So, after getting more than a little annoyed with Very (in particular their spare parts department) we decided to make a complaint via their website rather than wait around yet again for another phone call which we probably wouldn’t receive. So I eagerly filled in the form and rather than explain the situation yet again, I sent them a link to part 1 of this blog post. With hindsight we probably should have done this earlier. Within a couple of minutes we received an (albeit automated) email confirming that our compliant was being looked into and then the next day I got a phone call from a very lovely woman called Lisa.

Lisa had been in contact with the elusive spare parts department who had told her that this was a “very common complaint” and that “part M was attached to part L and part P was attached to part O”.

We rushed home to verify this as we’d obviously spent some time with our 13 new HNGEs and weren’t entirely convinced by this as an explanation….

You know that feeling you get when you try to fill a balloon with flour by trying to blow it up first. The one where you feel really stupid (as my partner will contest). Doh!

I’ll try to save some face by showing you what we were looking for:

…and what we were sent (both part O and L look pretty much the same):

I hope you can see how we might have been confused. It appears that the HNGEs we were looking for are screwed to the bottom of the HNGEs that we were sent (and already had). I really don’t know why it took over 2 months, 13 phone calls and a compliant to glean this information but at least we can finally pack our clothes away in their new home!

To say sorry for 2 months without a wardrobe we were offered some money off both this and are next purchase. And who says stupidity doesn’t pay!

Thank you Lisa from Very – you’re a star!

Assembly day had arrived! Rather than just diving in to putting our new wardrobe together we decided (my partner decided) it would be wise to make sure we had all of the required parts. I bowed down to her superior organisational skills and agreed that this would be probably be wise, so we spent the next hour unpacking the 267 parts and putting all of the parts in small piles organised by type. After counting, recounting, checking all of the boxes, checking all of the boxes again, making sure we hadn’t inadvertantly taken them downstairs and put them in the fridge (where quite a few of our belongings end up) it was quite clear that we were missing 4 parts M and 2 parts P. Bugger.

So, the next day I phoned their help desk to explain our plight. The first thing I was greeted with is an automated telephone system “Are you calling to place an order, just say yes or no”. No. “Ok, I can also help you make a payment, return your order or find out the status of your order…..so just say Make a payment, return your order, order status or help me with something else.” Help me with something else. “Ok, I can get you account information, order you a catalogue….blah blah….or if you need to speak to someone just say advisor”. Advisor. “Ok, can you give me your account number”. 19747032. “So that’s 1 9 7 4 7 0 3 2 is that right?” Yes. “And for security can you give me your date of birth”, 2nd August 19??. “Thank you”. You’re welcome. Ring ring. So, I finally got through to a lovely advisor who, after I’d explained what had happened and that we were missing 4 parts M and 2 parts P, appologised profusely and told us that someone would be in contact or they’d just send the parts out. All good I thought. We’ve waited 2 weeks surrounded by our piles of clothes, a couple more won’t hurt even though our clothes were now joined by 265 wardrobe parts.

6 days go by so I decided to give them another call to see whats happening. No…Help me with something else…Advisor…19747032…Yes…2nd August 19??…Hi. Again, they were very sorry and someone would be in contact shortly. Ok no problem – I’m quite a patient person.

2 days pass and we recieve a letter which states…

“Dear Mr Smith,
Thank you for contacting us to request HNGE.
I’m pleased to tell you that I have now arranged for the 6 to be sent to you. You should recieve them within the next 7 days”
Blah blah…”

Strange we thought, but ok, this is starting to get a little silly but at least we have a date for the missing parts now.

4 days later we come home to find a parcel waiting for us. Hurray – we can finally put our new wardrobe together after about a month of having to tread carefully around the bedroom so as not to knock the piles of clothes over or step on any of the numerous piles of wardrobe parts. It seems though that the person on missing parts duty that day was having a bad day, because rather than the required 4 parts M and 2 parts P, they had packed 6 parts ?.

No…Help me with something else…Advisor…19747032…Yes…2nd August 19??…Hi. We’re very sorry (I’m starting to understand why they’ve rebranded as “Very” now), they’ll send the correct parts out in 7 days, and no they don’t understand the letter either. As I said, I’m quite a patient person so I bite my tongue when I’m asked to repeat the parts that we’re missing and try not to say M for Mighty, P for Pissed off.

12 days pass. No…Help me with something else…Advisor…19747032…Yes…2nd August 19??…(I’m getting quite good at this now so I don’t have to wait until all of the options have been read out which does save some time). Hi. They’re very sorry, I shouldn’t have been told that the parts will be with us in 7 days, they’ll actually be with us in 21 days. 21 days!

The next day we recieve a letter which reads:
“Dear Mr Smith,
Thank you for your communication regarding the letter
The letter that states 6 should actually state parts will be with you.
Blah blah…”

Well at least the first letter is a lot clearer now!

NO…HELP ME WITH SOMETHING ELSE…ADVISOR…YES…2ND AUGUST 19??. HI. The very well trained person on the phone tells me they’ll chase the parts for us, again.

The next day we come home to find another parcel. We’ve been here before so our hopes where not high, and suprise suprise, another bad day in the missing parts department. This time though we recieved 7 parts ?. We’re starting to stock pile these parts (whatever they are now) and are considering opening a small business selling just these – somebody must be short of them after all.

NO…HELP ME WITH SOMETHING ELSE…ADVISOR…YES…2ND AUGUST 19??. HI. …

To cut an already long story short, its been 5 weeks since the second delivery of part?. I’ve called another 7 times since then each time to be told that someone would be in contact and each time to be let down. I was hoping to recieve some more of part ? so that we can expand our enterprise and maybe look at an international presence.

The latest is that the missing parts department have emailed the supplier. I had to phone again to find that out though.

You have a week “Very”. Otherwise you can come and collect the 265 parts and no – I’m not taking a day off work to wait around for you.

Yours sincerely,
A VERY annoyed customer.

Update: Read part 2

Most of my nights recently have been spent in front of a computer trying to be productive and build the world’s next Google or Facebook, but ultimately spent skipping through YouTube videos. Tonight was no exception! There used to be a point when I thought that I’d eventually have watched all of the YouTube videos available. That is until I learnt that every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded and that in order to “catchup” I’d need to employ a rather large team of professional “video watchers” (couch potatoes who can paraphrase large volumes of information?) to help me assimilate the swathes of information available. Anyway, I can’t remember exactly how my search started but I thought I’d share some points along the path that I’d chosen by selecting from the “Suggested” videos….

I was amazed by how varied and easy to make some weapons are (I would like to point out that I’m not a “gun nut” and that there were many search items before this!). Don’t get me wrong these homemade DIY devices aren’t going to cause the next 9/11. But it is interesting that 1/4 million people have view this and now know how to make a Tazer!
how to make a homemade tazer

My next turn after learning how to build a Tazer (watch out criminals!) was “lasers” (I wish I could put air quotes around that and pretend I’m evil). I’ve always been amazed by the laser shows in some of the big night clubs. Endless oscillating tunnels of light hitting smoke. Amazingly – you can build your own with Lego:
DIY Laser Show: Number 1

Visualising music with light is one thing, but visualising it with a non-Newtonian fluid is another:
cool corn starch and speaker experiment

I learnt that the science of how fluid moves when exposed to sound is called “Cymatics”. Here’s another with explains it a little better:
Collin’s Lab: DIY Cymatics

Theres another substance which moves and arranges itself into some strange shapes when an external force is applied. Its called “Ferrofluid” and it can be used to create some truly amazing images:
Ferrofluid on the track of a Meatgrinder

Then I stumbled onto an element called Bismuth (Symbol: Bi). This is the heaviest element thats not radioactive apparently. Some of the strange geometric shapes that it forms are amazing:
Bismuth Crystals.

Then of course I found some boobs:
Age verification required

Night!

Here are just a few of them:

This video shows the scale of what we know, from the very small to the very large and the similarities between the two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

A recent visuialisation which makes me wonder how long it is until we’re hit by another cataclysmic event:
http://flowingdata.com/2010/08/27/asteroid-discoveries-over-past-30-years-visualized/

How can there not be other planets capable of sustaining life?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYZNTsFTZ5w&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U&hd=1

Quantum reality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qL1OKrs-q4&feature=related

Warning: This is quite long and quite hard-going! However it is one of the most mind-blowing presentations of what we as humans understand and predict in terms of quantum mechanics.
http://www.ted.com/talks/garrett_lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html
What an amazing life that guys has too!

As this isn’t a book review site here’s what Amazon has to say about it:

“Gardening in the Dark is the first novel by author Jennifer Syrkiewicz. It is essentially a love story for modern times, with a twist.
The main character of the novel has Bippolar Affective Disorder, and ‘Gardening’ follows her story as she navigates through the confusion of mental illness to find a happy ending.

The novel moves back and forth between the character’s past and present, showing how each of us are influenced by our upbringing to be the person we are, today.

A beautifully-written, thought-provoking and engaging story, ‘Gardening’ is a must read for anyone looking to learn more about overcoming diversity, reaching happiness and understanding the past to support a brighter present.”

Why am I writing about it? Well, not only is it a fantastic read, but I was also privileged enough to get to use one of my pictures as the cover.

Anyway, go and buy it on Amazon!

Watch Jen giving an interview about the book

Day 1: Come up with great new idea for a website
Day 2: Refine the idea
Day 3: Start to think about a name for the website
Day 4: Lay down some wicked designs
Day 5: Try find a domain name that isn’t parked
Day 7: Try find a domain name that isn’t parked

Every English word has already been registered as a domain name – most are not being used for anything and are simply parked. Almost every combination of 2 English words have already been registered as a domain name – most are not being used for anything and are simply parked.

Dear ICANN,

While I can understand that “getting there first” entitles you to certain privileges in life, I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase “use it or lose it”.

Please change the domain registration rules so that if you register a domain name and haven’t done something (anything!) with it within a year, you lose it.

The rules as they currently stand stifle web development.

Forcing numbers and/or special characters in passwords is counter-productive. Increasing the required complexity of passwords decreases its memorability, forcing users to either write their passwords on post-it notes attached to their monitors or to continually request password reminders (which are generally sent using the not-so-secure medium of email).

If the goal of increasing the complexity of a password is to stop brute-force attacks, there is a simple alternative which most websites already employ – lock a users account after 3 incorrect passwords. Simples….

The only password requirement that I do agree with is a minimum length. This at least prevents users from setting their password to”a” (although any user that sets their password to something so simple deserves to have their account compromised). I recently signed up for a site which required a password of at least 8 characters! If a 4 character PIN code is enough to secure your credit/debit card shouldn’t it be enough to secure a website?

Rant over!

I’m delighted to advice you that your order with Electronicshop have been gently taken from our shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your order and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your order into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Sydney waved ‘Bon Voyage!’ to your package, on its way to you, in our private Electronicshop jet on this day, 10/20/2010.

Track Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Track Link: http://www.fedex.com/Tracking

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at Electronicshop, We sure did.

We are impatiently looking forward to you FEEDBACK on your experience and new ideas on how we can better improve our service.

Your picture is on our wall as “Customer of the Year”. We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to Electronicshop.com.au!!

Update: One of my friends asked me what I brought from this store that they offered me such an excellent service? Was it something made of gold or (knowing me very well) was it something geeky? I told them that it was a camera lens so therefore probably didn’t qualify for the term “geeky”. I did however point out that they shouldn’t “advice me….”, they should “advise me….”. My friend pointed out that although the purchased item probably wasn’t, I most certainly was….