Perth – WrAnTz

Incompetence? or Stupidity?

Earlier this year my daughter lost her husband. Anyone who has lost a partner will know what a difficult time this can be.

Over and above the funeral arrangements there are many administrative and bureaucratic tasks to be fulfilled. For the most part, banks and insurance companies, local councils and utility companies, know what has to be done and execute the processes efficiently.

And then there is Exetel and, subsequently, Superloop.

These companies have displayed a singular level of ineptitude that defies belief.

Over the last four weeks my daughter has contacted Exetel to explain that her husband has died and that his credit card, to which her broadband account is tied, has been cancelled. She has explained that she wishes to keep the account, just transfer it to her name so that she can take over the payments.

She has contacted Exetel via telephone and email. Has provided proof of identity as well as other supporting documents.

She has been handed off from Exetel employee to Exetel employee over three weeks. Despite their promises, not one of these people has taken ownership of this issue, neither responding to emails or returning phone calls as promised.

On Friday there was a light bulb moment. Albeit a dim one. One of the Exetel employees explained that my daughter had to make a new account application via Superloop.

Superloop are the parent company of Exetel. And, if you go to their website, it tells you that they cannot supply broadband services to my daughters address. Which is strange, as they have been supplying this service for several years.

To continue, on Friday my daughter fired up a new account with Superloop. She had requested the same services and also confirmed that her (VOIP) telephone number would be transferred

Imagine her surprise when later that evening her landline (VOIP) stopped working.

So, yet more phone calls to find out that her phone number had stayed with Exetel even though the broadband had transferred.

By then, at the end of the Friday fiasco, Superloop had created a separate, dummy acount, in my daughters name. Supposedly, this was to allow Superloop to capture the phone number.

My daughter was promised that Superloop would call her on Monday, during which they would merge my daughters new account, with the dummy account, to return things to normal.

And so, here we are on Monday afternoon and, surprise surprise, no phone call from Superloop. My daughter has called them to find out what is going on. More confusion as they seem unable to find any record of the dummy account. My daughter is now back to waiting for Superloop to sort things out.

Meanwhile, my daughter was just checking her husbands email account.

Exetel have sent an email stating that his account has been closed and how sorry they are to lose him as a customer. But they just wanted to let him know that he is now liable to a charge for the early closure of the account.

Needless to say, this has triggered another phone call to point out that he didn’t leave Exetel, rather, they booted him out, that they would not be getting paid. In order for them to forgo this payment, my daughter has now been requested to send a copy of his death certificate. This she has done.

By the way, the clown at Exetel, despite moments earlier, having been told of his death, asked to speak to to account holder.

We are now awaiting the next episode of this unnecessary saga.

My daughter cannot be the first person to have gone through this process.

Did they go through the same degrees of stress and upset that such a simple request has caused?

Like I said, Incompetence? or Stupidity?

Remembering

Yesterday, 9th August, would have been Steves birthday. It was the first since his passing earlier this year.

We thought we would honour his name by having a meal and raising a glass at one of his favourite destinations.

And so it was that we found ourselves heading up to Mindari to visit The Boat. Mindari is about 60km north of Perth, normally an easy drive of an hour or so.

However, yesterday was very wet, and the drive took a bit longer. The conditions on the highways were diabolical. The wipers were going at their max rate for most of the journey, and the road spray was severely reducing visibility.

Having safely arrived at The Boat, we grabbed a table and ordered our drinks and meals. Obviously, given the weather conditions, we opted to sit inside.

Chilli Mussels for Gerry, Garlic Prawns, and Rice for Denise and Battered Barramundi with Chips for me. Oh, and a sharing platter of cheesy garlic bread. All the food was, as usual, very well cooked and tasty.

We raised a glass to Steve and wished him a happy celestial birthday, The Boat, being one of his favourite eateries, he would have approved.

While having our meal, I noticed that we had an observer, keeping tabs on us.

The drive home was much better, dry and sunny.

Dog Walk

Not far from my daughters house, there are these pretty lakes.

On previous visits, they have been all but dried up, muddy pools only suitable for hippos.

However, there have been days of wall to wall rainfall interspersed with beautiful sunny days. As a consequence, the lakes are perhaps a little over full.

I took these photos yesterday while out walking the dog.

Perth Skyline By Night

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Perth, WA – Viewed From Applecross

View from a friends balcony as the skies cleared after a significant rain storm in July, 2002.

Not the sharpest of photos. Taken on my first digital camera, an Olympus. Mounted on a telescope tripod.

Boathouse

Australian City of Perth In Lockdown

This just goes to prove that you cannot let your guard down, not for a moment where this pandemic is concerned.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-55877150

10 months clear of any locally acquired Covid-19 and just one individual can undo all the good work done by the many. Clearly there was a lapse of attention or judgement and that is all it takes.

It seems that a security guard working in a hotel, has been tested positive for Covid-19, possibly with the UK variant.

One should also keep in mind, Australia has not yet started to roll out the vaccine. March appears to be the soonest estimate for vaccinations to start.

Supplies of the vaccines also look to be in jeopardy, as the EU plans to impose restrictions on exports. Restrictions, on vaccine exports, are being put in place to cover shortfalls brought about by the EUs own bureaucracy and ineptitude.

This is potentially a double whammy for WA residents.

Frustration – Update 20/06/2020

20/06/2020 – Update From Home In The UK

Whoohoo, we are home. Have been for 19 days. I thought I would fill you in on how we got here and why I am still feeling the frustration.

So BA eventually cancelled the KL/London flight. Basically leaving us stranded. They left us with the options of accepting a voucher, aka an IOU, or taking a refund. I obviously wasn’t going to accept the voucher. Who knows when air travel will get back to normal or even if my wife and I will be prepared to travel during the period of validity for the voucher.

All BAs communications regarding the flight cancellation refer you to their app and website. There you can complete a form to accept a voucher/IOU. What they don’t tell you is that if you want a refund, you have to phone them.

So I rang the Australian contact number, assuming that they would be based over east. I spent two days trying to get through to BA, listening to that awful tune and the repeated message that they are operating on reduced staff, and eventually managed to get through. I spoke to a rep called CiCi. Turns out she wasn’t in Oz, but was actually in Hong Kong. Informing her that I wanted a refund, she proceeded to seemingly put up obstacles. But I persisted and she finally accepted my request, informing me that I would have to wait up to eight weeks for the refund. Apparently, refunds are processed by their office in India and of course they were in total lockdown. I said that I understood, that I was prepared to wait and requested that she send me an email confirming our conversation and that I had requested the refund. She informed me that she was not able to send out emails. I, in turn, explained that I was concerned that there would be no formal acknowledgement of our conversation, that if I waited eight weeks and then contacted BA to ask where my refund was, they could deny having received my request. At this point I started to lose my cool.

Eventually, I cooled down a little, and accepted that she was doing all she could. I really didn’t have much choice. So, there I was, stuck in Oz and a couple of thousand pounds out of pocket.

In the meantime I had been trawling the airlines to see who could possibly get me home. It appeared that Qantas were still scheduling flights to the UK. I managed to get seats booked on the direct flight, Perth to London, for mid June.

Big smiles all round, things were looking up. We were going home, albeit a couple of weeks later than planned.

Then Qantas cancelled our flight and almost instantly issued us with an voucher. Small print on the voucher is that it can only be used for flights originating in Oz and has to be used for flights costing the same or more. That last bit is important.

Earlier in the year I had registered with the UK High Commision. I had a communication from them indicating that Qantas was operating two flights a week, from Perth to London. I immediately attempted to book tickets using my newly received voucher.

I fell at the first hurdle. Apparently this flight was economy only. Our original booking was for premium economy. Therefore, our voucher was of a higher value than the seats I wanted to book, the system would not allow me to proceed with the booking.

After I picked my chin up off the floor, I resigned myself to having to spend ore time waiting on the phone to speak to a real person. Thankfully, I didn’t have to spend too long and after explaining my dilemma to a delightful young lady she told me this was not a problem.

After spending thirty minutes on the phone to her, I not only had seats booked and tickets issued via email, but also had confirmation of a refund of the difference.

So, there we were again, big smiles and fingers crossed, we were on our way home.

And sure enough, we left Perth on 31st May and touched down at Heathrow 1st June.

Why am I still frustrated ?

Well I am still waiting on BA to refund me the full value of my return flight tickets and associated charges and taxes.

I have tried to contact them by phone several time using different numbers. There phone system leads you through several number selections. Informs you that they are very busy, operating on reduced staffing levels, thanks you for your patience ……. then hangs up !!!

No queue ….. nothing.

While going through this I discovered that I had received two payments into my bank account which I have determined are the seat booking fees I paid last October. This was a start and I thought the remaining monies would follow fairly shortly.

I got tired of holding my breath and having been thwarted by the phone system I thought I would utilise their email contact form on their website. The day after I submitted the email I discovered that I had received two further payments into my account. Initially I was quite excited and pleased by this. That is until I realised that the total sum credited to my account falls rather short of my expectations. Around £500 short to be precise.

I have since gone back, through the email system, to BA asking for an explaination of where the remaining monies are and for a breakdown of what they believe they have paid me so far.

I do not believe that BA are operating in a professional manner. Since the flight cancellation they have not been proactive to resolve either my flights or refunds. In fact it feels like they have taken a step back and wiped their hands of me. Their web site, Phone App and telephone system seems deliberately set up to frustrate and thwart those trying to obtain a refund.

There have been no communications from them to say they are paying me any money. If I hadn’t been viewing my account for another reason I would have been unaware of the transactions. The funds are just appearing in my account, like the animals on Noahs Ark, they come in two by two. I have gone back through the original invoices and cannot rationalise their refund credits against the amounts the charges.

So, that is why the frustration levels remain high.

07/04/2020 – Update

This morning I tried calling BA and, after 40 minutes of once again listening to “that tune”, I was eventually connected to one of BAs agents.

After explaining that the BA app would not help me sort out a booking for the Perth / KL leg of my journey, even though I had seen flights available on the Malaysia Airlines site, the agent put me on hold while she tried to sort out a flight.

When she came back, she informed me that the flight that I had seen, with availability yesterday, was fully booked in both Economy and Business classes.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. But I am still frustrated that there is no proactive help from BA.

After all, I booked tickets for all of my journey with BA. Their partner airline has cancelled the flight and my feeling is that BA, in sending the email notification have just washed their hands of the issue. If I don’t keep harrassing them then they will forget bout me and my wife.

So, the agents advice is that I should wait until next month to see how the worldwide airline network is looking. That, in May I should try booking flights via BA again and in the meantime, just sit tight.

Of course, that is all well and good. In May I can choose to either re-book, accept a voucher for future air travel or I can request a refund.

If I go down the refund path then I am fully responsible for my own travel. At the moment I have tickets, bought at October 2019 prices. Who knows what the prices will be for future flights.

Who knows how many of the major airlines will still be in existence since most are already requesting government handouts, are laying off thousands of staff and have grounded most if not all of their fleets.

This is a complex problem and I guess I will revisit it in May.

06/04/2020 – Initial Post

This is my first post with a Coronavirus link. Don’t panic, I’m not about to join the ranks of covidiots. What, I am about to share, is my frustration with the folks that I contracted to take me home.

Last October, my wife, Gerry, and I flew out to Perth WA. We booked return tickets with British Airways (BA), the flights being London to Perth via Kuala Lumpur (KL). BA serviced the London / Kuala Lumpur leg and partners Malaysia Airlines serviced the remaining Kuala Lumpur / Perth leg.

The outward journey was almost trouble free, apart from a little glitch over boarding cards for the KL / Perth leg. However, we duly arrived in Australia, met up with our family and here we have been ever since.

Little did we know, at that time, what the world had in store for us. In fact, little did anybody know.

So up pops Covid-19 or Coronavirus, throws the whole world into chaos. Not the least of which is the worlds airlines.

A short while ago I received an email from BA informing me that my flight from Perth to KL is cancelled. Of course behind this cancellation is the fact that Malaysia closed its borders to all foreigners. Amazingly, the KL / London leg is still scheduled.

Which is where my frustration comes in.

The BA email provided links to change my flights or accept a voucher … aka … IOU or grab a refund. Since I still need to get home I chose to explore the flight change option.

Of course things are changing so rapidly I didn’t really expect this to go smoothly. However, I was surprised that the BA supplied link came back with the following …

This was a surprise since I had already been on the Malaysia Airlines website and it was indicating flight availability.

It seems that the BA app can only see BA flights.

So, I thought I would try going direct to Malaysia Airlines. After a surprisingly short wait I was connected with a very pleasant lady. I explained my dilemma, she called up my details on her system. She then politely explained to me that she cannot transfer my booking to a new flight.

The reason for this, is that my tickets are not on Malaysia Airlines “ticket stock”.

This confirmed, apparently, by the ticket number commencing with “125”. Bottom line was that I had to go back to BA. Obviously I need to speak to a real person, not an app.

The BA Customer Service number is for an office over east. What that means is by the time you get up in Perth, they have all gone to lunch. It’s obviously not that bad but it might just as well be.

I listened to the “all our customer service reps are busy” message many, many times. In between messages, I listened to an ear bleedingly tinny recording of the BA theme, The Flower Duet from Léo Delibes Lakmé. Not the beautiful operatic version but one that sounds like it is being played on a National Steel Guitar recorded through a length of steel pipe. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the National Steel Guitar. Over and over I listen while waiting for a customer service rep. After an hour I have a headache and have lost the will to live. Eventually, I hang up. Resolved to call again tomorrow, earlier.

I used to like that tune.

Frustration

Little did we know, at that time, what the world had in store for us. In fact, little did anybody know.

So up pops Covid-19 or Coronavirus, throws the whole world into chaos. Not the least of which is the worlds airlines.

Which is where my frustration comes in.

The BA email provided links to change my flights or accept a voucher … aka … IOU or grab a refund. Since I still need to get home I chose to explore the flight change option.

Of course things are changing so rapidly I didn’t really expect this to go smoothly. However, I was surprised that the BA supplied link came back with the following …

This was a surprise since I had already been on the Malaysia Airlines website and it was indicating flight availability.

It seems that the BA app can only see BA flights.

The reason for this, is that my tickets are not on Malaysia Airlines “ticket stock”.

This confirmed, apparently, by the ticket number commencing with “125”. Bottom line was that I had to go back to BA. Obviously I need to speak to a real person, not an app.

The BA Customer Service number is for an office over east. What that means is by the time you get up in Perth, they have all gone to lunch. It’s obviously not that bad but it might just as well be.

I used to like that tune.

Conundrum

I am currently languishing in the Perth suburbs, Western Australia.

Last October, my son-in-law Steve was diagnosed with a brain tumour (glioblastoma). Very quickly, following the diagnosis, he was whisked into hospital for brain surgery. At the time we didn’t know how much after care he would need but we offered to help out and so my wife and I travelled out to Oz to provide support.

After care wasn’t the issue. Steve really recovered well after the surgery with no real pain and none of the residual weakness that would have been present following an abdominal or chest operation.

No, the follow up treatment and schedule was the real issue.

The radiotherapy was daily, Monday to Friday, for six weeks. Whilst the chemotherapy was tablet form, taken daily Monday to Sunday during the same six weeks. Following the surgery Steve was forbidden to drive for the next six to twelve months. So, to enable my daughter to carry on working, my role was to act as chauffer. Daily trips to Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth interspersed with trips to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, also in Perth. As well as various trips for blood tests and scans.

As the chemo built up in his system, the expected nausea and fatigue and exhaustion also built up. Alongside all this came the loss of appetite and corruption of taste buds.

And here is the conundrum.

What do you feed someone, who has all this going on ?

Even after the initial course of chemo and radio therapies has been completed, the dietary disruption continues.

After all, it is hard enough, under normal circumstances, to cater for the normal familial likes and dislikes of

a granddaughter who doesn’t eat meat that isn’t chicken or ham (unless its a burger or a rissole, then almost anything goes) and has a limited set of veggie likes (eats broccoli and cauliflower but not green beans or pumpkin). By the way she loves fish but won’t eat salmon.
a wife who loves fish especially salmon, has a short list of veggies (eats cauliflower but not broccoli and no sprouts or carrots) and doesn’t eat “spicy” food or creamy food i.e. white sauces are something of a minefield. Still waiting for the clear definition of what constitutes spicy.
a daughter who also doesn’t like “spicy” food, likes fish that isn’t salmon or trout. Not sure about tuna ??? Eats most veggies (definitely no sprouts) and all non chicken meats have to be cooked to near charcoal point i.e. no pink

Before the tumour and chemo, Steve used to pretty much eat everything. Now he finds the flavour of most foods to be too strong, overpowering.

So, bland is the order of the day. Steamed fish or chicken predominates. Or the same but simply pan fried or baked. No sauces and definitely no herbs or spices. Some meals comprise just two tenderloin chicken pieces, total weight around 60g, steamed and maybe accompanied by a couple of carrot batons and/or a small broccoli floret.

So, how do I feed Steve without overpowering his hypersensitive taste-buds ? How do I coax him to eat a bit more as his energy levels are already depleted due to the chemo ? The lack of food does nothing to boost those already depleted levels. How do I introduce a bit of variety to his diet ?

Although he completed the initial concurrent chemo / radio therapies, my son-in-law has now started a new regime. He takes a five day course of tablet form chemotherapy, one week in four.

So, the disruption to taste, appetite, stamina and energy levels will be continuing for the next six months at least, maybe even for twelve.

Any suggestions ?

Shannon’s Classic Car Show

Shannons are an insurance company, in Australia, providing Car Insurance, Motorcycle Insurance, and Home Insurance products for motoring enthusiasts who drive imported, modified, classic, veteran or vintage cars.

Each year they host a classic car show. Somehow, despite numerous visits to Perth over the years, I have failed to hear anything about the show. Until now, that is.

Which is how I came to spend around three and a half hours of this past Sunday, being totally surrounded by some of the most amazing classic, veteran and vintage vehicles.

Well OK, I did take a break during that time. One does have to keep body and soul together and a fabulous Brisket Burger, courtesy of “Up In Smoke”, helped with that task.

The show presented a vast array of vehicles. As soon as I had paid my $10 entry fee I found myself surrounded by several Lamborghinis

…. I still think the Miura P400 is the best looking Lambo. No sign of one at this show.

But who wants to waste time looking at high tech super cars …

… when there are classic Volvos. Who remembers The Saint, starring Roger Moore as Simon Templar in his white P1800.

… or Fiats … My wife and I used to own a dark blue Fiat 128. It took us, with two daughters, all the way from Portsmouth in the UK, down to Port Grimaud in the south of France where we toured around Cannes, Nice, St Tropez and Frejus. A glorious two weeks.

… and VWs … Note the strange protuberance on the side of the Herbie lookalike. It’s not a rocket booster but a retro-fit air conditioner. Working in much the same way as the evaporative air conditioners used on many Australian homes.

… no Classic Car Show would be complete without Citroen, responsible for some of the most innovative, technologically advanced cars. And, at the same time producing some of the, mechanically, simplistic vehicles that became iconic in their own right.

… 3 Wheelers like the Messerschmitt, with its aircraft cockpit bubble and even an aircraft style yoke to steer by. The Isetta could be driven in the UK on a motorcycle license, because it was classified as a three wheel motorcycle. I did note the absence of Rodney and Del Boys vehicle of choice, the Reliant. I guess WA is a little too far from Peckham for Trotters Independent Trading Co.

… a few Rileys with their gorgeous curves.

… a few fabulous Austin Healeys. As a school boy I used to lust after a 3000 that I would see regularly in Battle High Street. It was aubergine in colour and had a roll cage, wide wheels and leather straps to hold the bonnet down. The typical “Frog Eye” Sprite was a bit girly by comparison.

… there were a few Fords … what is there to say. Cars for every man. Although not everyman wanted to have the same as everyone else. Hence the many uprated, sporty customisations. I have to say I never thought I would see a Mustang towing a trailer. Especially not a trailer made out of another Mustang. Sacrilege !!!

… Chrysler were well represented by the R & S series Valliants

Never too old to learn something new. I was informed, by a very friendly fella, that the Slant 6 Engine is really a thing. Until Sunday, I had never heard of such a thing. Apparently the Slant 6 enabled the cars designers to achieve a lover profile for the bodywork.

… There was a strong showing from the Holden camp. Many examples especially given the recent news that Holden are ceasing production . My favourite is shown below.

… no show is complete without a Cobra or two ….

Of course it is hard to tell an original, from a replica licensed as a Shelby authorised continuation of the original AC-built Cobra series. Whatever they may be, they are fabulous looking cars.

Of course I could go on throwing up image after image of classic cars but that isn’t all that was available here.

There were trucks …

… Busses … apparently the City Clipper used to offer free rides around Perth city. Interesting that Luxembourg has just announced free public transport in a bid to alleviate traffic congestion. It remains to be seen if the scheme works. Nice to know that Perth was such an innovator, back in the day.

I’ve already shown you a VW camper of sorts. Here are a couple of other campers.

And finally, something most unexpected …. Perambulators ….. Prams !!!. I remember my sisters being pushed around in something similar. No collapsible buggies back then. Definitely not car friendly.