6 Aug 2005: Bulldog II

Quick update for those following what we're sure will turn into a soap opera worthy of Channel 5.

Yesterday was the day we were promised someone would contact us (but how? Our phone doesn't accept incoming calls!) regarding both our non-working telephone line and our non-properly-working 8Mbps broadband connection. Naturally, there were no calls nor were there emails. So I called them again.

Phone dept first:
'Oh, sorry,' said the nice lady, 'someone should have contacted you within 48 hours of reporting the fault'.
'Well, they didn't.'
'OK, what I'll do is email the fault direct to the management and mark it as priority. Give me your mobile number and you'll get a call within 48 hours.'
'You mean they'll call me over the weekend?'
'Oh. No. 48 working-week hours. So probably Tuesday.'

That'll be almost a week without the phone. But maybe they'll call, who knows? And why was she emailing the management anyway? Surely an engineer would have been more useful.

Next up, the broadband helpdesk:
'Right sir, I've looked at the ticket that was opened and it says that your low connection speed was due to the initialisation of the line not being completed. They completed it this afternoon and closed the ticket. You should have full speed internet now.'
I checked, there and then. Even restarted the modem. 1Mbps every time.
'OK sir, in that case I'll open a new ticket for you, I'll just put you on hold for a second.'
Click. I was cut off.
I called back:
'Hello, I was just speaking to one of your colleagues and was cut off. Here's the situation...'
'OK sir, I'll see what has happened to that ticket he was about to open for you. I'll just put you on hold.'
Click. Cut off again.
I called back again:
'Hello, this is the third time I've called. Please don't cut me off again. Here's the situation...'
'Right sir, well I can see that a ticket has been re-opened for this. I'll just put you on - '
'No, you don't have to put me on hold. Just let me know what happens next.'
'Well, someone will be in touch in the next few days and will be in touch to sort out the problem.'
'OK, but they can't call us because our phone isn't working either. Can you take my mobile number and call me on that?'
'We've already got it I think.'
*Silence*
*Tapping of a keyboard*
*Out-of-tune humming*
'Right sir, can I take your mobile number?'

And that was it. Neither original fault fixed, both our original calls apparently ignored. And so the questions remain...

Will we ever be able to receive phone calls again?
Will our broadband speed ever get above 1Mbps?
Will we give up and go back to using carrier pigeons?

Tune in again next week for more exciting Adventures with Bulldog.