One minute and twenty five seconds.
That's how long it took, from Virgin Wines answering the phone (no being on hold, no "your call is important to us, we'll get to you sometime soonish" messages, just straight through to an operator!), verifying I was who I say I am, confirming my Discovery Club changes (loose the 6 bottles of red, replace them with the S/Blanc from the previous case) and thanking me for my call. From start to finish it was less than 90 seconds of my time.
That's what Customer Service should be like.
Oh dear, yet another grumble on my part, oh well!
Ordinarily Halifax are pretty damn good, but they've let themselves down with the blurb page that's linked from my "One" card in my online banking. Take a look. So I can save up to 15% on holidays with Butlins in 2005 can I? That's all well and good, but short of getting hold of a Tardis, I'm not going to get very far with that little deal!
Come on, you can do better than that!
It might seem that I've got a little "soap-boxy" of late, and whilst it's not far from the truth, it's because I keep seeing numerous things to get on my soap-box about!
Take this article in The Publican for example; Some crazy woman from the Scottish Campaign against Irresponsible Drivers has decided that it's "irresponsible to offer customers directions to pubs". What!? How would anyone ever find a pub then? In context, it's because Garmin (who my parents swear by as GPS systems go) have dared, yes dared, to allow the Good Pub Guide 2008 to be downloaded to their GPS units. Heaven forbid that you might want to stop at a pub part way through a long journey to take a break, maybe have some food and possibly have a drink too. Of course, a drink for the driver doesn't have to be alcoholic does it.
Don't get me wrong, I agree totally that drinking and driving is irresponsible, dangerous and should not happen. But, unless the quote was taken out of context, it's the most stupid bit of pontificating I've ever seen in my life.
In the news from the BBC today is an article about Loch Fyne. Apparently they are one of the many companies that are coming to public attention for paying their serving staff below the minimum wage. Sadly this isn't illegal as they're allowed to count tips earned towards the NMW.
I've been eating at Loch Fyne fairly regularly since a friend took me there for my birthday last October. No more, sadly. If and when Loch Fyne announce that they'll be paying their staff the minimum wage I'll start to eat there again, and anyone else who frequents the place, I can't suggest strongly enough that you do the same!
... do a very nice toasted panini with the "Bacon Melt" filling. What they don't do is manage a consistent product standard. Sometimes there's a rasher, or two, of bacon in the panini along with the pre-made mix, sometimes there's not. Sometimes there's a small side salad on the plate, sometimes there's not. Sometimes there's a decent amount of filling in the paninin, sometimes there's hardly any. Don't get me wrong, I really do like the food, just not the lack of care and attention given to the product standard. Grr.
Oh, and their "membership system" is supposed to go live in mid July. Guys,... it's now July 22nd, we're past the mid-point now!
