It’s a while since I blogged so I thought I’d share my latest ‘experience’ with you. Here goes. First of all let me explain. At present I have a lovely silky cover on the quilt on my bed that looks a bit like something out of the Arabian Nights, no kidding. Very swish.
When I go to bed I usually have the tv on for a while but often drop off to sleep while it is still on and the remote control is lying near me on the bed. Because the surface of the quilt cover is silky it is also slippery and the remote control on three occasions has dropped off – sliding right off my bed and landing with a thump on the floor. I have found out the hard way that this is not the best treatment for a remote. Consequently some of the buttons no longer work though I can still get all the channels by going a long way round. For an impatient person like me this is not a viable option.
I looked up how to fix a damaged remote…and did what it said ‘press EVERY button and hold for 3 seconds’ though I thought it said for 30 seconds and got fed-up doing this for so long, felt a right idiot doing it, and a bigger idiot when I re-read the instructions. No joy whether it was 3 seconds or 30. So I decided to get a Universal remote which should be easy to connect, etc,, etc., and blooming etc.
The lass in the shop said she did not recommend the dearest one as they get a lot of returns of this and so I opted for the one she did recommend. How hard could it be, thought I. I had been told that if it didn’t work just to take it back so I opened the packaging very carefully, leaving it fairly intact in case it had to go back, got out the remote and looked for instructions where the remote had been. No instructions!
I looked again, opening the packaging as much as I could without destroying it, but sure enough there was nothing there. I turned it upside down and shook it – nothing. I couldn’t believe it, was quite annoyed, but I went on to Google and found a video which I was certain would show me what to do. It probably would have if only I had a remote with the same buttons as the model being demonstrated had.
‘Select the start-up button’ – which start-up button, there wasn’t one. ‘Press the button indicating which appliance you are connecting to’ – wasn’t such a button, and so it went on. I gave up on that video and searched another site where I found some other instructions – ‘hold the remote towards the switched-on tv’. I stood there like a ninny and did that. Of course nothing happened. ‘Find the correct code’ – what was that and where do I find it?
I hate being beaten but I decided that unless a tech genius came to visit me within the next week or so I would have to return this useless piece of you-know-what and just put up with the old remote, because if I kept on trying in the mood I was in by then I might have ended up throwing the remote to some remote area of the room, with dire consequences.
Well luckily for me a tech genius did come – in other words one of my sons visited me. I told him the problem and said, before he could ask, that yes I had put batteries in. I said it wasn’t the tv that was the problem but he still did the re-scanning thing just to check. I had already done this three times – the second time I had not been able to find any channels whatsoever, so thought I’d stuffed it up completely – but I checked again and apparently I was trying to get tv channels in New Zealand – and as I live in Australia, well…..seems I had mistakenly pressed New Zealand instead of Australia. Hence the third re-scanning.
I said how stupid and inefficient it was that there were no instructions with it and my son couldn’t understand it either, though he said that a lot of such things are online now, as it is assumed (though incorrectly) that everyone has access to the internet. I commented that in that case it was tough if you weren’t. I had thought of ringing the shop to tell them exactly what I thought about it. I was definitely going to tell them if and when I returned it.
My son went on the internet on his phone and eventually, through sheer perseverance, found the right code for my tv. To cut a long story short (though it’s a bit late for that now) he got the remote working properly. It had taken quite a while to do this having to get bits of information from a number of sources, going on a number of sites, but he is very patient and persistent. I had told him a few times not to worry and to leave it - I would 'just make do’. He does not believe in 'just making do’ and will keep going with problems until he has the answer. He had given me a look that clearly showed he wanted me to buzz off and leave him to it. He did not give up until he had succeeded. Well done!
He then picked up the packaging and pulled it apart to put it in the bin – and there, tucked neatly against one side in a sealed compartment to keep it safe was the leaflet with all the quite simple and straight-forward instructions on it…..
……..it is to his credit that he said not a word.
When I go to bed I usually have the tv on for a while but often drop off to sleep while it is still on and the remote control is lying near me on the bed. Because the surface of the quilt cover is silky it is also slippery and the remote control on three occasions has dropped off – sliding right off my bed and landing with a thump on the floor. I have found out the hard way that this is not the best treatment for a remote. Consequently some of the buttons no longer work though I can still get all the channels by going a long way round. For an impatient person like me this is not a viable option.
I looked up how to fix a damaged remote…and did what it said ‘press EVERY button and hold for 3 seconds’ though I thought it said for 30 seconds and got fed-up doing this for so long, felt a right idiot doing it, and a bigger idiot when I re-read the instructions. No joy whether it was 3 seconds or 30. So I decided to get a Universal remote which should be easy to connect, etc,, etc., and blooming etc.
The lass in the shop said she did not recommend the dearest one as they get a lot of returns of this and so I opted for the one she did recommend. How hard could it be, thought I. I had been told that if it didn’t work just to take it back so I opened the packaging very carefully, leaving it fairly intact in case it had to go back, got out the remote and looked for instructions where the remote had been. No instructions!
I looked again, opening the packaging as much as I could without destroying it, but sure enough there was nothing there. I turned it upside down and shook it – nothing. I couldn’t believe it, was quite annoyed, but I went on to Google and found a video which I was certain would show me what to do. It probably would have if only I had a remote with the same buttons as the model being demonstrated had.
‘Select the start-up button’ – which start-up button, there wasn’t one. ‘Press the button indicating which appliance you are connecting to’ – wasn’t such a button, and so it went on. I gave up on that video and searched another site where I found some other instructions – ‘hold the remote towards the switched-on tv’. I stood there like a ninny and did that. Of course nothing happened. ‘Find the correct code’ – what was that and where do I find it?
I hate being beaten but I decided that unless a tech genius came to visit me within the next week or so I would have to return this useless piece of you-know-what and just put up with the old remote, because if I kept on trying in the mood I was in by then I might have ended up throwing the remote to some remote area of the room, with dire consequences.
Well luckily for me a tech genius did come – in other words one of my sons visited me. I told him the problem and said, before he could ask, that yes I had put batteries in. I said it wasn’t the tv that was the problem but he still did the re-scanning thing just to check. I had already done this three times – the second time I had not been able to find any channels whatsoever, so thought I’d stuffed it up completely – but I checked again and apparently I was trying to get tv channels in New Zealand – and as I live in Australia, well…..seems I had mistakenly pressed New Zealand instead of Australia. Hence the third re-scanning.
I said how stupid and inefficient it was that there were no instructions with it and my son couldn’t understand it either, though he said that a lot of such things are online now, as it is assumed (though incorrectly) that everyone has access to the internet. I commented that in that case it was tough if you weren’t. I had thought of ringing the shop to tell them exactly what I thought about it. I was definitely going to tell them if and when I returned it.
My son went on the internet on his phone and eventually, through sheer perseverance, found the right code for my tv. To cut a long story short (though it’s a bit late for that now) he got the remote working properly. It had taken quite a while to do this having to get bits of information from a number of sources, going on a number of sites, but he is very patient and persistent. I had told him a few times not to worry and to leave it - I would 'just make do’. He does not believe in 'just making do’ and will keep going with problems until he has the answer. He had given me a look that clearly showed he wanted me to buzz off and leave him to it. He did not give up until he had succeeded. Well done!
He then picked up the packaging and pulled it apart to put it in the bin – and there, tucked neatly against one side in a sealed compartment to keep it safe was the leaflet with all the quite simple and straight-forward instructions on it…..
……..it is to his credit that he said not a word.