To think that Covid has become a convenient excuse for poor service ?

[Mellonsprite]

For some firms (not all) ?
Just come back from a couple of days away in the Uk. Lots of car parks still closed, public toilets not opened, Not many inside activities like museums and castles re-opened yet, the officious-ness of the clipboard wielding all in the name of Covid? The hotel Meal meal (Prepaid) was cancelled at last minute, then acting like refunding my fee paid upfront was highly generous of them, apparently they’d ‘mis-calculated due to Covid’. Neglecting the fact that it left us completely high and dry, unable to speak to guest relations via email or phone. Bars closing at 9pm with staff asking customers can we pay up & leave!

PayPal have been telling me to ring them as they can’t do one of my transactions because I need to confirm the card over the phone you hold for 20 minutes and they say speak on line because of Covid and then online tells me to ring I need to speak to someone on the phone 🤷‍♀️

Yes annoys me too, excuse for rubbish service, unless I want a smart meter of course.

Too many companies furloughed too many employees as a way of saving money and have given a shit service as a result.

i dont mind slower service but cancelling your dinner because they couldnt work out the numbers is poor

it does seem to be a convenient excuse and nothing can be done if you complain

YADNU - I was thinking of posting similar.

SO MANY businesses are inexcusably slow and badly managed. I run two myself and whilst Covid has given set backs, it has not prevented us from doing our jobs or giving good customer service.

There are many businesses who just seem to be using this as an excuse to be...well, lazy.

This obviously excludes those who have been genuinely affected, but at this stage the genuine excuses are running thin.

@Harrysmum2020

PayPal have been telling me to ring them as they can’t do one of my transactions because I need to confirm the card over the phone you hold for 20 minutes and they say speak on line because of Covid and then online tells me to ring I need to speak to someone on the phone 🤷‍♀️

I have been having exactly the same issue with PayPal. They are an absolute joke.

Totally agree. I know it must've been difficult at first, but companies have had plenty of time to sort themselves out now.

Yes I agree. Ordered the DC school uniform online in July, website said it would be dispatched within 2 working days. Weeks passed, nothing. Rang them the other day and they said 'well it is a pandemic you know, we will get to it! Staff are only just back from furlough'. I pointed out I needed it on time for them going back to school, he said they couldn't guarantee it so I cancelled the order. Was able to get sorted quickly and efficiently elsewhere.

Given the seasonal nature of uniform shops, you would think they would have worked hard to get up and running quickly??

@bestbefore

Even Jeremy Vine show says they don't many staff to answer calls and to email in? WHY!? Surely they can get folks back in now? Boggling

I would assume it’s because they only have a small room set up for phone answering and are ensuring workers can socially distance.

I rang PayPal on the second may bank holiday. I get a helpful message telling me that they were closed for the holiday season and would open again on the 2nd January.

GabsAloti dont mind slower service but cancelling your dinner because they couldnt work out the numbers is poor

Exactly, especially when they demand payment upfront! DC were happy with the double decker & mars bar they had for dinner instead though. Me less so.

I felt like a bit of a shit posting this thread but seems like I’m not alone.

@Illdealwithitinaminute

Virgin Media- one of the worst offenders! They have kept and are keeping their call centres closed, if you call them to talk about your crappy internet or anything, there is a message, six months in, saying due to corona, there's no call centre open. Every other company I have called, pensions company, bank, all of them have call centres operating from home, but not Virgin. Anyone would think they didn't want you to call to complain about your patchy internet coverage...

I called Virgin Media yesterday and got through no problem at all?

I do agree though, Many businesses are using it as an excuse to offer rubbish service! Is it me or are employees becoming ruder too?

I called an NHS clinic as i'm on the waiting list for routine surgery (it isn't taking place at the moment because of covid) and i was told to call and check where i am on the list so that i can book a follow up in the future, No reply so i emailed and got a really snotty reply from them saying that 'you have only been on the waiting list since may and long waiters are a priority' so rude and unnecessary.

The National Trust are a case study in this.

They have volunteers desperate to get back but are refusing to open places because covid.

They have shit systems in place that restrict access and make visiting difficult. Why at a small local pub chain can I book a table via app 30 minutes before I want to eat and they are ready for me when I arrive but the national trust require me to book the day before to walk round some parkland? Why can't I sit on a chair in or outside their cafe when I can go to my local pub?

I get the distinct impression that this is about reducing the service long term under the guise of covid.

This is what I don’t understand either unicornpower.

I had a letter in early April, putting me on a waiting list. Rang last week to get an idea of the length of time it would take. They’ve only just started doing urgent cases, so routine will be at the back of the queue. Fine, but someone must have an idea of how many are urgent and roughly how long they will take. I think they do know, but the wait is going to be so long, they don’t want to disclose it.

YANBU - I can understand businesses struggling the first month, maybe even the second, but they've had plenty of time to get stuff set up for home working for call centres (I know a fair number of people doing so now) so it seems to be a choice to have reduced service because business is struggling.

Its a self fulfilling prophecy though, I'm gonna switch over to companies that provide a good service and stick with them so they're gonna continue to struggle if they're not stepping up.

Yes customer service has had a massive decline across the board.

I waited 4 weeks for an email response from Primrose, 4 weeks!!!!! Couldn’t call them because.....Covid, absolutely no apology for their shite response time. Never again.

Don’t get me started on TUI...

British Gas - yes, you fuckers, I intend to name you: and that's if I can't find an excuse to sue you, you bunch of shysters - have been billing my elderly, disabled, mentally fragile mother for a WTAF amount per month for a 2-bed flat in which the only appliance she uses is the washing machine. She was in residential rehab for 12 months last year but apparently her bill did not go down despite her not having been in the damn flat. I only found out about this when she had to ask me to pay her bill online because she couldn't get to the Post Office.
According to the bill this is based on customer meter readings. Quite how she manages this I don't know as she has no key to her meter cupboard.

You can't speak to a human being to discuss this, because *it's not a priority call".
You can't complain about it, because they've just shut down all their customer-facing avenues.
I think the big organisations are lovng "Covid" - they can roll out completely automated customer service, massively cut their staffing costs, lay people off left right and centre, and there's bugger all the customers can do about it. I bet you any money when the oandemic is under control they won't start taking on staff again.

@Foxyloxy1plus1 I think the same! We are well aware it won't be speedy but an idea would be nice wouldn't it. I just couldn't get over how rude she was, i honestly felt like i was being a real pain when i'd only done what the clinic had told me to. I hope yours gets sorted soon!

I was pretty disgusted with Sky, who had me trapped paying £40/month for broadband for a couple of months because they were only taking calls from vulnerable customers and keyworkers and their website was full of “error” and “page not found” so I couldn’t renew my contract for a lower monthly rate. Going without internet wasn’t an optIon so I had no choice but to pay - really exploitative and nasty.

I think companies have got greedy, furlough as many as possible. Then the poor sods who are left bear the brunt of customer's anger have no hope of coping.

Dont get me started on public sector. They have hidden all their staff behind phone calls that have no hope of being answered and emails that are responded to months later. Yes, DVSA are a disgrace. They have been sending me pre written replies to a query even though the answer has nothing to do with the question. I tried to esclate to be told they arent taking complaints.

After 3 months I did get a apology and the chap said they were sending out irrelevant replies because they just had too many emails. I suggested it might be because they just wanted to show the email had been answered!

In the private sector that sort of behaviour would not be tolerated. Of course staff are available to ring people who are self quartantining. Those rules are so confusing (literally rules on rules) countries in and out, different rules for Scotland etc. It has become a complete joke.

@AlternativePerspective

I think that for a lot of companies they were already on the edge, so this has been a way to justify cutting back where they likely would have had to anyway.

IMO Ocado will be gone within months and M&S must be kicking themselves for signing up with them.

No app for four/five months, they’ve now made it available to a select few but it’s fairly evident that whatever they’ve done to it there’s a reasonable chance it won’t be coming back.

Added to which the way they treated existing customers during the outbreak was atrocious.

I was actually going to start a separate thread about it but figured I might as well just put it here...

I have had great service from Ocado throughout the lockdown. I do have a delivery pass with them though so maybe that is the reason. I think teaming with M&S is a fantastic idea and my basket for delivery in early Sept is rammed with Marks stuff!

Their share price is rocketing and I think it will go even higher.

Completely agree, and when big companies go to the wall they’ll blame Covid with the poor us tears rather than their inability to adapt.

Locally there have been some fantastic small businesses that have really stepped up offering takeaways and deliveries looking at new ways to run their business. Whereas places like Frankie and Bennie who were pretty rubbish before have closed down locally.

Our local community run lido is brilliantly efficient, got open very quickly and their system is amazing. The local council pool only opened this week, the outdoor pool isn’t opening at all And I won’t be going but it’s been chaos with people like my dad booking in the fast lane because it was all he could get at the time he wanted. He has never been fast he’s slow in the slow lane.

@Ilikewinter

Yes! Virgin Holidays and Virgin Atlantic both taking 120 days to give refunds. Their ongoing reason is that they furloughed the majority of their staff and the remainder are working from home.

Our holiday was cancelled on May 5th and the refund finally landed in our account yesterday, it took them 112 days.

We’ve always been very loyal Virgin customers but they’ve really shot themselves in the foot.

Cattermole. I havent worked for BG but have for another large utility.

You ARE a priority. My DM has had this sort of behaviour and I wont stand for it. She is nearly 90, doesnt use broadband.

Has been stuck on a stupid amount for house insurance. Apparently Nationwide have up to 2 months to get back to you. Can you imagine in a customer services environment someone stating they will respond in 2 months!

yes ..agree with everyone. The worst yet is the NHS,They are so facing backlogs in clinics I cannot see where they will start to get on track.I am not having a go at any of the dotors,nurses or support staff who give more than a million percent in everything they do to care for us all and to whom no one with a right mind could be anything but forever in their debt for all they have done and continue to do but the management and burocrisy is astounding.These diagnoses over the phone are highly worrying to me from the gps...and dont get me started on the travel industry!!!!!!!

Yanbu. It's the lack of open toilets that's really starting to annoy me. We have lots of lovely parks locally that we would usually head to with a picnic on a sunny day but none of them have open toilets. I'm really worried that the council are going to use Covid as an excuse to just never open them again.