Our First Week in the Flat, July 12-18, 2014

We are so excited to be out of the temporary living and finally in our flat. On Saturday we went back to get the rest of our bags and brought them to Pimlico. We unpacked, and went to the store to get some items. They have a store here called Argos. Its actually really conveniently located by our closest station. Its like a Wal-Mart of items but the style of Service Merchandise, for those that remember that store. They have jewelry, sheets, pot/pans, fans, toys, tvs...basically anything you could need. They have a huge catalog next to a monitor. You look up your item and get the numbers to take to another computer to order and buy. They then call your name and you pick up you items (to carry home!). We bought some bedding for the only bed that is currently in the flat. It's going to be a guest room for our visitors. Josh wanted to make it "London like" so we got a funny duvet and sheet set. Its a map of the Underground with all the stops.

Underground Bedding for visitors

We have been staying in this room because our bed has not been delivered yet. It was supposed to be here Friday. So here is my horrible customer service story very much condensed.

Saturday- company says bed should arrive between 1-5pm, nothing
Sunday- we did some more shopping and got groceries
Monday- Bed should be here! Can't give me a time, so just be at the house from 9am-8pm, nothing!
Tuesday- Bed should be here! Can't give me a time, so just be at the house from 9am-8pm, nothing!
ok, I'm getting REALLY annoyed at this point. I call the company and they are no help. Keep telling me its coming...I keep calling the company, our landlord (who ordered this bed) and the estate agent (realtor). No one can give me an answer!!! AHHHH
Wednesday- Bed should be here! Can't give me a time, so just be at the house from 9am-8pm. They tell our landlord they called me, but I had stepped out! I HAVE NOT LEFT THE HOUSE IN DAYS!!! Our landlord asked me why they would lie about that. IDK but they have been for days! MANY ANGRY calls to the company, the estate agent calls and yells at them. They PROMISE it will be here today. Can't give me a time, so just be at the house from 9am-8pm. It's 5pm and no bed, I call and they say its in route. I call again at 7pm still on its way, call at 8pm "oops, it never made it on the truck, won't be there today" ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? So they PROMISE it will be on a truck in the morning, and it will be the first delivery. They start delivering at 9am.
Thursday- I need to set the scene for this...Its 7:30am, Josh is leaving for work and says "I have a really busy day, and I won't be home until after 8pm". I am excited for the day! The bed AND our tv guy will be here. I'm finally getting the bed and tv, yay! Josh leaves. I'm laying in bed with the pups checking my email on my phone. It's now 8am. Our buzzer rings! This is the first time I have messed with this. On the street they hit the button for us, it rings and we pick up the phone, they say who they are and we buzz them in. Simple right? So it buzzes and I jump out of the bed and pick up the phone. No one is there? I buzz them in anyways because I am not missing the bed delivery! I shut the dogs in the guest room, run to put a jacket on since I'm still in my pjs and run down to our living room where our front door is. I don't hear anyone. I go out our front door to look downstairs and don't see anyone. What happened? Where are they? I turn to go back in the apartment and SLAM! The door to the apartment shuts and locks me out.

Oh my god, oh my god I got locked out of the flat! My mind is racing what am I going to do? No one has a key! I have no shoes, no phone and no key. Do I know Josh's mobile? nope. What am I going to do? I am panicking! I pace up and down the hallway stairs. I can hear the dogs barking because I left them in such a tizzy. Turns out the buzz was from the postman (mailman). He delivered a box. If only it had an extra key in it! Its our modem for our Internet. No help to me.

Ok, I have an idea! I will walk barefoot to our estate agents office. Yes, it will be gross and I will look like a homeless person but they should have Josh's mobile on file right? What time is it? They probably don't open until 9am or after. If I leave the building I will get locked out on the street. Ok, maybe that will be plan B. I will knock on neighbors doors, see if I can borrow their phone. I pray they have a smart phone because I have to email Josh. I go upstairs, no answer, I go downstairs, no answer. AHHH!!! What do I do now? At this point I know the bed people will be here and I have no way to let them in. Ok, I'll open the front door to the building and ask to borrow someones phone. No luck. Finally, the downstairs apartment opens. I introduce myself and explain the situation and ask to use her phone. There is a communication barrier due to her lack of English. I email Josh's personal email and his new work email...of course I can't remember it exactly and I'm shaking at this point. Email sent. "I locked myself out, can you come home" the subject is "Emergency". She shuts her door and I sit on the steps and pray! All I can think of is Josh saying he is busy today. Will he be checking his email? Does he even check his personal email at work? Did I type the address correctly? What if he is in a meeting all day? I'll be sitting here until 8pm.

It feels like maybe 30 minutes goes by, and Josh walks in the door! YAY! I run up to him crying, I can't even talk to tell him what happened! He gets me in the apartment, sits me in front of the fan and I drink a huge glass of water. He checks and the delivery people have not come yet. He hugs me says everything is fine, but he has to go back. I feel like I just ran a marathon. Catch my breath and keep my key in my hand all day! The dogs are happy to see me. Now we just wait for the bed. It should be here any minute!

Okay...its now 9:30am and no bed. Time for my friendly phone call to the company. Another ordeal I'll cut short...It didn't get put on the truck.

I finally get connected with someone at the delivery company who can actually do something. She seems to care, unlike all the others I have spoke with.She says she is very sorry and is getting a van to pick it up and it will be there today. Of course she doesn't know what time.

8:30pm the bed arrives! Oh sorry, they don't put it together. Guess I'll wait for Josh to get home from his busy day. I'll also add that the delivery men were complaining the whole time that the ticket said 1st floor but the had to go up a flight of stairs. I kindly said I didn't order this or fill out the paper and after all I have been through for this bed please keep your complaints to yourself. So, I know you are asking yourself after all that what did the company do for you? A free bed? Money off your next purchase? No, nothing. Not even an apology. If you ever find yourself in London and need to buy a bed I encourage you to steer clear of Bed World.

Remy checking out the bed

Random thought about this picture...look how bright it is at 8:30pm. In the summer it doesn't get dark until very late. The sun comes up early too so it isn't dark very long. I hear the winter is much different.

After all this drama, I am so glad to have a comfy bed to sleep in! On Friday I went to a big department store here called John Lewis. I LOVED it! Walking in to the large building and seeing all the items I felt like I was in a Macy's (ahhh feels like home, until you look at the prices). It makes me happy to be here, I could just walk around forever. They were having their big annual sale so I made myself find a duvet cover in the sale bin. I like it, its a light turquoise with light and dark brown geometric designs. I got the fitted sheet to be the same light turquoise. They didn't have a huge selection of colors but I think Josh will like it just fine. I also bought 3 decorative pillows...shhh Josh HATES extra pillows. After my week this was a treat for myself. I will take a picture once our other pillows arrive from Texas arrive and it looks all set up!  We also need to get some type of night stands for our alarm clock and phones.

Josh got home from work and liked the bedding. He said its a little girlie, but if I like it its fine. (He has no clue the other option was flowers, real girlie)
The other couple from Dallas, Matt and Danielle asked if we wanted to get dinner with them at Nando's. Funny because we were just talking about Nando's. Its been really hot these past few days and we were wondering if they had AC. Remember Nando's...the bottomless sodas with ice! Yes! So we went for dinner at Nando's. Guess what...it was so hot their ice machine was broken. But we had a great time and great conversations. I love hearing their similar stories so I don't feel like its only us having difficulty. Tomorrow we plan to go to The Tower of London! Going to sleep in my new bed with sheets! Goodnight!