Who's playing silly buggers?

Warning: this is a rant. I'll forgive you if you don't read it.

If, however, you live in Portugal, you may find some of the information useful.

As if I didn't have enough to do, it being end-of-year madness at school, I have to deal with cable TV/mobile phone/Internet providers playing silly buggers.

Complaints against companies providing these services are very frequent.  I have complained twice before - once I eventually won, once I eventually gave up.

This week I got a weird message on my mobile phone (not MEO). The message was from MEO, though (MEO is one of the main cable TV, mobile phone and Internet providers).

It thanked me for signing up to one of its services  -  called M4O. That was weird because I hadn't signed up to anything, as it happens.

 But the message went on to say that the "mobiles would be activated in a few days".

So I went on to the client support site (my broadband is MEO) to find how to ask for an explanation.

Couldn't find a way to complain without making a phone call - at my expense - and we all know how long and expensive those calls can be. 

There was a client satisfaction questionnaire, so I tried to use that.

Got a message thanking me for my feedback - very helpful!

The next day I got an automated call from MEO!

"Had my service been successfully activated, press 0 for yes, press 1 for no" (or something like that) - I pressed the number for NO! 

"Would I recommend MEO to other people?" You can guess what I pressed! 

At the third question, I hung up.

Silly buggers weren't going to go away and I would have to deal with them before they turned into expensive silly buggers.

I went back to the client support site and eventually found a contact form where I outlined the problem.

But today I had to drive to one of their shops because I got yet another message from MEO which informed me that the signing up process was complete and the service was activated for the stand minimum period of 24 months!

I showed the nice girl behind the counter the messages and outlined the problem again. 

She agreed it was weird. She checked and said my mobile phone number wasn't on their register associated with any M4O service. 

So why was I receiving the messages? "Probably a wrong number," she said, hoping that I would leave it at that. 

No, I wasn't leaving without the problem being registered officially in writing. If it's not in writing, it doesn't count, as another couple with a complaint were finding out at the counter beside me.

I could feel the people behind me in the line fuming, but my problem got written down officially and I have a copy!

So, what do I find in my email inbox? A swift reply to the contact form I had sent in the day before.

What did it say?

"Please phone 16200 to inform what kind of service you are referring to and who signed up for it so that we can process your complaint!"

All I can say is they can't read/didn't read my text or love playing silly buggers!

No wonder they get so many complaints!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2014

View as you come in the gate

May has turned up the heat (maximum 25ºC today) and today the focus will be on lavenders, roses and a new addition: pelargoniums.

The plants in this bed haven't quite filled out to hide the crack in the wall but there are white, red and peach-coloured roses blooming steadily and the red hibiscus is also in bloom. 

There is also some mock rose in the middle of this photo but you can't really see the blooms. They are pretty and sweet-smelling but the blooming period is so short! I wonder if there is anything I can do to change that. Would pruning the bush after the first blooms encourage more blooms, I wonder?

I love these roses! The blooms last a long time and when they open they look like this:

Gorgeous!

 I grew this rose bush from a cutting. I would love to know its correct name.

More yellow roses, also grown from a cutting.

These roses were bought as yellow but they turned this colour in their second year and I can't say that I am disappointed.

I have three different kinds of white roses. This one has a soft pink centre.

I just had to include these fragrant mauve blooms from the beginning of May.

These were blooming at the beginning of the month, too.

I have to confess that I started this garden without giving any thought to sustainability. I was silly enough to be persuaded to sow wall-to wall grass. Boy was that a mistake! Reclaiming soil for beds has resulted in back-breaking work over the last 8 years!

I started out with a vague plan to grow plants that we had in our Salisbury garden, hence the hibiscus and the roses. I can still see in my mind's eye the beautiful rose-beds they had in the Lord Malvern School gardens. Despite the roses' need for lots of water, I cannot give them up but I am now choosing new plants very carefully and finding it easier to resist buying on impulse anything that looks wonderful at the garden centre.

Santolina - now that's a wise choice for a garden in hardiness zone 10a.

Thank you for visiting my small garden. Do come back in June and pop over to May Dreams Gardens, the home of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

Wildflowers near Aveiro

Whenever I can I take a drive along the Aveiro Lagoon (Ria de Aveiro, in Portuguese). At Easter its banks were looking very colourful, even on a rather grey day.