We've been waiting and waiting and waiting for our new, promised wireless router to turn up. And so far there has been no sign of it. I was quite patient until the 5 working days, which was the maximum amount of time it should have taken for it to turn up, had passed. Then I decided I was going to have to griddle my lions once again and ring Orange to find out where it was.
I really, really hate ringing Orange. It takes for ever. The people on the other end of the phone, although scrupulously polite and friendly, tend to treat you as though you're an idiot. You spend weeks and weeks on hold listening to horrible "music". I always need intravenous gin and a good lie down after a telephonic encounter with Orange. However, there was nothing for it. We need a new router and I can't see why I should pay over £80 for one when I have been told I can have a free one.
In the meantime, I was listening to a news item talking about how sending text messages has largely replaced actually talking to people on the phone. Makes perfect sense to me. If what you want to do is request or convey information, texting or emailing is much more efficient. You have a record of what has been said or agreed, and people can read the messages when it is convenient to them. I seriously prefer emailing to ringing on the phone if I have to deal with businesses or utilities.
Shining light moment. Maybe I could *email* Orange. After all - I only want to know where my router is. And after much faffing about on their website looking for a way to email them, that was exactly what I did.
Mind you, I did feel that the promised response time of "within 48 hours" was a bit slack!
As it happens, 24 hours later they got back to me to tell me that my order for a new router had been marked as a duplicate when it got to the distribution centre and thus no router had been sent. Terribly sorry and all that. Have ordered another one. It will be with you in 3 to 5 working days.
Sigh!!!!!!! Just as well I have a dongle. And just as well again that I bought loads of data when I topped it up on the Tuesday evening of last week. The Builder is, of coruse, quite right when he points out that we are paying for a service that we can't access - and that we are paying for it, effectively, twice given that I've had to top up the dongle. But at least we're getting to use the data I've paid for (says Frances in definite Pollyanna mode!!)
And an unexpected advantage was that on Sunday morning, when I was talking to Tony and Stella and later Austin on Skype, the combination of using a dongle for internet access and a rare sunny morning, meant that I could take all three of them (individually) for a stroll around our garden and show it off. Silver linings and clouds and so on.
The sunshine didn't last. It's raining again. And it's dark and gloomy and quite chilly. And quite remarkably humid, given the temperature!
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