Cable TV, Internet, Phones, and Banks

A broad subject for today. I'll start with the easiest: banking. As you may recall, I've been having some banking issues. I received good news today, but I had to find the news myself instead of the news coming to me.

My bank account was finally set up, but the lady that was setting up my account didn't give me a call to let me know that it had been processed. Unfortunately, I now need to wait five days for the banking information to be mailed out. That's not the mail service being slow, that is the bank being slow. Hopefully, now it's just a matter of time and I can actually start banking in this country.

In the world of cable TV, Internet and phone service . . .

On Monday, I was waiting for the cable company to call me so I could walk the 2 minutes back to my apartment to meet them and let them in. They apparently stopped by at 2:30 pm (within their 4 hour window), but didn't give me a call. When I called them up, they stated that they couldn't call international numbers. I let the Customer Service Rep know that the sales person that I talked to when ordering said that they could. Perhaps I'm not the only one who thinks its odd that a telecommunications company can't call an international number properly.

I asked if they could still send somebody out that night, she said that it wasn't an option. My only option was to reschedule. I let her know that I had other options, like cancelling the order. She asked me if I'd like to do that - I said "Let me think on it." I hung up.

I call back two minutes later and get a decent Customer Service Representative who actually sounded like she gave a damn. That sold me and I rescheduled for Friday. So, if my blogs seem to be at less regular intervals until then it's because I have to sneak them out over my lunch break when at work.

Thus far, I've found that the bank - AIB has piss-poor customer service and that the cable company - NTL has pretty good customer service. Even though they may not be as flexible as I like, two out of the three representatives that I've talked to have been an actual joy to talk to.

Apartment Toilet

On my first few trips over to Ireland, I kept seeing signs that said "toilet." I started to wonder why people kept advertising their toilets. After awhile, I found it odd that they were all missing the "i" in the word. Then it dawned on me. "To Let" They're advertising that their apartment is To Let.

This is just one of those intricacies between how we speak English (at least in the Midwest states) and how the Irish speak it. I'm looking for apartments to let, not apartments for rent.

No progress on the apartment hunting today. I did get a call from a letting agent asking if I might be interested in viewing an apartment close to the hotel. The letting agent asked me when I was available and I said that I could be there in 10 minutes. He said that he needed to contact the tenant that was there to see when it would be alright if I came by. I haven't heard from him since.

I suppose that I shouldn't assume that everybody is waiting for me to look at their apartments. Yet, it would have been nice if when they contacted me to rent the apartment, they had a couple of times already set for me to choose from. Truth be told, I think that this was the letting agent's trainee that called me. I think he may have just learned something.

International Driving Permits

Since it looks like I'll be driving around Ireland for six months (mostly around Dublin), I needed to get an International Driving Permit. If you're just going for vacation, you don't need to get one of these. However, if you're going to be in a foreign country for an extended stay you need one.

So, I venture off to the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles and Terry tells me I need to get it from a AAA office. I was confused - not only because I had to go to AAA for an official document, but also because I got great service at the DMV!

It turns out that getting an International Driving Permit is pretty easy. Just bring two passport photos (I got mine at Walgreens for $8), your driver's license, and $15 to AAA. It took me longer to get my photos at Walgreens than it took me to get the permit at AAA.

Today I'm giving kudos to AAA for providing a needed service, efficiently and at an affordable price. Also, I'm giving Terry at the Libertyville, Illinois DMV kudos for surprising me by being helpful.

Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by a customer service experience?