Inconvenient Annoyances

Hangry! 

Just bought travel insurance.  Finding a policy that covers both sleep apnea and kite buggying was a bit of a challenge.  Let's hope they don't quibble about the definiton of a land yacht versus a kite buggy.  Falling asleep while kite buggying is not that big of a risk.  I did get target fixation once on the nude beach in France. 

And the afternoon activity was some kind of ipad assisted treasure hunt.  Do you think that it's fun to navigate around King's Cross with Google Maps finding random shite?  Neither do I. 

I would actually find that fun.... hahaha but NOT with coworkers (unless i was close with my coworkers...my past coworkers, YES. Current ones? Absolutely not).

Would prefer Top Golf or something with beers and much better food.

I'm still pushing for Ice Karting. 



This is the only team building I'm willing to organise or give a go.  Though we are talking about doing an Escape Room, which would be alright.

I'm still pushing for Ice Karting. 



This is the only team building I'm willing to organise or give a go.  Though we are talking about doing an Escape Room, which would be alright.

I'll go ice karting!!

We're only allowed to do community service for team building. 
We've done many great things, like clean up Culloden Battlefield, sort Christmas shoeboxes for Blysthwood, clean up and sort furniture and fridges for a homeless charity,  help with making a sensory garden and painting bedrooms for a disabled children's respite centre, clean up beaches, and help with landscaping for a social enterprise group.
I'm currently organising one for my team now to go and help at a local animal shelter for the day.

I certainly will bring along much more than hummous and bread for our team. What a f'n nightmare of a lunch, Jimbo!!

We're only allowed to do community service for team building. 
We've done many great things, like clean up Culloden Battlefield, sort Christmas shoeboxes for Blysthwood, clean up and sort furniture and fridges for a homeless charity,  help with making a sensory garden and painting bedrooms for a disabled children's respite centre, clean up beaches, and help with landscaping for a social enterprise group.
I'm currently organising one for my team now to go and help at a local animal shelter for the day.

I certainly will bring along much more than hummous and bread for our team. What a f'n nightmare of a lunch, Jimbo!!

That's fantastic! Keep up the good work! 

I'll go ice karting!!

It's corporate hire only.  Minimum of 20 people.  and £40 minimum per person.  I know the owner of my company would go for it.  Even though he's tight, he races a Formula 3 car.  He'd love the ice karting.  We just need to find the list of 20 people.  My department is only 7.    Would have to figure out who else to invite. 

It's corporate hire only.  Minimum of 20 people.  and £40 minimum per person.  I know the owner of my company would go for it.  Even though he's tight, he races a Formula 3 car.  He'd love the ice karting.  We just need to find the list of 20 people.  My department is only 7.    Would have to figure out who else to invite. 

Take a customer out? :p Or the whole company??? (and me)

I am just going to say this again because I can't explain much further without banging my head against a wall but we really need to root out these dangerous old bastards in the Engineering sector and get rid of them. Militant complacency and self protectionalist territorialism has no place in a safety critical environment. It's becoming the bane of my existence right now.

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I have two IA's today:

1) My upstairs toilet is blocked (not overflowing, but draining slowly). I've tried unblocking it myself, but with no luck, so I've had to call out a plumber for tomorrow morning. I kind of needed to get a plumber in anyway as the flush hasn't been working properly for a while, but it's just annoying that this has happened right before I go away on Friday (at least I have a downstairs toilet though)

2) As I've mentioned on the Friday Five thread, I've been ordering tons of shoes recently for 2 weddings I'm going to in September. Well, on May 29th, I ordered a pair online from House of Fraser. Warning: big saga story coming up:

The ONLY reason I ordered from HOF at all is because I couldn't find the same shoes in the right colour on the Debenhams site. With House of Fraser, I had to pay £4.99 to collect in store (though I got a £5 voucher back with the order), and it took 8 days for them to arrive in store. However, right after I put the order in, I discovered that Debenhams had them in stock after all, in the right size and colour, but it was too late to cancel the HOF order.

I picked the order up from HOF on Saturday 8th, and they told me that if I returned them in store, I could only get an exchange or a credit note. In order to get a refund I either had to print off the returns form online and post it back, OR I could bring it into store, fill out the form there and they would send it back for me, but it would take a few days longer.

When I got home, I discovered they had sent the wrong size - now I'm not sure if I selected the wrong size, or they sent the wrong size. I ordered a size 4, and what I got was a US size 7 (which is way too big)... which is fair enough, except that I ordered a size 4 in a different colour from Debenhams and they sent a US size 6 (which fit perfectly).

So, I needed to return them for a refund:
- I went to the website to print the returns form... except there is no returns form. The link is broken, and just takes me in a circle back to the main returns and exchanges page .
- I looked on their website for someone to contact - they have no phone number and their Twitter and webchat services are only Mon-Fri from 9am (this was Saturday evening).
- On Sunday, I went back to the store to ask if I could fill out the form in-store. I spoke to 3 members of staff and 1 manager and none of them had ever heard of this option, and they said they had no access to any return forms at all
- They did say because I'd only ordered 1 item, I could send it back without the return form as the barcode would show the exact item and amount... but I'm not sure I trust that advice!
- Cut to this morning, and I'm all ready to go onto the webchat... I have the site up at 9am and I see the 'Chat to Us' button, but I'm also on the phone with the plumber sorting out tomorrow's appointment, so I leave it for a few minutes
- When I go back to the HOF site, the 'Chat to Us' button has disappeared . Apparently you can only see it when someone is actually available to chat. It's been almost 2 hours and still no sign of it
- I then Tweeted their Help people... it's been almost 2 hours and still nothing
- I have emailed their customer services, but just got a generic reply saying it could take 72 hours to get back to me
- I have called the 2 customer service numbers I found online for them, but they are both out of service 

All in all, this whole thing is a farce. I need this sorted quickly because a) I'm going on holiday on Friday and b) it says I only have 14 days from date of purchase to return the item... but if we're going from the date I ordered it, the 14 days is up on Wednesday.

If I had just ordered from Debenhams in the first place, I would have got free 'click and collect' and could have easily and quickly returned in store for a refund. But no, I had to go through HOF, and now I may not get my money back . Oh, and I can't just exchange them in-store, because they are the wrong colour and do not go with my dress .

Ah, was just about to post this when I got a reply to my Tweet, asking me to DM them with my order details so they can email me a returns form... fingers crossed it actually happens!

fingers crossed it actually happens!

Good luck! 

No wonder HOF is in such trouble! Oh, but then Debenhams is too! They are easy to collect and return though.

Good luck! 

Thanks . Luckily, their Twitter help sent me the returns label quickly and I was able to send the shoes back today. Cost me £8 in postage though, which I won't get back .

No wonder HOF is in such trouble! Oh, but then Debenhams is too! They are easy to collect and return though.

I know! I've never really shopped at HOF before - I've only bought a couple of items from them in the past, so I had no idea how bad it was going to be.

True, Debenhams is also in trouble, but their customer service and delivery options are much better. I'm just kicking myself for not realising I could have ordered the shoes from Debenhams in the first place. I wouldn't have even needed to buy from HOF at all, and it would have saved me £13 in delivery costs.

Thanks . Luckily, their Twitter help sent me the returns label quickly and I was able to send the shoes back today. Cost me £8 in postage though, which I won't get back .

I know! I've never really shopped at HOF before - I've only bought a couple of items from them in the past, so I had no idea how bad it was going to be.

True, Debenhams is also in trouble, but their customer service and delivery options are much better. I'm just kicking myself for not realising I could have ordered the shoes from Debenhams in the first place. I wouldn't have even needed to buy from HOF at all, and it would have saved me £13 in delivery costs.

I would argue the postage cost - they sent the wrong size!