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  • The O2 Mobile Phone Upgrade saga concludes

    Phil Leggetter 10:01 pm on June 1, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , Whinge,

    Conclusion

    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.

     

  • Trying to upgrade my O2 mobile

    Phil Leggetter 7:01 pm on May 7, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , Whinge,

    I’ve been out of contract with O2 for probably around two years now and during this time I’ve been perfectly happy with the XDA IQ that I’ve got. I also carry around a Blackberry that I have for work so use that to browse the Internet, check email, and send tweets. I’ve not also got a 3G USB dongle from work that I can use on the train. All these gadgets have become a bit of a burden and I’ve been considering upgrading my phone to something that I can use as a 3G modem for my laptop, has a reasonable mobile browser, GPS, and has a good set of other applications for it such as Google Maps, a Twitter client, and a Yammer client. I want to replace three gadgets with one.

    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.

    htctouchpro

    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.

    o2upgrade1

    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 Sales Page

    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.

     

  • My reply to: Which is the worst Transformer?

    Phil Leggetter 12:10 am on February 3, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: animation, , cartoons, comment, transformers, Whinge

    I follow Chris Garrett on Twitter and he posted a link to a blog post about Which is the worst Transformer?. As a kid I really liked The Transformers and felt compelled to defend some of them. I posted what is about to follow as a partly tongue-in-cheek comment but it’s been “awaiting moderation” for hours so I just thought I’d dump it in my blog. I’m pretty sure that Chris will agree with me about Soundwave as he’s got the toy on his desk.

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

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  • Problem solving lessons relearnt

    Phil Leggetter 11:06 pm on December 10, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: best practice, common sense, , , Whinge

    I’ve had one of those days. I set out early this morning aware that I had a tough task ahead of me at work. By the end of the day I’ve made very little progress.

     

     The silly thing is that I know exactly what mistakes I’ve made today that have hindered my progress and what’s worse, I’ve made the same mistakes before.

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  • Synaptics scrolling not working

    Phil Leggetter 10:15 am on May 17, 2008 | 8 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Whinge

    I’ve just updated my Synaptics touchpad drivers and after a restart the scrolling no longer worked. I did the obvious, check the settings and “do a google” but could not find the solution anywhere. I then went back to the settings and then noticed a sub-settings option for the touchpad in the Device Settings tab. Select Synaptics TouchPad and then click the Settings… button. A further properties dialog will appear with a Virtual Scrolling option. Select this option and then enable your scrolling.

    Synaptics Touchpad device settings

     

  • Train newspaper recycling

    Phil Leggetter 8:06 pm on April 1, 2008 | 2 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Whinge

    I recently took a job back at Caplin Systems in London and as a result have started commuting into the city every day by train. Once you’ve done the same journey a few times there’s little new to see when looking out of the window so most people listen to music, read a book or read a newspaper. A newspaper doesn’t generally take all that long to read – or generally only contains a few interesting articles – so people tend to leave their papers on the train when they alight. London has a plethora of free papers (Metro, London Lite and The London Paper) so people think nothing of leaving a free paper behind.

    “National Express have teamed up with Metro Newspapers” blah, blah, blah. This is a new message that is announced at most stops to encourage passangers to take their papers with them and keep the train tidy. Never mind recycling. In all fairness the London station I get off at does have a “Newspaper recycling team” that are occasionally seen making their way through the trains to collect the discarded papers. The train station must have hundreds of trains through it a day and there is no way that this team will have time to collect all papers for recycling.

    My solution to this problem would be to place newspaper bins or containers on each stations and encourange passangers to simply take their paper off the train with them and pop them in the newspaper bin on the platform. This is easier than having to take the paper to work or home with you and then recycling it. This would be a good idea for two reasons:

    1) Most papers will end up in these paper containers and recycling teams can just collect from there at a given point in the day.

    2) If you want a paper to read on the train you know exactly where you can get one from at each station.

    I’m surprised that this isn’t in place as I think that the green and useful sides of this idea make it a winner. Maybe there’s something that I’ve not considered?

     

  • HP/Compaq nw9440: the purchase, review, problems and solutions

    Phil Leggetter 12:11 pm on September 11, 2007 | 7 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , hp, laptop, review, Whinge

    In June 2006 I started working as a self employed software consultant. To mark this momentous occasion I decided to buy myself a shiny new laptop (as mentioned in an earlier post). After a reasonable amount of searching, including asking those I know who are knowledgeable about such things, I plumped for the HP/Compaq nw9440.

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  • Whinge of the Week: Elephant.co.uk - bad experience

    Phil Leggetter 11:19 pm on January 29, 2007 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Car Insurance, Whinge

    I was recently in an RTA. I’ve only once before been in a car accident but this time my car was quite badly damaged and the damage was judged to be “borderline”. This means that the cost of fixing the car is in the same region as the car value. In this case a decision has to be made on whether the car will be fixed and this is done by “elephant.co.uk engineers” viewing the damage either via video link (yeah, right!) or, as I was told, digital images (much more likely). Once this has been done the insurance agency will make a decision on whether the car is written-off / a total loss. If it is written-off / a total loss then your car won’t be fixed and the insurance agency will make you an offer for your car. So, in effect the insurance agency is buying the car off you.

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