Wednesday, December 30, 2009

"Safely back in Reading"

So after 540 miles we are "safely" back in Reading.

I called Direct Line (car insurance) to update my address to Reading, and was told I would have to pay a premium of £59 for the higher risks associated with the new address. Tell me about it.

Still no home buyer's survey for the proposed purchase in Wells in the mailbox - Connells and Christmas clearly don't work too well together. I finally got through to the Survey and Valuations call centre. If I'm real lucky I may get a PDF emailed to me oh ... any day now.

Carphone Warehouse's Fresh Mobile company is going out of business. They have sold the concern to Talk Mobile, another virtual network operator who as far as I can see plan to double the tariffs. I'm having none of this and called on Tuesday Dec 22nd for the PAC code which lets me transfer my number: Orange do a reasonable scheme.

Of course, I received no text message from Fresh, despite the "within 72 hours" promise so after I talked to the Survey people this afternoon I gave them a repeat call. The pleasant-but-bland woman who eventually answered explained to me that of course they had texted me the PAC code - on Dec 23rd.

I guess this is another case of the mysterious text which gets lost in the mobile network. Nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that Fresh have a commercial interest in delivering their customer base intact to Talk Mobile.

So I carefully wrote the PAC code down and will be at the mobile store tomorrow.

I realise I'm sounding like one of those grumpy old men on TV, but honestly, what can you do? No-one does anything properly.