Rant!

I don't 'blog' often, I just don't have the time or the will to bother mostly but my recent dealing with Expedia pissed me off so much...

The Background.

We booked a few days in New York with friends for spring next year. One of our flights [the outbound] was cancelled, we don't know why, that's just the way it is. Obviously we had to do something because we need to go in order to come back. I called Expedia and waited the required 24 minutes for an answer from an English speaking person who was ready to take my order, once it became clear that I'd already paid and just needed to sort out the new flight time, well, I was put through to the 'we've already got his money, just annoy the fuck out of him 'til he hangs up department', which it seems is based in Bangladesh. This involves someone speaking and occasionally shouting at you down the phone with a comedy 5 second satellite delay for added annoyance.

Me - 'I want to change the flight 'cos you cancelled it.'

Ryan - [yes really, that's what he said, it's a popular Asian name.] Mumble mumble, hello.. sir can you hear me?

Me - Yes, I can hear you [I have no idea what you are saying but I CAN hear you]

Ryan - OK, mumble mumble, change mumble mumble flight to Amsterdam mum - Me NO! Ryan- continues, I can do that for you now sir mumble mumble.

Me - [Staying blissfully calm] No, no, no, New York, we are going to New York, it's in the USA.

Ryan - yes, mumble mumble, put you on hold... [cue very annoying tune on 10 second loop]

After 24 minutes...

'Hello sir my name is Jenny, how can I help you?'

Me - [Oh thank fuck] Hi, Jenny, how are you?

Jenny - Hello, can you hear me?

Me - Yes, that's why I just said hello and asked you how you are y'see.

Jenny - Mumble mumble

Me - Oh Fuck!


OK, you get the picture, that went on for 2 hours the first day then my wife had a go and lasted another hour. Our friends also made calls and went through the same telephonic hell. So, today our friends contact me and tell us they have had success and managed to get everything changed and asked them to call me to arrange the same for us. I waited an hour, nobody called so I heroically picked up the phone and with a plastic smile glued to my face, I called them again.

They answered straight away and it was, as far as I could tell, a native, a genuine English speaker, a slight accent but I understood him perfectly, my lucky day. 'I'll just put you through to the relevant department', 'OK' I said, barely hiding the tremble in my voice...

...after 24 minutes 'James' answered the phone, James, unfortunately, was from the 'we've already got his money, just annoy the fuck out of him 'til he hangs up department', he's very good at his job.

I emailed Expedia - I've yet to receive an answer.

/rant


UPDATE: I received a reply from Syed, I have to wonder if that's an English person pretending to be an Asian, anyway, he told me he can't deal with me because it's got nothing to do with me as I'm only the one who's actually flying and has wasted so much of this miserable week trying to reorganise the flight that they cancelled. Obviously, I'm just not involved enough for him to speak to.
I've replied from the other email address to confirm that he can in fact deal with this disinterested party after all.

Can anyone hear steam?

Update 2: Sorted. Wife got home, we made another call. Got a nice apologetic chap called Stephen who decided to sort it out himself, it wasn't easy because of the way the system works but he did it. Thanks Stephen. I wish we had spoken to him first. Why does it have to be so hard?

RSG at Kirkham Abbey

RSG at Kirkham Abbey.jpg
Originally uploaded by Bashed

I took a slight diversion on the way home from Whitby to see this magnificent beast again. What a great location to stumble across.

How to celebrate your national day.

·

Completely ignore it/Pretend it's not happening, like Tesco.

·

Put the cross of St George on your Renault, that'll show those Frenchies.

·

Find an old, crumpled national flag and display 2/3rds of it.

·

Drink reduced price foreign lager.

·

Return an Italian toaster to Argos, get your money back, spend it on foreign Lager

Find a cheap, foreign made, seriously creased national flag, [make sure it says 'ENGLAND' in large letters because how else would you know which flag it was?], put it in your shop window and with supreme irony make sure the advertisement for your ironing service can clearly be seen over it.

[CLICK THE PICTURE TO SEE IT LARGER]

I don't have a picture for this one but it's my favourite - get in your car to come home, take the roof off to take in the glorious sunshine, [oh yes] turn the radio on just as Ralph Mctell comes on singing England.

If you don't know this song, check it out using the links below, oh and please send me an MP3 version of it if you find one.

Live version - http://5z8.info/banned-in-the-US_e5r1m_launchexe


Studio Version with pictures - http://5z8.info/cockfights_z7l4s_--INITIATE-CREDIT-CARD-XFER--