Mobile phone contracts are a bad thing?

Who'd have thought it.
After the appalling service I received from o2 and the new phone work bought me I tried to cancel my contract.
First I tried ringing o2. I selected the cancel contracts department from the menu system. Their computer systems were down and I was asked to ring back another day. I left it a couple of weeks and rang again. What a surprise - there computer systems were down again.
I immediately rang back and dialled through to the payments department. What a surprise - all the computer systems are working perfectly in that department...
Anyway - I ask to cancel my contract and they put me through to the relevant department who promptly tell me I have to make a written request to cancel my contract.
So basically I spoke to three different people who tried to fob me off with broken computers and being in the wrong department and not one of them could tell me that I needed to write my request.
It's amazing how easy it is nowadays to blame broken computers for providing awful customer service - I bet if the systems guys at o2 knew that the customer services staff were using that excuse as a standard response "hello, welcome to o2 - our computer systems are down - again" that they would be a little annoyed.
Also, in this futuristic world of phones, computers etcetc how come I still have to write to o2 to cancel my contract? I have verified my identity by providing my details over the phone and I bet they could tell me anything I wanted to know about my contract and I could pay them my bill with ease but for some reason I have to write that I want to cancel my contract...
So watch out, if you want to cancel your contract expect the most unreliable computer systems on earth to prevent a customer services representative from telling you that you need to write to them to cancel your contract.
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Sweden

Just a quick post to say that I am currently in Sweden on a course :-)
It's a hard life when work sends you off to foreign lands to learn stuff.
Also I passed my F5 advanced exam on Monday which totally rocks - its one big weight off my shoulders which can move over and make room for some more big weights instead.
Anyway, im off to do Swedish things now such as last night when we went out for an indian...
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My phone is a bad influence

Seriously.
I use predictive text messaging and when I try to say "do you fancy a pint?" my phone comes out with "do you fancy a shot?" - it's trying to upgrade my alcohol intake from pints to shots. Perhaps even more worrying is when I hit the next possible word it comes out with "do you fancy a riot?" - now it's trying to incite violence.
So if you find me drinking shots causing a riot when I was planning on going for a pint you know my phone is to blame.

qwerty

So last week me and Badger went Kayaking on Wednesday. It was totally cool and we are going to go every wednesday. I have a slight fear of capsizing but I hope to overcome it by repeatedly capsizing until I'm not afraid anymore.
Over the weekend me, Laura and Anya went to Heaton Park in North Manchester which was nice. Very hot. Lots of ice lollies were had. Also we had the house valued as we are thinking of moving on once more before we settle down for good. We were valued at pretty much what we expected and we should hopefully be able to afford to move to Sale.
On Sunday Russ and Adam came round and we had a game of civilization which was pretty fun. I bought myself a copy from ebay yesterday so that I can get in some practice :-)
We havent got round to doing the forfeits yet but it is still in my mind that we need to get them done. Also its looking not so good for me this weekend - I havent lost anything since the last weigh-in...

Weight loss?

Ok, so the first set of results are in. Both myself and Laura have lost half a stone. You will be happy to hear that this means that both of us will be doing a forfeit this week - details and pictures to follow. I absolutely must win the next round so watch out in two weeks.
We played Poker on Friday night and it was some of the most fun poker I have played. I didnt end up winning all that much but it was still a great night.
I also tried playing some tournaments online and I found that as well as being a lot easier to get into the money, its also really fun. Sadly I have discovered that I dont have the skill to win enough to be able to pay my way in the poker world so I closed my account with Ladbrokes and shall be playing online no more. Poker shall only be a thing of drunken evenings with friends and family.
We met up with Grandma and Grandad and Auntie Dawn yesterday for lunch at the Nags head in Huddersfield. It is just off Junction 24 on the M62. I can highly recommend it. You pay £7.50 for all you can eat of a Sunday lunch. You can choose from Roast Beef, Turkey or Pork (or all three) and you get as many roast potatos and Yorkshire Puddings as you want. It kind of went against the whole weight loss thing but it was well worth it :-)
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