Discussion
It's no wonder oldies like me get frustrated with modern life!
So local English Heritage venue Kenilworth Castle used to always have some "open air theatre bring a picnic" stuff, the last few few yrs they haven't run it.
Back by popular demand "Comedy of Errors", saturday night. Check weather forecast all ok, so on the way out to run a few errands drop down to the castle ticket office (as we've always done in the past). "Sorry we don't sell tickets here, you'll have to go though the website" get home, no booking via website, have to phone. I Call English Heritage booking office, "thank you sir some tickets left I'll just take your details", then after protracted detail taking, "sorry I can't book your tickets" "it's now gone 3pm" (Phone call started @ 2.55pm) "we can't take any bookings after 3pm"
But you have tickets? "yes". How can I buy 2? (long pause, on hold music) "You can buy them on the gate, tomorrow."
Why does buying a couple of tickets for a venue (couple of hundred people attending) have to so flaming complicated!
Whinge over.
So local English Heritage venue Kenilworth Castle used to always have some "open air theatre bring a picnic" stuff, the last few few yrs they haven't run it.
Back by popular demand "Comedy of Errors", saturday night. Check weather forecast all ok, so on the way out to run a few errands drop down to the castle ticket office (as we've always done in the past). "Sorry we don't sell tickets here, you'll have to go though the website" get home, no booking via website, have to phone. I Call English Heritage booking office, "thank you sir some tickets left I'll just take your details", then after protracted detail taking, "sorry I can't book your tickets" "it's now gone 3pm" (Phone call started @ 2.55pm) "we can't take any bookings after 3pm"
But you have tickets? "yes". How can I buy 2? (long pause, on hold music) "You can buy them on the gate, tomorrow."
Why does buying a couple of tickets for a venue (couple of hundred people attending) have to so flaming complicated!
Whinge over.
Worst thing about modern life is that mobile phone signal strength/quality seemingly hasn't improved since I got my first mobile phone, way back in the early '90s.
Yes, there's lots of fancy 3G/4G mobile data stuff, but what about the basic voice signal that allows one to make a phone call without running around in circles shouting "Can you hear me, hello.... Are you still there? I can't hear you.... Can you hear me? Hello?"
Yes, there's lots of fancy 3G/4G mobile data stuff, but what about the basic voice signal that allows one to make a phone call without running around in circles shouting "Can you hear me, hello.... Are you still there? I can't hear you.... Can you hear me? Hello?"
It does my nut in when I'm trying to buy something in a shop that won't scan , I know how much it is, they know how much it is , I want it, they want to sell it , I have cash but computer says no.
I'm a bit addicted to Look At Life videos on YouTube , I remember the late 60s and 70s when things were much simpler , it's nice to look back at empty open roads , roundabouts instead of the stop start driving of today with traffic lights every 300m which we just seem to have accepted without question.
I'm a bit addicted to Look At Life videos on YouTube , I remember the late 60s and 70s when things were much simpler , it's nice to look back at empty open roads , roundabouts instead of the stop start driving of today with traffic lights every 300m which we just seem to have accepted without question.
PositronicRay said:
It's no wonder oldies like me get frustrated with modern life!
So local English Heritage venue Kenilworth Castle used to always have some "open air theatre bring a picnic" stuff, the last few few yrs they haven't run it.
Back by popular demand "Comedy of Errors", saturday night. Check weather forecast all ok, so on the way out to run a few errands drop down to the castle ticket office (as we've always done in the past). "Sorry we don't sell tickets here, you'll have to go though the website" get home, no booking via website, have to phone. I Call English Heritage booking office, "thank you sir some tickets left I'll just take your details", then after protracted detail taking, "sorry I can't book your tickets" "it's now gone 3pm" (Phone call started @ 2.55pm) "we can't take any bookings after 3pm"
But you have tickets? "yes". How can I buy 2? (long pause, on hold music) "You can buy them on the gate, tomorrow."
Why does buying a couple of tickets for a venue (couple of hundred people attending) have to so flaming complicated!
Whinge over.
On top of that they have the gall to charge a bloody booking fee!So local English Heritage venue Kenilworth Castle used to always have some "open air theatre bring a picnic" stuff, the last few few yrs they haven't run it.
Back by popular demand "Comedy of Errors", saturday night. Check weather forecast all ok, so on the way out to run a few errands drop down to the castle ticket office (as we've always done in the past). "Sorry we don't sell tickets here, you'll have to go though the website" get home, no booking via website, have to phone. I Call English Heritage booking office, "thank you sir some tickets left I'll just take your details", then after protracted detail taking, "sorry I can't book your tickets" "it's now gone 3pm" (Phone call started @ 2.55pm) "we can't take any bookings after 3pm"
But you have tickets? "yes". How can I buy 2? (long pause, on hold music) "You can buy them on the gate, tomorrow."
Why does buying a couple of tickets for a venue (couple of hundred people attending) have to so flaming complicated!
Whinge over.
I was buying membership to a club as a gift for someone recently. Now this is the type of thing that would mainly be bought as a gift for someone.
I go onto their website and try to buy it, select item, enter bill payers details, all ok so far. Look for an option to enter delivery address or 'I'm buying this as a gift' option, no such thing, they assume the bill payer is the consumer of the item
Ok I think, I will ring them and see what the story is, after much listening to and selecting of menu options I get talking to someone who says oh yes go ahead and make the purchase and I will explain to <insert name here>, who had left for the day and she will contact you in the morning to take the details. I (with slight concern) take her at her word and make the purchase.
The next day, lunchtime comes and goes and I'm getting increasingly worried that I've been forgotten about, so I call back, again menu options again get talking to someone, a different person, who then finds my purchase in their inbox and says 'oh yes I'll just get <insert name here> to e-mail you and you can reply with the details' this goes ok and the purchase is made.
All that faffing about and uncertainty because they didn't think things through and have an option on their website for a differing delivery address and as I said this is probably their most common purchasing scenario so it must happen a lot.
I go onto their website and try to buy it, select item, enter bill payers details, all ok so far. Look for an option to enter delivery address or 'I'm buying this as a gift' option, no such thing, they assume the bill payer is the consumer of the item
Ok I think, I will ring them and see what the story is, after much listening to and selecting of menu options I get talking to someone who says oh yes go ahead and make the purchase and I will explain to <insert name here>, who had left for the day and she will contact you in the morning to take the details. I (with slight concern) take her at her word and make the purchase.
The next day, lunchtime comes and goes and I'm getting increasingly worried that I've been forgotten about, so I call back, again menu options again get talking to someone, a different person, who then finds my purchase in their inbox and says 'oh yes I'll just get <insert name here> to e-mail you and you can reply with the details' this goes ok and the purchase is made.
All that faffing about and uncertainty because they didn't think things through and have an option on their website for a differing delivery address and as I said this is probably their most common purchasing scenario so it must happen a lot.
Long Drax said:
Pos and Pat, have you considered writing to the Letters Page of Saga magazine outlining your problems?
Believe it or believe it not but I quite like Saga 
My dealings with them, car ins (x2 inc foc fully comp european cover) and helping an elderly relative book cruises, have always been easy and efficient and pleasant. No unnecessary complication and when somethings not quite right easily resolved.
None of this "computer says no" nonsense.
Incidentally also moving house, we had a local, well established, family run company lined up for removals. Unknown to me they have liquidity problems. So need to find someone else PDQ, local outfits now getting v busy and getting booked up.
Wife suggests Pickfords, (more vans she says, they'll be able to do the job she says) so phone them, endure call centre with multiple choices, put through to a midlands branch. Efficient sounding lady takes some details. Then tells me the bloke who comes round to quote is on holiday, won't be able to visit for at least 2 weeks. (we're moving in 3) so I ask if anyone is covering his job. Oh yes she says, a lady from another branch, great I say send her round. (cue sounds of fiddling with computer) Comes back onto the phone and brightly says, she can visit on the 3rd August.
The alternative it seems is to film your house on an ipad using their app.(I don't have an ipad). She then asks me how many cubic feet of stuff I need to move!
Phone another local removal company (recommended by one of the outfits that's booked up) sounds pleasant enough, oh yes I can do it, I'll pop round tomorrow and price it up.
That's all I want, people who make life simple, answer phones, return calls, and do stuff when they say they're going to it.
PositronicRay said:
Long Drax said:
Pos and Pat, have you considered writing to the Letters Page of Saga magazine outlining your problems?
Believe it or believe it not but I quite like Saga My dealings with them, car ins (x2 inc foc fully comp european cover) and helping an elderly relative book cruises, have always been easy and efficient and pleasant. No unnecessary complication and when somethings not quite right easily resolved.
None of this "computer says no" nonsense.
Incidentally also moving house, we had a local, well established, family run company lined up for removals. Unknown to me they have liquidity problems. So need to find someone else PDQ, local outfits now getting v busy and getting booked up.
Wife suggests Pickfords, (more vans she says, they'll be able to do the job she says) so phone them, endure call centre with multiple choices, put through to a midlands branch. Efficient sounding lady takes some details. Then tells me the bloke who comes round to quote is on holiday, won't be able to visit for at least 2 weeks. (we're moving in 3) so I ask if anyone is covering his job. Oh yes she says, a lady from another branch, great I say send her round. (cue sounds of fiddling with computer) Comes back onto the phone and brightly says, she can visit on the 3rd August.
The alternative it seems is to film your house on an ipad using their app.(I don't have an ipad). She then asks me how many cubic feet of stuff I need to move!
Phone another local removal company (recommended by one of the outfits that's booked up) sounds pleasant enough, oh yes I can do it, I'll pop round tomorrow and price it up.
That's all I want, people who make life simple, answer phones, return calls, and do stuff when they say they're going to it.
I need a new phone, apparently.
Nothing wrong with the old one, but the b
ds keep making them apps heavier and more resource-demanding, so my hardware can't cope. Suddenly 1Gb of RAM is not enough to run basic stuff like WhatsApp and Waze. Not to mention the constant struggle to fit it all on an 8Gb memory card. It used to be plenty back when I bought the darn thing a couple of years ago.
Now I need to buy a new one, but there's hardly any choice of devices with a screen small enough for me to operate with one hand. They're all 5" and upwards, and it's too big. I miss my Palm Pre, which fit perfectly into my hand and had a proper keyboard I could flip out when needed. Even my Galaxy 2 was somehow workable, but today's models are fat and cumbersome, and you can't even replace their battery on the go. How am I supposed to do any field work when I need to carry a cord around at all times, or a brick-sized powerbank? Isn't this the very opposite of a 'wireless' phone?
Honestly, I'm getting too old for this st.
Nothing wrong with the old one, but the b
ds keep making them apps heavier and more resource-demanding, so my hardware can't cope. Suddenly 1Gb of RAM is not enough to run basic stuff like WhatsApp and Waze. Not to mention the constant struggle to fit it all on an 8Gb memory card. It used to be plenty back when I bought the darn thing a couple of years ago. Now I need to buy a new one, but there's hardly any choice of devices with a screen small enough for me to operate with one hand. They're all 5" and upwards, and it's too big. I miss my Palm Pre, which fit perfectly into my hand and had a proper keyboard I could flip out when needed. Even my Galaxy 2 was somehow workable, but today's models are fat and cumbersome, and you can't even replace their battery on the go. How am I supposed to do any field work when I need to carry a cord around at all times, or a brick-sized powerbank? Isn't this the very opposite of a 'wireless' phone?
Honestly, I'm getting too old for this s
t. Edited by Derish on Saturday 8th July 13:47
MorganP104 said:
Worst thing about modern life is that mobile phone signal strength/quality seemingly hasn't improved since I got my first mobile phone, way back in the early '90s.
Yes, there's lots of fancy 3G/4G mobile data stuff, but what about the basic voice signal that allows one to make a phone call without running around in circles shouting "Can you hear me, hello.... Are you still there? I can't hear you.... Can you hear me? Hello?"
Totally true.Yes, there's lots of fancy 3G/4G mobile data stuff, but what about the basic voice signal that allows one to make a phone call without running around in circles shouting "Can you hear me, hello.... Are you still there? I can't hear you.... Can you hear me? Hello?"
Also, iPad adverts showing all the amazing stuff you can do on the go. Err ... No! Maybe in about 100 years signal strength and battery life might have evolved to a point where all that is possible and, if I'm still alive, and a millionaire, I'll be able to afford all the data I need to upload what I've done. D'oh!
Derish said:
I need a new phone, apparently.
Nothing wrong with the old one, but the bds keep making them apps heavier and more resource-demanding, so my hardware can't cope. Suddenly 1Gb of RAM is not enough to run basic stuff like WhatsApp and Waze. Not to mention the constant struggle to fit it all on an 8Gb memory card. It used to be plenty back when I bought the darn thing a couple of years ago.
[/footnote]
This annoys the hell out of me, it feels like about 90% of the hardware advancements of the last decade+ has gone into making life easier for software engineers.Nothing wrong with the old one, but the b
ds keep making them apps heavier and more resource-demanding, so my hardware can't cope. Suddenly 1Gb of RAM is not enough to run basic stuff like WhatsApp and Waze. Not to mention the constant struggle to fit it all on an 8Gb memory card. It used to be plenty back when I bought the darn thing a couple of years ago. [/footnote]
My car has been in for a service and MOT. I dropped it off on Tuesday morning. Apart from an email with a walk around video and a list of non-critical jobs I've had no contact. DVLA checker says it passed the MOT on Tuesday, but I've had no phonecall nor returned calls to say come and get it.
This is a prestigious sports car brand and a main dealer. I'm on the train en route now to pay a visit but am mindful that the last time they went radio silent the car came back with extra paint on the front bumper and overspray on the bonnet...
This is a prestigious sports car brand and a main dealer. I'm on the train en route now to pay a visit but am mindful that the last time they went radio silent the car came back with extra paint on the front bumper and overspray on the bonnet...
Well while dog walking popped into Kenilworth Castle to check on parking this evening (they often chain the main car park)
Nice girl in the ticket office say's would you like tickets for this evening, yes please I say, great she say's I'm allowed to sell them now the box office has closed. (she had a thick wadge, hardly surprising given the difficulty in purchasing the buggers)
This is the sort of extra layers of bureaucracy that bought the communist states to their knees.
Nice girl in the ticket office say's would you like tickets for this evening, yes please I say, great she say's I'm allowed to sell them now the box office has closed. (she had a thick wadge, hardly surprising given the difficulty in purchasing the buggers)
This is the sort of extra layers of bureaucracy that bought the communist states to their knees.
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