Modern Life Is - Mostly - Rubbish

[HonaloochieB]

BigPhil Wrote:

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> I have to move phone lines next weekend , after

> reading all this , im starting to get worried

>

> we want to keep our same number, but we are in

> Pinner exchange now , and I wouldn't have a clue

> what exchange we will have to change to

>

> is there such a thing as an exchange now? maybe im

> a bit old for current technology.. hmmm

>

> anyone know how easy it is to move your number

> with you?

And, this is to do with monkeys, in what way exactly BigPhil?

If you can't stay on topic, then just go 'phone yourself.

Harsh I know, but crikey heck.

[louisiana]

I got one and you want four

It's so hard to help you

I can't keep up with you no more

And you treat me like it's a sin

But you can't lock me in

You want me here with you right to the end

No thank you my friend

I fear the monkey in your soul

Won't you turn that bebop down

I can't hear my heart beat

Where's that fatback chord I found?

Honey don't you think it was wrong

To interrupt my song?

I'll pack my things and run so far from here

Goodbye dear

I fear the monkey in your soul

[Mikecg]

Louisiana wrote:

I do have some lovely and reliable people who have been doing work on my home, but these are all individuals who are running their own specialist show. As soon as there is a corporate involved, of any size, things fall apart. Daft systems are implemented. Common sense flies out of the window. Nobody seems able to do anything. Everyone passes the buck. Incompetence reigns, scripts are adhered to closely by seeming automate, and I am invariably left stressed out and somewhat poorer, having done not an iota of real work for hours. This is my idea of hell. Were it not for my cheery self-employed workmen, I would be going out of my tiny mind.

Snip<

This is where I can tell you that the services you describe are the fallout of the corporate machine at it's worst, most of the systems that you have encountered today are automated to reduce costs by removing the Human element and stream line service and reduce costs which are ultimatly passed on to the consumer, and if you are aware that a service provider is cheaper than every where else then they must have cut corners to trim the fat, otherwise how could they offer their services at such knock down prices, no disrespect but in the modern market place full of competition how are they going to make money? by removing the cost of having a Human answer the phone. This is just a small example of how a company would reduce costs to offer competativly priced services and win customers. It is after all a business, to my mind an all too common problem, we crave value and service but somethings gotta give.

[Chick]

Let?s look on the bright side. You are alive, you don?t have to walk miles to a well every day for water, instead you can turn on a tap and get clean cheap water, you aren?t going to die from some horrible disease like cholera, you don?t live in an earthquake zone, you can get light and heat at the flick of a switch, your children aren?t going to be killed by an invading army, you are intelligent and have the most amazing technology and you can use it, you aren?t stuck in some stinking refugee camp because of war, if you fall ill in the street people will help and send you off to hospital, your house isn?t about to be repossessed, you live in a temperate climate, I wont go on. Everyone reading this is rich and lucky and I am grateful for the part of the world I live in and the century I live in.

[louisiana]

Mikecg Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

>

> This is where I can tell you that the services you

> describe are the fallout of the corporate machine

> at it's worst, most of the systems that you have

> encountered today are automated to reduce costs by

> removing the Human element and stream line service

> and reduce costs which are ultimatly passed on to

> the consumer, and if you are aware that a service

> provider is cheaper than every where else then

> they must have cut corners to trim the fat,

> otherwise how could they offer their services at

> such knock down prices, no disrespect but in the

> modern market place full of competition how are

> they going to make money? by removing the cost of

> having a Human answer the phone. This is just a

> small example of how a company would reduce costs

> to offer competativly priced services and win

> customers. It is after all a business, to my mind

> an all too common problem, we crave value and

> service but somethings gotta give.

Your arguments are good, but bear in mind many of the companies involved in my original tale of woe are not regarded as cheap or budget.

For example, O2, my mobile company, have a reputation as not the cheapest but having above-average customer service, and is not in the Carphone Warehouse model;

John Lewis have quite a reasonable reputation but buying a kitchen from them (so spending quite a large sum of money) has been anything but straightforward;

BT is an incumbent operator, no a cheap company by any means (note BT engineer visit costs ?115 plus ?99 per hour plus VAT, which is more for an hour than my builder, painters or electrician earn per day);

Sage provide accounting software that is not exactly budget and their support package (which I had) is costly;

HSBC, my business bank, is not cheap in any way, making considerable charges on all transactions (and paying appalling interest on so called savings accounts) though the account is never in the red;

Marmoleum flooring many would consider expensive, there is only one manufacturer and the UK distribution is an effective cartel (single firm in each area of the country, and they mostly seem related to each other)

and Thames Water is just Thames Water, there is no competition.

In other words, this lot, in theory, are not the worst of the bunch by any means, the classic cost-cutters. They just seem to be inefficient and unresponsive monoliths where it takes twenty middle managers to arrive at a decision about whether to have tea or coffee and five more to approve buying a sachet of sugar, and in the meantime everyone's forgotten about the customer experience. And I should know as I used to work for one of them. :-S

[charliecharlie]

[quote name=Let?s look on the bright side. You are alive' date=' you don?t have to walk miles to a well every day for water, instead you can turn on a tap and get clean cheap water, you aren?t going to die from some horrible disease like cholera, you don?t live in an earthquake zone, you can get light and heat at the flick of a switch, your children aren?t going to be killed by an invading army, you are intelligent and have the most amazing technology and you can use it, you aren?t stuck in some stinking refugee camp because of war, if you fall ill in the street people will help and send you off to hospital, your house isn?t about to be repossessed, you live in a temperate climate, I wont go on. Everyone reading this is rich and lucky and I am grateful for the part of the world I live in and the century I live in.

]

yes... we are bright and lucky... of course we know that...

but sometime you need to have a really good moan,

because everything is so fcuking irritating

better than going off 'bang'... not a pretty sight...

http://www.dailycartoons.com/cartoons/wp-content/gallery/custom-cartoon-samples/angry.jpg

[skidmarks]

Just closed my British gas accounts and strangely enough the ?200 odd of credit we had on them has disappeared when I checked online. I?m looking forward to that phone call already?joy

[flapjackdavey]

if you fall ill in the street people will help and send you off to hospital,

would they ?

[louisiana]

A friend of mine got smashed on the head by machinery, went in and out of consciousness and almost drowned. Passers by thought he was drunk. :'(

PS My landline is now working! BT managed to hook up my line to a completely different number yesterday. Yes, the problem was at the exchange, as both me and O2 had stated to BT yesterday (but BT weren't interested in listening).

Lovely BT Openreach chap turned up this morning. He looked about 10 years old but he knew his stuff, went off to the exchange and sorted it out in 20 minutes. They generally do. It's just all the management/call centres/process stuff that intervenes and makes work for someone I suppose.

Edited for spelling and punctuation.

[BigPhil]

HonaloochieB Wrote:

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> And, this is to do with monkeys, in what way

> exactly BigPhil?

> If you can't stay on topic, then just go 'phone

> yourself.

> Harsh I know, but crikey heck.

Where the hell did the monkey bit come from , other than Monkeys are cheaper to employ and sometimes I think i'd get better results if I did hire them.

I would have thought monkeys would be more at home on the swingers thread.

[HonaloochieB]

I don't know BigPhil, I reckon it was you that started the entire monkey motif on this thread.

Ape all's well.

[Brendan]

You know it makes sense.