To The Ombudsman!
Posted: Mon 21 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Business, Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances, nPower, Utilities 2 Comments »As nPower have today announced that the average joint-fuel bill will be going up by over 10% from December 1st, I’ve decided that I’m now definitely going to take my complaint to the Energy Ombudsman, and cost the fuckers some money.
Jesus christ, a 10% increase. Do they think people are made of money? Fucking hell.
I wouldn’t mind so much if there were any decent alternatives to change over to. Sadly though, they’re all as shitty as each other.
Utilities 6 – nPower Communications
Posted: Sun 13 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances, nPower, Utilities 3 Comments »[For the rest of this one, click here]
Yesterday, I got a letter from nPower – addressed to the correct name, at the correct address. (This is actually noteworthy, as it hasn’t happened in the preceding eighteen months) It relates to the complaint I made about – um – the fact that they couldn’t (well, hadn’t) corrected my name and address on my account, despite repeated requests to do so.
Apparently, because they haven’t been in touch in so long since I raised the complaint, I can now speak to the Energy Ombudsman about it. (Which I threatened to do last month, when it all actually got sorted)
So. Should I do so?
After all, the complaint has actually been fixed, but it now looks as if their entire system is so broken that even though it’s been sorted – and the correctly addressed envelope proves it’s been sorted – it hasn’t been flagged on the system as sorted. Which really is pretty fucked, however you look at it.
I’m tempted to do so, and cost them some more money (apparently even registering an issue with the Ombudsman lands them with a fine) and see where it takes me…
Utilities Part 5 – More Metering
Posted: Sat 12 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Anglian Water, Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Utilities Leave a comment »[You can read previous bits of this here, if you care]
This morning, Anglian Water are supposed to be (finally) fitting my two ‘smart’ meters. They’re due sometime between 8am and 1pm.
Whether they’ll turn up – and indeed whether they’ll get it right this time – as yet remains to be seen…
Too Hot for Football
Posted: Fri 4 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, News, Sport 2 Comments »I must admit, I really don’t understand the whole ‘it’ll be too hot’ kerfuffle going on about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
After all, you would imagine that FIFA were aware when they awarded the World Cup to Qatar that playing it in the Summer is likely to be – well – bloody hot.
But no, it seems to have come as a surprise to them that any countries would be a tad upset at this, and also at the ‘back-up plan’ of playing it in Winter rather than Summer. Because well, playing it in Winter means that the football seasons for many of the countries in question will be spectacularly disrupted for a couple of months.
I don’t get the thinking behind it – assuming there was any – although I have to also point out that I don’t much care one way or the other anyway. It just seems pretty stupid to organise a sporting World Cup in the middle of summer in the Middle East. It’d be like awarding the Olympic Games to the region. But then, what would I know?
Not Quite An Apology
Posted: Thu 3 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Literacy, People, Sweary, Thoughts, Words 2 Comments »One of the phrases that keeps on annoying me at the moment is the current ‘approved’ terminology for an apology
We’d like to apologise for [x]
Why does it annoy me? Because if you look at it, it’s not actually an apology. It’s a mealy-mouthed excuse. “We’d like to apologise for [x]” isn’t the same as “We are really sorry about [x]”
I know it’s probably only me that even notices this kind of thing, but regardless, it’s an annoyance.
If you’re sorry for something, say you’re sorry. Apologise. Don’t tell me that you’d like to apologise – because that’s not actually apologising. It might as well say “We’d like to apologise, but won’t, because well, fuck you”
Just say “Sorry”. Don’t wank around the bushes with it. Say you screwed up, apologise, move on.
Approaching Year-End (Part 2)
Posted: Mon 23 September, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Festering Season, People, Shopping 1 Comment »At the end of August, I wrote about the signs that we were coming to the end of the year, and the Festering Season. Obviously X-Factor and Strictly being back on TV are the two primary harbingers mentioned in that one.
Now though, I’m seeing more signs – and they seem to be earlier than ever.
- On TV, we’re starting to see the adverts for perfumes/fragrances (for both men and women) and also the music compilation CDs that only ever seem to be on the shelves for the Festering Season. It’s always the “Oh god, I don’t know – get something” gift of last resort.
- In the supermarkets, hard though it is to believe, there’s already Christmas confectionary and mince pies on the shelves.
- And then there was this, spotted yesterday…
Yep, Christmas Cards are already on the shelves. I despair.
I’m surprised at how early all this tat is hitting the shops- I assume it’s retail’s way of handling people having less money than usual, so making the items available ever earlier. Personally I think that’s bollocks, and they’re just hoping for as many sales as possible – but as you can see from the picture above, people are actually buying the damn cards already…