I might have thought that quote funny once. Unfortunately my sense of humour on the issue of power and light has take a bit of a knock lately. I have now joined the ranks of those who have no difficulty whatsoever in believing that if God really had had to rely on the ‘Electricity Board’ for a connection we might all still be sitting in the dark even now . . .
Do I sound a little frustrated? Well, I am. Just a tad. For the last couple of weeks I have been getting reminders from the power company that my current ‘plan’ will expire at the beginning of March and that if I don’t renew it immediately there are bound to be dire consequences. (Those weren’t their exact words of course but that was the gist—price hikes, loss of bonuses, etc etc . . .)
Well alright then. I’d best get that renewed poste-haste hadn’t I? No worries, this should only take a second . . .
So I followed the link to the appropriate website, logged in, found the ‘Renew Your Plan’ button, pressed Enter and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . .
Okay. So maybe the website needed a minute. (I admit I can be a little impatient with these things.) That’s okay, I have other things I can be going on with. I left the little round thingy that indicates that the website was processing my request running and went and attended to something of much more immediate importance . . .
After finishing my cup of tea I came back to the site to find absolutely no progress had been made. The little wheel continued to spin around . . . and around . . . and around . . .
After a further 10 minutes of waiting I decided I definitely had better things to do. The website was obviously having issues. I’d try again tomorrow.
And I did. And the next day . . . and the day after that . . .
Sigh.
I’ve tried to renew my electricity plan every day for the past week now with the same result (I know I know, the definition of madness . . . ) but I really, really, really didn’t want to phone them. There had to be another way. So I searched the site for a ‘Contact Us’ button. Lo and Behold—there was a box that said they’d call me (free of charge!) if I had a problem. Just ‘Click Here’. Click.
My phone rang almost immediately. Woo Hoo!!
‘Thank you for calling,’ (said the cheery (and obviously pre-recorded) voice) ‘ . . . we are taking a lot of calls at the moment but if you are happy to wait . . . (long pause) . . . 45 minutes . . . we’ll get to your call as soon as we can. If not, please call us back.’
I knew there was a reason I really, really, really didn’t want to phone. Like I was going to wait on hold for 45 minutes . . .
One final desperate search online eventually found me a ‘Lodge an Enquiry’ section. What did I have to lose (except perhaps my sanity)—’So. . . .’ I wrote politely, “is there something wrong with your website? Because I have been following all the prompts for over a week now to renew my existing plan and I really don’t seem to be having much luck . . . “
I received an immediate (and very polite) response—‘Thank you for your enquiry. Your message is important to us. We will get back to you within 2-3 working days.’
Sigh. (Again.)
Of course, three days later I still haven’t heard anything back from them so this post must now serve as fair warning that next time I write to all you lovely people I may well have reverted to chipping away on a stone tablet by candlelight.
But wait! look! There’s an email just come in from the power company. Maybe this will sort it all out . . .
‘Hello Sally. This is just a friendly reminder . . . ‘
Sally says . . . eat, sleep, work, read, play, draw, bark . . . 