I finally managed to get the O2 XDA Serra (HTC Touch Pro) but boy was it a hassle! (See Trying to upgrade my O2 mobile phone) I had to start a new contract with O2 and lose my old one that I’d had since 2004. I now know that this means I’ve lost 5 years of loyalty bonus points (or similar). I only found this out when I tried to get my PAC for my old O2 contract and the “retention team” offered me 18 months free with 250 text messages and 75 minutes. Yes, FREE.

Other problems along the way were:

• “You can’t take an existing simplicity tariff number onto a new O2 online tariff”
• Paying for two contracts for a number of days whilst O2 muddle along
• O2 actually trying to get me to keep two mobile contracts. Why would I want two mobile phone contracts? I can only use one phone at a time!
• Plenty of mis-communication
• Numerous calls to and from O2 Customer Services
• No offer of a “sweetener” to say sorry although they did end up manually transferring my phone number after I threatened to cancel both contracts.

When my 24 month contract is up I will do everything in my power to use an alternative mobile phone network.

I now have my O2 XDA Serra (HTC Touch Pro) and I’m very happy with it.

What I should have done

I should have phoned up and tried to cancel my contract as soon as I was displeased with the service. I then would have been put straight through to the “retention team” at O2 who would have done everything within their power to keep me. This most probably would have included getting the XDA Serra (HTC Touch Pro) for a discounted price and getting a better general tarriff. You live and learn.

Related posts:

1. Trying to upgrade my O2 mobile
2. AmIDueAnUpgrade.com (and variations)

I’ve been looking at the HTC phones for quite a while since they run windows (I like Microsoft stuff), I can easily sync my contacts and calendar (ActiveSync is still the best for this), I can write .NET compact framework applications for it (I’ve already said I like Microsoft stuff), and HTC are generally up there as one of the best phone/PDA manufacturers.

HTC Touch Pro

So, I was delighted when I recently went to the O2 website to see that they have the XDA Serra which is actually the HTC Touch Pro. The HTC Touch Pro HD and
HTC Touch Pro II are available but I would have needed to fork out for the whole phone myself. I’m an existing customer so I went straight to the Upgrades section of the website, requested my upgrade code, chose the Online 20 tariff, and looked for the Web Bolt-on to give me unlimited* data on my phone. The Web Bolt-on isn’t available.

O2 Upgrade Page

From here I decided to find out if I would get this option I were a new O2 customer. I found out that not only can a new customer add the Web bolt-on but also they get the O2 XDA Serra around £50 cheaper than an existing customer. So, I decided to phone up a “online upgrades advisor” (0800 1313136) to see if they could help me order by phone with the Web bolt-on and at the same price as a new customer would pay. The “online upgrades advisor” was of very little. I was informed that they “don’t have the phone on the system” so the only way to get it was to upgrade online (for a more expensive price and without the Web bolt-on) – No thanks!

O2 New Customer Page

After phone calls to O2’s main number as an existing customer (08442 020202) and customer services, and Hertford’s O2 shop I had to phone new sales. They informed me that since I was on the rolling Simplicity deal I would be treated as a new customer anyway. So, I had to set up a new contract, do a credit check, set up a new O2 account, and set up a new direct debit. I also now have to cancel my existing simplicity one when I get my new phone. In addition, if I could have done the upgrade one I could have selected where I wanted my new phone to be sent to. Since I’ve made my purchase of a new contract over the phone I’ve had to get my new phone delivered to my registered address and I know I won’t be in meaning I’ll have to drive out to the delivery depot to collect it.

What’s my point?

My point is that I wanted to pay £200 for a new phone and sign up for a 24 month contract worth a good few quid and nobody at O2 seemed too bothered to help me out. Also, I can’t believe that O2 force you to get your phone delivered to your registered address. Most people don’t work from home so won’t be there to receive the delivery. How much customer and delivery driver time must this waste?!

I’m sticking with O2 at the moment simply because they offer the best coverage for where I live. When this contract is up I’ll probably have moved so I’ll certainly consider another mobile provider above O2.

Related posts:

1. The O2 Mobile Phone Upgrade saga concludes
2. Snow in Hertford
3. AmIDueAnUpgrade.com (and variations)

The original blog post: Which is the worst Transformer? Blog post

I’ve got to say that I generally disagree with your choices here. The main saving grace is that your choice of No. 1 naff Transformer is probably correct. I know you’ve got a car thing going on here but some of the Transformers you list were great characters which surely offsets the things that let the toy down.

My main objection is that you are slagging off a lot of the Transformers that were the main characters in the original 1986 Transformers the Movie that I think completely rocked!  The 2007 version isn’t bad but has nowhere near the story or scale of the original move. Give me Orson Welles, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy and Frank Welker (plus the obvious) any day of the week. Give me Unicron, Cybertron, Cybertron’s moons, Earth, The Planet of Junk and two massive battles! Wow, I’m going to get the DVD out after this.

Transformers: The Movie - 1986 poster

Anyway: Blurr, Arcee, Kup (who doesn’t get a mention – good), Hot Rod/Rodimus, Springer and Ultra Magnus were a new group of Autobots who were main characters in that great movie. Ok, Blurr is a bit annoying, but isn’t that just because the guy doing his voice (Scatman Crothers John Moschitta Jr.) just repeated the same line over and over again. That’s not Blurr’s fault, it’s the fault of the guy who write the script. The toy may have been crap, I don’t know. Ok, I’ll give you Blurr too.

Astrotrain – the toy does look pretty pants! In the movie he transports the defeated Decepticons back to Cybertron and needs to “jettison weight”, whereby Starscream gets rid of Megatron and we gain Galvatron. So, he has his purpose. I can only assume that the toy was that terrible that for you it justifies the No.8 slot.

Soundwave – What planet are you on? Soundwave is a great Transformer. He was there at the very beginning. He is a vital part of a majority of the Transformers stories. And… And.. And he can eject other small Transformers out of his chest. That’s Awesome! “Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Ramjet eject!” The toy wasn’t bad either. If I remember correctly you could get small cassette transformers (mentioned in the quote) and put them inside his cassette deck. No, he’s not a car but he was a great Transformer. You’re just plain wrong with this one.

Rodimus Prime – Have you ever seen Transformers the Movie?!? “This is the end of the road Galvatron”. He even gets to say Prime’s quote of “Autobots, transform and roll out” and it works. He also has a pivotal roll in bringing Optimus Prime back to life in The Return of Optimus Prime (brought back to life, eventually, by a Quintesson…..). So, NO, he’s not one of the worst Transformers ever (but his toy did look a bit like a mobile home, hmmm).

Wreck-Gar – Again, the toy may have been rubbish but that doesn’t mean he was one of the worst Transformers ever. He is the leader of the Planet of Junk/the Junkions. As you mentioned, he was voiced by Eric Idle, which IS cool. If his arms fall out he can just stick them back in again with some special blue glue (using his legs?). Now that’s cool, not crap.

Bumblebee A.K.A Goldbug – He wants to be friends with people so he’s rubbish? What? He’s one of the first Transformers and deserves to avoid this list on that fact alone. You just can’t put any of the Transformers that were on the Ark, which crash landed on earth with Prime, in the list. Period. Oh, and he’s a VW Gold…

Jazz – How can anybody say that Jazz is one of the Worst Transformers ever? Jazz wasn’t the best in the new movie but they got the character wrong. Jazz has been in Transformers since I can remember and killing him off was just wrong. His toy WAS great. It was one of the first Transformer toys to be made and wasn’t all plastic like the more recent ones.  He was on the Ark AND he’s a Porsche.

Ultra Magnus - Firstly his toy was actually pretty cool. He could fire rockets. He was bigger than Prime. His cab was exactly the same as Prime’s and Prime was a great toy. He “couldn’t take over the leadership when the driving drumstick (Rodimus Prime) was in charge” What? Do you mean that he couldn’t open the matrix of leadership after Prime had been killed because it wasn’t their “darkest hour”? I got an Ultra Magnus one Christmas and my parents still speak to me, and I’ve just double-checked, like me. You ain’t justifying this one buddy! I think he gets a bad rap – leave him alone.

Ultra Magnus - Now, light our darkest hour

So, I’ll give you Arcee, Blurr and, at a push, Astrotrain. Personally, I’d list Wheelie and any of the Insecticons. I’m also surprised that the non-car Dinobots didn’t get a mention.

Nice opinion-provoking post.

Til all are one!

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Anyway, you can see all the details about my apartment for sale by following the link below:

Loft Apartment for Sale in The Shore (Leith), Edinburgh

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