Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Adventure 33: 24th August 2005 - GLASS REPLACEMENT SPECIAL
"oh so it's literally a 24 hour service...." Lo all, well I had to do another one, after the weekend I've just had....if you remember from the last one my car had it's drivers door window smashed...what ensued isn't for the faint hearted, in fact I've only just got over it myself....
Saturday 20th August 2005:
09:40: "Hello North Hampshire Police, how may I help you...", comes the voice of a very nice woman down the telephone, sort of calming, "I'd like to report an attempted break-in to my car" comes my somewhat breathless reply, "Ok, Sir, what exactly has happened ?", "well the drivers side door window has been smashed with something", "has anything been taken from the vehicle ?", "err well I don't know, I didn't want to touch anything, fingerprints etc","has anyone actually go inside the vehicle?","err well I don't know that either, I don't think so...." aha just the answer she wants, "ok Sir, well since no one has got in the vehicle and nothing has been taken, we'll record this as criminal damage, rather than theft...." I'm confused but I agree, what she's actually saying here is that since I don't know if anything has been taken and they can't really be arsed to send someone out to finger print it, they're not going to bother, so she gives me the crime number and says it's ok for me to clear up the glass....
09:50: Armed to the teeth with my crime number, I dig out my insurance details complete with never to be used car sticker advertising 'AutoGraph' "24 hour glass replacement service"...remember that because it'll become important later....I phone the number listed and get put through immediately to 'Autograph', and the very nice woman at "control" tells me that someone from the local office will be in touch shortly, i.e. within the next two hours she explains.....
12:30: I'm on the phone, nearly 3 hours later and no one has phoned me at all, I explain this to "marion" my friendly controller, who says that she'll get someone on to it straight away....
14:10: The phone rings, (straight away eh?), "Hello it's Brian, from Autograph here", "hello Brian" I ingenously reply, "I'm not from your local branch as it closes at 12 on Saturdays, I'm from the Southampton night team", "oh" my incredulity is obviously exciting him as he now explains why it is he's phoning me and my local branch isn't...."I should be able to sort you out sir, I can get the glass this evening and we should be able to get to you by about midnight..."...just a second did he say what I thought he said ? Midnight...the car parked outside my house ? He is having a giraffe isn't he ?....."It won't actually be midnight will it ?" I ask in hope more than anything, "No sir", the releif from me is palpable, "It'll probably be after that...", I explain to him why this wouldn't be a good idea and he agrees to try and get it done early evening...He just has to sort out the jobs for the night and he'll phone back to confirm....
14:30: The phone rings (again, cuh all this service in one afternoon, I can hardly stand it....), "hello it's John here from 'Autograph', someone just phoned you from Southampton ?" he asks, I confirm, "Well no mate, we won't be able to do that....we'll have to pass you back to the local branch, for tomorrow...", he continues, "I've been waiting nearly 4 hours for you guys, what's going on ? It's really not good enough is it, how do I secure my car until tomorrow ?", I'm beginning to get stroppy...the guy is clearly a reject from a local builders merchant, since he seems to have more than his fair share of "bloody customers" mentality..."You'll have to park your car in your garage", comes his reply, "Are you serious ?" I ask in disbelief, "do you know anyone who can actually park their car in their garage ?", he laughs and then says "yeah fair point, sorry bout that" and hangs up...excellent.....just waited half a day for someone to suggest parking my car in the garage that's so full up It'd struggle to get another can of paint or another bike in it, let alone a whole car!!!
16:30: Well that's it...Cashbase have just lifted £60 off me and that was with spend and spend vouchers...
Sunday 21st August 2005:
09:00: No one has phoned yet.....
10:00: Still nothing and I'm getting annoyed....
11:00: In a fit of peak and a certainty that no one is going to phone me and my local branch of 'AutoGraph' is going to close today at 12pm also, I decide to give them a nudge and I phone the "24 hour glass replacement service" helpline number...Marion is still there (good old gal she is) and is as amazed as I am that no one has phoned me yet, I let her have both barrells and while it's not her fault I somehow feel it should be....She promises me that someone will phone me within 30 minutes....
11:40: (beginning to see a theme here....) "'ello it's Alan here from Autograph....naaa mate, we can't do your car today, coz we aint got the glass....it's gonna 'ave to be tomorrow"...for a moment I lost it, and told him I thought it was disgraceful lack of service etc etc...he said "sorry" but you could tell he really wasn't..he just wanted to get back to drinking his tea and reading his copy of the beano....I am not pleased..not in the slightest....
I've written to my insurer, not that that will do any good, I only wanted them to provide me with information...if they'd said all along they couldn't do it until Monday, then at least I wouldn't have waited around for most of the weekend when there wasn't really any point in doing so...when will these people ever learn ???
Monday: 10:00:
Phoned "Autograph" up again, since they were supposed to phone me and they didn't (big surprise eh?)...apparently I was booked in for ............Tuesday between 10 and 12...oh well done them...something they neglected to mention to me too...man I dispair...now I don't have the strength to be annoyed anymore....I explained to the guy that if they didn't turn up tomorrow they'd have to deal with Mandy, and she'd been stuck in all weekend just like me but also Monday and some of Tuesday with the kids...he phoned me straight back to guarantee 110% that it would be done tomorrow...I took him at his word...this time...
Tuesday 11:00:
Glass is all done and fitted...top company that "Autograph"........
Saturday 20th August 2005:
09:40: "Hello North Hampshire Police, how may I help you...", comes the voice of a very nice woman down the telephone, sort of calming, "I'd like to report an attempted break-in to my car" comes my somewhat breathless reply, "Ok, Sir, what exactly has happened ?", "well the drivers side door window has been smashed with something", "has anything been taken from the vehicle ?", "err well I don't know, I didn't want to touch anything, fingerprints etc","has anyone actually go inside the vehicle?","err well I don't know that either, I don't think so...." aha just the answer she wants, "ok Sir, well since no one has got in the vehicle and nothing has been taken, we'll record this as criminal damage, rather than theft...." I'm confused but I agree, what she's actually saying here is that since I don't know if anything has been taken and they can't really be arsed to send someone out to finger print it, they're not going to bother, so she gives me the crime number and says it's ok for me to clear up the glass....
09:50: Armed to the teeth with my crime number, I dig out my insurance details complete with never to be used car sticker advertising 'AutoGraph' "24 hour glass replacement service"...remember that because it'll become important later....I phone the number listed and get put through immediately to 'Autograph', and the very nice woman at "control" tells me that someone from the local office will be in touch shortly, i.e. within the next two hours she explains.....
12:30: I'm on the phone, nearly 3 hours later and no one has phoned me at all, I explain this to "marion" my friendly controller, who says that she'll get someone on to it straight away....
14:10: The phone rings, (straight away eh?), "Hello it's Brian, from Autograph here", "hello Brian" I ingenously reply, "I'm not from your local branch as it closes at 12 on Saturdays, I'm from the Southampton night team", "oh" my incredulity is obviously exciting him as he now explains why it is he's phoning me and my local branch isn't...."I should be able to sort you out sir, I can get the glass this evening and we should be able to get to you by about midnight..."...just a second did he say what I thought he said ? Midnight...the car parked outside my house ? He is having a giraffe isn't he ?....."It won't actually be midnight will it ?" I ask in hope more than anything, "No sir", the releif from me is palpable, "It'll probably be after that...", I explain to him why this wouldn't be a good idea and he agrees to try and get it done early evening...He just has to sort out the jobs for the night and he'll phone back to confirm....
14:30: The phone rings (again, cuh all this service in one afternoon, I can hardly stand it....), "hello it's John here from 'Autograph', someone just phoned you from Southampton ?" he asks, I confirm, "Well no mate, we won't be able to do that....we'll have to pass you back to the local branch, for tomorrow...", he continues, "I've been waiting nearly 4 hours for you guys, what's going on ? It's really not good enough is it, how do I secure my car until tomorrow ?", I'm beginning to get stroppy...the guy is clearly a reject from a local builders merchant, since he seems to have more than his fair share of "bloody customers" mentality..."You'll have to park your car in your garage", comes his reply, "Are you serious ?" I ask in disbelief, "do you know anyone who can actually park their car in their garage ?", he laughs and then says "yeah fair point, sorry bout that" and hangs up...excellent.....just waited half a day for someone to suggest parking my car in the garage that's so full up It'd struggle to get another can of paint or another bike in it, let alone a whole car!!!
16:30: Well that's it...Cashbase have just lifted £60 off me and that was with spend and spend vouchers...
Sunday 21st August 2005:
09:00: No one has phoned yet.....
10:00: Still nothing and I'm getting annoyed....
11:00: In a fit of peak and a certainty that no one is going to phone me and my local branch of 'AutoGraph' is going to close today at 12pm also, I decide to give them a nudge and I phone the "24 hour glass replacement service" helpline number...Marion is still there (good old gal she is) and is as amazed as I am that no one has phoned me yet, I let her have both barrells and while it's not her fault I somehow feel it should be....She promises me that someone will phone me within 30 minutes....
11:40: (beginning to see a theme here....) "'ello it's Alan here from Autograph....naaa mate, we can't do your car today, coz we aint got the glass....it's gonna 'ave to be tomorrow"...for a moment I lost it, and told him I thought it was disgraceful lack of service etc etc...he said "sorry" but you could tell he really wasn't..he just wanted to get back to drinking his tea and reading his copy of the beano....I am not pleased..not in the slightest....
I've written to my insurer, not that that will do any good, I only wanted them to provide me with information...if they'd said all along they couldn't do it until Monday, then at least I wouldn't have waited around for most of the weekend when there wasn't really any point in doing so...when will these people ever learn ???
Monday: 10:00:
Phoned "Autograph" up again, since they were supposed to phone me and they didn't (big surprise eh?)...apparently I was booked in for ............Tuesday between 10 and 12...oh well done them...something they neglected to mention to me too...man I dispair...now I don't have the strength to be annoyed anymore....I explained to the guy that if they didn't turn up tomorrow they'd have to deal with Mandy, and she'd been stuck in all weekend just like me but also Monday and some of Tuesday with the kids...he phoned me straight back to guarantee 110% that it would be done tomorrow...I took him at his word...this time...
Tuesday 11:00:
Glass is all done and fitted...top company that "Autograph"........
# posted by cre8 @ 4:32 PM 
