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The UKHelpdesk Weblog
An irregular blog on our online experiences....
| Wireless networks - liberation |
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We used to have network cables trailing all over our house. If you wanted to use the laptop in the main room you would have to unravel the cable from the study, across the hall, and bring it down the side of the sofa. And since the cable was about three feet too short, it meant sitting right in the corner of the room to use it.
Things have all changed now. We've bought a combined Wireless Network kit. This sits beside our main PC, and we can wander from room to room downloading email and browsing the internet without any need for cables.
We've gone for full on encryption, which was no problem to set up, and apparently will stop all but the US military hacking into our PCs. The same cannot be said for some of the other users in our apartment block - their networks flash away, begging to be connected to...
We went for a Netgear, which combines the wireless router with an ADSL modem and firewall (so no one's coming in that way either). Was expecting a good few hours set up time, but it was almost disappointingly easy - thirty minutes tops - and in no time we were linked to the Netgear PC cards in our laptops. |
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| Loyalty apparently does not have its rewards |
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We have been with Webfusion hosting for five years now, and continue to recommend them to our users. Sadly a bit of a hiccup this week...
Due to a mix-up with bank accounts we were short a direct-debit payment. So on Friday afternoon we got a called by Eddie in their accounts department saying that there was a problem with the payment. I thanked Eddie for his call and said I would look into it.
On Monday morning I did but, by the time I had got back to them to offer alternative payment details, all our sites had been taken down. You would have thought Eddie might have mentioned that the site would be taken down. What excellent customer service - five years of on-time payment, then one day late and the account is suspended.
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| Where's the decent delivery firm? |
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We've always had a problem with delivery firms. If they're delivering to an office, fine - the chap comes and leaves it at the front desk and you get a call to come and collect it. But what happens if it's something large for home - do you lug it home on the train?
And trying to get a delivery to home regularly proves a nightmare. Frequently the drivers apparently have very little interest in actually finding your address, phoning you, or ringing the bell when they do get there. I've lost count of the number of times I've stayed at home all day and not been delivered to. "He called at 12.54pm" - sure he did, and I've been sitting here all day and chose to ignore that ringing bell and telephone call at that time.
This week - Amtrak. Parcel due on Thursday, so I take the day at home. Ring at ten to check a likely delivery time... "he left a card yesterday". No card was left - if it had I wouldn't be sitting at home all day waiting.
So it's off to the back of beyond - Park Royal, in this case - with passport and utility bill to talk my way through the steel fences until I'm allowed to collect my parcel. "Your delivery man didn't leave a card," I said. "I'll speak to him," said the man, in exactly the sort of voice which would continue, "right after I've watched England win Euro 2004."
I paid £7 for that delivery - shouldn't there be a refund of sorts.
If anyone knows of a decent delivery company, please do let me know - I'd be willing to choose my supplier by which delivery firm they use.
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| How not to do Email Customer Service, as demonstrated by Dabs |
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We've been enthusiastic purchasers from Dabs for several years. Computer supplies companies come and go, but once we got fed up with Simply we settled on Dabs for a while.
But the love affair is over. Tried to order a new DVD-R drive from Dabs last week. All went well initially. I checked on Pricerunner and couldn't find anywhere cheaper. And Dabs had plenty in stock. Ordered on the Tuesday and was hopeful of receipt before the end of the week.
Email received from Dabs on Thursday. Sorry your card has been declined. Odd, considering I've been using it happily all week, and the bank have just increased my credit limit. In fact, on phoning the bank I discovered that Dabs hadn't even requested a payment from my card.
So back to Dabs. Reply to the original (lengthy, and automated) email requesting that some one phone me to confirm the details. No response. So re-enter the credit card number. Another automated email some time later. Reply again, this time more aggressively, again with credit card number. Still no response two days later.
The odd thing is that on the Dabs account page they gave my order status as 'Out of Stock'. So was the whole thing a way of disguising that their stock system was up the creek and reporting stock availability when there wasn't any?
Apparently not. I contacted the Personal Computer Association, of which Dabs is a member, and got a prompt response saying that Dabs had recently installed a new credit card validation system which was being over-zealous. She also pointed out that on page 3 of the automated email was a note saying that the email address did not accept replies.
Well good for Dabs and their new credit card system. I cancelled my order and won't be back to them for a while. What useless customer service that (a) they don't have a usable email address, (b) they don't bother to contact me proactively when they see a problem with their order, and (c) they are so lacking in confidence of their customer service that they don't give a telephone address (and even the postal address takes some looking for).
Happy ending (for me, not Dabs): I subsequently ordered the DVD-R from MicroDirect, just as cheaply, and they delivered within two days. Now installed and working well. |
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