Trick Or Treat

When it comes to customer service, BT are only handing out tricks this Halloween. They tricked me into getting spammed. I contacted BT this morning to switch to their broadband + talk package, which will save me €10pm on my broadband bill. After waiting 30 mins for a sales assistant to answer the phone, I told him what I wanted and gave him all my details. I expressly stated that I did not want BT to contact me with special offers or to share my details with 3rd parties. At the end of our conversation he told me he would transfer my call to their credit service, who would set up my direct debit payment method. He told me he would give them all the details I had supplied him with, but warned that if I answered "no" to any of their questions I would be transferred back to him, implying that I should answer "yes" at all times unless I wanted to spend another 60 mins going through the same process again. The call was transferred, and the operator went through my details with me, notifying me that the call was being recorded. When he got to the information sharing section, he asked "Do you agree to allow BT to contact you with special offers, and for BT to share your details with its partners?". I was tricked, and left with no option but to answer yes! It is a typical ploy of websites to ask you to answer no to things twice, while you only have to answer yes once. But this was the most insidious trap I have seen yet, especially since the recording was serving as an official and binding record of my consent. British Telecom have a lot to learn about serving the interests of their customers, and I am close to having my fill of it. Their broadband product might be reasonably priced compared to the competition, but I am an inch from leaving them for their sneaky ways.

I Passed!

I passed my driving test this morning. It was my first time attempting the test and I sat it up on the stoney grey soil of Monaghan where the waiting times are the shortest in the country. I felt I had prepared well, and I found the test itself quite straightforward. I was relieved that the tester didn't question me on braking distances during the theory section. I had purchased sample test routes and driven over them the previous two weekends. This proved invaluable and on the road test we covered much of the same routes. I would estimate that I had already driven 95% of the test route, and we even did the reversing maneouvre on the exact same corner that I had practised on several times before. The weather was not favourable as intermittent showers and high winds swept the town, but I was well accustomed to driving in such conditions, and I had my automatic wipers to help me. I didn't feel nervous for long into the test, and in fact, after a few minutes I was starting to enjoy myself as I realised that things were going well. On returning to the test centre I felt entirely confident that I had passed and knew for certain once she asked me to sign a certificate of competency before telling me I had passed the test. I did get 6 of the lowest grade 2 faults, still safely under the limit. They were for:

• position turning right: which I'm sure was for not pulling out far enough into the box junction at the traffic lights.
• reaction to hazards: which I think I got for tutting at a woman who walked out in front of me, and I had seen her and taken action.
• signals changing lane: don't know where I missed that, maybe my lane-change indicator function didn't stay on long enough for her?
• progress turning right: this one I knew I'd made a mistake on when turning right onto a busy road. There was a tractor coming and I debated going before him but decided not to. It was 50-50 though and had I gone she might have thought worse of me.
• progress at traffic lights: again because I hadn't pulled far enough into the box junction it took me a second longer to progress when an opportunity arose to turn.
• competence in the turnabout: don't know what she didn't like here, it took me 4 turns instead of the usual 3, which is perfectly acceptable and unavoidable since the road was as narrow as a toothpick.