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| Richtea |
Some of you may have read of my minor telly related tribulations, or perhaps you've seen reports on BBC news 24? Not having a telly, I don't know how the events have been covered.
However.....
Yesterday evening I rootled and pootled around various sites and bits of the interMcThingy looking for a new telly. I'll not bore you any more than I already have with the whys and wherefores, suffice to say I plumped for one from Argos for a penny shy of £160, which I reserved online to pick up today.
Some time ago, I'd promised my mum that I'd take her into Eastbourne shopping today,(I'm on holiday this week), which is also where the Argos shop is. On the way, she had to keep a routine hospital appointment, that went, um, routinely, and she was in and out in 45 minutes, or so.
On the way out, I stopped at the thing where you pay for the car park and put my ticket in the machine; £1.30 it showed. Not having any change, I put a fiver in the slot and the machine did it's whirring noise as it gobbled it up...then fell into complete silence. The screen where it had previously said, rather comfortingly, £1.30, was now glowing a very bright red,(bright red on a machine is never comforting). In large silver letters running across the screen was the legend, 'OUT OF ORDER'.
I looked forlornly at the slots that had eaten both my money and my car park ticket. I pointed a menacing finger at both of them. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought that I heard a sneering laugh from the ticket machine. I went to the reception desk and told a helpful woman of my woes, she assured me that someone would be with me very soon.
I went back to the darkly brooding machine and waited. And waited some more.
A fella in a nice blue boiler suit, carrying a large set of keys arrived. I told him what had happened.
"It's always doing that", he helpfully told me, as he opened up the beast and gave me my fiver and reinserted the car park ticket for me.
£2.60, the screen flashed.
"It was only £1.30 when I put the ticket in", says I.
"You've gone past the hour now, and it's rolled over to two hours", says the man in the nice blue boiler suit.
"But that's not my fault", says I, with a hint of exasperation.
"I know", says the nice blue boiler suit,"You're not the first person it's happened to, it's always doing that".
It's not his fault, and I can't be arsed making a scene about £1.30, so I pay it and leave.
****
After taking my mum shopping, I nip up to Argos to collect and pay for my telly. When I get to the counter, I explain about reserving the telly and give the woman the reservation number. After taking my name and address,(for TV Licensing apparently), she read out the name of the telly I'd reserved to check it was the right one. When I said it was, she then said,"That's £199.99, please".
"No, it should be £159.99", says I.
After a bit of frantic keyboard activity, she assures me that it is, indeed, £199.99. I told her again that it was £159.99 and it was on their website at that price and that is one of the reasons I reserved it, through their website.
"I'm sorry, but that's the online price, you see. It's different in store.", says she.
"But I reserved it online", says I, "I've driven all the way over here specifically for that telly at that price. I'm not paying forty quid more for it".
She's very apologetic, but says there's nothing she can do. I tell her, I'm not having a go at her, but I'm not letting it go and ask to speak to the manager.
The manager arrives and I explain the problem to her. She gets in touch with someone over the phone. She puts the phone down and apologises to me as she explains that the advert on the website was out of date, but agrees to give me the telly at the advertised price.
I calm down.
****
I get home and, like a kid on Christmas morning, excitedly unpack the telly and follow the step by step instructions...It doesn't work. Its' the aerial that's buggered, not the telly. Which means, the telly I originally thought was knackered, is absolutely fine. So I've spent £160 on something I don't really need.
And I still haven't got a telly that works.
So take a good look at my face. You'll see my smile looks out of place. If you look closer, it's easy to trace, the tracks of my tears.....albeit, very manful and rugged tears, though.
Wanna buy a telly?
Edited Mon 14 Nov 11, 8:21 PM by Richtea
| 14 Nov 11, 8:24 PM Caracal UK(SS), 5 yrs       |
Argos 16 day return? | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:28 PM Richtea UK(BN), 2 yrs |
Having wasted the first day of my holiday, I don't want to blow another one. Plus, I sort of needed to get a digital-ready telly sometime, I just got it a bit earlier than I expected.
"Me and Kevin, we're just not the same" | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:32 PM TheSilverFox  UK(GU), 2 yrs   |
Honestly mate... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!!! Let's all play nicely people.. Just remember.. This is meant to be fun! | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:32 PM Caracal UK(SS), 5 yrs |
So there is a silver lining to your otherwise very cloudy trials and tribulations? Excellent news. May you and your TV have many digitally happy years of joy together.
Edited 14 Nov 11, 8:33 PM by Caracal | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:33 PM Lady_Toza_Scarlet UK, 5 yrs £ |
But anyway you do want it so that's ok. Great blog, thanks for posting, gave me a giggle. | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:38 PM jenevieve UK(CH), 4 yrs |
Hugs. No matter how you try you just can't fix stupid! | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:41 PM Richtea UK(BN), 2 yrs |
I'm never too sure myself...I normally come down on the laughter side, with the merest hint of a tear thrown in.
"Me and Kevin, we're just not the same" | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:42 PM Nomad_72 17 mths |
"You couldn't make it up." | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:44 PM TheSilverFox UK(GU), 2 yrs |
Always the best response! Let's all play nicely people.. Just remember.. This is meant to be fun! | |||
| 14 Nov 11, 8:45 PM Richtea UK(BN), 2 yrs |
No doubt, the aerial will involve lots of sharp intakes of breath and "it'll cos yer, guv", but I'll cross that later.
"Me and Kevin, we're just not the same" |
