Motorcycling around South America...
Dedicated to all incompetent companies that made our trip a nightmare!
Thanks Telewest for your total incompetence and lack of customer service which meant we were left on our last day in the UK with a digi-box and modem, no one to give them to and nowhere to send them. It took 2 months to sort it out with the help of a friend in the UK and only because we copied everyone we could find remotely connected with Telewest (now Virgin Media) in our emails, including Richard Branson.
Thanks Barclays Bank For taking over the Woolwich and making our lives a nightmare. They deleted our online banking service, cancelled our debit cards, lost 2 rent cheques and ignored all our communication attempts. The letter of apology isn't much good when it is sent to an address in the UK (along with the new cards, PIN logon details etc). We'll be joining a bank without call centres (in India or the UK) when we get back.
Thanks BMW for sending us to the middle of nowhere with the wrong spark plugs (which are only available from BMW dealers!).
For the substandard quality of your rider equipment which left us with leaking Gore-Tex boots and Santiago suits which are falling apart and have exploding / sticking zips.
Letting us leave the showroom in Porto Alegre, Brazil, with potentially dangerous bike because they failed to spot the misaligned forks and bent handlebars which made the throttle stick open.
Thanks Avianca for selling us one-way tickets through your own brand website and then turning us down at the boarding gate in Madrid because we did not have a return ticket. For forcing us to buy two 250 Euro ''cancellable and refundable'' plane tickets from Bogota - Quito, to allow us on the plane, then refusing to refund the tickets in Bogota. For general lack of customer service and ignoring emails.
Thanks Coop-Bank for your incompetence at dealing with the fraud attempts on my credit card while still being in the UK, 3 months before leaving. For dragging out the process so long that it was still not sorted when we left. For total lack of customer service and ignoring emails. I will never bank with you again!