Remember the skateboarding fox? I only posted a picture of one of them, and several readers asked to see the other two. So yesterday I walked back to the Mill Lane Bridge and got a few more shots. Above is the entire painting by Kira Latini (age 9), and below are close-ups of the other critters.
(I think this is actually a squirrel.)
Yesterday we stayed home, intentionally, because we were due to be visited by an engineer for the renovation company and by someone to fix the clogged downspout. I'm sure you can predict, based on my recent experiences with customer service, that neither of these things actually happened.
The downspout guy at least showed up -- at 1 p.m., so we were definitely NOT the first call of the day -- but he took one look at the situation and said he is not the man for the job. He said it would require a two-man crew with a ladder and possibly a cherry picker blah blah blah, and the landlord's home care policy probably doesn't cover that work anyway, and he would get back to them to say so. Despite being assured by several people on the phone that the work is covered and his company could do it, I somehow fully expected him to say that. So I'm kicking it back to the management company. It's not my building, and not my gutter.
As for the renovators, he hadn't shown up by 2 p.m. so I called the main office.
"Oh, he called in sick today," said the woman who answered the phone. "We'll have to reschedule that."
Would it be too freakin' hard to PICK UP THE PHONE and call me to tell me that, so I don't sit around all day for no reason? Thank goodness I didn't take another day off work. In fact, I told her she would have to arrange to get keys from the property managers, because we couldn't spend another day waiting around.
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| Another panel on Mill Lane Bridge. Is that boy looking at his phone?! |
I've heard nothing more about my new bank card since calling the bank on Tuesday and being told it would come within three business days. (Granted, they still have through tomorrow to get it to me.) Last time the bank sent me a text when they mailed it, but this time, nada. Unless it hasn't been mailed yet. Which is entirely possible.
To make matters more interesting, we haven't received any mail this week. The newspaper recently carried a story about problems at a local sorting facility that residents said were delaying the mail by weeks. The Royal Mail absurdly claimed: "No customers should experience delays for more than one day." Well, we didn't get mail for about four weeks, and it looks like we're in another dry spell. Anyway, I have a debit card from my American bank as well as a credit card so I won't die if my bank card doesn't come through once again.
I honestly didn't mean to turn this into another customer-service bitchfest. But that IS my life lately, it seems.
To end on a more positive note, let's take a look at a REAL fox (not on a skateboard) that wandered through our garden yesterday morning. I eventually opened the back door to scare it off because I was afraid it might get familiar -- in one unsavory way or another -- with Olga's bed, which was lying outside on the grass. This fox didn't look as fluffy as the others we've seen. Maybe he/she is younger or older, or maybe just damp.
27 comments:
I feel your pain. How hard is it to provide good customer service? Actually forget 'good' - ANY customer service. Do these people accept the same treatment they dish out?
Foxes seem to be encroaching more and more into urban areas.
So much bad service. It's universal. Although we've never experienced here what you've been experiencing.
I love those paintings! “George Age 7” would go on a wall here.
I had the same thought about the fox settling on Olga's bed.
Personally, I thought that the music accompanying the fox video was very inappropriate. It was like the muzak you get when you are placed "on hold" after phoning customer services... "We are experiencing a high volume of calls and all members of our team are busy".
I love the artwork and the fox in no socks, but customer service leaves something to be desired. I bet George aged 7 could fix that downspout.
Mind boggling. Not to call scheduled customers asap when the tech calls in sick. More mind boggling they seemed to think that was normal behavior when you finally called to them.
Between the downspout guy and the renovation company and the mail delays, I'd turn myself into a fox on a skateboard with zero worries.
Not at all bragging, but from our recent experiences with tradespeople here, they have become very professional and reliable so far as times go.
The fox looks like it has claimed your garden as its space.
That fox in your garden looks as much at home there as it possibly could.
And I do truly love the paintings by George, Age 7, and Kira, Age 9. What talented babies!
You really are going through some horrible customer service issues. Is Great Britain falling apart? I mean, we know the US is but...
Anyway, thank you for this cheerful and colorful post.
I have never experienced bad service as you describe. I am also in England. It is not the same everywhere.
I know this won't help or comfort you, but I'm happy that this sort of customer service problem isn't just an American thing.
Those two kids are pretty darned talented for their ages!
I am really surprised that the downspout guy showed up without a ladder and that the renovator didn't show up at all. And still no mail there. Yikes!
It's good that you can balance all of that with fine artwork by young artists and a lovely fox sniffing around your yard.
Problems you've had are really unnecessary. Stuff should be looked after before you have to complain about it.
That fox had quite an itch going on at the beginning of that video.
Your experiences with customer service seems to sum up service here lately too. Your mail situation is truly unacceptable. I can't imagine not getting mail for 4 weeks. That's crazy.
I think you told me once that you don't have fleas there. That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the fox scratching! Thanks for sharing the other skateboarding fox (and squirrel?) paintings. I like Kira Latini's artwork!
I said I’d have one of the fox framed, I Echo that with the man on the bike
Dig The :54 Second Video - Bummer On The Not So Handy Handyman - The Seinfeld Skit With George And The Cancellation Doctor Always Come To Mind When A Biz Blows Me Off
Stay Strong & Walk Olga Girl ,
Cheers
It seems like using the phone for ANYTHING these days is just impossible. I've had to resort to hand delivering requests for prescription refills to my doctor's office because they won't answer the phone. It's truly maddening and I'm sorry you're caught in such limbo.
Oh, you and I could sit together and just bitch all day about customer service, hospital administration, etc. And that fox video! LOVE!
What a pain in the ass having to go through a management company to get anything done/repaired. I guess that's one upside to home ownership. although if you listen to my sister, dealing directly still lands you in the same position with no shows when promised. and don't get her started on customer service.
I think the girl who did the foxes picture has more talent than many children do. Maybe the real fox is shedding its winter coat and that's why it was scratching. It doesn't look like it has mange, although blogger Briony could probably tell you. We have a shortage of tradespeople here so it can be tricky to get someone to do a needed job, but when they say they'll be here, they are. I can only imagine how galling and frustrating it is to take time off from work and get stood up, and the nit-picking over who does what just makes everything worse!
I had to answer the main City phone line while someone was at lunch & I've got to say that customer service is NOT my spiritual gift! Hopefully none of the folks on the phone could tell how hard I was rolling my eyes. Ha! On the other hand, I think I would have known that it would be a good idea to call customers if I knew they weren't getting the service appointment that had been scheduled. Sheesh.
I hate no shows. I just hate that. And to answer your rhetorical question: No. It is not too hard to pick up the phone and call. My gosh.
The boldness of your foxes just amaze me. You scarcely see ours.
Caro: I think the incentive to provide customer service is just gone. These are all huge multinational companies or high-demand businesses and they don't care whether they keep us as customers or not.
Mitchell: I thought George's painting was fabulous. I wonder if it's meant to warn us not to ride a bike while on the phone?
YP: Ha! I chose that clip because I needed a 50-second audio clip to go with a 50-second video!
Boud: I'm not sure! I tried to fix it myself but it's beyond my capabilities. (That's not saying much.)
Lynn Marie: It IS mind-boggling. I mean, how many calls could that guy have in a day? I can't imagine it would mean very much time on the phone and it would make a huge difference to the customers.
Bob: At least you'd be having fun!
Ms Moon: Dave and I do occasionally say to each other, "This country is falling apart!" But I think it has less to do with Britain and more about the state of the world and business in general.
Rachel: Yeah, I don't think this is a British thing. I think it's a universal problem. If you haven't faced it, consider yourself lucky!
Ed: As I said to Caro, I think businesses nowadays have less incentive to try to make customers happy.
Marcia: Aren't they? All the art on the bridge is like this. Really impressive for such young kids.
Robin: Thank goodness for life's small pleasures! I would have been much more annoyed if I'd taken time off work, but at least this week I'm off work anyway.
Red: I am genuinely perplexed about why the contractor wouldn't just call us.
Sharon: It causes a huge backup of my New Yorker magazines!
Kelly: Well, Olga's never had them, but I suspect fleas are out there. Foxes are also susceptible to something called sarcoptic mange which can apparently make them quite ill.
John: I also loved that guy on a bike!
Padre: "Seinfeld" was such a brilliant show partly because we could all identify with the situations the characters faced!
Allison: Maybe this is something about a younger generation of workers? Supposedly Millenials never talk on the phone. They just text each other. Maybe answering the phone just doesn't seem imperative to them.
Elizabeth: Oh, my stories are NOTHING compared to what you've dealt with in hospitals and with medical insurance!
Ellen: I'm just flabbergasted that this is the norm now -- make an appointment and then don't show up.
Jenny-O: Yeah, I don't think this one has mange, unless it's in its very early stages.
Bug: It seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it?! I can only imagine the crazy calls you must get at the main city switchboard. (Probably similar to the crazy ones I get on the main library line!)
Debby: I guess they're so urbanized they've lost a lot of that fear of people. Though it still ran when I opened the back door!
Andrew: Sorry, I missed your comment because it was in spam! I'm glad your recent experiences with tradespeople have been better than mine!
Customer service. Don't start me. They never call and more often than not, don't show up --even when you think you might hire them! Nope. I feel your pain but I'd say you have it worse than most of us this week.
I love your fox -- he looks like a thin dog with ear fleas, but pretty darned cute!
I absolutely hate waiting around and getting no communication from people. Even though I no longer have to take a day off from work, it's still a PITA. Hope it can all get figured out.
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