King of Excellent (according to Scaryduck)

Friday, January 23

Being a percentage

As mentioned before, it's a well known fact I have big feet. This size 15 shoe size means that (I'm guessing) I'm in a very low percentage.

<- A size 15, compared to a size 6.

Maybe 1% of the populous. This got me thinking, is there anything else I could claim to be in the top, or bottom, 1% of everyone. Maybe I'm only 1 in 100 of teachers who's qualified to teach via the internet? Or maybe I'm a single percentile when it comes to programming, because I know I'm only one of 10 registered Forth (the language used on the Space Shuttle) programmers in the UK.

Do you have a claim to fame or misfortune? My father could be listed as one of the grumpiest men in Britain. My sister could be listed as a one-percenter for remembering everything her kid brother ever did wrong to her. Comment away.

More on Sky

I spent hours (literally) yesterday talking to technical services, who told me my dish was only working at 15% efficiency. They would repair it, for £65. They wouldn't waive the cost, because they didn't have that option. I then spoke to Customer Services, who also said there was nothing they could do, and after offering them loads of chances to back down and repair it for free, I had to hang up, to then call back to be put through to cancellations.

The guy in cancellations listened patiently for 10 minutes, whilst I sounded off about Sky's quality of service, failure of Ofcom guidelines, lack of communication and breach of contract. He then put his cards on the table, which is obviously where they'd been calling my bluff, and realised their hand was shit. He offered me a call out for free, involving (if need be) full replacement of all equipment, including reattaching the dish elsewhere on the house if need be. He also then offered me a £15 goodwill payment, refund of the past 6 month's worth of fees, and full premium package including Sky movies for a month for free.

This is all great, because in two months I will cancel anyway when Terrestrial Digital becomes available. I have also had it noted that if I'm not happy after that 2 months, I will get another two months refunded. I'm sure I can find something to bitch about. I might even move the dish slightly, just to justify it.

Free Sky, anyone?