There is nothing wrong with British society........

[catgate]

This matter of slackness and “don't give a damn” attitude is all an ugly rumour put about by trouble-makers.

Management's father died at the end of October. So being the executors and having to deal with things, and being a 150 mile round trip away, we paid Royal Mail £25 for the mail to be redirected here for three months. Initially we got a few redirected circulars and junk and an odd serious item, but when we went over there to see the estate agent and deal with the bank, we found a number of unredirected letters had been delivered there. We did our dealings and came home.

We have been able to conduct quite a bit of the necessary farting about via email and 'phone, but one particular document we were expecting in connection with the sale of his house seemed very slow in arriving....so management went and looked behind his door early last week.

There was a heap of mail. The two important ones were dated 17th and 21st December. There were also many junk circulars and even others that were for neighbours.

It was sufficient to cause a letter to speed on its way demanding a refund on the wasted £25.

.......................................................

One of the letters (the Dec 17th one) was to say that the Stennah Stair lift engineer had called a couple of days before to service the equipment but had been unable to gain access, and it asked when would be a convenient day. However, on the 1st of December an engineer had already been and taken it out as we requested.

Not only had he taken it out, but he had also lost the front door key, which he had obtained from the estate agent's, and then had had to organise, and pay, local locksmith to come and fit a new lock so as to be able to leave the premises secure. Interestingly a neighbour found the lost key in the roadway outside the house about a week later.

Truly Christian ....the left hand knoweth not what the right hand doeth.

Needless to say we have let them know.

..............................................

During the last few days of Old Father Time's life he had visitors, and between his departure and the funeral there were many people in and out of the house. Now it just happened that one of the things left to execute was the telephone call bill to the end of October. It was in the post prior to the redirection. It seemed rather high because OFT used the 'phone very sparingly and was on a Low User Account. So we contacted BT and asked for an itemised account, along with an itemised account up to the date on which it had been disconnected at our request, and we could then settle both bills and also find out who had run up well over £150 of calls in a matter of just a few days. (We know of course but the 'phone numbers will be irrefutable proof).

When the bill came it was not itemised, it was just a normal summary. It was categorised.

Between us management and I have spoken to BT either six or seven times. Each time to be met with profuse apology and a promise to send an itemised bill. Each time, until the last time we have waded through the morass of “if you want this press that” until we end up eventually with Sanjeev or his sister some where East of Suez. The last time I managed to get through to a Scottish young lady who, after listening to my tale again, apologised most profusely and said she would put me through to someone who could deal with the matter. Sanjeev, for it turned out to be he, apologised most profusely as well. I asked, without any form of nastiness on my part, if he understood the English language, and knew what “itemised” meant, and could he differentiate between it and summarised or categorised. He was quite relaxed and amenable about what some could have taken as being offensive. He said yes he knew perfectly well what I meant and he would arrange for this to be done properly........”but just let me put you on hold a minute while I talk to a colleague”.

When, in a matter of seconds, he returned he told me he could not arrange it because “they” were not allowed to do this. I would have to contact BT Group Engineering Services in London by letter or Fax because they were the only ones who could do the itemising!!! Whilst all this batch of farting about was going on we got a “reminder“ bill from BT saying that they would be taking legal action if the original demand was not paid.

So two more letters have gone off.

...................................................

It had been arranged for Social services to provided a Key Safe which was some form of box openable only by a code, by a social services carer who would let herself in and call and see him each morning, just to check all was well. (He was reasonably active and his normal 'carer' who was a local lady who used to call about lunch time.) This had been in place for about six weeks or so along with a safety alarm thing which he wore round his neck, so that if he fell into the bath or down the loo he could summon the Lifeboat.

In one batch of mail, probably the early redirected lot, was a bill from the social services for the Key Safe, and we assumed was for its purchase. It was for over £75. We also got a £17 bill for the safety alarm, and since we had never seen it we just assumed that it had been taken back by the social services carer who found him on the morning of his fall.

Management sent off a cheque to the Local authority for the key safe and also rang them about the bill for the safety alarm and asked where the alarm had got to. The man at the other end of the line said he could not tell her where it was because he did not know, but just forget about it because if we hadn't got it it must have been picked up by the nurse.

At the time of the funeral Management noticed that the Key Safe was not to be seen anywhere. There were just the screw holes left in the front door.

We eventually got another bill for the rental of the alarm and management rang again about it. It turned out that the key safe had been nicked by someone and the £75 bill was for “replacement value” and the bill for £17 was for Rental and no one knew where it was. Will it turn up or will there be another “replacement” bill?

[rong]

And your problem is ???

[AlanHo]

What a tale of abysmal woe - but all too typical of our society at present.

Hope all turns out OK at the end of the long frustrating tale.

[artist]

What a performance!!

Nothing is easy these days............

Seems like it will be a long haul to get it all sorted out.

[andsome]

It all sounds oh so familiar. Hope it all gets sorted soon.

[AlanHo]

Catgate - did you forget to add some text to your last post. I would be interested in a progress report on your saga.

[catgate]

Yes, Alan, summat 'appened.

I suspect the race started before the tapes went up. So I have rejigged things.

This matter of slackness and “don't give a damn” attitude is all an ugly rumour put about by trouble-makers.

Management's father died at the end of October. So being the executors and having to deal with things, and being a 150 mile round trip away, we paid Royal Mail £25 for the mail to be redirected here for three months. Initially we got a few redirected circulars and junk and an odd serious item, but when we went over there to see the estate agent and deal with the bank, we found a number of unredirected letters had been delivered there. We did our dealings and came home.

We have been able to conduct quite a bit of the necessary farting about via email and 'phone, but one particular document we were expecting in connection with the sale of his house seemed very slow in arriving....so management went and looked behind his door early last week.

There was a heap of mail. The two important ones were dated 17th and 21st December. There were also many junk circulars and even others that were for neighbours.

It was sufficient to cause a letter to speed on its way demanding a refund on the wasted £25.

.......................................................

One of the letters (the Dec 17th one) was to say that the Stennah Stair lift engineer had called a couple of days before to service the equipment but had been unable to gain access, and it asked when would be a convenient day. However, on the 1st of December an engineer had already been and taken it out as we requested.

Not only had he taken it out, but he had also lost the front door key, which he had obtained from the estate agent's, and then had had to organise, and pay, local locksmith to come and fit a new lock so as to be able to leave the premises secure. Interestingly a neighbour found the lost key in the roadway outside the house about a week later.

Truly Christian ....the left hand knoweth not what the right hand doeth.

Needless to say we have let them know.

..............................................

During the last few days of Old Father Time's life he had visitors, and between his departure and the funeral there were many people in and out of the house. Now it just happened that one of the things left to execute was the telephone call bill to the end of October. It was in the post prior to the redirection. It seemed rather high because OFT used the 'phone very sparingly and was on a Low User Account. So we contacted BT and asked for an itemised account, along with an itemised account up to the date on which it had been disconnected at our request, and we could then settle both bills and also find out who had run up well over £150 of calls in a matter of just a few days. (We know of course but the 'phone numbers will be irrefutable proof).

When the bill came it was not itemised, it was just a normal summary. It was categorised.

Between us management and I have spoken to BT either six or seven times. Each time to be met with profuse apology and a promise to send an itemised bill. Each time, until the last time we have waded through the morass of “if you want this press that” until we end up eventually with Sanjeev or his sister some where East of Suez. The last time I managed to get through to a Scottish young lady who, after listening to my tale again, apologised most profusely and said she would put me through to someone who could deal with the matter. Sanjeev, for it turned out to be he, apologised most profusely as well. I asked, without any form of nastiness on my part, if he understood the English language, and knew what “itemised” meant, and could he differentiate between it and summarised or categorised. He was quite relaxed and amenable about what some could have taken as being offensive. He said yes he knew perfectly well what I meant and he would arrange for this to be done properly........”but just let me put you on hold a minute while I talk to a colleague”.

When, in a matter of seconds, he returned he told me he could not arrange it because “they” were not allowed to do this. I would have to contact BT Group Engineering Services in London by letter or Fax because they were the only ones who could do the itemising!!! Whilst all this batch of farting about was going on we got a “reminder“ bill from BT saying that they would be taking legal action if the original demand was not paid.

So two more letters have gone off.

...................................................

It had been arranged for Social services to provided a Key Safe which was some form of box openable only by a code, by a social services carer who would let herself in and call and see him each morning, just to check all was well. (He was reasonably active and his normal 'carer' who was a local lady who used to call about lunch time.) This had been in place for about six weeks or so along with a safety alarm thing which he wore round his neck, so that if he fell into the bath or down the loo he could summon the Lifeboat.

In one batch of mail, probably the early redirected lot, was a bill from the social services for the Key Safe, and we assumed was for its purchase. It was for over £75. We also got a £17 bill for the safety alarm, and since we had never seen it we just assumed that it had been taken back by the social services carer who found him on the morning of his fall.

Management sent off a cheque to the Local authority for the key safe and also rang them about the bill for the safety alarm and asked where the alarm had got to. The man at the other end of the line said he could not tell her where it was because he did not know, but just forget about it because if we hadn't got it it must have been picked up by the nurse.

At the time of the funeral Management noticed that the Key Safe was not to be seen anywhere. There were just the screw holes left in the front door.

We eventually got another bill for the rental of the alarm and management rang again about it. It turned out that the key safe had been nicked by someone and the £75 bill was for “replacement value” and the bill for £17 was for Rental and no one knew where it was. Will it turn up or will there be another “replacement” bill?

In the interest of completion here is an update on the don't give a damn situation above.

Royal Mail. I got no acknowledgment of my letter what ever. About 10 days after the letter we started getting redirected mail.

Stennah Stair lift I wrote to the Stennah brother listed as MD and got a reply from the Stennah brother who is Chairman. It was the usual "Terribly sorry" and declamation that "All our empoyees are blah blah blah", "we have systems to prevent this sort of thing" and concrete step will be taken in all directions.

BT A week last Thursday, in view of the fact that my letter to BT Group Engineering Services in London by letter or Fax because they were the only ones who could do the itemising had resulted in an enormous wave of inactivity, I wrote to Mr Ian Livingston, who is Chairman of BT. I explained the situation and asked if he could lean on someone so that we could get the itemised bills we needed., and explained the hoops we had been jumping through.

Last Monday morning we received an envelope from BT and thought "my words that was good service" or words to that effect. However, it turned out to be another set of "summarised" bills.

Management got onto the 'phone and "reasoned " with another of Sanjeev's colleagues who again understood what was wanted and promised prompt attention to the matter.

On Tuesday morning we got a telephone call from the BT Chairman's Office in Warrington. This was to tell us they had received our letter to Mr Ian Livingston and to confirm that they understood what we wanted and would deal with it from there. In fact surprisingly the chap who rang was able to access all the information we wanted from his desk.

It arrived the following morning.

So at the end of two and a half months of trying to swim through a bath of treacle, composed of Sanjeev and his relatives, and the fatuous protection system of the fortress of BT, guarded by "if you want this press that" whilst we "record your conversation for training purposes", we are now the proud possessors of 10 unwanted summarised account(including all the unwanted bullshit offers and tripe) and one copy of what we asked for all that time ago....Oh...and two "Demands" threatening legal proceedings!

If ever there was a model to be used by BT (or anyone else for that matter) "for training purpose" this could be the one.

[Gandalph]

What a bloody fart on.

[andsome]

If you wrote a book about this, people would ridicule it and say what a stupid plot it was. :D

[catgate]

"The song has ended but the melody lingers on" ....Irving Berlin

So too the tale of "BT and the Sanjeevs".

During the display of BT's total incompetence and disinterest we were threatened, on two occassions, by legal procedings if we did not "pay up", despite having said that we would pay the two quarters' bills togethr when we had sorted out the charges. Sanjeev and Co. knew of this and in fact after the second occasion we received one of the Sanjeevs apologised most profusely, as they do, and promised to get the matter stopped.

This morning we got yet a third letter threatening court action, and intimating that a sum of "£250 something or other" would be added for collection expenses, from a debt collection company. It is well over a week since it was paid and the cheque has also been cashed.

I rang the chaimans office and spoke to the chap that management had spoken to. He checked through the records on his screen. "Which company?" he asked. "CCS", quoth I. "Don't know them," he responded, " Leave it with me I will deal with it."!!!!!

Here is a better (but not good) version of the above tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAaMH1jikTQ

[catgate]

Redirected Mail

A couple of days ago we received a letter from Royal Mail. It apologised for the delay in replying (but gave no reason for the delay) and said they were sorry to hear we were still experiencing problems with redirection (which we are now not doing...we are getting a constant supply of rubbish.)

They were sorry that they were "unable to consider" our claim for a refund of the fee for redirection. However they were hoping we would "accept" as a "goodwill gesture" two books of stamps (1st class ones!!!)

A footnote to the letter (small print at the bottom) told us that if we remained unhappy about this we could contact The Postal Review Panel who would independantly review the matter. They can be contacted at [email protected] ...so they must be very independant.

So I have emailed The Postal Review Panel and pointed out that this failure required us to make two "emergency" round trips of 150 miles each to rescue 2 vital documents associated with the sale of the old chaps house. £125 minimum, at current AA quoted milage costs.

The melody still lingereth, but in a different key.

[andsome]

The words of an old song come to mind. 'For he high hopes'. :lol: