Utilities Part One – nPower

Posted: Thu 19 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, nPower, Utilities | 2 Comments »

Since moving in to the new place, one of the banes of my life have been the utility companies for the property.

nPower in particular have been stunningly shit. It’s taken them eighteen months to get the name right on the account – the letting agency notified them of the change, and they did nothing. I’ve gone through the process no less than six times, sending ID and proof of tenancy, and it all disappeared into the black hole of “Fuck-All Happening” that seems to define nPower. Even their complaints team were so bad that they didn’t even call me within the expected timescale, despite repeated requests.  The best one was emailing the proof documents the fifth time, putting on ‘read receipts’ etc., and getting one back saying “The message was deleted without being read“.  That was when I started getting really pissed off.

Additionally, because of ‘moving to a new system’, they managed to not send me any bills – and not be able to send bills, because gawd knows, I asked! – for a year. I then got four bills in a day – all printed on the same day, all sent out, all for different amounts.  And all with one week in which to pay.

It appears to have now been sorted. I totally lost the plot, and requested that they just send me a “we can’t be arsed to fix the problem” deadlock letter so that I could take it up with the Energy Ombudsman and get them properly screwed over. Suddenly I finally got through to nPower’s one efficient person, and everything was done within twenty minutes, with her not even being able to understand why it had taken so long. I think her phrase “Well I can see that someone put the documents in the system. They just didn’t bother to do anything else with them” pretty much sums up the entire painful process with nPower.

I’m going to wait for the next bill so I can see whether they’ve finally got things right or not. I’m remaining pessimistic for the moment, but who knows, maybe miracles do happen on occasion…

B-O-R-E-D

Posted: Wed 11 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Business, Geeky, People, Work-related | Leave a comment »

More and more I’m coming to the realisation that I am so not a data geek.  I use data and databases all the time, but I don’t usually deal in big data systems that need epic sizes of database and insanely complicated methods of getting that data in and out of those systems.

This current role is now my third over the years where I work with exactly those types of system. Crapco back in Bracknell/Wokingham – and in a weird coincidence that’s also where I last did any intensive cycling – were the first. A duller bunch of people you couldn’t want to meet, and I hated it.  The second was about 2, 2½ years ago, an educational company in Cambridge. And now a tech company in Cambridge.

The thing is, they’re all very similar – as are the people who work in them. In all three cases, the people involved were (in my eyes) ineffably dull – all had been with the company for at least five years – and deeply insular about their work. They didn’t want to teach anyone else how to do stuff on ‘their’ system, primarily (it seemed) because they thought their own jobs would be at risk if they told someone else how to do things, or were in any way helpful at all.  It’s just a mindset I simply don’t understand.  After all, if you’re swamped enough that you can justify an extra person, surely it makes sense to then get that person up to speed so you can reduce that work pressure. But no. And it’s all so “This is *my* section!” and cliquey that it just does my head in.  No-one wants to teach how to figure out where things are going wrong, it’s like a “oh, figure it out yourself” type thing. And don’t get me wrong, most of the time I can evaluate how things are working, and where things are going wrong.  In environments like these though, you can’t do that. It’s been made so insanely complex over the years, anyone coming in new is effectively fucked from the start.   And that’s the position I find myself in. (Again)

Couple that with one simple fact from my side – which is that when it comes to these kind of companies, I simply don’t care enough about their data to want to work with it and worry about its accuracy.   “Oh, but it’s 0.001% out on those figures.” And?

All told, it’s a lesson I need to learn, I type of place I no longer wish to work in.  I’ll be OK here for the remaining five months of the contract – but I won’t be renewing after that.  I’ll probably keep my options open too, by keeping on looking for other roles…

Common Sense (Or Lack Thereof)

Posted: Fri 6 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Cynicism, Driving, Fog, People, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Following on from yesterday’s horrid (yet spectacular) crash in Kent on the Sheppey Crossing, the BBC’s now carrying a story saying that various people are wanting warning signs, lighing etc. on the bridge to prevent such an accident again.

The thing is, I don’t see how that’s going to improve things. (other than in the context of Being Seen To Be Doing Something)

The accident(s) happened in thick fog. As such, I would suspect that the actual primary causes of the accident(s) were

  1. Fog
  2. Drivers going too fast
  3. Drivers not using their lights/foglights
  4. Drivers being dickheads

I get the idea of warning signs on the crossing – again, in that context of Being Seen to be Doing Something – but I can’t see how they’ll improve safety. After all…

  • If they’re warning of thick fog, will people be able to see them in – um – the thick fog?
  • If they’re giving warnings, won’t they also be distracting the attention of dickhead drivers who don’t seem able to multitask?

If the warning signs just read “Don’t be a fucking moron”, it might help. But even then, it would be helping far less than drivers simply not being fucking morons.

 

Driving Thoughts

Posted: Thu 5 September, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Charm School, Commuting, Cynicism, Driving, Fog, People, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

A small selection of questions and thoughts from the drive in to work this morning…

1)  Look, if you’re driving so slowly in a car that trucks are pulling out to overtake you, maybe you should speed the fuck up, or get off the bloody road.

2) It’s foggy. So why are so many people driving

  1. without any lights at all or
  2. without their foglights on?

Usually it only takes a tiny piece of mist and they’re all in use, but this, with visibility of fuck-all-squared, there’s loads of people without lights. What the hell?

(And on a side note, bloody hell, I’m glad I’m not involved in this lot in Kent!)

3) Relatedly, why is it that once the fog clears up, you fuck-knuckle bastards leave your sodding foglights on ?  They’re there for a reason, remember to turn the cocking things off when they’re no longer necessary

4) Why is it that so-called “professional drivers” (articulated trucks, delivery stuff, coaches etc.) usually end up being the most dangerous ones on the road?

5) If that’s how you drive, Mr Driving Instructor, then I truly fear for the skills of your pupils.

6) If you can’t steer/handle a shopping trolley, it really scares me to know that you’ve arrived here by car, and will be driving home. Jesus.

 

The Beginning of the End (Of the Year)

Posted: Fri 30 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Festering Season, Television | 1 Comment »

It’s only August, but we’re already building up towards the end of the year.

This weekend, it’s the return of evil Saturday-night ITV drivel ‘contest’ The X-Factor. Knowing that the target for this is (as always) the Christmas Number One single, you know it’s only [x] weeks ’til the Festering Season is upon us once more.

Next weekend, BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing is back on. In the same way, that’s now part of the run-up to the Festering Season.

I won’t be watching either of them, but it’s still a signpost that that fat old bearded bastard is on the way, red suit, reindeer and all.

Bah Fucking Humbug.

 

Replacement Card

Posted: Thu 29 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances | Leave a comment »

On Bank Holiday Monday, I went out and about, and used my debit card to get some cash out of a cashpoint (ATM, Hole-in-the-Wall, whatever) at a branch of my bank. The card slot looked a bit odd, but both machines looked the same, and I know Barclays love to piss about with how their machines work.  So I thought nothing of it.

However, about twenty minutes later I walked past a different Barclays cashpoint (why they’ve got them in multiple places in the town I don’t know, but such is life – this one was in the wall of a WHSmiths) and its card slot was different, and didn’t have the bits that I’d wondered about on the ones at the branch.

As a result, I called my bank, and cancelled the card. Bit of a pain in the bits, but far less inconvenient than the potential for losing money to dirtbags and having to find it.  I was expecting it to be a week before getting the replacement card – that’s about normal, and didn’t cause me any real problems – but just a pain in the bum.

Anyway, I’ve got to say I’m impressed. The card arrived yesterday morning. Two days for production, printing, whatever, and sending. I know it’s how things should work, and it’s still pretty sad to be impressed by something that’s just being done correctly, but in this one, well, all fairness to Barclays, they’ve got something right.

Wasted Afternoon

Posted: Tue 20 August, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Agency Idiocy, Customer Services, Cynicism, People, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Despite having agreed to a contract, I had one interview that pre-dated that acceptance, and rather than piss people off by saying “I’ve taken a contract, so cancel the interview”, I’d decided to still go.  The agency in question have been a ‘mare, asking me no less than three times to confirm that I was going. (and no, they’re not aware of the now existing contract offer) On each occasion I’ve replied to the original interview confirmation, with the relevant agency recipients copied in.

I went to the interview today in the company’s Northampton office, got there in plenty of time, waited outside reading my book (Well, Kindle, but same thing) and went in on time. Only the person I was meant to be seeing wasn’t there. No worries, they said, we’re sure he’s on his way. We’ll call and check.

I waited quarter of an hour, and in that time got a call from the agency. I ignored it – no way am I taking calls while I’m waiting for an interview to start.  On this occasion, maybe I should’ve done.

Anyway, the person I’ve been dealing with in the office comes back in, and explains that actually I’m supposed to be meeting them in – um – Coventry. Even better, I’m not the first person this has happened to with this agency, I’m the second.  To do it once is a fuck-up. To do it twice is to be a fuckup.

Needless to say, once I got out of the office, I went ballistic at the agency, who really don’t quite know what to do with themselves about it. If it were someone else involved, I’d probably laugh. (And come tomorrow, probably I’ll laugh too)

In the meantime though, it’s been a totally wasted afternoon, and has necessitated a complete reorganisation of the interview – not just day and time, but also location. It’s now on Friday, late afternoon, near Heathrow. Yep, late in the day, just before a Bank Holiday weekend.  I suspect I may just be cancelling that one, once all the contract paperwork is through and completed…

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