Those Tyres
Posted: Tue 17 December, 2013 Filed under: Commuting, Customer Services, Driving, eTyres, Getting Organised 2 Comments »As you probably already know, over the weekend, I got my car fitted with two new front tyres by eTyres. (This is relevant later)
What I didn’t know – and what Blue Witch pointed out in her comment on that post – is that actually, this isn’t the best plan when the car is a front-wheel-drive car. Basically, it means that the tyres with the best grip are on the driving wheels, and you’ve no way of knowing if the rear tyres are losing their grip, particularly in snow, ice, or heavy rain. So on a front-wheel-drive car, the tyres with the best grip should go on the rear tyres – meaning eTyres should’ve swapped things round, replaced the rear tyres with the new ones, and put the used rear tyres on the front wheels. (The eTyres fitter even confirmed that the rear ones will be OK for a good while yet)
Indeed, as BW then pointed out by email, eTyres even carry this advice on their own website.
Yesterday morning I emailed eTyres about this…
I recently ordered two new tyres from eTyres, order ref [xxx] to replace the two front tyres on my front-wheel drive car.
I have since been referred to various manufacturer information that says that on front-wheel drive cars, it is safest/best to have the new tyres on the rear wheels, and in a situation like mine, to move the used-but-safe rear tyres to the front, replacing the rear tyres with new tyres.
Can you explain to me why eTyres
- Do not inform their customers of this
- Why their tyre-fitters do not recommend/do this ?
This isn’t a one-off – earlier this year I did the same thing with eTyres on a different vehicle (also front-wheel drive) and had no advice on how this work should be done.
This is also the recommendation of Kleber Tyres and Michelin – see point 6
I’m interested to know why eTyres apparently ignore such advice, and potentially endanger their customers as a result.
As yet, I’ve had absolutely no response from the useless fuckwhistles. If I haven’t heard by the end of today, I’m going to call up and make a pain in the arse of myself that way…
Pay and Display
Posted: Sun 24 November, 2013 Filed under: Customer Services, Driving, Parking, People, Thoughts 2 Comments »One aspect of living near Milton Keynes is that – in comparison to many other places – Milton Keynes is pretty damn great for parking. There’s lots of spaces, although the massive majority of them are Pay and Display. (for overseas readers, this involves buying a ticket for a period of time, and then showing it in the windscreen of one’s car) The rates are pretty decent – again, in comparison to many other places – and it’s easy.
Apparently there are 20,000 spaces – including 12,000 that charge 40p per hour, and another 4,350 ‘premium rate’ ones (which are right next to the shopping centre on all sides) at £1.40 per hour.
As well as the normal machines, there’s also now the ability to pay via mobilephone/smartphone using services like RingGo. (or alternatively pay by phonecall with a credit/debit card) It’s easy to do, and – I assume – most people would expect to pay to park, particularly if they live anywhere near-ish.
So why is it that whenever I go to Milton Keynes and park, there are always people who seem to be categorically incapable of using the parking ticket machines, amazed that such machines exist, disgusted that Milton Keynes charges for parking, haven’t got change, or can’t manage to pay by phone? None of it’s really a challenge, but it seems to be for many, many people.
Collect Plus
Posted: Thu 7 November, 2013 Filed under: Amazon, Business, Customer Services, Domestic, Kindle, Reading Leave a comment »
For returning the broken Kindle, this time Amazon made me use a new (to me) service called CollectPlus. (or Collect+, depending on whether you believe the URL or the logo)
Collect Plus have created a network of locations – usually corner-shops, garages/filling stations, newsagents and the like – where you can drop off a parcel for delivery. It is – I assume – a kind of private mail/courier company, the sort of thing that’s risen from the ashes of Royal Mail’s service (or lack thereof)
So far, from my side, it’s been a pretty positive experience. I went over to the local(ish) collection/drop-off point on Sunday – yes! getting a parcel sent on a Sunday! – and went through the necessary bits. I’d printed off the label from Amazon, stuck it to the box, and all was prepared. Then I simply gave it over to the person on the till, got my receipt, and job done.
I got the email today from Amazon to say that the parcel has been delivered to them – not the world’s fastest process, but it’s cost me nothing to do, and it’s all run pretty smoothly so far. It’s also been a lot quicker, easier, more effective and less painful than anything Royal Mail ever managed…
Kindle Replacement
Posted: Tue 29 October, 2013 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Literacy 2 Comments »I’ve waffed on before about having bought a Kindle e-book – nearly two and a half years ago – and also about when the one-before-this-one broke, which is when I had to buy a replacement.
Much as I like using the Kindle in general, the display in particular seems to be pretty fragile. I suspect it’s because it’s a glorified LCD display, and they’ve always been a bit flaky on that score. I don’t know why they’re so breakable, but they are. I’m not at all heavy-handed with mine, but I’m on my fourth. (with, as below, a fifth soon to arrive) And that’s with having a decent protective case as well. I suspect there must be some kind of twist/flex that just does for them.
Anyway, over the weekend, the latest one – bought in June – broke. I don’t know what had happened to it, I took it out of my bag/backpack, opened the case, and the screen crystal was cracked. (i.e. the screen itself isn’t cracked, but the [whatever] film inside it is, so when I turn it on, half works, and half doesn’t)
Fortunately, Amazon’s customer services are excellent when it comes to the Kindle. (I can’t comment on any other eventualities, I’ve only ever used Amazon customer service when it comes to the bloody Kindle) I filled in the ‘Contact us’ form on the site, clicked “Call me now”, and they did. Straight through, spoke to someone, explained the problem. No quibbles, no hassles, they’re sending out a new one (due to arrive today) and I can then use the packaging from that to return my existing device – postage paid!
Of course, re-downloading all the content is still likely to be a pain in the tits (if the last time is anything to go by) but I can at least get on with doing that when I’ve some spare time.
In the meantime, I’m back to the printed word instead of the displayed. I’ve got to be honest, it feels a little bit odd.
Automated Projection
Posted: Mon 28 October, 2013 Filed under: Cinema, Customer Services, Domestic, Media, Seeing Films, Thoughts Leave a comment »Until recently, it had never occurred to me that most multiplex cinemas have now automated their film projection rooms. I still envisioned it as either being one-projectionist-per-screen, or (at worst) one-projectionist-per-[x]-screens. The only reassuring fact from this is that I’m obviously not the only one to have not realised. (As opposed to being (apparently) the only one to never click that James the Red Engine was ‘reddy for anything’)
But no, it turns out you’re very lucky if there’s a projectionist at all. It’s all programmed, automated, and generally human-free. They have been for (at least) five or six years now, apparently.
I don’t know why it hadn’t clicked for me, because looking back it makes total sense. If you’ve got a 16-screen cinema that is (apparently) only staffed by four spotty teenagers and a manager or two, why on earth would you expect it to then have 16 projectionists? (Or even 2, one per eight screens)
What this does mean though, is that if there’s a fault in the showing, no-one knows about it unless you go out and tell someone. There’s no-one in the room at the back, checking the quality. It’s all done automagically.
I’ve been in a couple now where the projection/showing has gone a bit tits-up – one with no sound, one where everything had a weird pink overlay to it. Both times the rest of the audience has sat there bitching, but still done nothing else, assuming (I assume) that the projectionist would “just fix it”. I just go out and let a member of staff know it’s kippered, which gets things fixed.
I wonder if the cinemas should actually do more to let people know about those changes though?
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.