What's made you grumpy today?

[dom]

Thanks guys, no fracture fortunately but it's turning all shades of blue. Really swollen as well and I cannot put pressure on it because that is too painful.

I have a pair of crutches they lend me, so I stumble around the house a bit. But mostly I need to sit with my foot up high trying to get rid of the swelling.

Sorry to hear that Nop, plenty of time to concentrate on the TDF at least!

[Thenop]

Managed to balance myself by leaning into my left heel, so I can pee standing up again. Man, it's the little things. Swelling is still there though, seems not to have gone down at all. Oh well, at some point it'll turn to normal, whatever that may be.

On the bright side, they gave me a pair of cool looking matte finished black crutches. At least I'm limping in style.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Managed to balance myself by leaning into my left heel, so I can pee standing up again. Man, it's the little things. Swelling is still there though, seems not to have gone down at all. Oh well, at some point it'll turn to normal, whatever that may be.

On the bright side, they gave me a pair of cool looking matte finished black crutches. At least I'm limping in style.

This post is just designed for some Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill type innuendo. I've resisted.😂

[The Picnic Wasp]

I was in the front room earlier this afternoon and heard a noisy fast sounding plane. I should have scampered to the rear of the house to catch a glimpse but instead I checked Flightradar on my phone. It was a Eurofighter Typhoon from RAF Lossiemouth doing a touch and go at Glasgow Airport.
 
I'm gutted as I've never seen one. In the past the very occasional Tornado would make an appearance, which meant that sometimes another one or two would follow quickly afterwards, but sadly the Typhoon was on its own.

I always wonder why they make these flights. I suppose pilots need to be familiar with the approach to most UK airports, just in case.

Edit: Watched the local news just now. Would appear to be down to Trump's visit. A bit worrying that a Tsar Bomba could probably take out Faslane, Coulport, Lossiemouth and the leader of the free world in one hit, with the flight crew home in time for vodka and stroganoff.

[David L]

BT. What an absolute shower!
We have been 'forced' onto full fibre recently as part of BT's upgrade process. I was contacted a couple of months ago to say that engineers would be installing fibre to the house 23/07 and our landline would be converted to 'Digital Voice'.
Having spent a lifetime working for BT, I had some concerns over how this would be carried out to my satisfaction. When I built my home some 35 years ago, I ensured that the telephone line would not be fed overhead by providing a duct and a footway box to intercept the cable just beyond the curtilage. I assumed that the engineers were expecting to erect a fibre span from the nearest pole to the gable and run the cable down the external wall. I explained to BT this would not be permitted and they should send someone to survey the job. They said this would not be necessary and I could discuss with the engineers on the day.
The order was raised for the upgrade, not by myself but by BT. However, the communications from the company do not reflect this and make it appear that I had asked for the work to be carried out. I was perfectly happy with my existing service, btw.
A few weeks ago I received a new router through the post. The engineers (contractors working on behalf of Openreach) turned up on time. After telling them how to do the job(!) they installed the fibre using the underground duct to my satisfaction. In fact I made the job much easier than they expected so they were happy too.
The position of the router was moved next to the incoming fibre (ONT) in the lounge. It had been in the front bedroom next to the home PC and the PC my wife uses which had belonged to her company and was installed when she started working from home. After the engineer switch over the service, a check was made to ensure internet access via the new router was working. The landline was plugged into a designated socket on the router. I was somewhat relieved that it had been relatively painless up to this point, I had been dreading the upgrade, knowing what could have transpired.
However, the engineer had no responsibility whatsoever for ensuring that the PCs were left working before leaving. As long as you can access the web from the new router, they're done! As it happens, just as he was about to leave, the iPad failed to connect to the outside world! On checking the wi-fi connection it was clear that it was still picking up the wi-fi from the old router. Easy fix - turn it off!
Regarding getting the PCs working, the engineer gave me the standard response which is ring BT and they will send out 'extenders'. Well, this turned out to be unnecessary as we already were using 'Powerline' connectors to provide a connection to our BT Vision box and my network streamer in the lounge (with the help of an Ethernet switch). It was easy enough for me to get everything working with all the existing kit in the end. The landline was even working, which was a surprise as the engineer said the Digital Voice service may take a few hours to be switched over.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I received the usual email to say that my bill was ready to view. I logged onto MyBT to check it. I have to say, BT bills seem to be designed to bamboozle with advance charges, adjustments etc etc. It seemed a little dearer than normal and the thing that stood out was a charge for Voicemail and Call Protect that appeared to be associated with a different telephone number to our landline. At this point my hackles start to rise as I know the result is the need to discuss this with the BT call centre.
On the call, it was clear that the agent had no idea what was going on as I assured him that our number was working as it should. They would have to pass this to 'data integration' to resolve. More annoyingly though, I discovered that the Voicemail and Call Protect service had been added to my Broadband package without my knowledge, at a cost of nearly £5 per month. I was told that I would have to speak to a different department to place an order to cancel the unwanted service. What!
I'd just had an upgrade I didn't want and didn't order that resulted in an increased bill for services I didn't want and didn't order and I had to get involved to sort it all out!
Anyway, emails arrived informing me that my account had been credited for the charges that inexplicably ended up on my bill, including two emails stating two separate cases had been resolved.
Yesterday, we were out enjoying a lovely ride on the MTBs when my phone rang. It was those c***ts at BT again telling me what I needed to do and who I needed to contact to resolve my landline issue. I lost my temper a little. I explained, this issue had absolutely nothing to do with me and could easily be resolved without me getting involved. Some sympathy was expressed but the lady said she had to tell what would happen next and how this was to be 'fixed'. I would be given a temporary landline number until it was sorted. I told her it was turning into an absolute bloody shambles and askedher if she was as embarrassed to work for BT as I had been! ("44 years blah, blah, blah). Again she said sorry I was having issues.
I was duly sent a text message stating the temporary number that had been allocated to our landline. At this point in time we cannot use the line for outgoing calls and anyone wishing to call us on our original number will not get through. What an absolute f***in clown show 
As an aside, I did ask whether I should be getting an increased bandwidth on the new full fibre broadband. The answer is no, unless you pay for an increase by changing to the 'Full Fibre 100' product. The 'technical' bod I spoke to could not provide prices so I took the opportunity to enquire when I was talking to sales to try to sort this clusterfuck out.
I'm currently paying £24.99 (£29.99 with £5 discount) for our BB package and was told that I could go onto the Full Fibre 100 (100mbps) for only £3 extra. I currently get around 30 -50mbps so it looks like a good deal. However, the sales agent failed to inform me that this did not include a landline! When I mentioned the landline, she told me that this would add £5 per month - so £3 extra becomes £8 extra to replicate the services we currently have.
I have come to the conclusion that BT are being wilfully underhand  in their tactics in order to increase customer bills. Especially underhand is adding services not requested as has happened with the Voicemail/ Call Protect. How many people get screwed by this company? Watch them, I don't think they can be trusted.
On a more positive note, my BT pensioned payment has been increased by just over £200 pound this month - happy days 
Sorry to ramble on.

[pxr5]

You may recall the problems I had with BT and getting Fibre installed. It beggars belief how a company such as BT can fuck up so much. In my case I was just extremely lucky to actually get a rep who could sort out all my issues in the end (this was after speaking to umpteen other call handlers). So much so he even gave out his private BT email so I could contact him, and only him, should I need to. I remember during this fiasco I had one particular call that lasted hours and at the end of it I was transferred to another department with strict instructions to them what to do next - and I got cut off. The next handler got a volley of abuse that he didn't deserve, but I had totally lost it by then.

[David L]

Had a text this morning from BT - "we have fixed the issue with your order. If you need more support text, reply ORDER and we will be in touch within one working day"

They have fixed nothing! Landline still not working. C**ts
So, I reply to their text with ORDER and my phone repeatedly tells me "Not delivered"
Absolute C**nts

[David L]

Just phoned the c**ts BT again. Landline still not working.
Nice lady told me the issue was that an order was "stuck" in the system and would not close down. As if I'm f***ing interested!
Will take four days before landline will be working. Not holding my breath. W***kers

[David L]

I've got a new one. Waiting in for an LP to be delivered by Royal Mail. I was sent an email stating it would be delivered between 9:54 and 12:54. No sign of it so I've just use Royal Mail tracking:

"Sorry, your item went to Bicester DO in error, so we re-routed it immediately. More information will be available as it travels through our network"

F***king C**ts

[pxr5]

Just phoned the c**ts BT again. Landline still not working.
Nice lady told me the issue was that an order was "stuck" in the system and would not close down. As if I'm f***ing interested!
Will take four days before landline will be working. Not holding my breath. W***kers

That's exactly what I had - a stuck order. Which meant every order after that would automatically cancel down because of an "open" order that they couldn't remove. In the end the final guy I dealt with had to close my whole BT account and start a new one. Utter shambles.

Here is a great email to start complaints: consumer-resolutions@bt.com and whenever you ring use this number as you'll generally skip the queues: retentions - 08007831401

[David L]

Another call from BT today. This time it was Claudette from the 'background team' to assure me she was working on my fault (or "order" as they annoyingly continue to call it. Again, I expressed my frustration and dissatisfaction. Again, a BT call handler sympathised and apologised and ensured they would sort it.
Well, we do now have a working landline...just not our number! She called to confirm it was working and will submit the "order" to port the correct number over tomorrow. If this is done too soon, the "robotic" system will have a meltdown.
And therein is BT's main problem IMHO (and I have some experience here). Such has been BT's insistence on automating things they've often been sold and employed systems that are not resilient enough to work a lot of the time and when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. I'm sure that the money they've saved has been offset to a considerable degree by having to employ people to handle calls from dissatisfied customers that have been shafted by some of these systems.
Hopefully compensation will be forthcoming.

[Slim]

In the early '00s, BT contracted their customer service out to companies like Clientlogic in Derby. No-one who worked there, including myself, gave the slightest toss about BT or their customers.

The poor buggers who had to answer the phone to customers usually had no networking experience at all and minimal training. Often no IT experience whatever.

[Thenop]

Back from the hospital, foot is still not really healing well so they put me in a cast for a week. I can now balance again because of that because the sole of my foot was so swollen I couldn't reach the floor with my toes. This means I am sort of mobile again which is great.

[Slim]

https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/info/netflix/index7.html

"Starting July 23, 2025, the Netflix service will no longer be available on certain Blu-ray players and recorders."

Annoying. My Freeview box / DVD player no longer supports Netflix. Going to have to buy a new one.

[Nick]

https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/info/netflix/index7.html

"Starting July 23, 2025, the Netflix service will no longer be available on certain Blu-ray players and recorders."

Annoying. My Freeview box / DVD player no longer supports Netflix. Going to have to buy a new one.

Do you need a dvd player these days? I have a blu ray player that plays dvd's, not played a dvd for years, I only use it for blu ray albums.