Fuming!

Begin rant:

Due to some cable testing at Bucks County Museum last Friday, the power to all the servers and networking equipment was switched off. Apparently, the company doing the work was unaware that this would affect all the computers in the museum of which EG has a server and several workstations. Later on Friday afternoon, power resumed but now the EG network had inexplicably become one with the Bucks County network. Consequently, none of the servers worked and the workstations were inaccessible.

On Sunday I contacted a support person at the company responsible for the BCM network. I was not expecting a reply but explained the situation. I did not expect any action until Monday.

First thing Monday I contacted the technician I had emailed on Sunday to make sure he understood the nature of the problem. I sent him all the information used to set up the network initially. Monday progressed but there seemed to be little action. Eventually, the guy decided to get some help so escalated the problem to a higher support level.

Tuesday came and still no progress despite a higher level of support. I was notified that a technician would go to the museum on Wednesday at 10:00 and that I should be available for consultation on the telephone. No one contacted me other than the girl on the desk at the museum. I was assured they had the measure of the problem and that it would all be sorted out soon.

Later, I received another email asking me to provide information to the ‘Team Leader’ at the IT company so they could finish the job. By this time I was running out of patience so called the guy myself. It transpired that he had no inkling of the nature of the problem and tried to fob me off with a few lame excuses. I made it very clear that I was done waiting and that some action needed to take place so that everything would be back to normal by start of office hours in the morning. He worked out that the configuration information had been lost when the power was switched off and consequently nothing worked correctly once it resumed. Amazing! I worked that out on Sunday and spent the next two days trying to get the message through.

I pointed out that I felt the company were supposed to be top-notch organisation and, as such, I was extremely disappointed with the service they offer. It all went quiet at the other end of the phone and he said he’d work through the night to get everything operational by morning.

All he has to do is set up a VLAN on the switch! Hardly rocket science and should take no more than ten minutes. I suspect the guy I was speaking to on Sunday and Monday was only one step up from teaboy and the support desk need kicking around the office.

Hopefully, they’ll get it fix by tomorrow morning.

Rant over:

Other than being a frustrating day, it has been reasonably warm and sunny. The morning walk went well and I ran 2km as well as walked. Since I was able to fix my puncture with the help of some vulcanising solution provided by my Dutch neighbour, Lau, I am now able to ride my bike. This is very useful since a bike ride gets rid of a lot of energy. I went to Manolis, as in Georgia, to see if he had a new tyre for me. My rear bike tyre is down to the canvas so is in desperate need of changing and very likely to puncture. I bought a new inner tube and we talked about gas bottles. I explained that the 25kg bottle works very well and that I’ll have another one once the 10kg bottle is empty. I’m getting an automatic changeover device which also incorporates a more sophisticated pressure limiter and safety valve. The one I have at present doesn’t inspire me with confidence. Once the gas in one cylinder runs out, it switches over to the full one. No more standing around in the dark and cold to switch over cylinders. The gas only ever runs out at night when it’s cold and windy. Been there, done that too many times.

I checked out the straw and hay situation at Petrakis with my man Yannis. He showed me where it was all stored and let me take a look. Hay is better for dogs as it lasts longer and turns to dust more slowly. I discovered that they have straw as well but what I had the first time was hay and not straw as I suspected. I think good quality hay is quite hard to come by. Anyway, the dogs seem to like it as it is warm and comfortable. Only Dave has reduced his to a pile of dust.

I ordered loads of networking equipment for the camping which should be delivered from the supplier in Bulgaria before the end of the month. I’m also in the process of ordering Georgia’s cameras from China. With the network and WiFi sorted I will have achieved a longterm goal which I’ve had since first coming to the camping. We are going to be the camping with the best WiFi on Crete! And it’s fun for me to play with too.

I need some grub and a glass of something. I wonder how long it will take for this guy to sort out the networking problem at BCM (Bucks County Museum)?