BEAKY IS FLYING ! CATCHING A PLANE TO MELBOURNE

[Caveoftreasures]

The secret is out, Andy (Beaky) is flying down to Melbourne on Friday from the Gold Coast (2nd December) to help a few members out with some major Pinball resto work (boards, wiring harness plus everything in between).

It was "if the mountain can't come to Mohammed (Andy) then the Pinball Tech will jump on a plane". It was a fly me down, and lets share in the costs for the plane, and Andy the pinball tech is on the way.  

I think the last time Andy caught a plane, he was wearing nappies. Now, anyone who wants to shout Andy a bourban n coke, shld give him a yell on his mobile /send him a PM so he can get plastered on the Friday or Saturday night, Melbourne style.  

Anyway, its not often that ya get to jump on a plane with all of your pinball repair tech stuff, and head to Melbourne. I have always said Andy is the sort of bloke that will always go out of his way to help out a fellow pinhead. So I guess a few thousand kilometres counts as being out of ya way.

Enjoy the trip Andy, and say hello to some of the melbourne members whilst u are down there.  

(I have rang ahead to the airport and told them to strip search you just cause I know you would do the same for me.lol) Stay safe and enjoy the flight.  

Brett  

[Retropin]

Thank god he's got good mates like you Brett!

[Caveoftreasures]

Thank god he's got good mates like you Brett!

yeh, I told the people at the airport to go rough with him. Dont ya just hate huge women with rubber gloves.  

p.s - dont forget the camera Andy, we will want photos of the trip (but NOT the strip search).

[beaky]

Cool, a strip search aye! 

thanks cavey

I am going down to re pin a couple of early Bally machines i have rebuilt the boards and assembled a new homepin mpu for, And also to drop off and install a set of zaccaria boards and displays I have rebuilt.

my air fare has been paid by one of the customers, but i am not charging any labour to re pin the 2 machines that customer owns.

I am just doing it to help a couple of members out.

Plus I will be staying at an old friends house, i haven't seen this bloke since 1994, it will be great to catch up with him and some other old mates, and meet a couple of the forum members in person.

[ajlaird]

Welcome to Melbourne, Beaky, and if you need a hand with anything just give a yell here.

[Retropin]

huge women with rubber gloves

May i submit to her probing....

[carnut]

way to go beakey!!!
come home safely.

[beaky]

Well guys i just got ripped off by tiger airways

I turn up at the check in and was told my luggage was going to cost $300 for the extra 15 kg, I payed $15 online for the first 15kg and was told it would have only cost me an extra $40 if I had payed on line when i booked the flight but i didn't see anyway of changing it when I booked.

If I wanted to change the flight then and there to next weekend it would cost me $160 plus the $300 for the extra luggage.

I couldn't leave anything behind because other than a few items of clothing it was all tools parts and circuit boards.
the whole return flight only cost $265

I was then told to ring the phone bookings and I would be able to sort it out and pay the extra $40 for the extra luggage.
Yeah right, when I rang I was told on the phone that the money I paid for the flight I missed was forfeited, I explained circumstances and what I was told at the airport but all i got back was "but you have forfeited that ticket because you didn't catch the flight"And to change the remaining flight would cost $80.
 
One of my customers had put $200 towards the flight so I will be refunding his money. the other $65 was paid by myself so I am out of pocket $265

What a kick in the teeth 

[Cow Corner]

Oh mate that really sucks, does alan joyce run tiger airways too? That's pretty ordinary customer service.
I will buy you a few bourbons to cheer you up when you get back.

[carnut]

that there is bullshit.
seems to be a bit of a trend, where many companies set the price of 'something'
artificially low, then behave fairly dishonestly, jacking up another aspect (complete with many traps and tricks),
to offset the initial bullshit deal.

i went with qantas recently.
usually go with virgin.
i had trouble with the computer system.
i was early for my flight, but after having trouble with both
the ticket issue, and baggage part also, was nearly late.
had 2 trys at luggage, then looking immediately for a customer  helper.!
where the hell is she?
she told me ive missed my flight!!! wtf!!!
anyway, kept my cool,, explained things(everything in my power etc...)
she got me on my flight.
thank goodness!


which brings me to my other observations:
1. how can computers be programmed, and built specifically for a purpose- and be so un-userfriendly!
2. WTF happened to customer service?( or absolute lack there of.)

and it especially sucks more when "you' get stuffed right up, whilst doing a good turn!!!
end of rant.

[ajlaird]

Customer service is an expensive luxury when it comes to cut-price airlines.

[Caveoftreasures]

So u didnt end up going. Fark.  For the next flight, shop around with Virgin or Jetstar etc and organise for more baggage in the cargo hold.   What a waste of friggin money.

When i flew to Adelaide last year with Tiger, I missed my flight due to lateness etc, but the super good looking check in girl just booked me in on the next flight without any charge $.  The service that day was excellent.  But i learnt my lesson and always get to the airport early, cause I dont think I will be that lucky next time.

[Olivia_jason]

aaaaahhhh, does that mean we wont see you tomorrow beaky lol? 

[beaky]

Well the melbourne trip is back on again.

I have booked a return trip with Jetstar this time. I am flying down on the 6th of Jan 2012 and returning on the 8th.

I am out of pocket $220 but I have learnt a valuable lesson, Don't trust Tiger airways.

what really has pissed me off is that I have since learnt after reading their terms and conditions I could have taken 14 kg of the excess luggage as carry on luggage (2 X 7kg bags or suitcases) and only paid $20 for the extra 1kg but the dumb bitch at the airport chose not to tell me this, she just demanded that I pay the extra $300.

I even tried to change the return flight to a later date but their web site wouldn't allow me to do it, I rang them and explained the problem I was having changing my return flight but was told "there is a problem with their on line bookings" and was told to try again in an hour. I tried it again after 1 hour then again after 2 & 3 hours but the problem was not fixed.
I rang them back and was told if i wanted them to change it over the phone it would cost me $80 plus the difference in the air fair which worked out to be $120 and I only paid $89 for the return flight in the first place. 

I wrote an email to their complaints department which demanded that I enter all my booking details so they could send it to the right department and respond to my complaint but of course i have had no response at all. 
 

[andtan]

Stick to your guns and keep pushing the complaint with Tiger.  
The normal practice is to make it difficult for you so you give up - demand a full refund based on the fact they they withheld certain information, and that their systems had a fault.