You Suck

... if you're one of the following companies, that is. I give you the Suburban Safari guide to shit service in the hope that I can assist you in avoiding it yourself.

Virgin Broadband. Oh how I hate them so. Their service is patchy, by which I mean that the (broadband) internet connection drops out regularly, and the attached phone is often out of service. We've been without a home phone for two weeks now, and getting it back doesn't seem to be on the horizon. We've had several rounds of problems over the year or so we've been with them, and even letting them know about it is an issue. Their so-called support phone line has had us on hold for an hour and three quarters on one occasion. It would have been longer had we not needed to turn in for the night. The last time I spoke to them I asked the guy to give me a number or some other contact so that I could make a complaint. He said no. And that's a quote. They promised a discount for one month in which we had only one week's service. Four months later, still waiting. Avoid them like nylon underpants and Hall and Oates records.

Babies Galore. Balls-ups Galore. If I could be bothered telling you about the weeks-long saga of getting the pram we ordered from them, could you be bothered reading about it? Likely not. Suffice to say they're on the black list, with several black crosses next to their name. Avoid.

Bendigo Bank. This is a surprise listing, given that I'd heard great things about them. Two weeks ago I took up their invitation to enquire about their term deposit special of 8% interest. Then again, once a week had gone by and I'd not heard back. Still no reply. Why advertise it at all, I can't help but wonder?

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One that doesn't suck, however, is the real estate agency I've been renting through over the past 18 months. The house we've been renting has been up for sale for around six months now. This has involved multiple open houses, private inspections, and other off-pissing intrusions on our weekends. The Realty One staff, however, have been doing their level best to ensure that the inconvenience to us is minimised, negotiating with us at all times to make sure that these inspections happen at times that suit us. A few weeks ago they even left us flowers and chocolates as a thank-you. (Would it be sexist of me to note that the office is staffed exclusively by women?)

On top of all that, it looks as though they've found us somewhere nice to move to, and are holding the house exclusively for us, if we want it. It wasn't one that we spotted; it came up, they thought of us and let us know about it. They're also being extremely flexible about when we move, so that it fits in around some other things we've got going on. I know, nice real estate agents! What are the chances? I'm glad it looks as though we're able to stick with them for a while, especially since it includes polished floors, gas cooking, and air con.