We have had some real fun with suppliers since we started Rools. Some of the most prolonged trials and tribulations have come when we tried to sort out our telecoms.
Like most internet businesses we need a leased line, a permanent connection between ourselves and the net, bringing improved security and performance to our internal network and online service.
It is critical to our business but not to the interior designers, accountants and lawyers sharing our building. There is no leased line in place. If we are going to have one, it has to be installed.
This is where the fun starts. The supplier has to dig up the road and do some internal work on the building. Permission and cooperation must be sought from the council, our landlord and the neighbours. The paper-chasing has taken a very long time, even with two of our already busy team trying to move things along.
We ordered the line in August, when we moved into our new offices. We were warned then that it would take six weeks before installation, so we were expecting to have to wait. The leaves fell off the trees ages ago, we have had three months of solid rain, and everyone has forgotten what it was like to travel on a train that arrives on time - and we still do not have our leased line.
Persistence - an average of six phone calls a day for the past week from our most dogged team member - resulted in a morale-boosting breakthrough last week. A team of five came to survey the dig site.
The visit reminded us of the previous month when we had a leak in the office after a weekend of particularly heavy rain. Over a period of a week, five groups of workmen came to take a look. They surveyed the scene, scratched their chins and went away again. On the final day, one visitor unhelpfully suggested using a heater to dry the damp areas.
Forever the optimists, we thought we had reached the end goal with the leased line the following day when the team returned to dig. It was then that we were told that it would require another, separate team to bring the cable up to our offices on the third floor. And it would be another three weeks before they could do this work.
With luck the leased line may be in by Christmas day, but we have learned not to hold our breath.
One of our early resolutions for the new year is to be a little more sceptical of suppliers' claims for delivery dates.
Adam Hamdy and Guy Mallison are the co-founders of Rools, an online payment service for teenagers
