I'm sure a man of your calibre will be able to play them at their own game...

need 10 days to get myself updated on your recent account

the person who was dealing with this is no longer with us, so we will need 20 days to review all paperwork

sorry this department is only open two days a week

etc.

some years ago I had dealings with a firm that was always slow to do anything, if you had a meeting it always started late.

so one day I arrived for a meeting, sat down in reception, got out my thermos and sarnies.

not long before another customer asked 'why did you bring them ?'

obvious response

'they are always so late starting meetings, I thought I'd bring a picnic to pass the time.'

receptionist on phone, 15 seconds later I was called for my meeting, 10 minutes early.

wonder why.

In my career as a Sales Manager (all mouth and motorway) I had an appointment at Cadbury Bournville with a bloke who loved to keep people waiting. After ½ an hour beyond the arranged time I went to the receptionist and said "Could you contact Mr. Smith* and let him know I have another call to make so if I can't see him in 5 minutes time I'll be forced to leave"
Oddly he appeared straight away.

* Name changed to protect the guilty party

When we moved in, Severn Trent kept sending water bills addressed to the previous occupant, despite repeatedly telling them I was the occupier . This was in the days of cheques, so I sent them a cheque payable to Thames Water. I got a rapid reply telling me I had addressed the cheque incorrectly. I replied, "you get my name right, I'll get yours right". Problem solved.

Walked to car this morning, thought what is going on here?

Front bumper severely damaged.

Hit in car park, I guess. 

and let me guess, no note from whoever did it with their details.

Of course.

Years ago, I came back to my car in the square of the village where we lived at the time to find one of the front wings damaged. The was a note on the windscreen to the effect of "If you want details of who damaged your car, call at the shop." Turns out the shop owner had heard the crunch, saw the driver get out and look at the damage, then get back in and drive away. The shop owner took note of the number plate so I contacted the police who tracked it down to someone in the next village, who at least had the grace to admit it when plod knocked at his door. The interesting thing was that he was a pillar of the local community and showed up at church every Sunday. Funny old world...

Cheers,

Chris

in my day, that would have been either

hit and run

or

leaving the scene of an accident without exchanging details as required by law.

pillar of the church or not, offences.

nowadays of course not worth any action by plod other than a call handler giving a number for the insurance.

what ever happened to the police being charged with the prevention and detection of crime.

prevention means active patrolling - yeah right
detection means actually investigating offences, again yeah right.

too few plods
too many forms
too few results

what a laugh.

I had ongoing problems, over a long period, with my energy provider (Eon Next) which had separate gas and electric accounts, with "no way" to merge them and no possibility of Smart meters without that merge. Eventually I had to get Ofgem involved and, magically, there was a way to merge them.

Last November the accounts were merged and the meters installed. They then sent me a final bill from the old meters and left over £3K in the account! It turned out that they'd had to roll back the old bills and payments and then roll them forward on the new account, but had failed to roll the electricity usage forward, while doing so for the payments made.

After they'd put that right, they failed to bill me for electricity I was using, but I was still paying, so credit built up. I told them twice and got nowhere. I finally moved to another supplier in March and Eon Next brought the account up to date, including billing the used electric, issued a final bill and returned the remaining credit.

Today I have received a bill for £150 - it turns out that in November they missed one payment when rolling forward. It is not a big sum for me, but it really annoys me that after all the hassles I went through with them (many cancelled appointments for installation and much time spent dealing with them on the phone), they now send me a bill that should already have been dealt with long ago. I feel like sending them an invoice for all of my wasted time with them - which at my charge rates would be hugely more than £150!

go for it

Quote from: stevewalker on August 08, 2023, 12:10:40 PMI feel like sending them an invoice for all of my wasted time with them - which at my charge rates would be hugely more than £150!

I have done similar with a couple of companies over the years and found that if you dig your heels in, threaten them with an ombudsman etc they will buckle. They usually end up sending an apology and offering as a "gesture of goodwill" the outstanding payment credited to your account as a minimum. Sometimes they will add compensation too but the main thing I have found is that it's best to send them a figure of what you expect to receive. If you're not greedy and as I say dig your heels in you will be successful.
Good luck with it fella.

Louisa went off on the coach this morning to start her holiday. Because of the timings, she had to hang about Dublin airport for about 5 hours. The flight was due to leave at 1850. Five minutes before, she and the other 70+ passengers were told that the flight was cancelled, but they would be put up in a hotel and rebooked on the 0650 flight tomorrow. Louisa got chatting to another lady who rang the hotel - "No, we are fully booked so no room"! They go back to the desk and were told that they could not get a flight until Wednesday!! Then she was told it might be Thursday!!! Louisa rang me again, for about the tenth time, (in tears this time), and I told her to get the coach at 2020 and I would pick her up in Carrick. It is not only Louisas holiday that is spoilt, my sister had arranged a couple of trips for Louisa, so they are now up the swanee!!!! Guess who will be putting in some hours tomorrow getting some compensation sorted, (already started looking  ). And on top of all that, I do not get a few days to myself. 

probably not a good idea for me to offer to draft you a couple of emails 

surely, if the airline cannot provide the flight, are they not able to transfer her to another airline at their expense ?

hope you get things sorted, but do push on how their actions have impacted other people, and resultant expenses incurred, distress etc.

Yes, that is definitely a horror story.

Good luck with getting it fixed!

Quote from: Browning 9mm on August 15, 2023, 08:16:06 AMprobably not a good idea for me to offer to draft you a couple of emails 

Don't worry Alan, I know exactly what I am going to say. However, I will start off nice and polite, requesting refunds of flights etc AND statutory compensation as laid down in EU regulations. If that don't work, the big guns are coming out. (Might need to borrow one of yours!  )
(I have to go out now so Louisa can spend some of her holiday money  ).