So, a couple of weeks ago, we moved. After over a year of searching, we finally found a suitable house. Four adult-sized people, a dog, and a cat moved from a roughly 800 square foot suite into a 2500 square foot home. Finally, we have room, including a proper home office.
For the most part, the move went well. Our new appliances and beds arrived on time. We had to purchase a bunch of furniture for the extra rooms we now have. Those, however, didn’t arrive until 11 days after we had moved in because Ikea doesn’t quite know how to do this whole online shopping and shipping thing that most Canadians have to use because we don’t live anywhere near one of the 12 stores.
But, after they finally arrived, we spent the weekend putting together 42 boxes of furniture, meaning I could finally unpack. I’d say I’m 90% done unpacking. I would be completely finished if my lupus and arthritis didn’t keep interfering, forcing me to work one day and then rest for at least three.
Long before the furniture snafu that left us living out of boxes in a partially furnished home for nearly two weeks, we had an even bigger snafu: There was an issue the day Shaw came to our house to install our cable, internet, and phone. A really big problem.
You see, we moved into a 100-year-old character home. Not only is a really old home, but it’s a newly renovated old home. It has a new roof, new wiring, new plumbing, new foundation, new insulation, and more, but it still has all the original wood, doors, windows, softwood floors, and more. The house was also rotated. It’s like a brand new house but with all the charm of a 100-year-old character home.
It’s such an awesome house. But! This house has never had cable services before. The house was wired for cable. The wiring is brand spanking new. The outside of the house has the cable box.
But!
The pole that the cable has to run from? It’s across the street and up a really steep embankment. It’s not the easy, “I’m just going to put my ladder up this pole and run a line from it to the house,” job.
The morning Shaw was due to show up, they phoned like they always do, to confirm their two-hour window. They knew the house was a brand new installation prior to that day. What they didn’t know was that the pole they had to run the cable from was a nightmare to reach. So, when the Shaw dude called, I informed him that he may run into a bit of an issue and why.
About 20 minutes later, and three hours before they were due to arrive, he was at the house to assess the situation. It was worse than we thought.
Not only did they have to run the wire from a dangerous location from across the street, but they also had to run the wire from the junction box that resides down the street and around the corner.
No, it wasn’t a simple job, in the least.
Then, the news got worse. The bucket truck that showed up to assess the situation was not big enough to reach the pole. The other bucket truck was not available that day.
They would have to come back on Monday (two days later).
However, before delivering the disappointing news, the Shaw dude did get the inside of the house ready by connecting all the cable and phone wires to their plates and tagging the wires in the box outside of the house.
It is now Monday.
It’s a different set of dudes who show up to deliver us more bad news: The structures they need access are not the safest, and they really are not sure they can get to it today because it will require more than one crew, and they are really busy for the next couple of days.
The conversation that followed goes a little something like this:
Shaw: So, yeah. We probably can’t get to it today. We will be lucky if we can get this done tomorrow because it will take more than two hours. The installation is very complex, and there are some infrastructure safety concerns*.
Me: Well, that really sucks.
Shaw: Yes, it does. We’re sorry. But, you’ll be without entertainment for at least one or two more days.
Me: It’s not the entertainment we’re worried about. We both work from home. We need the internet in order to work and make money. No internet means no money. No money means we can’t pay our bills.
Shaw: Well, that’s not good at all. We can’t have that. We understand your disappointment. We will see what we can do about getting your services turned on today.
About an hour later, multiple crews showed up at our house. A few hours after that, we had our services on. It was quite the spectacle to watch. I wish I took some video footage instead of a couple of pictures.
So, now, not only do we have brand new wiring inside of the house, we also have brand new wiring running to the house.
TL;DR: Thank you, Shaw, for getting us back up and working when it looked like it wouldn’t be possible. Your continued excellent customer service is why I always have a difficult time not laughing when Telus calls, trying to get me to switch to their slower services and average customer service.
*Dear BC Hydro: Please replace your poles and make them safer. The pole Shaw had to access is not only in a dangerous location, but it surrounded by really old trees. One day, when we have our annual winter wind storms, one of those old trees is going to break, ripping down all the wires.
