Parcel delivery – what not to expect
October 31, 2011
We’ve had two deliveries over the last week. One good, one not so good. We thought we’d take you through them.
Delivery 1 – Fridge freezer
After the order was placed online we got a text to say the order had been confirmed and we’d get a phone call from the delivery company to arrange a date. We got the call the very next day and arranged the delivery for the day after. They said they couldn’t estimate the time of delivery at the moment but gave us a tracking number and a website where we could enter said number after 9pm the day before delivery. We did just that and got an estimated time within a two hour slot. The delivery arrived right in the middle of this slot – game on.
Delivery 2 - Bed
We ordered a bed online. We got email confirmation straight away. Four days later we got an email saying the order had been processed by sales and the lead time was two to three weeks. That’s ok we thought, after reading somewhere on the website it might take that long. After two weeks we were getting itchy feet so phoned the company. We waited on hold for 15 minutes and were told the bed was not in stock yet but we would get a call when it came in. At the three week mark we phoned again – “The bed isn’t in stock yet, we’ll give you a call when it comes in.” Four weeks have passed, we call again. “The bed isn’t in stock yet, we’ll give you a call when it comes in.” We get a call a few days later “Good news, the bed’s in stock, we’ll get our delivery courier to call you to arrange a delivery.” Four days later and no call. We phone back and are put through to the delivery company. “Yes, we have the bed we can deliver it a week on Tuesday.” “That’s 10 day away.” we say. “Yes, that’s the earliest we can do.” We are at seven weeks now and not very happy. We get an email from the delivery company stating the delivery date and a time slot of “7am to 7pm”. We have now hit The Rage. We phone them and after a lengthy discussion are told the driver will phone us one hour before the delivery so we can go out……he doesn’t phone, he puts a note through the door saying he had tried to deliver the bed. We phone the delivery company “Yes, sorry, the bed can be delivered tomorrow between 7am and 7pm”. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
A simple guide to buying a fridge freezer
October 24, 2011
It’s the little things in life that are important like waking up to a sunrise or sitting down and eating a delicious meal. Because of this it’s often when these ‘little’ things start to go wrong that we get annoyed.
One ‘little thing’ that happened to me this week was an argument about the purchase of a fridge freezer. It went like this:
We were going to buy a new fridge freezer online but we thought we’d visit the local electrical store first to make sure it was ok. We’ll omit the name of the said electrical store and instead refer to it as the Tikka Masala store.
Tikka Masala shop lady:
“Yes, we have that fridge freezer in stock. It will be £22 delivery.”
Us
“But it’s free delivery when you order it online.”
Tikka Masala shop lady:
“I didn’t realise that, do you still want to buy it?”
Us
“If you give us £22 off we’ll take it”
Tikka Masala shop lady:
“I’ll have to ask the manager…Yes, we can give you a £22 discount, but, we will have to charge you the full amount and when the fridge freezer is delivered we’ll credit your payment card with £22.”
Us
“Why.”
Tikka Masala shop lady:
“I’ll have to ask the manager.”
Five minutes passes.
Tikka Masala shop lady:
“It’s company policy.”
Us
“Do you have a computer I can use?”
Tikka Masala shop lady:
“I’ll have to ask the manager.”
Five minutes passes.
Tikka Masala manager:
“I believe you’d like to use a computer to order one of our products online.”
Us
“Yes.”
Tikka Masala manager:
“I’m sorry that’s not company policy.”
We decided to go home and order the fridge freezer online. We also got an additional 10% off using a voucher code it took us about a minute to find.
Are you reading this Currys? Smarten up your act or become a shop where customers just browse your products before buying them online.
Ways to reduce fuel bills
October 19, 2011
Exorbitant fuel charges are crippling the whole of the UK. So when a debate about energy prices comes to the fore I’m not one to stand by idly and say nothing.
I’ve always maintained that the government have a conflict of interest when they talk to the ‘big 6′ energy companies. On one hand they are trying to give the appearance of being on the public’s side, but on the other they are raking in the tax from the high prices we currently see.
There’s thus no incentive for the government to make the energy companies reduce their rates, even though the wholesale price of electricity and gas doesn’t correlate to what as retailers we are expected to pay. It’s the same as oil. The prices go up but they rarely come down. Even when the wholesale price is much lower than it ever has been.
It’s obvious, as far as I’m concerned, that the government are trying to ‘deflect’ our attention away from high pricing and onto energy efficiency drives and ways to insulate our home. This makes them appear to be helping us to be green, but in reality is helping themselves.
Most people don’t want a two-for-one offer in the supermarket - we don’t want all that food.
Most people don’t want to get a free gift when they buy car insurance.
Most people don’t want to have to turn to ‘alternative’ ways to bring energy bills down.
What we want are realistic, fair prices with no gimmicks, no sale’s schmooze, no meercat toys and definitely no one making massive profits at the customer’s expense.
Complaining about fence colour
October 11, 2011
Being British has its downsides. The awkwardness of certain situations unnerves us and we find ourselves shrinking away from confrontation.
Which option would you choose?
Our neighbour has just had a new fence installed. Before it was erected they came round and asked us if we minded. No we thought, We don’t mind at all. Especially as all attempts to try to see if any contribution was needed were turned down. However - the colour.
The colour of the fence panels is a horrific bright orange, not the nice muted grey/silver colour we were used to.
Do we:
1) Complain about the colour and hide in shame for weeks.
2) Say nothing and build up resentment.
3) Buy some fence paint and try to explain away why we painted it (while tryting not to drip the paint through the slats)
4) Smile and do nothing.
5) Ask if the neighbour chose that colour.
6) Ask if our neighbour is colour blind.
7) Get up in the dead of night and remove said panels before blaming their disappearance on the rabbit family from number 12.