Category: Personal

A Summer Not Wasted

Last weekend I spent the weekend in the Lass o’Gowrie for In Da 80’s, a classic gaming event featuring much alcohol and game playing. As the weekend was wet, I didn’t mind spending it indoors, plus I get to speak to many people I’ve gotten to known in the year or two I’ve spent going to these events. But one thing I’ve yet to do is win a tournament.

This changed last weekend.

You see, when I was the tender age of 10, my favourite item I owned was a Commodore 64. For those who don’t know, the majority of the games came out on cassette tapes, which was played into the machine with a tapedeck. In the summer of that year, my tapedeck’s eject button broke, leaving one game in there – Buggy Boy.

Being my favourite toy, and an alright game stuck in the tapedeck (which I could still play), I played it religiously, getting pretty good. Mum thought she wasted my summer. I proved her wrong this weekend.

You see, one of the games in the 80’s Pentathlon was Buggy Boy. A few pints and large swathes of hogging the system, and this was the result (I use my online handle “retrogarden”).

Winning!

I won a free pint and £20 gift vouchers (in the raffle), and is a rare highlight in what has been a bit of a down month! Damn post holiday blues!

What’s been your best gaming moment?

Greyhound Buses – Why Won’t You Refund Me?

I’ve whinged before about Greyhound Buses before here, but it’s becoming that their refund policy is a joke.

After 2 weeks of hearing nothing, an email dropped into my inbox saying the following:-

Dear Mr. Wynne,

Thank you for contacting our office. We apologize for the delay in responding to your email.

We have received your request for a refund on the ticket with confirmation number 74411661. We need a proof of a new purchase in order to process the refund on the ticket that was purchased wrong. The purchase confirmation you sent was for the same ticket.

At your earliest convenience, pleas forward the proof of purchase of the new ticket and we will proceed with the refund on the wrong ticket.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us or call our department at 214-849-8966 from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm CST Monday to Friday.

Sincerely,

Mr. Lacouture
Customer Care Analyst

So by reading it there appears to say they don’t do refunds unless you buy a new ticket. Which is odd, but fine. I have bought tickets with an alternative provider (Megabus) who were actually sending buses on that day. I forwarded on the tickets to Greyhound and today I heard the following:-

Dear Mr. Wynne,

Thank you for contacting our office. We apologize for the delay in responding to your e-mail.

In order for us to process your refund, we require a proof or receipt of purchase of the new ticket. Since your original tickets are non refundable, they can only be refunded to the original purchaser  by showing a proof of a new purchase.

Please send us an e-mail  with  the original unused ticket(s) attach to the e-mail address below along with the second confirmation number the second ticket you paid. Please refer to the following Customer ID number when contacting our office.

Customer.Service@greyhound.com
We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Mr. Ramirez
Customer Assistance Analyst

I beg your pardon? Are you not refunding me because I’m going with an alternative provider? It’s not really a refund, is it?

It’s only about $50, It’s really not much, but it’s the principle!

Am I being daft? Or does it appear that Greyhound Buses have one of the worst customer support systems?

It’s Not The End Of The World

I don’t think even Harold Campling believed the rapture himself. I mean, on their website they do have offers that are due to end on the 28th of May. Still it’s a nice bit of promotion for him, and everybody knows about him and his station.

This is the most frustating thing, though. I’ve written epic blog posts showing useful things, and generally posted things that are good and useful to the world. How the fuck did that crackpot get so much PR quickly? There’s a blog post in there, just I’m not the man to write it.

When One Website Bear Scrapes Another Furry Bear’s Website, That Makes Me A Sad Little Panda

I can’t be the only person who thinks of this when people talk of the Google Panda Update?

Who lives in peace ‘neath in Mountain View?
Google Harassment Panda!
Who explains Google harassment to me and you?
Google Harassment Panda!
Don’t cloak that, don’t link there..
Don’t be evil says the silly old bear!
He’s come to teach you what’s right and wrong..
Google Harassment Panda!

In other news: I’ve noticed nothing untoward, so I’m going back to bed/pub/doing what I should be doing.