is over $1,150 ahead in his mortgage, not bad for 4 and a half months.

On the weekend I managed to kill my Bissell vacuum cleaner; it’s nothing major, just the hose collapsed.

Trying to organise the warranty claim for the hose is a bit of a joke, but was at least resolved to my satisfaction within one day.

I began by calling the Bissell enquiry line (a 1800 number, so at least it was free).  None of the options specifically covered warranty claims, so I selected the “Service and Parts” option.  This transferred me to another company in Melbourne who had no idea about the warranty situation for NSW.  The guy on the phone was quite helpful and suggested I contact Bissell again and talk to someone in the NSW office, he also suggested I could arrange to send the collapsed hose to him along with proof of purchase and he would send me a replacement hose.

I called the 1800 number a second time and selected the NSW office from the options.  The lady who answered the phone told me that warranty support was provided by my place of purchase.

My third phone call was to Chandlers in Lismore.  They checked their stock level to determine if they could just replace the hose from their normal stock, unfortunately they did not have any of this vacuum cleaner in stock.  They told me I could either bring the vacuum cleaner into their shop and they would arrange to send the whole machine to the service agent, or I could contact the service agent and see if they had another solution to get the hose replaced.

My fourth phone call was to the service agent in Brisbane.  The service agent said there would be no problem, but I would need to talk to some guy named Peter Cosgrove.  They provided me with his mobile phone number.

My fifth and final call was to Peter Cosgrove who turns out to be an employee of Bissell.  He told me to fax through proof of purchase and a note about the problem, he would then arrange to get a new hose sent to me.

I am now awaiting a new hose in the mail.

Peter seems to understand the idea of customer service and warranty support for Bissell products, and it would have been a much easier process to get sorted out if the phone system at Bissell was better configured, or if the staff at Bissell had just forwarded my call to Peter without making me run around to get his number.

Over all, I am happy with the end result of this process, but I feel the process could be better streamlined in future.

Okay, okay! I’ve been slack updating my blog, so I should give an update of all the different tasks I’m doing and where I’m up to with them.

Tea Hedge

• After planting the tea hedge it was realised that the area gets too wet and the plants would drown.
• I’ve started building a small retaining wall around the hedge location so I can fill it with dirt and raise the tea plants above the pools of water that form.
• I have installed 3 of the 3m sections and 1 of the 1 metre sections of the retaining wall.  I still have to install 2 more 3 metre sections and a 1 metre section.
• After completing the retaining wall I will need to dig up all the tea plants and add approximately 4 or 5 cubic metres of soil.
• To complete the retaining wall I had to purchase 22 x 3 metres sleepers, 52 x 150mm screws, 60 x 75mm screws, a chainsaw (to cut the sleepers) and a post-hole digger (’m not going to manually dig 600mm into pug soil).
• I still need to adjust the over-flow pipe on my tank so It does not fill the tea hedge area.
• The wall should be completed this Saturday (although I will not have the dirt by then).

Concrete Removal

• The concrete removal hasn’t progressed much lately.
• About 1/3rd of the concrete has been removed.
• A further 1/3rd has been broken, ready to be removed.
• I hope to have this done either Sunday this week or Saturday next week.

Ensuite

• The ensuite is slowly progressing.
• The electrician, unfortunately, found full-time work in the area and has not been able to do the wiring as yet.
• After the electrician has done the wiring I will install the other half of the roof and the cement sheet walls.
• I currently have the majority of parts to do the plumbing in the ensuite, this will be started as soon as possible.
• I will begin with the waste-water pipes, then proceed to the cold water pipes.
• Hot water installation will be combined with solar hot water installation.
• Window frosting will be installed after I have painted the ensuite, which will happen after the cement sheet is installed.
• Floor tiling will happen after the painting, and then I will just have to put everything in place.

Robe

• I’ve worked out what color to do the robe.
• I need to buy the wood to build the robe next.
• I will do this after I have completed the ensuite.

Waste-water System

• The waste-water system plans are currently with the council and should be approved this week.
• The waste-water system will be installed once I have completed the backyard and ensuite.

has to remember to pick-up his coffee plants, update his tax details and work out a way to get about $5,000 ASAP!

In February 2008 I purchased a Daewoo Electronics Fridge from Chandlers in Lismore.

The fridge has run well for 1 year, but it is now making some nasty noises; noises that Daewoo has said could be due to a faulty part in the fridge.  As the fridge is only 1 year old it is still under warranty (it comes with a 2 year warranty and I paid the extra for the 5 year extended warranty).

I called Castel Electronics (the Australian distributor and warranty provider) and logged the fault.  After a couple of days they called me back and said they have no-one who services my area and they have been unable to find anyone who can assist.  They then told me there would be a $55 call-out fee for a service agent from Lismore to attend my house to investigate the fault.

I decided that this sounded like a rip-off and tried calling a local fridge repair company (I looked it up in the yellow pages).  They recommended I call a person in Casino who is often in the area.

I contacted Russell Kennedy (from Kennedy’s Appliance Repairs) and he told me he is an authorised service agent for Daewoo, he also told me that he is in my area twice a week and that there is no call out fee.

Since then I have tried contacting Castel Electronics twice.  The first time the person I needed to talk to was unavailable so I left a message for him to call me back.  I missed the call at 18:15 whilst I was riding my motorbike home in the rain.  I then called again today and was told he was once again unavailable.  I wonder when I will get a call back this time!

Basically I think it is showing poor customer service for this company to have been unable to locate a local repairer (when I was able to do so with just 2 phone calls and no more than 15 minutes of my time).  Additionally, having only one staff member who is able to handle my warranty situation is also poor and reflects badly on Castel Electronics.

I don’t think I will buy another Daewoo product again!

Well I had an interesting weekend!

Dad rocked up late on Friday night so we chatted for a bit before disappearing off to our beds.

Saturday we came into Lismore, collected some stuff from the Tender Centre and had breakfast.  We then spent a bit of time doing some odd jobs around the house and relaxing before draining the last of the petrol out of my housemate’s car and then installing half the roof in the ensuite.

Dad left early on Sunday morning to fly back to Melbourne.  Later on Sunday, one of my housemates turned up and let me know that they were moving out.  I’d kinda guessed this.  So while he packed some of their stuff I mowed the lawn and then being completely exhausted and dehydrated I collapsed on the couch.

For the coming week I’m planning on cleaning the house a bit more; the electrician is due tomorrow (Tuesday) to get some of the stuff done in the ensuite and robe area and then I’ll try and get soem more of the renovations done later in the week.

I think the current generation of late teens/early 20s has lost any understanding of respect and are too self-centred.

I’m sure I’ve hinted at this before; but this morning it was highlighted to me, and it got me thinking.

The case in point is that of my housemates.

When the mousemates moved into my house the deal was that they would cook and do the garden.  To date living at my house has effectively saved them $2,000; it has cost me money in increased electricity bills (they have the tv on all day, fail to turn off lights for days on end and are fond of running the airconditioner with the doors open), damage to property (cigarette burns in a couch, stains on another couch, damage to a water pump and jobs that have only been done by half and will require me to spend money to fix or complete the job).  To date they have not paid me any of the money they owe me for their fridge or washing machine (excluding the first payment shortly after purchasing the whitegoods) at the start of last year.  Additionally I have had to help them with moving stuff and collecting a drowned car from by a creek.  When the housemates decided to get a dog they asked about getting a specific dog that was small, I agreed to this but they did not end up getting that dog; instead they got Leylah, a border collie and as such a much larger dog.  I’m sure there are other things, but they obviously aren’t important enough to remember.

As I mentioned in a previous post my car window has also been left open, the first time resulted in oen housemate being banned from the car for a short period of time, the second occasion resulted in a more permanent ban.  These bans would have been avoided if said housemate has apologised for leaving the window open or had asked if any damage had been caused.  No damage was caused, but the lack of concern for my property is what annoys me.

Last night the issue was raised when the housemate who is banned from the car asked for a lift into town.  I told her I would not take her into town and that I was going to take my motorbike, I also reminded her that she was banned from the car.  Her response was “that’s just stupid”; I disagree, what is stupid is her lack of ability to think and her lack of respect and concern for other people and their property.

This morning when I got up this housemate was ready to go into town and asked for a lift again, once again I told said housemate that I was taking the bike, the ute costs a lot more to run and that there was a ban on the use for the car.  My housemate then tried offering to put $20 of fuel in the ute (it costs around $20 in fuel for the return trip, plus wear and tear on the car bringing the total cost of the trip to around $40), once again I reminded my housemate that they were banned from the car.  At this point my hosuemate started crying because “I can’t deal with spending another day in the house”.  A comment was made “well we’ll just have to move out then” as my housemate stormed off.  As if moving out is a threat to me; if they move out I’ll have to do the garden myself (it will most likely get done quicker without them anyway) and I will have to cook for myself; in return is will save several hundred dollars every quarter in power, I will have less stress about what they have done wrong or broken, I wont have to put up with a large dog running around the house and making a mess and I will have a house that once cleaned will stay clean for a long period of time.

If these housemates showed some respect, cleaned up after themselves, had some pride in the residence in which they live and stopped expecting everyone to do what they want, then their life would be a lot easier and people might be willing to help them.  If they do move out I am tempted to tell them the washing machine and fridge both stay as they have not been paid for; perhaps that will help teach them to pay their debts and to treat peoples property with respect.

School bus driver drops kids at police station
NEWS.com.au – February 25, 2009 10:34am

A SCHOOL bus driver took a detour to the local police station to get officers to deal with misbehaving children.

The Queensland Times reports the driver took the bus load of St Edmund’s College and St Mary’s College students to the Yamanto station just after 3.30pm.

Apparently the students had refused to wear seatbelts and the last straw was a lolly that hit the driver on the head.

“I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said one man, who was picking up his younger brother from the police station.

One St Edmund’s pupil said he felt the bus driver had overreacted.

“People were mucking around but he did not have to go that far,” he said.

He added that the driver beeped his horn repeatedly outside the station for 20 minutes before three police officers came out and told the school kids they were being stupid.

This has to be one of the best news articles I’ve read in a long time.  It’s about time someone taught these kids some respect.

I applaud this bus driver for taking the kids to the police station to deal with the situation, although it would have been better if the police issued a fine to each kid for not wearing a seatbelt; lets see them explain that to their parents!

wishes people would learn how to listen and think!

I’m starting to think that people have forgotten how to listen.

For those that don’t know me well, I work for a small company, I am the primary employee and there is a part-time worker.  I just had the following conversation (bits between the greater than and less than symbols have been edited for anonymity):

Me: <Company Name>, Michael speaking.
Caller: Hi, it’s Matthew <Last Name> here.
Me: Hi Matthew, how’s it going?
Caller: I was just wondering if you could tell me when I am rostered on next?
Me: Ummm, sorry? I think you have the wrong number.
Caller: Oh, is this the Base Hospital?
Me: No, sorry.
Caller: Ok, seeya.
Me: Seeya

If this person knew how to listen properly I would have expected the conversation to go either of the following two ways.

Option one, if the caller was really listening to what I was saying:

Me: <Company Name>, Michael speaking.
Caller: Sorry, i think I have the wrong number.

Option two, if the caller was listening, but was expecting the hospital and was caught off guard:

Me: <Company Name>, Michael speaking.
Caller: Sorry, what company was this?
Me: <Company Name>
Caller: Sorry, I must have the wrong number.

Seriously, people should learn to listen; and to think, this guy works in a hospital where people’s lives may be at stake.  I hope he’s a cleaner or something and isn’t a doctor or a nurse.