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Month: September 2006

Very impressed at O2

September 6, 2006
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Yesterday, at the end of a 2 hour driving lesson, I think I left my mobile phone in my driving instructors car. Unfortently, it hasn’t yet “turned up” so I’ve had to report it lost to my mobile phone network – o2. And I was very impressed with their service:

  • Only two menus deep with their automated system (press “0” for anything else or lost phone, press 1 to report a phone lost/stolen)
  • UK call center with very fast answering
  • Simple authentication steps (well, if I could remember when I last topped up my phone)

But the most impressive thing? They are willing to send out FREE of charge, and within 48 hours, a brand new SIM card with the same mobile number AND my credit transferred over. This is a on a “pay as you go” service.

This compares with around 4 menus deep, slow answering Orange (I think I was “on hold” for over 30 minutes) who I had a contracted phone with – plus they wanted to charge me £25 for a new Sim card that would take 14 days to be sent out.

So in summary:
O2 – I had no commitment to them. They were willing to send out quick and for free a new SIM card. My monthly spend with them is £15.
Orange – I had a rolling contract with them (for nearly 3 years). I had a monthly spend of around £25. They were going to charge me for a new SIM card.

So if you ever think of losing your phone (including the number of your driving instructor who /may/ actually have the phone!) – then go with o2!

News: Lufthansa Adopts Traditional Dress

September 2, 2006
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Lufthansa Cabin Crew In Drindl DressesLufthansa, the airline I used to fly to Japan and Portgual (both via Germany – so in the case of Birmingham, UK to Portugal, I went a very long way round), is adopting traditional dress: the Dirndl dress as used at Oktoberfest.

The thing that confuses me is that my experience of Lufthansa staff is that they are polite, understanding, and multi-lingual (on my Germany to Japan flight they recognised me as English and spoken in fluent English to my, in German to the gentleman sitting next to me, Japanese to some other passengers and I even heard French – the Portugese flight had German, English and Portugese speakers) – and I also believe there is some sort of Global Airline regulation that specifies that cabin crew need to be able to speak English.

So why does the BBC have an interview with the cabin crew who are going to be on flights from Munich to North America and Asia (so English will be needed to be known by the staff) – so why interview them in German and have to dub them into English 🙁