I always thought that modern technology was supposed to simplify life. I have had two incidents in the past five days which have been far from simple to resolve.
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The first one, thankfully now resolved, relates to an upgrade on Sky TV where I decided to go for the 'Sky Q' set-up which, after doing the upgrade order online, I received an email advising that they needed to clarify some details before they could proceed with the order. I had also paid my 'in advance' fee which had also gone through the the VISA Verification system and had the confirmation order document 'on-screen' with the install date of 3rd December which I had chosen. Thankfully I had saved all this to the computer as a PDF file.
I telephoned the number given in the email and was passed from person to person as nobody seemed to be able to help - they said they were technical, not sales, but it was the number they had given. I was on that call for over 30 minutes with nothing to show at the end. I then left it for a few hours and phoned back later that day - Saturday evening - and finally spoke to a man who informed me that they had some problems and the order didn't appear to be on the system, but that he would take the order again on the phone. I also had to make the payment again and he assured me it would only be taken from my account once. I had to give him three dates that would suit me for installation so I gave him the date I had used online - 3rd, plus the 10th and 12th of December and he advised me that I would be advised of the confirmed date. I would also be able to track the order on my Sky account.
On Sunday morning I had a look online to see that the installation date was given as Friday 13th January 2017 (FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!). Naturally I wasn't very happy about this considering the date on the original order was the 3rd December. I then had several phone conversations with them over the next 48 hours or so (most of it - probably totaling over an hour - spent waiting to get through to somebody). After one of the calls I was promised a phone-back the next day (Monday) at a given time by a woman I spoke to and she did keep that promise. However, she had nothing of any significance to tell me other that it was being looked into and advised she would call me again this Friday when she was next in.
Then about 10-minutes after that call I received another email (which I only saw about an hour or so later) with almost identical wording as the very first one asking me to call them, on that same number. I made the call and after waiting to be connected for about 20 to 30 minutes I spoke to another woman to whom I had to explain everything again. When she checked she told me the order had been updated and installation had been brought forward to the 10th December. Naturally I was pleased to hear that and when I checked the tracking online that had also been updated accordingly. However, it was interesting to note that the original order number that the online order quoted which I had saved at the outset, was still the same one that appeared in the last email received so it MUST have gone on their system, despite what the person who took my order again over the phone on Saturday evening told me.
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The second is to do with my laptop which is nearing the end of it's initial warranty period. The manufacturer (Toshiba) offers an extended warranty for a further two or three years at a very reasonable rate which can be purchased any time during the initial warranty period. However, when I went online and checked the Toshiba website you have to purchase this from one of numerous places throughout the UK, not directly from Toshiba. The nearest place to Lowestoft listed is in Ipswich so yesterday I went onto their website and could see no place to make such a purchase on the website so sent them an email. I received a reply from a man about an hour later asking if I could advise of the laptop's serial number he would try to help me. I replied immediately. I heard nothing more until tonight when I received an email from the Helpdesk Supervisor which I have copied here but have removed the company name where used:
Thank you for your enquiry. If you have purchased your laptop from ***** please let me know the serial number and the university you belong to so that I can help you. If you have not purchased this from ***** and you are not a student or a member of university staff then I am sorry but would have to direct you to Toshiba for assistance.
Regards
Considering I gave them the serial number in my reply to the first email, it would seem that she was not aware of this, otherwise why did she request it again? Of course I don't fit into any of the criteria she stated in her email so I doubt they will offer me an opportunity to purchase the extension from them, although I have replied to her. If so, then as far as I am concerned they shouldn't be listed as a source by Toshiba. I could end up making contact with any number of the places listed by Toshiba with similar outcomes. I think I will be phoning Toshiba tomorrow about this as their is no other contact method listed on their website.
What a lot of messing about for two things that should have been straightforward.