. I was told an engineer will be onsite to repair the exchange at some time during the day. I was told I would be called back once they know what is happening. Since I don’t believe them, I chased them every 2 hours during the day. Every time I phoned, I received a different answer.

One answer I received was that the fault wasn’t with the exchange, but with my account – the wrong name was being shown, which had been corrected today, and that would have held up my order. I was told it is now showing as active, and should connect in a few hours.

Two hours later, still no connection, so I phoned back. I was told the fault is at the exchange, and the previous agent had basically lied to me. There was still no update on the fault, and was told the engineer will visit the exchange in 48 hours, and will update their system within three days. Then, and only then, will they have any idea how much longer it could take to get broadband, but at the very best it would be two weeks – the 19th of September – five weeks after I first placed the order. And even that date was a guess – it could take even longer.

When I asked if they could chase the engineer in question for an update, I was told they don’t know who the engineer is, or even what company goes to repair the exchanges. Every question I asked was replied with “it’s still ongoing, we will phone you when we have news”. They basically told me nothing at all. I had no idea if the fault was with the line, the exchange, or their systems – I had been told all three in equal measures by different people.

One time I phoned, I was met with the greeting, “Oh it’s YOU, mister Freeman? Calling for your two hour update?”, followed by quick tapping on the keyboard, and a sarcastic “Sorry, no update yet!”. Considering it usually takes them a good two minutes to pull up my account, it’s obvious he was fobbing me off.

I asked to cancel the account. No way was I going to give my money to a company that doesn’t care about me.

I was put on hold, then transferred, then told by a different person my account had been cancelled. They didn’t confirm which parts of my account to cancel (the broadband or the phone), or even apologize and attempt to retain my custom.

It’s the 5th of September now, and I’ve just signed up for the Post Office phone & broadband package. Lets hope things go smoother with them.

Google Chrome

Just been using Google Chrome for a little while.  I like the minimal interface, and it does seem to render AJAX/JS pages quicker.  Best feature out of all though is the download manager.

It might be interesting to use as a secondary browser for the time being, just to see where they’re going with this.  I don’t think it’ll overtake Firefox as the primary browser just yet though.