Three Dog Night

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DAY 234

I bounced out of bed this morning, and went straight for the lap-top, I seem to be getting bent out of shape, as I just feel like a want to find some work. It has been 8 months since being gainfully employed, and now we are in Darwin I want to use this opportunity to do something.

This adventure has been amazing so far, but it has also being very strange, I didn’t really give it a second thought before we left the UK, apart from what clothes I wanted in my suitcase and strangely enough I got that one wrong as well!!

Its not like being away for 5 weeks or so, any little things can be just left to be dealt with when you get back, but in our adventure we have to deal with things as they arise or not as the case may be.

We intend to stay here for a while so far we have 1 week booked but it could turn out to be a month, 2 months who knows? I suppose it is to take stock on what we have done, replan the next stage, and get the things that need doing, done!

The Patrol is in for its service tomorrow, and high on the list of priority this morning is to get the Dell laptop AC power supply replaced under warranty as the one we have failed about 2 months ago, because we have a 12 volt DC adaptor it was not too critical but it is still needed to make life easier especially when we are on a campsite with power.

You have to pick the right time to deal with Dell, as in my opinion they go down as one of the worst companies to deal with in the world, and picking the right time is because it is so stressful.

I’m putting a rider in here, This is my opinion, they are just cr*p how any a company like this survive on such bad customer service is amazing.

I negated my responsibility of this chore to Caroline, as I just wanted to buy a new AC adaptor form Harvey Norman or somewhere like that as I could not be bothered to deal with such a bunch of cretins, but my darling wife who has the patience of a saint said she would give it a go.

We got the number and set up a Skype call, and it was answered somewhere in Asia, by someone Caroline struggled to understand, we had written down the service code, model number etc so we had all the answers ready, including an address here in Darwin should they be bothered to send us something back.

This faceless person was given all our details, then went to witter on about speaking to another department, as she had decided that it was to difficult for her to deal with. So just put her through to someone else without any other word being spoken.

The service tag is the equipments registration number, they can put the number in and pull it up on their system, which is probably IBM, I am sure if it is dell it probably wouldn’t work anyway, however you can get the whole lifecycle history of the equipment in question.

Faceless person number 2 spoke to Caroline and she had not finished what she was saying when he just quite simply hung up on her, probably as someone had brought him a cup of tea and he wanted to chat as it was more interesting than helping a customer.

I don’t very often see my wife’s blood boil, but I did take a couple of steps back just in case she exploded.

Now do you get the drift about dealing with Dell, some of you we know have had problems too!!

After having to lie on the floor and think of serene things she composed her self and rang again, this time her boxing gloves had been laced up tighter, gum shield in and she was looking to get back into the ring for a fight, God help the next person.

The phone gets picked up and when they say those words “hello Dell”, your blood runs cold, you are speaking to Joseph!! You have to go through the same sh*t again as you did with the people before but at least he seems slightly more interested.

When he asks for the service tag number, again, you just want to put your comedy arm down the phone and grab him by the throat. I know it is not really their fault as individuals, they are only reading out the questions on the screen, but nothing seems to connect as there is nothing about me calling previously.

The thing they all seem puzzled by is the lap top was purchased in the UK, and we are calling them from Australia, though their own web site mentions the international warranty cover and the ease of travel whilst using Dell when out of the country of purchase, beware!! This is a messy trap.

We mentioned blog eons ago when the graphics card failed in this computer and we got it repaired when we were in Glen Innes, see blog entry “A very rare species” day 66 12-01-2009, Dell faceless person wanted to know why it was purchased in the UK and repaired in Australia and why haven’t we transferred the warranty, er well because we didn’t know we had to and as we are just currently travelling, we effectively have no address to register the warranty to and what happens if we do go back to England?

We explained to faceless person Joseph that it was the AC power adaptor, he asked if we could go through a few steps to work through the problem (we already know all of this and have tried everything) he asks Caroline toturn the lap top over and take the battery out, she said we could but that would cut of our phone conversation and would loose this internet connection.

Kerpow!! Caroline hits him with the knock out blow!! He is on the floor and we are counting 6,7,8 he gets back up, starting to get the drift of what is going on.

48 minutes on line, (not counting the 2 Dell earlier hang ups), this Dell chap has just about got the drift of what is going on, I’m surprised he can even dress himself in the morning, and they said they will dispatch a new AC Adaptor, directly to where we are staying (they will not post it to a Post Office, so I think it will come by courier).

We all go through life gathering experience, falling over, dusting ourselves down and getting back on with it, and the experiences we gather arm us for the fight of our life as that what we have to do.

I will never buy another Dell product, it is a company whose customer service is appalling, that is my honest opinion, companies are great at taking our money but when we the customer want a bit of customer service forget it. Michael Dell you ought to be ashamed,
people pay good money for this equipment, it is about time we got the after sales service that we deserve. We, the customer, want more!!

Caroline get off Skype and falls on the floor in a big heap!! The only thing that will bring her back to consciousness is a nice cup of tea and the promise of some breakfast.

If Toshiba ever sent me a new laptop I promise I will dance naked on the Dell to destruction whilst singing hallelujah, but whilst we don’t have the luxury of a new laptop we will have to soldier on with the old one.

Please Richard Branson buy Dell computers, as I know you would turn it around.

Its hard even to laugh about these experiences, funnily enough as a foot note when we were in Adelaide ages ago we went in to a shopping centre and there was a Dell Kiosk I had said to the sales operative what a crap company they were and his words to us were that they had listened loads of customer feedback and had put things in place to make the customer services experience so much easier. Yea Right!! They are all just words without any substance.

It seems to us that almost everything we have purchased for the trip has broken down, the fridge, the laptop, the power supply for the laptop, Solar Gorilla, Andy’s Camera, one of my camera lens, our second gas cooker is failing rapidy and now the 12v DC inverter (Powers the fridge from mains). We could go on, however I might just hasten to add that PowerTraveller has replaced without fuss our Solar Gorilla (which now works as it should), Jarrod at Country Camping has very kindly replaced these items without any fuss at all.

After a cup of tea, we needed to put the awning up, another of Caroline’s favourite jobs, the sun is so strong it really was a necessity, but because we had used some of the tent poles for a different configuration we found we were 2 poles short so we would have to pop out and get 2 more.

I wanted to clean the Patrol on the inside, we spend so much time in our 4 wheeled office that I do like it to be tidy, and taking it to Nissan tomorrow I always think cars get looked after better if they are nicely looked after, and not some sh*tty vehicle that they don’t give any respect to.

I always use warm water and brown vinegar to clean inside, always have and always will it gets any marks out easily.

We go out just after lunch and pick up another couple of tent poles; Darwin is growing on me, an easy city to navigate, and also to get around in.

This evening we are out again, we have been invited to dinner with Richards brother and his partner, Roger and Louise, Richard is the guy who is a quadriplegic after breaking his neck in a fall, we met him in Tasmania months ago and bumped in to him again up here in Darwin a couple of days ago.

Before we go I had a hair cut, I hate my hair being long so managed to get it trimmed, the last time I had it cut was in Broome and I was beginning to feel like Shirley Temple.

I think the lady was an ex Shearer, as she rolled me on to the floor between her legs and went at me with the clippers, still this is what I wanted.

After a quick shower we were ready to go out, and we walked armed with our chairs and other bits and pieces over to Richards. Richard was going to drive there and I had agreed to drive back, Richard has a specially adapted car but it also operates as a normal vehicle when required to do so.

We get to Roger and Louise’s place and their 2 dogs, “Danger” who was a big old Teddy Bear, type dog and “Fender” who was a tubby Blue Heeler, instantly greet us, there was also a guest dog who was a cross, Great Dane/Mastiff/Sharpei called Menace. Menace was a bit shy to begin with but he soon came round to be friends. They were all great dogs with great personalities who just couldn’t get enough fuss.

We sat down and talked for a while, whilst Louise was in and in and out of the camper as she was preparing the meal, Roger plays Guitar and Banjo, and had said he would play when we went over and he didn’t disappoint, playing many country songs that relate to Australia and the Australian Outback.

We were discussing the Darwin heat, Bob said it had been unusually humid for this time of year and it should be a little cooler, Richard said that he was struggling with the heat and would prefer a three dog night. We knew about the old American rock band of “Three Dog Night”, but did not know where the name came from. It is apparently from an aboriginal tale or an Eskimo tale (depending on which country you live in), that when the night is so cold, that they would bed down with three dogs to keep them warm, hence the name “Three Dog Night”. However if you are an aborigine then it is a dingo and if you were an Eskimo they would sleep with fur rugs and three husky’s.

I have always loved the banjo and envied anyone who could play well, especially the 5 string, “blue grass style” and have always loved the track “Duelling Banjo’s” from the 1972 film Deliverance. For you music buffs the track was originally play by Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith on a 4 stringed banjo and Don Reno played a 5 string Banjo, the track was originally called Feudin’ Banjo’s.

Anyway, Roger got the Banjo out, it was excellent, Roger played really well, it was great fun listening to him play.

Roger and Louise’s friend Bob, turned up, who incidentally owns Menace the dog, he came over with his son Jacob so we all sat around just enjoying the music.

Louise served dinner we had a lamb roast with all the trimmings and it was magic, we had a brilliant evening and we all got home around 10.45. It was a late night and we were all very tired.

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Photos

louise
Was busy preparing dinner

Roger
Tuning his 5 string Banjo

Menace
A good pose for a dog that wouldn't sit still

Danger
Yep, this hound was called Danger

Fender
Fender the Blue Heeler, looked like he had just got his Tax Bill

Fender
Looking disapointed his bowl is nearly empty

Roger
On the Banjo

Comments

[willemien]

haircut
hi andy and caroline The haircut story is very funny, i see you rolling on the floor now. I just had a haircut myself, i had a lucky escape. Chris still has no luck finding a job, im looking for a big cardboardbox, to move in too. ( only joking for now). Its very hot here again, a pain in the watsit. 5.45pm we are having tunapasta, so i say goodbye. lots of love willy xx