to be utterly fed up of "because of pandemic" being used as an excuse..

[5foot5]

..for piss-poor service. Particularly on call centres and the like.

Granted in the early stages I can see it would have an impact - people off sick or self-isolating. Initially also I suppose there was some set-up to get people working efficiently from home. But, come on, it has been over a year. Surely things should be sorted by now?

I have just spent 45 minutes of my lunch hour waiting for my call to be taken. And yes I do know that some of my questions might be answered on the web-site FAQ and yes I know that I can manage my account on-line for some things. But not this thing. Even though they gave me four choices of musical style to listen to while I am waiting it doesn't help. Of course I wasn't arsey with the person who eventually answered as it's not his fault (I assume) but I do wonder if some companies are now using this excuse to cut down on staff and explain the long waits away on "unprecedented" circumstances.

DH is in a similar position. He sent a query about something to one of his pension funds. February was when he made the original query. He got the "because of difficult times" excuse and was told it would be in excess of 20 working days before they they could reply. More than 6 weeks later and no response he chased it. Then he was told another 10 days. Of course no joy so queries again and now it is 5-10 days. FFS 3 months to answer what he thought was a simple query

Just how long I wonder are companies going to keep hiding behind the pandemic excuse

Haha They were, but when they put the scaffolding up in January and said it would be down 3 weeks later I believed them. Silly me.

We’ve had a flyer through the door from a private hospital touting for business.
Funny how if you pay to see a doctor you can see them face to face, but my GP is only offering phone appointments.
Perhaps private health comes with a magical Covid shield?

It’s the gp that’s really annoyed me
A friends child has tonsillitis- would the gp look down the kids throat. Oh no. Far too dangerous- covid is dangerous etc

So why the hell am I allowed to look down people’s throats all day every day
If it’s that dangerous I shouldn’t be working
If it’s safe the gp should ppe up and get on with it
Like the rest of the healthcare professionals are

YANBU

HMRC have been utter thundercunts for this.

They only send outgoing messages and e-mails - yes - one-way only. If you want to engage in a conversation you have to phone which takes a really long time wading through a fucking stupid voice recognition system (I wonder which Tory donor get the benefit of that), telling them loads of info., only to be cut off. Why the fuck bother asking for all that fucking data just to cut you off?
Cunts.

This is largely why I’m getting very sceptical of this universal view pretty much everyone now seems to have that they’re so much more efficient working at home than they were in the office

It's not the location of the work that makes the difference though, it's the fact that they are not working. I am not convinced that it is down to WFH (although there will be inefficiencies down to eg having to instant message another department rather than just walk across the office to speak to them) but I do think there has been a lot of furloughing when staff should have worked as normal. Some people at home are not working, because they are furloughed.

Some are badly managed and taking the mickey. I agree there was room for leeway between March and May last year. But over a year on - no - they are taking the mick big time.

And the DVLA is apparently on strike or threatening to strike because their office is not covid secure. I suppose a majority have been vaccinated by now though as I thought South Wales was ahead, but maybe it was just the area around Cardiff, rather than Swansea.

I'm in the unfortunate position of having to deal with four separate solicitors at the moment- one for my divorce, and three connected with my late mother's estate.

I've had 'because Covid' from each and every one, after me querying incomprehensible delays- despite them assuring me at the beginning of all processes that 'everything is more efficient now'.

HMRC are, of course, adding their own little pinch of spice to the mix re my mother's estate

@ComtesseDeSpair

This is largely why I’m getting very sceptical of this universal view pretty much everyone now seems to have that they’re so much more efficient working at home than they were in the office. Every time in the past year that I’ve had to make contact with my bank, a utility company, an insurance company, the council, a supplier, or the customer service department of just about any organisation, I’ve been treated to a recorded message telling me that I need to be patient during this difficult time as staff are working from home and have had to adapt their ways of working to suit, so to expect long delays. If everyone’s being so much more efficient, why aren’t customers experiencing a better service?

A lot of them maybe aren't customer service related jobs though. I don't talk to any customers, work from home and more productive, plus just less tired from commuting and all that crap.

But yeah services have dived dramatically. Scotland are sending their cancer patients to England unless they are easy. Guess they are glad for the union right now.

Yanbu!

If Esther Rantzen was still doing 'That's Life', then I am sure an award for the best example of blaming the pandemic each week could be highlighted.

I wonder too if furloughing too many people or for too long as been part of the reason for such excuses, as if you have advised someone it's three months on furlough, bringing them back early is not going to make them the most productive.

I agree that some people are clearly doing childcare alongside wfh. So they’ve taken the necessary adjustment of last year to be a permanent state of affairs.

My cousin who wfh is now doing the school run twice a day and having her dd at home after school, when previously she paid someone for this.

I was speaking to someone from the bank who was being interrupted by their dc and I could hear the television. This was excusable last year but now it’s just irritating, and certainly not charming.

@Tiktokersmiracle
Better get used to it. Because thats been the plan all along. They have used Covid as the excuse to accelerate it.

htn.co.uk/2020/07/31/matt-hancock-gp-tele-consultations-should-be-default-unless-reason-not-to/

Yep. I can get private dental work with a days notice but they are still not seeing nhs kids. ‘Selective pandemic’ we should call it.

Banks are the worst at the moment. They're now only open 9-3. DD needs an account because she's started a job. Has to take ID in. Except oddly enough she's at school every day from 9-3
Overseas call centre basically lied to me on the phone and said I could take her ID in, to which the branch staff said no way (even though she's 15, and basically can't approve anything for them anyway)

I am seriously going to change banks over this. They're taking the piss to open only 9-3. Obviously they don't want to deal with customers. New banks all take ID online, via phone/laptop cameras.

Many of these organisations were fairly crap before the pandemic though. How many times have you been left on hold because the company 'is currently experiencing a high volume of calls'. The same companies with the same message so you think they'd have learned to plan it a bit better by now (or hire a few more staff).

Because of Covid ..... my opticians tried to change my contact lens check to a telephone screening about it. Call me old school, but I think an eye check is better done in person !

This reminds me, I need to chase up a company again as I still haven’t received a call back and it has been weeks. You can only contact them via a web form and the phone lines are closed because of covid.

It boils my piss when I’ve worked throughout without needing to play the covid card.

I agree.

Different scenario but we have a tumble dryer we need to get rid of. I want to use AO's recycling service but they won't collect from inside the property 'due to COVID' - they will only take it from outside/directly inside the front door. We live on the 2nd floor in a flat and can't carry it down ourselves, and even if we could we'd struggle to manoeuvre it through the doors.

Yet if I ordered a new replacement tumble dryer from them they'd bring it in, install it AND remove the old one as well. Annoying.

@Newgirls

Yep. I can get private dental work with a days notice but they are still not seeing nhs kids. ‘Selective pandemic’ we should call it.

True. I can’t see an nhs consultant for a review of a medical condition but I can see the same person next week if I stump up £180.

Some people have always taken the piss when wfh. Now that there are many more people wfh, proportionately there are far more piss takers!

@KingsHeathen - I had this exact problem with dd. Barclays - with whom I have banked for over 30 years - put up so many obstacles to dd opening an account (you have to book an appointment, but none are available for six weeks, and only in a town 15 miles away, and no you can’t do it online) that I gave up and went to Nationwide. Marvellous service!!

@Bibidy

I agree.

Different scenario but we have a tumble dryer we need to get rid of. I want to use AO's recycling service but they won't collect from inside the property 'due to COVID' - they will only take it from outside/directly inside the front door. We live on the 2nd floor in a flat and can't carry it down ourselves, and even if we could we'd struggle to manoeuvre it through the doors.

Yet if I ordered a new replacement tumble dryer from them they'd bring it in, install it AND remove the old one as well. Annoying.

I've been having this problem with my cooker! The disconnection and installation services are extortionate compared to getting someone local in, of course. Some places will take the old one, put the new one in and install it but only if the old one is already disconnected and outside. I can't do this!! Why is it so difficult to just get a new appliance

With all this furlough and WFH and zoom though, we will end up like the bit in the film Wall-E when all the humans are sat in chairs connected to consoles and they can order ever once big unhealthy junk food so they don't need to move anymore

How's this for daft though- same hospital who has decided to review my GPs referral "down to covid" without seeing me

DS has health issues. He has multiple allergies. And complex lung conditions.

We go to paediatric out patients for both.
In one day, we got two hospital letters. One for his lungs. One for allergies as a chat and check up to decide next steps.

Lung one gets really close to him. Checks his chest, his movement (he seems to now have bone and muscle issues which his consultant is keeping a close eye on). Does lung function tests.

Allergy clinic he sits in a room, with a desk. Nowhere near the other consultant.

The appointments were both for the same day. Handy I thought.
Nope.
One was in person. One was a call-due to covid security

You'd think it was the up close lung one right?
Not at all. The desk one. And they wanted to talk to him too, so a whole day off school, for an in person appointment, in the same place as the telephone one, which they have a vague "between 9am and 4pm" timescale of. So technically, the person calling, could've called whilst we were in their department, waiting to see a colleague who has to get right up close to examine ds.
You couldn't make it up. They even bitched when I rang to rearrange and said I would not be having DS off school again over a call.

There will be heroes of this, in hospitals, GPs, companies and stores. But there will be many zeros who people will have lost all respect for and in the case of retail and business, we will vote with our feet.

And don't get me started on the police here. Tell them someone is being broken into, they don't give a flying feck. Tell them 7 people have gone in a neighbour's house and they turn up mob handed ready to strike.

I've been having this problem with my cooker! The disconnection and installation services are extortionate compared to getting someone local in, of course. Some places will take the old one, put the new one in and install it but only if the old one is already disconnected and outside. I can't do this!! Why is it so difficult to just get a new appliance confused

So annoying isn't it!!

I also checked Curry's as we actually want to replace the old tumble dryer with a fridge-freezer (as we got a washer-dryer to save space). I thought maybe they would take the dryer as part of their Remove & Recycle service when buying a new appliance, but they have confirmed they will only take a like-for-like appliance .

YANBU - my vets still isn’t doing nurse appointments a year into the pandemic which is frustrating. My dog could do with getting his nails clipped and I pay the vets £12 a month to cover things like that and tick and worming treatment etc. I could take him to a groomers to get them cut but last time it cost me £10 which is a bit galling since I’m still paying the vets more than that monthly and receiving no benefit. Also my dog does not generally like his nails being cut but he is used to getting it done by the nurses at the vets and is calm about it there (probably because they give him treats 😂) so it’s best for him to have them clipped there rather than somewhere else.

I understand the vets have reduced staff in and people still need appointments, but why can’t they have one or two afternoons a week, or say a weekend a month, where there’s a vet for emergencies, and the rest of the staff is nurses so they can do things like nurse appointments for nail clippings, dental care etc. I understood at the beginning of lockdown in 2020 but frankly I think it’s ridiculous they haven’t worked out a system for it nearly 14 months on

YANBU but for me (apart from the GP who I still haven’t got an appointment 3 weeks later) everyone I’ve phoned/emailed took ages to answer/reply before the pandemic but now they’re just blaming that which I find so annoying.

I can see both sides.

I think for companies who do jobs where the staff can WFH then there's not much excuse but for others it is difficult.

For example I work for a furniture manufacturer, obviously making furniture cannot be done at home so if someone catches Covid or is a close contact then they have to stay at home for 2 weeks. There's not much we can do about that. We had 20% of staff off at one point. Also some materials are difficult to get hold of right now, especially imported ones. It does cause delays.

@DynamoKev

YANBU

HMRC have been utter thundercunts for this.

They only send outgoing messages and e-mails - yes - one-way only. If you want to engage in a conversation you have to phone which takes a really long time wading through a fucking stupid voice recognition system (I wonder which Tory donor get the benefit of that), telling them loads of info., only to be cut off. Why the fuck bother asking for all that fucking data just to cut you off?
Cunts.

I rang them last week about my late dad's tax overpayment and I got through to an actual person within 5 minutes. No voice recognition required just dad's NI number and details of his private pension and a fee other details and it was all done and dusted. Citizen's Advice, on the other hand, were worse than useless.