Category: Don’t Let the Giants of Industry Defeat You

My letter to the Chairman of BT

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I don’t know about you, but I am getting quite fed up with not being able to speak to someone in the UK anymore when I call up any Customer Service Call Centre!

Surely it defeats the object of the exercise of providing good customer service when you end up speaking  to someone at the other end of the world whose grasp of English is less that perfect and who has no authority in any case, as is evident from my latest post, which resulted in me having to write to the Chairman of BT on this occasion.

Letter to the Chairman of BT

Dear Sir Michael

I am writing to express my utter disgust with the way I have been treated by British Telecom. I have a small shop in the Home Counties and unfortunately I had to close it. I called your colleagues one month before to warn them that I would no longer need the line after Saturday 11th November 2017 as it was my last day of trading.  When I

went to the shop on Friday 10th November, to my horror I discovered that I had no phone line and therefore no way of taking credit card payments.

When I finally got through to someone in the Philippines I was told that you do  not disconnect lines on a Saturday so it could be done on either the Friday or Monday.  Obviously no initiative was taken as some idiot decided to terminate my line on the Friday  ie two business days before I closed my shop. To add salt to the wound I was not told about any of this until I called on the Friday to find out what had happened to my line.

I therefore lost sales opportunities as the majority of my sales  are via credit card and the nearest ATM to my shop is nearly a mile away.

I know that I am David to your Goliath, but I would like an explanation as to why you should treat small enterprises in such a despicable way?

In addition, i seek compensation for the incompetence of your colleagues resulting in my loss of earnings.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Your sincerely

 

 

Magnolia Snowdon

Who Is Conway?

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Who Is Conway?

 

I don’t know about you, but it seems that everywhere I turn there is something Conway related on our London streets, be they diggers, lorries, road signs and even huge monstrosities I can’t even figure out their purpose.  At first seeing a few Conway vehicles / plant did not bother me, however now it has become beyond a joke, it’s like an obstacle course even trying to get in to John Lewis Oxford Street! It seems that they have a monopoly over all the works going on in London and beyond. I even spotted a huge Conway lorry just off Exit 12 of the M4 Motorway  a couple of weeks ago.

 

According to their website

“FM Conway is a leading infrastructure services company delivering vital services in transportation, the built environment and open spaces for communities and business.”

  

Their logo says Great People, Great Work.

I am sure they have great people working for them and they do great work  although some of the projects they have done in my neighbourhood could have been done better.

This is not my gripe…. What I am more concerned about is why does this contractor have such a monopoly?  Surely both local and national governments should have learnt from previous gigantic mistakes of putting all their eggs in  one basket? Eg Carillion! As tax- payers shouldn’t we have the right to know?

What would happen God forbid if Conway went bust???????    

Letter to Carphone warehouse

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Letter to Carphone warehouse

Dear Mr Baldock I am writing to you to express my fury with the way I have been treated by Carphone Warehouse. My complaint stems from last May when I asked for an upgrade which I was entitled to.

After some consideration I decided that it was not suitable for me and CPWH said I could revert back to my original contract. The handset was returned in October 2017 to the Oxford Street Branch. The lady manager said that it would take two weeks to process the reversal with O2. It is now My 2018 and the issue has still not been resolved and I am still being charged for an upgrade which I do not have. The enclosed emails are quite self explanatory stating that you agree to reverse the upgrade. I reiterate the fact that we were told we could cancel within fourteen days however, due to the dishonesty or incompetence or both of your staff I still await a reversal of the upgrade. After further communication with CPWH last month I was told the O2 had to amend the contract. They said that as CPWH is the third party it is your responsibility to reverse the contract and reimburse me for the year’s fees etc which I have been charged for a service which I have not received. Is this the way you treat loyal customers of over twenty years standing? I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours sincerely

MS

Waitrose

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20180521_184732.jpgDear Mr Collins.

I am writing to you express my utter revulsion with the way I was treated by your Rickmansworth Branch .

My grievance all transpires from a delivery booked by my husband on Friday 2nd March to be executed on Saturday 3rd March between 7-8am.  The delivery of essentials was for my mother an eighty-one year old recently widowed lady who had been housebound for four days due to the cold.

On Friday evening at approximately 7pm a Mr X supposedly the manager of your store called to say that they were cancelling my mother’s order and that deliveries would not be starting until 11 am on that Saturday.  I fully appreciate that the adverse weather conditions caused difficulties, however I asked Mr X if my mother’s delivery could be made later in the day. He gave me a categoric “No” claiming that all the slots had been taken.  Surely you can still accommodate the first in line? I explained that the delivery was for an old lady which he simply ignored. I even suggested that he could arrange for a taxi service to collect and deliver. Again he said “No”.  

It seemed that he did not care and just wanted to get me off the phone.  I have been a very loyal Waitrose customer for over twenty years which I declared to Mr X which he simlpy ignored.   After my frustrating conversation with Mr X who in my opinion has not one ounce of customer service acumen, I reluctantly finished the call.  However, unbeknown to Mr X I had not quite hung up and the final straw was hearing him and a female colleague laughing and ridiculing me following our conversation.  When I called back to confront him, he blatantly lied and denied it and continued to be disingenous and dismissive with his dialogue. If he is an ambassador for Waitrose then God help you!

In the current hostile retail climate a bad customer service reputation is something no retailer wants be they large or small.

This episode has most definitely left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

What happened to good will and good customer service?

I look forward to receiving an explanation.

Yours sincerely

MS