Optus Insurance

So I was out and about one day and it rains, when I say rain it buckets down. I get absolutely saturated and so does everything I am carrying.  turns out that I am carrying my dearly loved iPhone.  So I get home and my phone doesn’t work and there is a nice bubble of water on the inside of the screen.  I searched the internet for solutions to drying the phone out and tried them all, still it did not work.  So I go to the optus shop.

At the optus shop……..

‘Hi my phone got wet now it doesn’t work, I would like to make an insurance claim. ‘

‘You can’t do that here, you have to call insurance’

‘Oh, whats their number?’

‘Use our phone’ Optus chick dials number and leaves me to it

Insurance person answer the phone, I explain what happens, she say ‘you need this special number it is under the battery….. I explain that I can’t open my phone as it is an iPhone she says bad luck, I can’t make a claim.

So I head off home, get the number from the iPhone box and call again.  Success, I drop the phone off and await the call.

6 days later Optus Insurance calls me, I miss the call.  You can’t call back the number they call you on, so you never know that it is Optus Insurance.  So Icall back the number I got from the shop, they explain that I can get a replacement phone or an upgrade.  I choose replacement and they say you owe us $50 excess.  I say no I have had insurance for 3 years, no excess for me.  Turns out that Optus Insurance only has records on me since October 2008 (I have had the phone since July 2008).  I hang up and head to the optus shop to sort it out.

At the Optus shop (different one to last time)  Explain the problem, the girl is fantastic and tries to sort things out with Optus super powers.  Turns out Optus has a new computer system and have lost my records from 2004.  This means they have no record of me paying for insurance.  So I have to dig up all my old contracts to prove it.  I head home to do some digging.  I find the contracts, and of course the previous contract has no place to tick for insurance, so I search for the bills.  These have the amount added to my bill.  So off head to the Optus shop.  They politely inform me that the money I have been paying for was for extended warranty.  Pfft what do I wnat that for, I asked for insurance.  Lame Optus lame.

So I call back insurance and say I want to get my replacement phone.  They say it is $100 and I have to give them my credit card details to the dude at the other end of the phone.  No computer system or BPay.  Pfft.  So I head off to the post office to get a money order.  That should be there today.  With any luck they will send my phone soon.

I have taken photos of my old phone, if the replacement phone looks worse than my old phone then I am going to ark up.  I am done being screwed over by Optus and Optus Insurance.

Your recent nomination into The Princeton Premier

I am so accomplished the I am being considered for the 2009/2010 Princeton Premier Honors Edition Registry.
Anyone else who is suitably accomplished please visit http://blogpond.com.au/2008/02/21/princeton-premier/ and read the comments.

Nobody reads this anyway

So it has been 17 years since I finished high school, and about the same amount of time since I spoke to anyone from high school until facebook decided to change all that.
Now I hated high school, I didn’t think it at the time but as the last week of high school approached I quickly realised that my life at school was shit and the friendships I had were merely people I had lunch with, it became very clear in that last week that they in fact couldn’t have given a shit about me and maybe I should have been hanging around with someone else.

Back to the story at hand – so a friend from school, not one of the ones I actually hung around with but someone who I really liked decided to find me on facebook. So that was pretty cool, but with one friend acceptance comes other friend requests, it’s not that I don’t want to be friends with these people, I just feel as though I didn’t know you at high school or I didn’t feel that I was worthy of being your friend.

Although I am probably not letting this go, I am going to stand by my philosophy  that I will only accept friend requests from people who:

1. I actually know and feel that I know them well
2. People who I share common interests with and wish to keep in contact with and hang out with

To everyone who reads this – You probably think I should let this go after 17 years, I’m not going to.  I will choose who to be friends with and not just add or ask people just so I can have many friends.  You must understand  that things that happen in school scar you for life and that’s not cool.

River Esplanade Motel – Mooloolaba

I declare that The River Esplanade Motel in Mooloolaba is the crappiest motel I have ever stayed at that costs over $100 per night.

I have stayed at places for less than $70 per night that out rate this place.  In fact I have been to camping sites that are better equipped than this place.

The towels in the bathroom smelled like they had never been washed, the soap was not wrapped and was tiny,  the shower made funny screaming noises when you turned the taps and it was cold for atleast a minute and then it was boiling hot so your shower was spent adjusting the temperature.

The TV remote didn’t work, and when it did work the volume was so loud that it would most definitely bother the neighbours. (it did have cable, but some of the promised channels didn’t work)

The airconditioning was loud  and inconsistant.

Apparently there was a pool – not sure where this was, there was no motel map in the room, so I guess they made that part up.

For a bit more cash I could have stayed in a place on the main stretch – I guess the lesson here is that just spend the extra money or drive home and come back the next day – turns out that even with petrol prices it would have been cheaper to sleep in my own bed.

I say to you River Esplanade – drop your prices or drop your rating – three stars is too much even if it is self rated.

I will never stay here again and neither will any of my friends.

Skiers

Is there something wrong with the make up of skiers or is it just inconsiderate people that have put on skis?
Having just spent 10 days in NZ I found that skiers spent a good amount of time cutting snowboarders off in lift lines and getting off the lift. Now I can snowboard and can predict the sharp turn of a skier off the lift but many a time did a skier do such an unnecessary sharp turn that they ran over the top of the front or back of my board. Have a bit of respect and have a look before turning, I know you want to get down the slope but really is cutting someone off worth it?
From a former skier

Friday night TV

Why is there nothing good to watch on tv on Friday nights? Or is it that everything is crap on tv I just notice it more on Friday nights when I am sitting around and not out drinking with the world?

The X Files 2

So this week I have seen 2 movies.

Tuesday I went and saw The Dark Knight – awesome, funny and many other descriptive words.  I totally recommend this movie, even if you are not a Batman fan, it is worth it for the Joker.

Second movie was on Thursday – The X Files 2.

As an X Files fan from way back I was very excited and it is safe to say I wasn’t disappointed. I would say that it was 10x better than the first movie, it helps that it is not core to the X Files threaded theme.  This movie had all the qualities of a good X Files episode, there were some holes but hey Batman also has holes.

There will possibly be some hard core fans who will be all complaining about stuff, but I am glad there is another movie to see and glad to see Mulder with his shirt off (not quite Californication, meh) and Scully parading around in her shiny pyjamas.

Both movies get many stars.

Swipe that card

I love how people approach the carpark boom gate unprepared.

Ok people, you know you will need your swipe card to open the boom gate, you will also need to wide down your window and you will also need to park close enough to the swipy machine.

So why is it that people rock up to the boom gate with window up, swipe card in wallet and parked far enough away from the swipe machine that they need to run back to their car to drive it into the car park.

wise up people, get your card ready, wind down your window and work out how big your car is. This will stop you having a minor freak out every morning before work.

BE PREPARED PEOPLE

So Unorganised

Why is it that some people can’t  get their shit together?

Yesterday I had a meeting in another location, two other people were going so it was decided that we would car pool.  So we decided to meet at 9am at said location.  At 8.30 am I get a call from the driver to say they were leaving and to get me to call ahead and organise a park.  So I do that, even though I think it should have been done earlier.  So me and my work buddy are at the designated spot at 9am and surprise surprise no car, 9.20am still no car, 9.30 am still no car.  9.35am driver walks up behind us and says I have been waiting for you at the office, I forgot we were meeting here. My car is parked in the  car park, I couldn’t get a work car cause they were all gone, and I didn’t bother to order one.

So off we wander to the car park, we pile into the messy crap house car, I scored the back seat.  So the car starts driving away and I say, hey there is no seat belt clip, to which I get the response yes there is stop making excuses for not wanting to wear a seat belt. I am sorry but I don’t get into a car and move off until I am and everyone else is wearing a seat belt. I do not want to die or get seriously maimed in a car accident because of me not or someone else not wearing a seat belt.

Next time I will get out of the car and go back to the office.

You people can get stuffed. Stop stuffing me around.

Get your crap together and book a work car and stop trying to kill me with your unsafe driving in an unsafe vehicle.

Who are the nicest people

It’s strange, the news and so called current affairs programs constantly tell us of the wayward youths of today. They tell us to look out for these teens who wear what they want, say what they want and do what they want, they are dangerous, rude and we should all be wary. They also tell us of how the youth of today (so called Gen whatevers) are rude and abusive no matter how polite you are to them.

As a youngish person and one who likes to listen to music loudly and avoid eye contact whenever possible, as the fear of actual small is greater than the fear of being labelled a wayward youth.

The truth of the matter is it is the older generations that are rude and dangerous.

On a regular trip to town on the weekend I was approached by some youths who were dressed sharply in all black with some serious makeup and some serious hair.  All in all they looked a little scary.  Up they came and politely asked for directions to the train station, after helping with directions they said thanks and went along on there merry way, only to head in the wrong direction, a little further down the road they approached again and asked for clarification on the directions, I helped again and again was greeted with a thank you.

As for the older generation, they are rude and elitist.  I came across a number of these on my trip to the city, and I noticed their interactions with the youth.  The older generation own the footpaths, they will not move out of the way, share the footpath or even say excuse me.

To these people I say have some consideration, remember your youth where you like to have fun with your friends rather than be bitter and refuse to share space with others.

This is a broad generalisation, there are nice people and horrible people everywhere, but this one trip highlighted the nicest people.