Hong's venting thread

[RangerWickett]

Our apartment complex has not done anything to fix our oven, even though we reported it not working four months ago. The only time a guy came by was when he was at the wrong address, thought we had a backed-up toilet, and I asked him to take a look at the oven while he was around. He had no idea what was wrong, and suggested we file a report for it. So we did.

That was in October.

 

[Eremite]

Hong,

As a fellow Austrian I am wondering why you were expecting anything less from Telstra?

 

[NiTessine]

Hohoo... I've been offline since late November, thanks to Elisa Internet and their exemplary customer service. When the connection first failed, I called the helpdesk, they said they'd look into it, nothing happened for two weeks. Every time I've tried to call again the lines have been full. Apparently, I'm not the only one with something to complain about. To make it even stupider, I had the same problem in mid-November, when I had to be offline for two weeks... In the end, it turned out my connection was disrupted because they were doing some cable work. They knew it'd happen, just didn't bother informing paying customers.

 

[Warrior Poet]

He hands me a bunch of cable and tells me to call him back once I have it installed . . . So we punch through to the space behind the computer room and go through the wall. Victory!

This is another in a long series of skills I'd like to learn and just incorporate into my life as a way of avoiding so many troubles associated with this kind of thing: basic auto repair (I know, I know, there's too many computers in 'em now), basic electrical and telecom wiring, basic plumbing, furniture making, basic HVAC maintenance, et al.

I've had too many experiences where, after wasting countless valuable days waiting for someone to install/fix/remove/replace/retrofit/upgrade/jury rig some component or service, I found myself thinking how much time and effort (and in many cases, cost) I'd save if I'd done it myself.

Of course, the telecom companies still have to activate the service on their end . . .

Ah, well.

Good luck, Hong. I'll light a few candles at Our Benevolent Lady of the Immaculate Connection in hopes of your successful telecom upgrade.

Warrior Poet

 

[Tetsubo]

Our apartment complex has not done anything to fix our oven, even though we reported it not working four months ago. The only time a guy came by was when he was at the wrong address, thought we had a backed-up toilet, and I asked him to take a look at the oven while he was around. He had no idea what was wrong, and suggested we file a report for it. So we did.

That was in October.

At which point I start deducing money from my rent check. Don't fix my stove, don't get all the money. Money talks to landlords...

 

[Jesus_marley]

Or you could simply retain copies of each complaint that you have lodged, buy a new stove with the rent money, and when it comes time for rent, give the landlord a copy of the receipt. Smile and thank him kindly for the replacement.

 

[arwink]

Dude, I feel your pain. Telstra's customer service is just this side of them of coming around to your house and spitting in your face.

My first attempt to get cable internet installed involved being told a date, a time, a day of work and no-one showing up.

When I rang to complain, they told me a second date, time, etc and promptly ticked the box that said I no longer wanted a bigpond account.

When I rang to complain again, they got it right. About eight weeks after my first phonecall. After the various promotional offers that actually convinced me to make the move to cable had ended.

Then, six months later, I'm moving house...

 

[hong]

To be fair to Telstra, after I retrieved the phone number (so that I actually exist) and made a second complaint, the techs turned up later that same day; and it looks like ADSL won't be a problem. Although the fact that I mentioned switching to Unwired for net access might have something to do with it.

But now I find that Telstra's spam filter has decided to start filtering genuine emails as well. Okay, I can take a hint.

Anyone have recommendations for a good ADSL ISP in the Sydney area? So far I've looked at Pacific Internet, Optus (pricey unless you have other stuff with them as well), iiNet and OzEmail. I might also go with Unwired, but they haven't been around that long, and cost more than ADSL.

 

[GreyShadow]

I'm with iiNet. I haven't had any problems with them. I have mine bundled with iPhone to drop the price $10.

 

[diaglo]

To be fair to Telstra, after I retrieved the phone number (so that I actually exist) and made a second complaint, the techs turned up later that same day; and it looks like ADSL won't be a problem. Although the fact that I mentioned switching to Unwired for net access might have something to do with it.

But now I find that Telstra's spam filter has decided to start filtering genuine emails as well. Okay, I can take a hint.

Anyone have recommendations for a good ADSL ISP in the Sydney area? So far I've looked at Pacific Internet, Optus (pricey unless you have other stuff with them as well), iiNet and OzEmail. I might also go with Unwired, but they haven't been around that long, and cost more than ADSL.

move to Hotlanta. we have plenty of jobs for Austrians with a Piled higher and Deeper in stats.