A taste of technological hell. That's how I'll be referring to that last couple of months.

After almost not being able to move house at all at the last minute due to the removals firm cancelling due to double booking, I eventually got all my stuff moved in around a week later with much appreciated assistance from friends. Then I needed to sort out an internet connection, which is where the real fun begins.

I phoned up Telewest to arrange an installation, which they scheduled for a little more than a week after I'd called. The date came and went. I phone them back, get the obligatory apologies, a rescheduled installation date and an assurance that the engineers would actually show up. They didn't. The manager of the call centre offered his useless apologies, arranged for the installation fee to be waived and rescheduled again. This time - around three weeks after I should have been connected - the engineers showed up, got halfway to installing the cables, then realised they didn't have the broadband modem they're supposed to supply with them. They come back the next day and finish the installation, smile, leave, go.

The connection worked for about an hour after they left.

Phone up Telewest again, rage over the phone at their utter incompetance and have to threaten legal action before they'll agree to a fresh, working installation. I finally got back online properly yesterday, with the scant consolation of getting my first quarter's worth of access free.

All of this is made worse by the fact that my day job is working in an internet cafe where the management chose this past month to change the access software the customers use. Which, of course, didn't work. >_<

Still, crises over and I'm now back online and ready to write stuff. Just thought I'd fill you guys in on where I've been and vent a little in the process. ^_^

I'm with Telewest and (fingers crossed) have not had any major issues. I have heard horror stories similar to yours though.

I have a physical hatred of BT though, growing up in Hull we never had BT, and moving to London they consistently messed up connections and bills.

But basically, most of these big companies are bloody useless.