Rain in Kuala Lumpur

It is quite tropical here. This morning was humid and hot, and this afternoon there is thunder and lightning. A good opportunity to get some work done :)

Our table has arrived

Our new dining table arrived a couple of weeks ago, we are so happy to finally have a nice place to eat. The two long edges can fold down to make it into a side table, and the drawers can be opened from either side.

We ordered it in April. Crate and Barrel missed a couple of delivery dates (but refunded the delivery fee to compensate) and delivered a damaged table. They were not going to be able to deliver a replacement until the end of September.

If you have to deal with a company that cant seem to get its act together, I suggest you read "The Art of Turboing" before calling them. When we finally decided to use it, it saved us a month on the delivery time. Crate and Barrel finally got moving after we called them and used techniques from that guide.

Next time we place an order, we'll check that they have it in stock.

Breaking up with Optus

I love Optus, if you read my previous Optus post you know I do. I wanted to use Optus service for my upcoming trip to Malaysia and Australia.

I called customer service. The first person I spoke to recognised the complexity of reactivating my account from overseas and put me through to their manager. Their manager determined that all I needed was a fresh SIM and I was good to go. I had to have a local buy a SIM at an Optus shop and post it to me. Optus had a happy customer, and some good roaming dollars headed their way.

It took two more phone calls to get the SIM activated and request the transfer to postpay. Postpay is easier than prepay because it won't run out of credit mid trip.

Call four was today. This guy seemed more realistic. Optus don't provide accounts for people in foreign countries. He was in a rush, so he laid out the facts and suggested I call customer service to get my money back.

If only I had met the fourth rep first, I could have saved weeks of setup and gone straight to VOIP. I'll just have to make sure I have Internet access during my travels, which is pretty much guaranteed these days. Now all that remains is to get the money back that I have left in my Optus accounts.