getting a phone connected sucks

so I have moved into my somewhat large new house. It is very cool. But getting services connected is not so cool.

Before energex would connect the power on a reasonable tariff (I guess this involves installing more meters), the electrician who wired the house had to send them a Form 2. So he did. Energex come out and noticed he hadn't finished the hot water system, so left a form 3. So the electrician fixes the prob, and now has to send another form 2. So I'm waiting, but at least there is logic to the process.

The phone line however, is not logical. You see it had a dial tone, but couldn't call any numbers. So I ring "phone company". They say a technician will be out to connect the line, and I need to be home for a window of 4 hours, in the middle of the day (they don't understand people have jobs). So I say why does a technician need to come in the house to connect wires, I have a dial tone. And why 4 hours, can't the guy ring me 30mins before?. Well after much arguing, I got no-where. Apparently I HAD to be home.

So after much nice talking I managed to get my mum to pop around that day for the technician (she works part-time). So she rings the "phone company" that morning to ask if they know how far away the technician is. An old bat on the other end of the phone rudely says no they can't tell how far the technician is away. 5 mins later the technician rings me to say he is 25mins away. go figure.

So my mum drives out there, just in time to see the technician finish. And you guessed it, he didn't need to go in the house.

All for the price of $209. wow, what value. :puke

well, at least I have a working phone line now....:thumb

[Edited on 30-11-2004 by Baja Wes]

Sorry Wes but that is what the system has come to. Being a ex tech(3years and loving it) I can understand what you went through and its not any easier for the tech. You had what was called a inplace service. Last time I did one it was no where near $200. Check your first bill and query it

The joys of moving to a new home....when they did our phone we could ring out ok but when someone rang us another phone in a different suburb would also ring so we could have a 3 way conversation!! They denied there was a problem for a while... Congratulations on the new house...I need some more trees planted if you have some "spare time"😀

[Edited on 30-11-2004 by Mick H]