Never assume
Submitted: Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 10:09
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Member - Duncan W (WA)
Never assume as it will make an ass out of you and me, so the old saying goes, and oh so true.
Back in April did an Anzac Day trip away and tried to use my Inmarsat sat phone a couple of times and it wouldn't connect. Wife took it into Sat Phone sales for me and problem was the pre paid sim had expired. Der.
As I was going away on a 3wk
Simpson Desert trip the sim card wouldn't be activated until 2 days before my scheduled departure. Get an email on the Thursday before we departed to say card now activated. Beauty can now blow the pre paid on talking to my wife each night, etc etc.
So 2 nights into the trip try phoning and can't get a satellite fix, message comes up see my provider. This happens every time I try to use it over the 3wks we were away.
Wife takes phone back in to Sat Phone Sales, phone is working perfectly except it won't pick up satellites or connect. They think that when the card was activated the person doing the activation has typed in the wrong phone number and thus the satellites don't recognise my phone. Still doesn't work so back to the
shop it goes!
So the lesson from all this don't assume it will work just because it did last time you used it.
Check before you leave
home, as in my case the lack of a sat phone could have been the difference between life and death. Fortunately though we had a back up in the form of an Iridium phone in the other vehicle which worked all the time.
Cheers
Dunc
Reply By: Robin Miller - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 10:36
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 10:36
Good Advise Duncan , I am also gearing up for 3 week Simpson trip via the unlimited
speed section of
Alice Springs road and I am checking every single thing (although I didn't recently slide backwards just to
test).
As part of this I rotated one of my tyre sets onto some new second hand rims and discovered that 1 had a slight buckle and that the tyres were so stuck to the rims that I couldn't remove them with my tyre pliers.
Wouldn't have wanted to find out those things after hitting a stake in the dessert.
AnswerID:
537540
Follow Up By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 14:42
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 14:42
Speaking of tyres a got a brand new set of rag tyres for a particularly rough trip we would be doing. Got a bit of a run around during the fitting stage but ASSUMED all was good when we hit the road. Stopped for lunch just outside of
Paynes Find and my mate jumps on the spare wheel to
check something on the roof. As soon as he put wait on the spare the whole spare wheel moved on the carrier. Removing my rubbish bag we found that every nut was missing and it was being held onto the carrier by the padlock.
They must have just put the nuts on finger tight and when I put the rubbish bag on I wouldn't have or expected there to be problems. Fortunately I carry spare nuts.
Cheers
Dunc
FollowupID:
821784
Follow Up By: Ozrover - Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 08:39
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 08:39
Robin,
The de-restricted speed zone will be extended to Ali-Curung on the 1st of September! that makes it around 276km of joy...
Call in & say gerday when you pass through
Tennant Creek.
FollowupID:
822505
Reply By: Derek Jones - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 10:44
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 10:44
Even simpler example.
Wife and I were heading up Great Northern Highway and refueled at
Wubin. She went to loo & then into
shop & bought a couple of things while I filled up. I went into
shop & bought a couple of things.
About 100km up the road went to fill in fuel log and found out neither of us had paid for fuel. Hasty phone call to roadhouse when in range to give humble apologies.
Roadhouse were great and were happy to wait until we returned in 3 weeks. We figured an exchange of credit card numbers over the phone was better for them and duly exchanged details.
Even the small assume things can get you.
AnswerID:
537543
Follow Up By: baznpud (tassie) - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 12:30
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 12:30
Mate of
mine was leaving Dubbo heading back to Tassie, heard a noise coming from the van, discovered a bearing was on the way out so headed back to Dubbo, about 15ks out of Dubbo they decided to get out and
check the bearing again, wheel was getting very hot but decided to continue on.
Getting very close to Dubbo my mate said something to his wife, but there was no answer, he had left her on the side of the road.
Just because she's quite, don't assume she's in the car.
baz
FollowupID:
821779
Follow Up By: Stu & "Bob" - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 12:51
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 12:51
Sounds like he would have got a bit of hot tongue and cold shoulder for dinner that night.......
FollowupID:
821781
Follow Up By: Pete Jackman (SA) - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 13:07
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 13:07
Friend of
mine was driving from
Sydney to
Adelaide in the days before mobile phones. His wife was sleeping on the back
seat when he stopped for fuel in
Hay. 100k down the road he gets flagged down by the boys in blue. He was wondering why. The conversation went something like this:
"Missing Something Mate"
"Nope"
"
Check your passenger"
She had hopped out to go the
toilet while he was paying for the fuel and was left in the servo in her PJs.
That was some years ago and the story still gets told.
FollowupID:
821782
Reply By: allein m - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 16:07
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 16:07
As part of my course of Accountancy at TAFE in
Perth we went to local courts for a day .
Ok guy stand up he picked up a nice guitar of the verge of a
home which had out all it,s junk out for collection, he is charged with theft.
The guy explained it was on the verge no one around he could see and he assumed it was going to the tip so no problem
The Magistrate said one " this is going to be a expensive lesson in life
young man
"Never assume anything in life" you always
check and make sure what you are doing is correct done properly and in a case like this legal .
The property on the verge belongs to the vendors who collect the items from the verge
and fined him $200 and did not register as it was his first trip to court
AnswerID:
537556
Follow Up By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 19:29
Monday, Aug 11, 2014 at 19:29
I remember that case Allein. Made a few people sit up and think. Mind you it hasn't stopped the curb crawlers during the "bring out your dead" days.
Cheers
Dunc
FollowupID:
821801
Reply By: Sat Phone Sales - Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 06:23
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 06:23
Hi Duncan, that's not a good experience to have had! We always advise our customers to
check their comms
well in advance of departure. Easy to do, and offers great peace of mind. Your tip is a very valuable one indeed.
The only other comment I have is that you mention "Sat Phone Sales". I'm afraid that Sat Phone Sales wasn't your vendor, as at the time you mentioned, we didn't sell Inmarsat equipment, air time, or plans. (about to happen though!)
Never the less, as with all things you can't beet a trial run before heading off!
Kevin
AnswerID:
538184
Follow Up By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 11:15
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 11:15
Hi Kevin & thanks for the comments. Your comment about SPS not selling Inmarsat Phones is odd as I've been dealing with Satellite Phone Sales in Subiaco, where are you?. I first bought my phone at one of the Caravan & Camping Shows and had to pick up the phone from Satellite Phone Sales in Subi and have had excellent service from them for nearly 2 years now. After I contacted them recently with my issues and when I tried their suggested diagnostics to no avail they collected my phone via courier and found it was a combination of software and firmware and returned it to me all fixed via courier and at no cost to me.
That's what I call excellent customer service.
Cheers
Dunc.
FollowupID:
822510
Follow Up By: Sat Phone Sales - Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 11:28
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2014 at 11:28
That certainly does sound like excellent service.
Your original post referred to "Sat Phone Sales", that's us! We're an online retailer servicing all of Australia via an overnight courier service from the SE Qld warehouse.
"Satellite Phone Sales" are a WA retailer as you pointed out.
A subtle but important difference!
It's great to see that our colleagues in the industry take customer service as seriously as we do.
Thanks for the comments.
Kevin
FollowupID:
822512