COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Tizer]

We have had ours for many years now and they work fine.

[PanBiker]

My powerline adapters only serve the TV and I suspect they are still up to the job....

I have a hard wired CAT5 connection to the Freesat box for on demand. I use power adaptors to get the broadband up to the converted firewall box I use as a computer in my radio station in the attic.

[Stanley]

I occasionally have to switch mine off and back on again to re-establish the connection.

[PanBiker]

TalkTalk rang back this morning and I have accepted the free upgrade offer. Waiting for an email from Open Reach now to finalise an installation date.

Not heard a peep out of either Talk Talk or Open Reach regarding my upgrade to FTTP. I will chase them next week to see where we are at.

[Tripps]

I use Skype very occasionaly. There has been some confusion (no change there then) for some time since different details come up depending which device I use. I tackled it yesterday, and find that I have two accounts - one I started, and one that Microsoft started for me. That account starts with live_ xxx. Seems it's quite common - lots of folk have them - most not realising. Something to do with hotmail I think, in the dim and distant past.

OK thinks I - I'll delete it. After as much time as I'm prepared to waste - it's not possible. Both must be deleted not just one account. Also it is not possible to just delete Skype - all Microsoft software must be deleted, and even if you choose that option - if you use any product (eg Windows) in the next 60 days - it is all restored.

I give up.
**************************
Gets worse - I log in on the desk top and change password. Seems to go well and now I have a clean account.
However I find it is another live_nnn. Perhaps I've started yet another new account?

"You might have multiple Microsoft accounts and not even know it.
Have you ever used Outlook.com, Hotmail, Microsoft 365, OneDrive, Xbox, or Windows? The email address you use for those services can also be used to sign in to Skype. If you have more than one account, you can be signed in to Skype but not with the correct account where your contacts and Skype Credit are stored."


I'm definitely giving up now.

[Stanley]

I have a similar problem with a certificate connected to my outgoing mail. I clicked on a box that cancelled the certificate and all seems to be working OK now. I haven't the faintest idea what's going on!

[Stanley]

I decided that I should do something and contacted the Talktalk chat line. After an hour and a quarter waiting and suffering on the chat line I am now assured that my email account is in good order..... Nobody actually admitted that the email I got was a scam. Very strange. However that's one worry off my back!

[Tripps]

I do a lot of surfing and I've noticed that it is often possible to refuse cookies and still get access to a particular site. There seems to be a 'decline all' option more widely available now.
Not sure what difference it makes in real life though. I delete all cookies / history and start again fairly regularly.

[Stanley]

David, I often wonder if there are actually any cookies.... I think it's just a way of indemnifying themselves if anything nasty happens while you are with them.

[Tizer]

I do a lot of surfing and I've noticed that it is often possible to refuse cookies and still get access to a particular site. There seems to be a 'decline all' option more widely available now.
Not sure what difference it makes in real life though. I delete all cookies / history and start again fairly regularly.

I've realised that too and now routinely click to see the options. In many cases they show them as being off by default except for the ones that are essential for access to the site. In that case I just click Save Settings and it lets me into the web site.
I also have Firefox settings set to Delete All Cookies when exiting the application. I've never found this to affect my use of Firefox.

[PanBiker]

I received a call yesterday from Talk Talk Business who were ringing as our Bosom Friends broadband contract is due for renewal. When I set it up a couple of years ago we were on a standard 17Mbps copper deal but had been promised a free upgrade to business fibre. This never happened as I think Covid got in the way. I mentioned this and in addition to a price drop on the original contract price they have agreed to upgrade us to the fibre deal which is the 65Mbps package for £19.95 per month + Vat. That is cheaper than the original contract for the copper service so a bit of a bonus.

As is the norm once you have jumped through all the security hoops for the account and have agreed the new contract they send all the details via email. Reviewing this I found an error in that the sales rep has put the package in twice! End result saying that our new tariff would be £39.90!

Needless to say I rang them back earlier this afternoon and pointed out the error. The Sales guy here was trying to tell me not to worry and although the contract said £39.90 we would only be charged £19.95. I told him that was not good enough as I had to justify to the other trustees what I had agreed so I needed confirmation in writing of the proper price. He said he couldn't regenerate the contract so I said that's not my problem it's yours. Don't care how you do it I want a written confirmation of what we will be paying! Off he went for 5 minutes to a higher mortal (Business Sales Team). He cam,e back cap in hand, very apologetic and said I would get the updated emails. Five minutes later and I had the confirmation 65Mbps Business Fibre £19.95, winner.

I just have to sort my free upgrade to Fibre to Premises now. Different team as at home I am a bog standard domestic customer. Same problem though really. I think I will hit them tomorrow with that one. It reminded me when coming back down from the park there was a female Open Reach engineer installing FTP to Taylforth's on Church street as I drove past.

[PanBiker]

Tried the chat line to TalkTalk re my FTTP upgrade. Original chat agent had to transfer me to the correct team, then nothing happened. I terminated the chat after 30 minutes waiting. Will try again tomorrow.

He could see in his view that my account indicated that I had an outstanding item for FTTP upgrade but it has not been provisioned. Hence the transfer to the correct team who all seem to have gone home.

[Stanley]

My Talktalk chat the other day was a bit haphazard also.... I hope you get sense out of them.

[PanBiker]

I have just chatted with Lovelie (probably a made up name) who is on the Talk Talk Full Fibre Provisioning team. She tells me that my free upgrade to FTTP is booked for the 21st September in the afternoon. I have to wait 24 hours for the relative confirmations to come through. Previously with the appointment that was cancelled these were directly from Open Reach.

I have set a redirect up on what Talk Talk regard as my primary email address. The one I haven't used for over 20 years. It was the address that we set up originally with Tiscali when we opened the account with them back in the 1990's.

First email in from Talk Talk refers to an engineering visit to investigate a fault!

I should get something directly from Open Reach. Alternatively, I will wait now until I have the engineer on site and see what they think they are doing.

[PanBiker]

How difficult it can be to spend money online sometimes!

We decided to buy a new cordless vacuum cleaner so I went online to the manufacturers website and tried to order the model we required. I filled in all the details and tried to pay by credit card. On pressing the pay now button it just sat there with a rotating processing icon and a message "please wait". Well, I waited, in fact I left it while I had my tea. It was still processing when I came back after three quarters of an hour! I clicked the refresh button and it dumped me.

No deterred, I went back on after tea and registered as a new customer on the site. I got a confirmation email to activate the account and all went well. Clicking the link in the email took me to the log on page. After logging on I could see my account and confirm that I had no orders outstanding so confirmation that the previous transaction failed. I tried again while I was logged on. Shoved all the details in again, went to checkout and it did the same thing again and would not process the order. Still nothing showing in my online account.

I found a telephone number and I thought I should notify them that their website was not operating correctly. I got to chat to a bloke somewhere in the world other than Leeds where the registered UK address is. He was able to take my order, (with a few repeats) at the same price as the online deal and process my credit card which even included a temporary hand off to a telephone bot that accepted the CVV code that the sales agent is not allowed to hear.

I have checked on my new account online and my order details are now shown correctly as awaiting despatch for next day delivery.

[Big Kev]

I have set a redirect up on what Talk Talk regard as my primary email address. The one I haven't used for over 20 years. It was the address that we set up originally with Tiscali when we opened the account with them back in the 1990's.

Does this not work? https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Art ... -p/2205264

[PanBiker]

Thanks for that Kev, that must be a new initiative. Last time I tried there was a message to say that you couldn't change the primary address attached to the account. I'll not do it yet, I have already had two trials today with online stuff, don't problems come in threes?

[PanBiker]

Well it all seems to be going like clockwork. I even know the delivery drivers name, Sarfaraz (Saf). He has made over 74K deliveries in two years of working for DPD. He is currently doing delivery 75 of his load which is down Gisburn Road somewhere, my slot is delivery 100 and will be in approximately one and a
quarter hours, 14.27 - 15.27. I am nothing if not well informed.

[Stanley]

Do we need all this information?

[Tizer]

When have the customer's needs ever come into the equation?

[PanBiker]

That is from DPD and seems to be more common nowadays with the delivery companies. Anyway he tipped up bang on time and delivered with a smile, took his photo of the parcel in my hands (no face shown) and onto his next. One thing I know these lads and lassies work for their brass.

[Stanley]

You're right there Ian! Every time I see a courier I think of the difference between the world of work in my day and what it is now. Does anyone have a contract of employment and decent conditions today?

[PanBiker]

My delivery was number 100 on his list, the website tracker doesn't show how many more he had for the day. It wasn't quite 3pm when he dropped mine so I would imagine he probably still had a few more on the van.

It reminds me of when B&Q delivered my kitchen units. I think It was just after lunch and mine was their 12th drop of the day, they had 19 on their list and their next one was in Ingleton! There were two of them but of course they were delivering much heavier stuff and 3m worktops etc.

[PanBiker]

Back on topic, short post, on my mobile. FTTP upgrade, fine yesterday, failed today. No broadband, WiFi or phone Grrrrr....

[Stanley]

That is bloody annoying. Commiserations Ian.....