The home entertainment network project has progressed with the box having been located.
After having waited nearly a week for the customs department to signal me that i can come and fetch my Asus, a colleague of mine suggested i’d give ‘em a ring. Unlike many other official instances here, the customs still live in the Soviet era when they were stiff and unfriendly and in such a monopolistic position that they didn’t have to care [0]. So i did call them.
I was a bit surprised when my call was answered nearly immediately. I told the receptionist that i had this EMS tracking number and i wanted to know where my box was. According to the tracking, it has been under their wings for a week now. But no, when it comes to EMS tracking numbers, i would have to call the postal services, Itella [1].
Which i did.
The AVR [2] at Itella calmly told me that i was in line, that the typical waiting time was eight minutes, that the call was being recorded and that queuing was going to cost me. Schweet. From there on, things took a turn for the better.
Seven and a half minutes later, a gentleman with butler-like qualities answered, clearly stating his full name and enquiring what i might be enquiring today. Upon telling him, he agreed that the package indeed should be at the customs but instead of asking me to call back, he double checked by recipient address and said he’d check with the customs.
One minute later, he confirmed that my computer indeed was where i had suspected but that he was not able to get its current status at this notice. Could he perhaps call me back after handling the issue with the customs?
Heck yeah!
He repeats his name (in case i want to call him back, i suppose?) and gets on the job.
Another ten minutes and my phone rings again. We now know that the computer is at the customs’ location by the airport and i should ring the customs tomorrow mid day to confirm i can pick it up. Incidentally i’m going for a customer meeting tomorrow just by the airport. How excellent!
I tell him what a hoopy frood he’s been and how much i appreciate his efforts. I give a pile of thanks over the wire and a happy so-long. He responds with a butler’s calmness, thank you and goodbye sir.
Respex and kudos to the Itella customer service. You rule.
I wish the coming weekend was longer, so that i could get down and do some serious tinkering. Thankfully, going to see Riverside (and hopefully interview/photograph) on Saturday is a valid reason not to be too buggered about it.
And there are other, more architectural problems, of which i’ll be writing shortly.
[0] Thinking of it, couldn’t there be competing customs?
[1] Long gone are the times when the post was called the post.
[2] automated voice recognition, which was able to tell my “no” apart from the other option (“yes”)
