Covid as an excuse for poor service

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thirdcrank
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Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by thirdcrank »

As companies try to move more custom online, some seem to try to make telephone contact more difficult eg insurance companies seem to have repeated announcements blaming recent unspecified bad weather for the delays in getting a response.

I presume a lot of companies with call centre operations have moved to working from home and I appreciate that that must take a lot of organising to get it up and running, but I've a suspicion covid is going to be the new excuse.

I'm provoked into posting this by a morning spent on the wrong end of execrable service from my bank which used to advertise the excellence of its telephone service. According to my phone, the call lasted 25 minutes, most of that time being spent waiting for the initial response and then when the first "representative" answered and was for some reason unable to deal with the simple matter of paying a relatively small invoice, they put me "back on hold for a moment" which essentially meant another long wait for somebody else to pick up the phone.
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by Vorpal »

I've already had it from a couple of places.

And the other day, I rode round to 3 different shops looking for printer cartridges. The first two had nothing. The last one had some remanufactured cartridges, but only in black (my printer takes 3 cartridges; the other is a colour cartridge).

I bought one of the remanufactured cartridges, and noted to the shop assistant that they didn't have much on display. He said that with everyone working from home, people were using more than usual printer cartridges, and the cartridges' suppliers had all run out of toner. He wasnæt sure when the situation would improve.
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Paulatic
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by Paulatic »

I changed my phone a couple of weeks ago. The consequence being it was no longer a trusted device my face or finger was not enough to prove i am me. I had to dredge my memory for numbers and passwords. I got them wrong and after a few failed attempts locked out from my bank.
I left it a couple of days until I felt I could deal with the stress of ringing the bank. 09:15 on the morning I’m going away and will definitely need money i gave them a call. Went through the usual button presses and a message advising unusual demand on operators i settled down for a long wait. Within 15 seconds a thick scouse accent answered my call and had me back in full operational mode within minutes.
That was Santander and I couldn’t knock the service at all. Excellent.
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Cyclewala
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by Cyclewala »

Covid has been a headache for many large organisations and particularly for banks who've had to deal with a surge in loan applications and payment holidays to assist consumers and businesses through the financial impact.

Many organisations have offshore operations, namely India, where they've seen massive impact by Covid - staff ill, taking time off to look after ill family members, etc.

One of my kids work for a large supermarket and they too are getting hammered. Online sales have shot up and they've had to retrain store staff to deal with online ordering. Then, there is staff absence. The instructions are clear - any sign of a cough and you're sent home - Covid or not - until you're tested and it's proven negative. This has led to staffing shortfalls.
Pebble
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by Pebble »

I have heard the "due to covid we are experiencing high call volumes and your wait may be longer than normal" bollux of an excuse so many times...

The one thing that really bugs me about having to wait in these telephone queue is; why do they have play music and keep apologising every 20 seconds for the wait. It would be far better if it was just silent, then I could concentrate on something else until there was someone to speak too. The voice popping up every 20 seconds means (at least for me) I can't concentrate on anything else as I have to sort of listen to the recorded meaningless apology just in case it is a real person to speak to. I swear they do this to make the whole experience so awful that you might just hang up and go away.
ClappedOut
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by ClappedOut »

A financial chill was on the way pre covid high street darling John Lewis wasn't making money as an example.

It's a convenient excuse as call centres can be set up easily over ip lines eg yay it's a couple pounds a month last time I looked and employees log in from home.

Vote with your wallet against poor service
thirdcrank
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by thirdcrank »

The service from some organisations has been good. eg supermarkets coped with panic buying / hording on top of everything else.

I can't help feeling some organisations are milking it. Like my bank
ClappedOut
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by ClappedOut »

thirdcrank wrote: 30 May 2021, 9:07am The service from some organisations has been good. eg supermarkets coped with panic buying / hording on top of everything else.

I can't help feeling some organisations are milking it. Like my bank
Crooks like the electricity company refusing meter readings as millions in the hole and sent £145 month DD and when I said do me a bill on meter readings refused.

Sent a we will charge 8% on estimated readings trying to create a variation of contract or joinder and I pointed out bills of exchange act 1882 and refused.

Crooks
Last edited by ClappedOut on 30 May 2021, 7:39pm, edited 1 time in total.
oldtimer99
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by oldtimer99 »

Contrast....40mins trying to get through to Fone company, following 5 unanswered emails, each of which with an auto reply of 'we'll get back to you within 24hrs'...pathetic stuff.
.....and Northern Power Networks who answered within 20 seconds, and a cheerful Geordie (aren't they all?) sorted my issue within 3 minutes.
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gbnz
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by gbnz »

What about Radio 4? Every interview accompanied by a poor line, making it difficult to hear anything being said. Why is the BBC no longer able to do interviews over a telephone, all due to Covid
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simonineaston
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by simonineaston »

Never mind 'poor service' - Harding and more importantly her hubby who is on record as saying that the pandemic would be a great opportunity to make money out of the nation's health, are poised for a two-prong attack, mid-pandemic:
* Illegal data grab - all our medical records!!
* Mrs to go for ceo NHS England!!
A lot of doctors v. concerned - I am too - but doctors more important than me obs ;-)
S
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simonineaston
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by simonineaston »

Article about the legal challenge to the big NHS data grab here.
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
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simonineaston
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by simonineaston »

I notice with some wry amusement that one David Davis - once famously described by a certain Dom Cummings as being as "thick as mince", is objecting to both the NHS Digital so-called big data grab as well as to the proposed cuts to over-seas aid... (alongside a significant number of other Tory MPs including Teresa May)
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Mike Sales
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by Mike Sales »

simonineaston wrote: 7 Jun 2021, 9:38am I notice with some wry amusement that one David Davis - once famously described by a certain Dom Cummings as being as "thick as mince", is objecting to both the NHS Digital so-called big data grab as well as to the proposed cuts to over-seas aid... (alongside a significant number of other Tory MPs including Teresa May)
Davis has risen a long way in my estimation in the last couple of days.
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simonineaston
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Re: Covid as an excuse for poor service

Post by simonineaston »

I saw an interview with him on YT not long ago (here), and he struck me as a decent bloke...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
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