Just passed one week in our Ealing Broadway new house

Updated: April 17, 2008 with new Virgin Media details!

We moved last Saturday to the new house by Ealing Broadway! We're very happy and everything is great - but the best stories (of course) are regarding the things that didn't go perfectly smoothly.

The movers on Saturday arrived an hour late - maybe that should have been a sign of things to come. We needed to have a final cleaning before "returning" our old flat back to the landlords, so we left a big taped note on one of the cabinets saying "DO NOT MOVE ANYTHING IN THIS CABINET" and we also pointed that out specifically when showing them around the place. But anyway, when we were doing the final walk through, we noticed that the cabinet was fully packed and ready to be moved. When we pointed it out, the movers basically said "oops. we can't find it now, sorry." Great. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal, so we said not to worry about it.

We got to the new place in Ealing and had pre-measured all the doorways to make sure our stuff would fit. Note to anyone who will be moving - you need to also measure the angle of turns.. we learned the hard way! Most things fit fine, but there were two items that wouldn't make the tight turn from the hallway up to the stairs. So the movers gave up after about 30 seconds and said "oops. your bookshelf and bedframe won't fit upstairs. oh well." (Can you tell that I didn't really like the movers?) At this point, we just wanted the movers to get out, so we told them to never mind and we'd figure it out ourselves.

We spent most of Sunday unpacking and putting away the big things. Troy did a big job during the day by breaking down the bookcase to move it upstairs and then re-assembling it all together. It was great! But then on Monday morning, Troy had to head back to the US for work, and I worked from home while Virgin Media came to install the phone line, the internet, and the cable. The installers were a bunch of people who had no idea what they for doing. I'll give you three quick examples: First, the room had a drilled hole already in place from the previous cable routing. When they went to install the cable, I saw them plugging in the drill and asked them what it was for. They said that they needed to drill through to the next room to route the cable. I pointed out - somewhat sarcastically - that the hole in the wall already existed. He said that he wasn't sure if the cable would fit through the existing hole, so he was going to drill a new one. I suggested - using my intellect - that he might want to TRY to see. Surprise, surprise.. it fit. The second example is when he said that he had to drill through the outside wall to bring in the phone line. Sounded reasonable. So he drilled outside. And into my neighbor's yard. I kid you not - my phone line now routes through my neighbor's front yard. Fantastic. And the third example is when the phone wouldn't work at all. They had to call out another team to figure out the problem. I think the problem can be summed up as incompetence. (Which is different from incompetent, in case anyone was wondering. That would have REALLY stunk in the new house. Ha ha). But, by the end of Monday, we had internet, cable and phone working. I also was able to get a normal day of work done - even particularly productive for the period when I didn't have email access! The day would have been slightly less stressful if everyone was like the locksmith who came out to change the door locks - arrived on time, did the work well and everything was good. I'll keep his name handy for when we lock ourselves out of the house again and again. Although, maybe once it's happened once you're cured of it? (Update: April 17 - see our latest drama with Virgin Media - don't use them! Read all about our Poor Review of Virgin Media)

Of course, it wasn't just Virgin Media who I disliked.. Sky is included in my moanings. We had Sky satellite at our old flat and signed a 12-month contract. We're 2 months before the contract expires, so I was fully expecting Sky to charge me the cost of the two additional months when I called them on Monday to cancel. I talked with the customer service rep who transferred me to the cancellation department. I explained that I moved and since I live in the Haven Green Conservation Zone, I wasn't going to be able to mount a satellite outside. He told me that there was still two months left on my contract - right so far - and that I should call back when my contract was finished. I explained to him that I'd rather just cancel the contract now, get one more thing checked off my list of things to do, and to pay the last two months of the contract. "No." Excuse me? No what, exactly? "No, you can't cancel your contract." So I tried rephrasing this as paying out the rest of my contract. As paying a penalty fee, as having an early termination fee. "No." I told him my new place is really tiny and I have no place to store my Sky box. "No." Ah ha - moment of brilliance into Tee's mind - how about a supervisor? Clearly they will be enlightened, realize I really am not going to keep Sky, and better to part on good terms. "Ok, can I speak with your supervisor please?" "No, I'm not going to transfer you." Pardon me? I did keep my calm the entire time, tried rationalizing that I'm a paying customer with an unresolved dispute and would like to speak with a supervisor. "No." He said that he'd be happy to give me his own name, extension number and operator ID number, but he wasn't going to transfer me because the dispute wasn't anything that was "escalation worthy." Wow. I just didn't know what to say. But he suggested writing a letter - not an email or fax, but an actual letter (he was very clear on this point). So I did and I eagerly await the outcome. I'm trying my best not to smash the Sky box to bits, because I'm pretty sure it somehow would come back to bite me. But it would make me feel better.

On Tuesday night, I came home from work and decided to fix the remaining big obstacle, the bed's headboard. Luckily at lunch on Tuesday, I had bought a hand saw and metal brackets (see where this is going?). So I got home in the evening, had dinner and two beers, and with an air of invincibility, sawed apart part of the headboard that would enable me to bring it upstairs. Succesful with that, I then used the brackets to stabilize it again and was pleased that it all came together as expected/hoped. I've now made it 5 nights - sometimes with Kitty even on the bed - without the bed collapsing. It's a full success!

The rest of the week went by quickly, and I spent most of Saturday doing the last few things required to get the house liveable and normal. It's at a really good point right now and looks like we're just messy. Can't wait until that perception changes, too. All the boxes are gone, things are unpacked, and it's liveable. Whee!

If you haven't seen our summary of the purchasing process in the UK, we wrote a quick comparison between our UK and US experiences. You can view it at Buying property in the UK (London).

(This article viewed 725 times.)
Previous article: Retirement time for KennieMouse and our Orlando Trip
Next article: Christmas 2007 Update from Boston