Typical

Well, I caved and went for the phone.

This morning I had an e-mail from T-Mobile telling me that the phone is out of stock!

Yeah, figures.

Cut me a break

I seem to be having one of those days, you know?

The Majacraft dealer got back to me and said not only had I missed delivery for UK before Christmas but apparently there's a backlog on orders to Majacraft anyway.

So I've had to cancel the order.

A woman complained on our local fibre crafts group on Ravelry a couple of months ago. She had attended a village fair that a few of us were demonstrating crafts at. This is her post:

"I was at the festival on Saturday and managed to get to see some spinning.

I was rather upset by the language and manners of one of the demonstators - a ‘lady’ in her 40’s with black hair and very long nails.

I assume that events like this are intended to improve awareness of your group and encouage new members. Foul language and attitude will not achieve this, and I hope that whoever is responsible for this group thinks carefully before future demonstations." This was posted when I was away camping for the half-term week - something everyone on Ravelry knew as I'd been talking about it for weeks.

First off, I'm 34! Secondly, i only spoke to a couple of people, I was polite, well-mannered and didn't even swear when my friends and I were alone.

Today this woman posts that she has a Majacraft Rose for sale with 12 bobbins and she wants £300 for it, but only to someone who doesn't already own a wheel.

I PM'd her and she messaged me back asking if I had a wheel. I said yes, but it was living in the camper and the Rose would be my only at home wheel. She replied that it was only to go to someone who doesn't already have a wheel, then miraculously; the wheel was marked as sold!

When someone else queried it; she claimed that I hadn't been the first person to enquire about it so I wouldn't have got it anyway.

This woman has no profile, no picture, no links to anything and has only posted 6 times on Ravelry, once on Joy's board, twice concerning this complaint and three times today concerning this wheel.

I'm beginning to think this is someone I know with a personal vendetta and I think I know who it is too - get over yourself hon, all you're doing is pissing me off!

I called T-Mobile again today and asked if I could buy out my contract, then upgrade.

No, I can't. I can buy off my contract and take out a new one, but I can only keep my number if I take it to another network and then transfer it back. I can't take out a new contract and take my number with me unless I wait until 6th January to upgrade!

I'm badly in need of retail therapy to cheer me up, but it'll mean running two contracts for a couple of months and having to use a new number on the blackberry for the next 18 months. I've had this number for years! Since I was with Simon which means I'm approaching ten years with this number!

On one hand, it's easy to keep a number, but on the other hand it'd be nice to have a mobile number that certain people definitely haven't got...

Decisions Decisions!

This has been one of those awful rotten days where nothing seems to be going my way.

It would be nice to get an e-mail from Hedgehog now to tell me I can go get my wheel this weekend - I've made arrangements to meet Sarah so at least she will have a new wheel for Christmas!

On top of all that, I bought 4 tickets to a raffle and I didn't win a single prize

Furious

When I decided I wanted my BlackBerry I did quite a lot of research. I spoke on the phone with T-Mobile a few times too, asking about what I would need in the way of a data plan etc.

I searched about looking for sim free phones and then I decided to call T-Mobile with an idea I'd had. I had 12 months remaining on my current contract, my plan was to buy out of my contract and take out a new contract with a free BlackBerry handset -the cost worked out the same and it all seemed like a good idea.

Well, until T-Mobile got involved!

I called one evening, the kids were in bed, the house was quiet, I could talk on the phone with no interruptions! The first guy I spoke to said that I should just pay a specific amount for an early upgrade, but after farting around, discovered that I couldn't do that. Then he transferred me to someone else to get a PAC (Porting Authority Code - this allows you to transfer your number), I got the PAC then had to go through to someone else to get the new contract. The third guy told me that I couldn't use my PAC within T-Mobile, I would have to transfer my number to another network then transfer it back again using another PAC issued by them - I argued this as I have transferred my number around O2 (between contract and PAYG {Pay As You Go} with no problems), but he was adamant. THEN he tells me that they don't have any BlackBerry 8900's in stock anyway!

I went ballistic; I said "If I had been told that 3 people and half an hour ago, I wouldn't be talking to you now! Okay, cancel my cancellation request, I'll just buy a sim free BlackBerry and add the BlackBerry data plan onto my account." He said that'd be no problem and I hung up.

Fast forward a week later. The mail arrives. A letter from T-Mobile "We're sorry to hear that you're leaving us, please find enclosed the PAC that you requested." Well, knowing as much as I know about mobile phone companies - reinforced by what I had been told a week previously - I knew that if I didn't use that PAC then my account would stay active and I wouldn't be charged.

Fast forward another week. I was trying to set up my Gmail account on my BlackBerry, but the option to do it just wasn't there and according to a forum I had read it was because I didn't have the correct data plan or some such thing. So I logged into my T-Mobile online account to check.

Account Balance £430!!! WTF?!?!?!?!?!

I immediately picked up the phone - of course, there's no one there at 10.30pm!

I nearly destroyed my house - I was so f%^&*$g mad!

I called them the next morning; I had to relay the whole story to the CSR (Customer Services Representative) who then told me that I needed to speak to the cancellations department, so she transferred me. I got some bloke; I think his name was Nick. I ranted at him for a bit, told him that I hadn't used the PAC and demanded to know why I had been charged. He agreed that the charge should not have been made, put me on hold then came back and told me that his manager was sorting it all out and crediting my account right then and there. I said "TYVM" and hung up.

Fast forward (again - are you seasick yet?) to today. I was chatting about DVD boxsets with Mel, you know, entire TV series in one handy boxset and the prices. She said she had found some quite cheap on Amazon. I went online to have a look and compare with play.com and a few other sites. The prices looked really good, so I logged into my bank account to see if I had some money to play with.

Guess what? Go on, I dare you to guess. I can guarantee you'll be right.

Direct Debit - T-Mobile - £404.39!

Well, as you can imagine, I went completely batshit!

I phoned T-Mobile, screamed at some poor CSR whose name I didn't catch, she transferred me back to cancellations so I could scream at someone there. I dutifully did so.

Lyn on Team 5 was totally baffled as to why I've been charged the cancellation fee that I asked - twice - not to be charged for. She has sent a dispute off to the billing department and is going to call me back within 24 hours (apparently) to let me know what is going on and when she does I am going to demand some sort of recompense for all this trouble!