Things that are meant to be better but are not better

When I still had my small business I started doing ebay alongside the bricks and mortar end to gauge the market etc. Did it as a legit business, and spent hours doing photos etc. I was selling new themed giftware. One such item was a clock in the style of a skeleton riding a penny farthing constructed from "bones" (Gothic shop if you haven't guessed).

The clock sold! I happily packaged it up and despatched it.

Customer received it and was allegedly happy. Except I then got an email a few days later, asking to return it....because it ticked too loudly. It was neither the first, nor last time I cried trying to build that business. No option to say "suck it up" obviously as one doesn't need negative feedback. The really galling thing was I had the same clock in my bedroom and I couldn't hear it ticking at all. So much faff for 15 quid including P&P.

And this is why I will never return to selling widgets.

Online selling is a nightmare. And don't get me started on when eBay switched to "managed payments" and couldn't understand the concept of a business partnership as opposed to a limited company with directors because it's an American model, and i couldn't carry on trading without the upgrade / transfer. That was the point I threw in the towel with Ebay, after three very frustrating calls with Utah. It was all very computer says no, and also "computer decides if / when you get paid, which is a nightmare for cash flow.

If the three score years and ten lifespan holds true, I've only got 14 years to go, and when it comes to technology, I can't say I mind in the slightest.

... UberEats groceries...

Me: I'd like some NameBrand Salted Butter.
App: What if we don't have that?
Me: Then AnotherBrandSalted Butter.

Delivery: NameBrand Unsalted Butter.

Next time....

Me: I'd like some NameBrand Salted Butter.
App: What if we don't have that?
Me: Then just give me the money back.

Delivery: NameBrand Unsalted Butter

Next time...

Me: I'd like TheOtherBrand Salted Butter, because the pack is sufficiently different from the Unsalted that you're less likely to fuck up.
App: What if we don't have that?
Me: Facetiously, I'm going to say a bag of carrots.

Delivery: NameBrand Salted Butter.

I think the problem with lots of things is that companies want to streamline staff numbers and get everyone to do stuff online because it's cheaper for them

Which reminds me of something else. Online shopping.

Stores wanted to move everyone online so that they didn’t have to run the costs of stores. Except they run their website so badly (lovely artistic photos, shame they’re useless for seeing what an item actually looks like…) and completely miss the point that you want to try on more than one size, look at the fabric etc, so essentially it’s like a changing room where you buy the stuff first then get a refund.

Except now the bastards charge you to take stuff back!

If you call a helpline the first message you get is to try their website because it's quicker/easier (ie they don't have anywhere near enough call centre or customer service staff and trying to put you off waiting for half a day )

I'd imagine most people have would have scoured the website to find the phone number in the first place (it's usually pretty difficult to find) so would have used the website if it was something straightforward.

I think the problem with lots of things is that companies want to streamline staff numbers and get everyone to do stuff online because it's cheaper for them.....but skipping the stage that ensures that the apps, websites, chat bots etc can deal with anything but the most basic queries. (And that's aside from the fact they can't accomodate anyone who is unable to use the technology) And then there aren't sufficient humans to deal with the non-standard problems. Even in supermarkets I suspect it is a more stressful job for 1 cashier to be overseeing eg 8 self checkouts, than simply dealing with 1 customer at a time on a conventional till. (And they are probably paid the same)

I wonder if that contravenes the Disability Discrimination Act

@Mudkipper Like you, I often travel with a paper as well as a digital ticket.
Hope you’re off somewhere nice 🙂

Barclays have been a total PITA about this for me over the last couple of years.

They should have sent you letters about keeping your business details up to date. I say should because I had access to a bank account deleted because I hadn't provided the information from the letters I'd never received.

If you do have a letter it will have a reference number on it that can be used by the team, even without the sort code and account no. That said, the account number and sort code for the account I access is on the "authentication card" I use in my card reader.

https://www.barclays.co.uk/business-banking/important-information/updating-your-details/

The number listed here is 0330 058 0087, option 1.

They were pretty helpful when I had to call them and I got it sorted out over the phone quite quickly.

You have far more faith in my excel skills than I do...! 😂

I totally agree. This, along with other daily stressors such as rubbish customer service to possibly help with these things, sees me going from a calm and patient person to one who has a very short fuse!

Apps, often frustrating. Call centres, usually maddening. .

A combination of both - a solid justification for homicide. This is verbatim...

-----------------

"Hello. Barclays Business Support here. Thank you for waiting."

"Oh, no bother. I passed the time designing a cathedral and commissioning the construction thereof."

"How can I help you today?"

"You keep sending me texts asking me if I want to keep my business account open, and I keep trying to call you to say that I do. But your 'press 0 for anything else' menu system keeps telling me to message you from the app.”

“Thank you for using the Barclays App.”

“Well, that’s the thing. The phone number tells me to send a message on the app. I send you a message on the app, and I get a reply telling me to use online banking – and online banking tells me to call you on this number, which is a different number to the one that I called you on to be told to message you on the app.”

“How can I help you today?”

“I just want to tell you that, yes, I wish to keep my business account open. I mean, I have told you that, but you seem to be ignoring my messages on the app. And now you’ve restricted access to the account.”

“Can you give me the account number and sort code?”

“No – because your restriction of the account means that I can’t see it on the app.”

“Without the account number and sort code, I can’t help you.”

“Right. So how can I tell you that I want to keep the account open?”

“Without the account number and sort code, I can’t help you.”

“But I can’t see them because you’ve restricted them until I tell you that I want to keep the account. It’s you that’s keeping them from me. Can we go through some other security?”

“Can you find the account number and sort code, then we can go through security?”

“No. First, I’m not at home, and second, at your suggestion I run this account completely paperless. So I need to be able to access it on my phone - and you won’t let me.”

“I’m sorry I can’t help you without the account number and sort code. Goodbye.”

“Whoa, whoa! Hang on. You can’t just leave. What do you suggest I do?”

“Can you help me by giving me the account number and sort code?”

“No! I’ve explained that.”

“Then I cannot help you. Goodbye.”

“Wait – I understand that you can’t help me, but someone can. How do I escalate this?”

“You must go to your branch.”

“Really? I mean, that’s time-consuming and inconvenient – and completely avoidable. You’ve texted me on a phone you know to be mine. I’m calling you on that phone to respond to a request you made of me. None of this is at my instigation. And now you want me to go to my branch to sort out a problem of your making?”

“Can you help me by giving me the account number and sort code?”

“….no. But you know my account number and sort code. That’s what you messaged me about.”

“I cannot help you. You must go to your branch.”

“Fine. Then can you make me an appointment at my branch? One can’t just show up there and ask to see a business banker – I know this because I’ve tried it before.”

“I cannot make an appointment at your branch without the account number and sort code.”

“Have you ever heard of Kafka?”

“Thank you. Goodbye.”

I can't help wondering whether the daily annoyances caused by apps etc. are the reason why so many people are on a short fuse nowadays. I am normally a placid person, but when confronted with technology and all its frustrations I can feel my blood pressure rising to dangerous levels😡

Having to have a bloody app for everything. Its only a matter of time before we will be needing an app to flush the toilet or breathe.

Before that, it was little raised lump between g, h and b keys. Very time consuming if needed to guide cursor onto a small area. I have laptop and use a wireless mouse with a usb dongle.

Customer service is almost non-existent because they have us over a barrel now they are all using it.

Another gripe (for me anyway) is often how they insist that you telephone the company and then have a call centre operator with a shocking language skills or that they have a really strong accent be it foreign or an English dialect.
As someone with hearing issues - I have come up against this problem time and time again. So many times I have had to ask people to repeat what they have said or to slow what crib sheet they are reading from as none of it makes sense or god forbid - that they put someone else on the telephone who speaks queens English!!

It's totally impossible to tell HMCTS you have changed address over the phone.

God knows how people with limited access or understanding sort it out.

The key problem with all this tech is that is further marginalises people who are already marginalised because elderly, poor, foreign, disabled, cognitively challenged etc

Or - as happened to me - you find yourself at an airport that a) won't let you in without a ticket, b) is a significant distance from the nearest internet connection/printer (except for those inside the airport - see point a), and c) is door-staffed by somewhat twitchy (and armed) security who only accept paper tickets.

Trying to explain to them that your ticket is on the screen because you have the BA app did not go well, I might as well have performed it in the medium of interpretive dance for all the door guard thought it was a legitimate ticket.

Job applications and HR. Yes you can apply for 100 jobs in 1 second, no you will not ever get one because HR were presumably so overwhelmed it was cheaper to get CV's read by AI which now filters out anyone without a degree in ADMIN as well as experience, obviously.

Overdrafts. Yes get charged because we allow you to get into debt every month rather than when we used to just shut up shop and decline payments. Credit has gone too far and people don't care they die with debt leaving it to family to pay off.

Degrees - really should only be for people who need academic jobs and roles that need extra learning. Everyone having them means quality has declined to spending the first year doing GCSE English writing in most courses. Not amazed people are getting loans and dropping out at all.

Bins - now every house has to have enough room to store 4+ giant bins because men paid to "do bins" cannot touch plastic or lift anything, instead these monstrosities need replacing after being hurled about all over the street at £50+ a pop and often take months to be delivered. Even after all this we still can't recycle most of our rubbish.

I still print paper confirmation of all tickets and bookings

It's all very well thinking "Your phone is your ticket" blah blah blah but it could get lost, stolen, have a problem so they're not the be all and end all.

I loathe restaurants that don't have menus only an app. My eyesight is poor, phones are too small to look at extensive menu options.

If they have menus as well that's fine but we have been in places where they don't have menus at all. It's look at it on a phone or nothing. To be fair this was abroad in Spain but I wouldn't be surprised if there are places here like that as well.

Electric handbrakes. Mine doesn't always come on if I haven't got the clutch down enough, even if I've pressed the button, and before now I've wondered why the car next to me is moving when it's actually me that's rolling backwards. Or I have to double check the 'P' symbol is on when I've parked - I didn't have that problem when I had a big lever I pulled, I knew the brake was on.

What problem were they trying to solve with this nonsense?

And YY to:

• parking apps (oh look, I don't have the right one and I haven't got much signal in order to download the damn thing, and I'll spend so long creating an account that I get a ticket for taking too long to buy parking)

• train ticket apps (no I don't want an eticket that I have to pay a "service charge" for when I could get one from the ticket machine for the face value, AND it won't run out of battery), and

• apps in general ("Have you downloaded our app? Then we can hoover up your data and sell it on...")

• needing a login for ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY EVERYTHING.

*too!

Ah now that would just be to easy!

Online only banking...I changed my phone number the same day my son dropped my phone down the toilet. Trying to install my banking app on my new phone with my new number is not easy. I rung the bank up but failed their security questions!