To think that since covid happened some businesses have 'got lazy and stayed lazy'

[Ilovechocolate87]

DH and i used to have an expression a couple of years back 'because covid' which we used when we thought a company was just using the virus as an excuse for not doing something properly or making unnecessary cutbacks.

But even now it seems that this is STILL continuing, but for no legitimate reason!

Some examples include;
-Our local bank shutting at 3pm...every day of the week.Crap for 9-5 working people like DH!

• No fireworks display at center parcs, which is a shame as it was really good and atmospheric over the lake.
• Soft play at our local sealife centre sitting there unused and wasted...such a shame as there is nothing wrong with it.
• Fitting rooms have been scrapped at sainsburys and asda (maybe elsewhere too?) so there is nowhere to try on clothes, resulting in either having to order online and have the expense and bother of posting it back if its not right (which it often isn't) or travelling to return it, neither of which are very good for the environment either, with all that plastic packaging and fuel!)

Has anyone else noticed that it just seems like SOME businesses/companies 'can't be bothered' anymore and are just doing the minimum possible? And the most frustrating thing is that as usual, they make the cutbacks, but the prices keep on going up!!

A lot of it is because they don't employ enough people so they can save on costs, British Gas is an example of this. I must say though I have always had excellent, very quick service from Next call centre and they have called me back exactly when they said they would.

A lot of companies have now gone over to web chatting bots but of course everyone wants to do everything online so we have got what we wished for.

@Ilovechocolate87
No fireworks display at center parcs, which is a shame as it was really good and atmospheric over the lake
we have several relatives who work at CP Nottingham. Yes, the fireworks initially stopped because of Covid but they’ve not been reintroduced for environmental and wildlife reasons, nothing to do with Covid. There were plans to replace them with the current Light shoes long before Covid came around.

I think a lot of it is staffing, so Brexit has something to answer for here too. But yes it's crap, it does feel like a different world post Covid. Like our expectations have dropped and they're taking the piss.

Child Maintenance Service, the service was dismal before covid but now you can only call between 8am-4pm Monday to Friday.

Most people paying (& some receiving) maintenance are working & can't sit on the phone for hours while at work - I've experienced 2 hours on hold waiting to speak to someone then the phone just cuts off meaning a further call & another 2 hours on hold!

Most people working 9-5 are travelling to work between 8-9 & they won't talk to you if you're driving - even though it's perfectly legal to use the cars built in hands free system.

They've also stopped their online chat service.

"they" ?

There isn't any "they"

just many individual workers and individual companies who are perfectly entitled to offer what they want to offer and no more

I think the issue is the unreasonable entitlement among customers, more often than not

In the case of the company I work for, it's because they panicked during Covid and made a load of people redundant in case they lost money (they did not, we made huge profits).

Now we're trying to do the work with fewer people, though we are slowly hiring back very inexperienced replacements. I'm training as well as doing my actual job, so everything takes longer. I would love to do my job as well as I used to but there are literally not enough hours in the day.

That’s fine, and people are free not to use those services if they are now providing crappy, inconvenient service.
We all work hard for our money.

@2greenroses sorry I thought I was just writing a broad comment on a fluffy mumsnet topic whilst lying in bed on my phone on a Sunday morning, I didn't realise I was expected to write a 12,000 word referenced dissertation on customer service in the commercial sector post 2021 to fully examine and evidence my opinion.

Holiday cottage times are particularly annoying. We recently stayed in one which was check in 4pm (ok but how long does it take to clean up from the previous guests?!), check out 9AM! Not in the slightest bit relaxing, more like going to work.

Possibly not Covid so much as brexit. Fewer workers, supply chain issues, businesses can't get the goods or people to do things anymore.

Totally agree re customer service, it drives me bananas.

Just wanted to pop in a quick plug for first direct though. I had to call them in Friday for the first time in ages. Got the usual answerphone message about how busy they are and to try online banking etc and then after that initial message the call was answered on the first ring. Nearly fell off my chair!!

So it can be done, and most companies have indeed just cut costs because they think they can get away with it

I don’t actually understand this. If all of these staff have gone back to Europe then there must be less people living in the U.K.
Less people must mean less demand for both goods and services, whether it be for shop assistants or teachers and nurses.
Or is it that you are saying British people don’t want to work, are lazy or prefer to live on benefits?

@Soproudoflionesses

Sorry if being a bit thick... What is the problem with Ebbsfleet. I use that station when visiting my 'little' brother.

With the fitting rooms closing I have resolved never to buy from a shop that expects me to try clothes on in a toilet or take them home. The only thing that will reinstate them is if sales drop!
The needing to pre-book everything drives me mad, I have 2 small DC and sometimes there are unexpected delays, so trying to specify a 10 minute slot that I’d like to enter our aquarium that is 1 hour drive away is really annoying. Especially as there is no exit time so why does it matter really?
I only entered DC’s nursery for the first time last month, we’ve been having to drop at the door “cos Covid” also there seem to be quite a few local primary schools that STILL don’t have full wraparound back that they had offered before Covid. Both me and DH fully WFH but still use wraparound because it’s near on impossible to do either of our jobs with children present, although I have noticed at work that quite a few colleagues (not in my team) seem to “disappear” around 3 then appear very sporadically until 5 so I suspect they don’t hold the same view!

My DC’s previous primary school were famed for this. They kept their staggered start and end times, which meant we had to be at school at 8.20 for the youngest one starting, despite the oldest one not needing to start until 8:40. Then the same at pick-up time, so rather than it being a quick 20-min trip to grab them both from school and get back to WFH, it would be closer to 45 mins. Along with this, they stopped allowing parents onto the site at all to drop off - this is now all done at the main school gate (pre-covid you dropped them off at the classroom) so you never saw their class teachers - passing on a quick message now has to be emailed to the office.

You know what, it struck me the other day how things were probably never going to return to how they were pre covid

Evert sector has a recruitment crisis, from lawyers and accountants to bars to hotels to nhs. Where are all the people?

Suoermarket shelves are always half empty

Heating and petrol a luxury it seems

some kind of enforced global recession to stop us buying stuff.

Then a Kenyan minister at COP27 made it clear when she said they were no longer worried about getting clean water, they were worried about getting any water. Wars were being fought over access to water sources.

We have fucked up the world. Everything is going to be getting more and more scarce. It’s our own arrogance and greed. People have been warning about this for decades. Resource (and that inc people) shortages.

I agree - Covid is still being used as an excuse for all sorts of bad customer service and lots of us are getting sick of it.

That's nonsense. Working from home doesn't mean you can't take calls!

you’d think. However I work for a university and often wfh. I have not been given a work phone of any description and am not prepared to hand out my personal mobile or home phone numbers to people. So yes, I don’t take calls.

You're lucky, ours is open 8am-10am three days a week.

I hate that at the cinema! And to get a pick n mix you have to order it at the screen, go and queue at the counter to get a cup and tongs, go and get your sweets then go back to the counter to hand in the tongs! Ridiculous.

I agree with pre booking. Do sometimes prefer just turning up.

Had a fall earlier this year at an event. They couldn't give me a plaster "because covid". I wasn't asking them to sort my grazes out and put the plaster on me!

Sainsburys locally have reopened their changing rooms which is good because I was fed up of trying stuff on in the aisles.

dh has given up with barbers and uses the dog clippers on himself.

Our local council -no longer visit houses for planning applications ‘to keep everyone safe’ yeah, right! Lazy buggers.

Its lack of staff.
It’s really hard to recruit staff (mostly Brexit)
businesses still suffering financially because of covid

agree the wfh shouldn’t be an excuse for stuff not happening well, there’s been a good couple of years to put processes in place.