Friday, 15 June 2007

Not troublesome... just plain weird

Things went a bit weird for a while this afternoon.

My folks have been talking about getting my phone line transferred into my name for months now, and today we finally got that sorted out. The process needed my father and I to be in the same room, so he could explain what was required, and I could hand over my bank details.

I was advised by the BT representative to call my ISP to let them know the transfer was happening. When I did so, I was told that this was because BT would be cancelling my Broadband, and I'd have to order it all over again, and pay another installation fee... not to mention wait for them to set it up.

Considering I already have broadband, this seemed ludicrous. What's a guy to do but... cancel.

Except, of course, by the time I got through to BT again, the transfer had already happened (I was advised to call back "as soon as possible" if I decided to cancel) and so 'cancelling' would not merely transfer the line back to my parents, but completely cancel the account - phone and broadband - and cost me 3 months line rental into the bargain.

Of course, by this point, I'd noticed that my broadband was still working.

I queried this with the BT representative (cancellations seem to get you transferred to a call centre in India, while merely transferring it from one name to another was dealt with in the UK) who, once he'd understood that I already have a line, seemed to tell me that, yes, I already have functioning broadband as well.

Thanking him profusely (and telling him I was absolutely satisfied with the way he dealt with my call), I hung up and phoned my ISP again...

...Who, once I'd explained the situation, were able to confirm that yes, I have functioning Broadband, and that nothing had obviously changed.

The guy I spoke to expressed some incredulity that "there is such a procedure" where the line is transferred to a new account with no interruption to service, but there we go...

Perhaps it's a mistake, or perhaps there was some confusion at my ISP over what I was telling them earlier.

Or maybe the service interruption hasn't caught up with me yet...

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