The angry thread

[Newportnobby]

Glad you sorted it, Martin. "Virgin on the ridiculous" again
My mother is 88 and I had to help with her car insurance and energy suppliers yesterday. They don't make life easy, do they?

[emjaybee]

Oh it's not just an 'age' thing. I'm currently on hold, again, on a, so far, 1hr 10min call trying to renegotiate our land-line, broadband and mobile package with BT.

[dannyboy]

Helpdesk "Ah...that can take up to 6 weeks to filter through"

Replies like that really get my back up. Why on earth can the person you are dealing with not do whatever they need to do to confirm the facts with you and then say something like "I will ring the relevant department and put them in the picture. It will be sorted in an hour or two"? At least you did eventually talk to someone with some common sense Martin. 

And as for trying to get money that is owed! The only company that has ever owed me any money and got it refunded to me with 24 hours is Amazon. With everybody else, it is a case of "it will be back in your account in 5/7 days".  I know interest rates are virtually nowt these days - but it is my money they are sitting on!

[emjaybee]

Oh it's not just an 'age' thing. I'm currently on hold, again, on a, so far, 1hr 10min call trying to renegotiate our land-line, broadband and mobile package with BT.

Dunno, maybe it is an age thing. Finally sorted it out and realised that I was supposed to be upgrading our Broadband speed. So, have just got off another BT call cancelling that order and now have to call back tomorrow, Saturday, yeah that's gonna be painful, to start all over again.





I'm off for a lie down in a dark room.

I find life rather taxing at the moment.   

[guest311]

@ port perran
glad you got it sorted, but unfortunately common with so called help desks, read script, brain disengaged, and easier to say @I can't do anything' than to actually engage brain and do something.

I found Virgin were absolutely 'awfull' at sorting anything, so I moved elsewhere.
but to be honest, a lot of them are just as bad.

I often wonder if some of the 'help centres' actually work for lots of companies, and depending on what number you phone, a different script appears on the screen.

or am I just a disillusioned old git 

probably that it 

[stevewalker]

[And as for trying to get money that is owed! The only company that has ever owed me any money and got it refunded to me with 24 hours is Amazon. With everybody else, it is a case of "it will be back in your account in 5/7 days".  I know interest rates are virtually nowt these days - but it is my money they are sitting on!

When my M-I-L died, we had to cancel her cable TV with Virgin's forerunner (IIRC Cable and Wireless or Nynex). Whichever it was, accepted us calling, telling them that she'd died, cancelling the whole package and them issuing a refund by cheque, straight away, with no problem.

It turned out that their system did not have a box to tick for account terminated due to death and they marked such accounts by changing the account name to "Account Name (Deceased)".

A week later an envelope arrived, with a leaflet inside. The envelope was addressed to "Mrs. P.McGuinness (Deceased)" and the leaflet was from account retentions. The front was covered in slogans such as "We are sorry you have left", "Please come back to us" and the best, "We now have a team dedicated to bringing you back". It could have been very upsetting, but luckily we found it highly amusing.

[guest311]

@stevewalker,
I now have a picture of a dedicated team of call handlers trying to revive her in my mind.

while I shouldn't I cannot help but laugh.

I am truely sorry for your loss, but this post has brightened my day.

[Newportnobby]

@class37025 And there was me thinking the re-opening of this thread would make your day, Alan

[Newportnobby]

I don't know if it's a result of people still working from home but I find it's very difficult to get responses from firms.
When the conservatory roof was done the workers dislodged a piece of trim from one of the window blinds and obviously just swept it up. I contacted both the people who fitted the blinds and the actual manufacturer of the blinds to see if this small part was available and, if so, how much. That was over 5 weeks ago and I've had no reply from either of them. Somehow both are still in business
Trying to get an answer out of Dapol on their 'Digest' site is like trying to get blood from a stone, despite tagging one of 'top brass'.

In contrast to the above, kudos to Philips electricals as I contacted their helpline on Monday and had an e mail response yesterday. Okay, I couldn't understand their reply and have requested clarification but they did respond quickly.

[Snowwolflair]

As an aside

There was a resent report in a Call Centre Industry journal bemoaning the loss of staff whose first language is not English but due to having had to learn English formally their standard of English was superior to British employees. 

[emjaybee]

As a tradesman, I find I am currently swamped with calls, and I can not physically answer them all, so many get 'triage'd' with a number getting left unanswered. It's not ideal, and exceptionally stressful.

[Calnefoxile]

Flaming Energy Suppliers!!!!!!!!

Finally decided it was high time I switched suppliers, especially as we still have Gas from one Supplier and Electrickery from another (Bad form, I know!!!)

Anyway, went to the first suppliers website and tried to set up a Login, only to find I already had one, who knew!!! Not me!!!  Tried my usual collection of Usernames, Email addresses & Passwords but wouldn't let me in, so clicked the 'Forgotten password' link, enter email address it says, so first email entered....wait 10 mins...no email!!! "Must be other email address then" thinks I. Put that one in.....wait 10 mins.....no email. thinks I, no other email address to use, so call them on the phone, hang on for 1/2 hour eventually talk to a human,, "What is your email address sir??" says Operative, gave her my email address, "Thats not the one we have here sir??" oh, gave her the other one "Not that one either sir!!" is the reply........"Erm so how are you sending me marketing emails then if neither of those email address are registered??" says I....."Errr dunno" says operative...."Anyway which one shall we use for your login account??" she says...gave her my email and the password reset email arrives, hunky dory, no more dramas there........until I log in and find I'm over £300 in Credit and no opportunity to reduce my Direct Debit!!! by now.

So ring Them back and ask for the cash to be refunded to my bank account, thinking brilliant am on holiday later this week, that'll go nicely for spending money....Nope, not a chance!! 7-10 working days before it'll be refunded to my account!!!! "You Effing What!!!" says I, "IF you wanted MY money, you'd take it in a heartbeat!!!" "Might not take 7-10 working days sir, it's our refund dept who deals with it and it can take them 3 days to process it" At this point I think I overtook Elon Musks rocket, 30,000ft and climbing rapidly........"But it might be sorted by the end of the week sir, I'll see what I can do" she says, "Right, Thank you" says I and hung up.

Log onto next providers website, check account, and guess what??? Go on I bet you can't.....


Yep, over £300 in Credit, get on the phone and guess what???..... Go on I bet you can't guess?


Yep, 7-10 days for the money to be refunded to your account.......Un-Chuffing-Believeable!!!!!    It's my money and I'd like it back please?


Ahh well, at least if it doesn't get back in time for our holidays, I should be able to use it for TINGS, unless SWMBO get's to it first 

Now safely back at Ground level and chilling with a beer, or 2 

Regards

Neal.

[stevewalker]

Finally decided it was high time I switched suppliers, especially as we still have Gas from one Supplier and Electrickery from another (Bad form, I know!!!)

Not necessarily. Both times that I have renewed/looked at changing, in recent years, going with two separate suppliers has turned out cheaper than going for a single one. The dual fuel offerings are probably playing on people remembering that it *was* generally cheaper to go dual fuel, some years ago, and that people won't bother investigating individual tariffs at all.

[StufromEGDL]

Hi Neal,

Are you sure you didn't ring the same energy provider twice??

Later,
Stu from EGVN.

[Newportnobby]

Having given kudos to Philips Electricals for speed of responding to a tech query, I'm now snatching them back as the simplistic "Apply this update" did not work and when I informed them they've basically washed their hands of the product. They might just as well have said "Turn it off, turn it back on again and if it doesn't work, bin it" Grrrrr.