Nothing Was Delivered
Sep. 24th, 2025 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71Made sure to arrive at the office early as OVO were booked in to install a smart meter in one of our flat blocks.
They never showed up. Their phone number that is supposed to tell you whether their engineer is coming did phone us at about 11.15, but it was a silent call. I said ‘hello’ and our charity name…no answer.
I phoned OVO at noon, my due finishing time. The guy I spoke to, after trying to divert me into a conversation about whether we had an online account with them and used their app, listened to my explanation about the engineer no-show and silent call, put me on hold for what seemed an eternity, then said he couldn’t contact the engineer and would have to rebook the appointment.
Worse, he asked me a load of questions about the electricity supply which I didn’t know the answers to. I said “You should have that information already from when this appointment was booked”. He said he had no information, just the bare appointment time and date. He did agree to them ringing back tomorrow for the information and to make us a goodwill payment of £40, but it still means we have to start the whole process over from scratch. What a load of fandango.
I’d hoped he’d arrange for the engineer to come this afternoon, meaning I would have done a double shift, ordered grub delivered for lunch and been able to take a day off in lieu - which would have allowed me to travel up and see FC Romania next Wednesday evening. No such luck. I’m stuck with having worked just 35 minutes over my time. While technically that puts me in credit by that amount of time, in practice I have no reliable system of recording flex time credit and am likely to forget I’m owed that time within a month. Not that it would be much use unless I fancy knocking off half an hour early one day.
So my return to FC Romania must wait until November 8. Forty-forty-forty-five days to go, I want to be sedated.
I got to speak to the committee chairman this afternoon who explained what I needed to know about the electricity. He was over the moon with the £40 goodwill payment and seemed to think I should be rejoicing over it. Why? It’s not going into my pocket, and doesn’t help with my wasted time.
With all that, by the time I got to the Gosport Museum where I’d been intending to see a couple of their current exhibitions before they end on Saturday, the man on the door told me they were closing in 10 minutes. So I have to trudge back there on Friday.
What a lot. It’s going to be hard getting to sleep tonight.
They never showed up. Their phone number that is supposed to tell you whether their engineer is coming did phone us at about 11.15, but it was a silent call. I said ‘hello’ and our charity name…no answer.
I phoned OVO at noon, my due finishing time. The guy I spoke to, after trying to divert me into a conversation about whether we had an online account with them and used their app, listened to my explanation about the engineer no-show and silent call, put me on hold for what seemed an eternity, then said he couldn’t contact the engineer and would have to rebook the appointment.
Worse, he asked me a load of questions about the electricity supply which I didn’t know the answers to. I said “You should have that information already from when this appointment was booked”. He said he had no information, just the bare appointment time and date. He did agree to them ringing back tomorrow for the information and to make us a goodwill payment of £40, but it still means we have to start the whole process over from scratch. What a load of fandango.
I’d hoped he’d arrange for the engineer to come this afternoon, meaning I would have done a double shift, ordered grub delivered for lunch and been able to take a day off in lieu - which would have allowed me to travel up and see FC Romania next Wednesday evening. No such luck. I’m stuck with having worked just 35 minutes over my time. While technically that puts me in credit by that amount of time, in practice I have no reliable system of recording flex time credit and am likely to forget I’m owed that time within a month. Not that it would be much use unless I fancy knocking off half an hour early one day.
So my return to FC Romania must wait until November 8. Forty-forty-forty-five days to go, I want to be sedated.
I got to speak to the committee chairman this afternoon who explained what I needed to know about the electricity. He was over the moon with the £40 goodwill payment and seemed to think I should be rejoicing over it. Why? It’s not going into my pocket, and doesn’t help with my wasted time.
With all that, by the time I got to the Gosport Museum where I’d been intending to see a couple of their current exhibitions before they end on Saturday, the man on the door told me they were closing in 10 minutes. So I have to trudge back there on Friday.
What a lot. It’s going to be hard getting to sleep tonight.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-25 08:24 pm (UTC)I sympathize with you, because the elevator is being upgraded in our apartment building and it's going to take 2 months! While I'm only on the 2nd floor I still need to get down to the laundry room and the garbage & recycling disposal area, being in the basement, means it's two flights of stairs.
The building hired a porter to help residents with groceries, etc. and last Friday I ran into him when I was coming home with two light bags of groceries from the nearby convenience store. He helped me upstairs with those even though I didn't need his help. Nevertheless, he told me to take his number and call or text him next time I needed help.
I took him up on his offer by texting him the next day that I had a load of garbage and recycling to go downstairs that was too heavy for me and that I would leave it outside my door. No response from him. Luckily I have my own separate hallway so that leaving garbage there doesn't cause a problem for other residents, but still, it bothered me and I didn't want to drag it all back inside.
The next day I went downstairs and the porter was nowhere to be found. I figured he'd quit. I also tried calling the superintendent but found out that he's quit too! They have hired a new person but I've only seen him once.
Today I had to order groceries to be delivered because with no elevator, even if I use my car, I can't unload them at my end. I bought a bundle buggy for this purpose, and at the designated time, I went downstairs with the buggy to meet the delivery person. Lo and behold the porter was there! I asked him what happened to him last week when I wanted my garbage taken out. He apologized profusely, but I told him I had to schlepp the garbage downstairs by myself. It took me 3 trips to get it all down there.
He was able to help me take the groceries upstairs in the buggy, which came in handy. The grocery delivery guy also brought up the rest of my stuff. So all's well that ends well but was it worth the aggravation of not having someone there when I really needed him? No. At best I might get more fit from walking up and downstairs. It doesn't bother me with my laundry because I only do one load at a time.
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you either. You could have used that day off. What a disappointment. However, I hope things went better for you today.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-25 09:12 pm (UTC)Today I spoke to a lady at OVO who seemed to know what she was doing, unlike her colleague. I did have to go and take photos of our meters for her though. *x*