Reporting Potholes
Posted: Mon 4 March, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Driving, Getting Organised, Pedantry Leave a comment »One thing I’ve become a bit of an arse about over the last few months has been reporting potholes and road damage to the local council(s).
I’m not the only one doing it, I’m sure – but particularly with Bedfordshire it’s interesting to see the speed of response from when I’ve reported stuff to when it gets fixed.
I’m drawing the conclusion that it’s down to me because in some cases I’ve left the report for a month or more, with nothing happening. When I report it, it gets checked and fixed quite shortly afterwards. Now sure, it could be that my report is the one that breaks the limit on reporting – but not every time, I’m sure.
I know that councils are reducing their road repairs as part of all this austerity and cost-saving bollocks, but it’s a false economy. The costs/claims for damage are a big factor – and particularly claims are more likely to be paid up when the pothole has been reported (but not repaired) because that shows more of a disregard for maintenance.
I’m not interested in that side particularly. I am interested in getting decent road quality without dangerous potholes causing issues – both to myself and others.
Metered
Posted: Tue 26 February, 2013 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic Leave a comment »Well, that’s done.
I’m intrigued by how a twenty-minute job needs a slot of “12-6pm” to be booked in, but there we go, at least it’s done now.
Now, about that refund…
Water Works
Posted: Tue 26 February, 2013 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Customer Services, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Today I’m working from home, waiting for Anglian Water to come and fix things.
It’s nothing major – well, it is, but it’s not like a water leak or anything. Basically, whoever installed the little grey boxes to ‘read’ the water meters (for whatever reason, this house has two) fucked it up – or the boxes are faulty – and have been reporting roughly three times the actual water use. Which, of course, I was getting billed for.
The last bill came in, and I queried the figures. Anglian had screwed up something else as well, just for chuckles, so the entire thing was nearly four times what the corrected bill is. Which is, needless to say, impressive.
Anyway, today they’re replacing both readers, and providing Anglian with correct ‘start-up’ figures, so hopefully from here things will be a lot more stable.
Needless to say, I’ll be keeping a close eye for a while on both the readers and the meters, making sure they match. And waiting for a significant refund.
Infamy, Infamy, they’ve all got it infamy
Posted: Mon 28 January, 2013 Filed under: Charm School, Customer Services, Cynicism, D4D™, Legal, Marketing, Privacy, Thoughts Leave a comment »Eighteen months ago, I had to issue a retraction of comments I’d made about the professionalism of a marketing manager and his company, due to some seriously heavy-handed legal threats from over the water.
As a quick “I wonder”, I did a Google search today on the name of the marketing manager and his company. And yes, D4D still comes up as the first result on Google for that search.
When you think about it, that’s really funny. (And is also what I warned them would happen when the legal people insisted I use his name as part of the apology on the title)
After all, this is a marketing manager of a major company – a company whose products also use the name D4D on some of them. He’s also always had the right of reply, I’ve never closed the comments on any of those posts. Nary an acknowledgement, not a rebuttal or apology for damaging the privacy policy of his own company, not even a “thanks for the apology”. Which, I suppose, shows the quality of the man.
And still, there I am, at the top of the search results.
It amused me, anyway.
Dodgy Taxi
Posted: Sat 26 January, 2013 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving Leave a comment »On Wednesday, for reasons I haven’t yet written about, I had to get a taxi into Bedford in order to sort some stuff out. (I’ll write more about all that at some point soon)
The taxi was – to be blunt – fucked. It was a minibus-type, based on a Ford Transit. The engine management light was on the whole time, it vibrated worryingly when we went above 50mph (on a dual carriageway), and when it came to braking, there were some *very* nasty noises coming from the brakes – the sort of noises that usually mean “no pads”.
And then there, on the windscreen, was a little notice saying “If you’ve got any concerns about this taxi, email us”, and the email address of the local council’s licensing office.
And so, when I got into work, that’s exactly what I did. I’d taken the registration plate, just to make life easier, and emailed them. Since then, this is what’s happened:
- Within the hour, I’d had a response back from the council, saying they’d look into it. (Pretty much as expected)
- By the end of the day, they’d told me the taxi in question had been booked in for a full vehicle check on the Friday
- By the end of Friday, I got a confirmation that they’d checked the vehicle, it’d failed spectacularly, had it’s plate pulled, and couldn’t go back to being used as a taxi until it had a full signoff from their inspection team. Oh, and the taxi company in question was also being checked now, along with all the maintenance records for all their vehicles.
I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. Considering the same council has taken a month to inspect/repair a couple of very dangerous potholes in one of the roads I commute on – and that’s a month since I reported it – it’s been a real surprise to see how quickly they’ve handled this complaint about a taxi.