Grrrr...

I arranged two appointments for today.

I've had a leaky overflow pipe for a couple of weeks, according to my neighbours, and the landlord informed me that he had a plumbing contract with British Gas. (British Gas?? For plumbing?? That was a new one on me!) I arranged the appointment for my half term week. The annual gas boiler check was also due, and to make life easier for myself, I booked it for the same day.

Now, unfortunately, although several supermarkets and retail outlets can arrange a specific delivery slot at half-hour intervals, and my cable TV company were able to book an appointment within a two-hour slot, British Gas do not seem to be able to do the same. It is a case of "morning" (any time from 7am to 1pm) or "afternoon" (the start time of which depended on who was speaking at the time, but it varied between 12pm and 2pm and finished at 6pm.) I picked the afternoon slot both times, as a morning one would prevent me from getting to Mass.

So I hot-footed it back from Mass this morning, and got on with a few household chores I'd been saving especially for half term...

At 11:30am, well before the official "slot," the phone rang. I was in the bathroom (Sod's Law in operation) so couldn't answer. When I phoned back, the gas heating engineer informed me that, since there had been no answer when he'd phoned, he'd gone on to his next job... he promised to return in "about an hour."

The plumber arrived half an hour later: there was just a washer which needed to be replaced, which was fine. I was delighted by this turn of events: it looked as though everything would be sorted pretty early...

...a case of crossing one's chickens before one's bridges are hatched...

Three hours later, I tried the heating engineer's mobile. No answer, so I left a polite voicemail message asking for an estimated time of arrival. An hour after that, I tried again... he answered (I heard a connection) and then he hung up. An hour after that, rapidly losing patience, I rang headquarters. The chap I spoke to was very apologetic.

Apparently, the engineer told the headquarters chap that my address didn't exist. He also said that there was no contact number... given that I was on the phone to headquarters at the time, and the address came up on their records (and I'd reported that the engineer had phoned me in the morning), I wonder what the chap said to the engineer. I was on hold, so I can only guess...

Another engineer is being sent round before 6pm.

UPDATE: He didn't turn up... Grrrrr!