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!!

The booking in advance thing is so annoying. I can't even take my DS to the barbers in our village without booking when it used to be 100% walk in. It was much easier.
One I really hate though is children's clinics, hospital wards and doctors surgeries who no longer have toys or books for the children. One of my DS has a lot of medical issues and attends these places frequently. They used to all have things for him to do, but now none do.
He was an in patient a few weeks back and the toy room was totally closed 'cos covid'.

Yes and they expect you to give them details like credit cards - they can fuck right off.

Ah, another one who thinks working from home must mean customer service

When you have something a bit worrying you want sorting I think that's a fair expectation but I see what you are saying.
I really like 'Live Chat' when it works but not many companies have brought that back, and you'd never know if the operator was spooning dinner into a baby as they typed replies.

I was so convinced my bank cared, I waited on hold for 2 sodding hours but they obviously ran out of cares so I hung up.

I did get a mortgage review appt in the end by raising a complaint and getting one through my branch (which has still survived], but I think they've kicked my complaint into the long grass and I didn't have the heart to mention it to the nice lady who helped us because it wasn't her fault.

i think what grates is the amount of wasted time and inconvenience these big corporates put its customers through, and how they pat themselves on the back at their AGM at all the profit they've made in the last year, which is basically due to having zero customer service and obscuring the fact that customers waiting for 000s of collective hours on phone lines is passing on cost to those customers and removing it from their own P&L.

@OMG12

Evert sector has a recruitment crisis, from lawyers and accountants to bars to hotels to nhs.

And yet, graduates are finding it harder than ever to even get through the first few stages of the recruitment processes for the major employers. I'm not talking about "Mickey Mouse" degrees, I'm talking about Maths/STEM graduates. I know a few students including my son, who are spending a few hours every single day, applying for graduate scheme employment, yet getting nowhere. They've been working with the Uni careers services to "tweak" their cvs, attend mock interview sessions, undergone sessions on pychometric testing, etc. If there is a genuine shortage of professional workers, then the employers aren't trying hard to recruit, certainly not increasing the numbers of training places.

Likewise with nursing and doctors. Medical school places are still far too few for the workers we need. That's been the case for 50 years now! A decade ago the BMA held a vote of members which decided to limit trainee places in medical schools and not to allow any new medical schools! That's been eased since, but shows the stupidity and mistakes of the past few decades, not just politicians, but unions too!

Large employers, including the NHS, and their staff, need to embrace trainee schemes, recruitment of young people, etc., as it's our only hope of solving current problems.

It is concerning.

@PurpleButterflyWings - I hear you! I lost my shit last week with Sky over a simple request to buy (or at least try to) more data. It took hours of phone calls, online chats with the fucking bot, emails, tweeting, private messaging until I eventually logged on official complaint out of sheer frustration - and all for a fiver of data!! Complaint handler tried to fob me off with changes in staffing post covid - but they’ve no trouble constantly emailing, texting and even posting shit to try and get me to upgrade!!

as a side note - I loathe Sky and only have it as we are a footy mad house. There customer service is shit.

And it really fucking annoys me when, if you can’t find your solution online after wading through a million “offers” (one was save £876 on a phone package - how much is it if you are “saving” nearly 900 quid!!!), you get directed to the online community for help, ie customers, with a warning they aren’t Sky employees so Sky take no responsibility for what they tell you!!

I think covid has allowed a lot of poor service to develop and go under the radar to an extent. I had an awful week last week just trying to sort out a few issues and said to DH that there seems to be so many people/organisations who are just not doing their job right. I am now starting to understand those who go and live off grid - seems really tempting at the moment!!

Definitely GP surgeries!

We’re going to have to agree to disagree. Though the “why should I” comment was not made about wfh.
I know how Unis work - they are not the sort of employer who would tell a staff member they are not allowed to return to the office. People are choosing to continue wfh because it suits them - fair enough - and the employer is using that as an excuse to save costs in office space etc.
Its all understandable but the net result is a poor customer service experience, which is what this thread is about.

Another one here for having to book in advance. The pub in our village also does food and quite often pre Covid we would go for an impromtu meal. Tried this a month ago loads of space and wascasked if we'd booked online and if not we couldn't eat. I said no went onto my phone and could book a table there and then which I showed the waiter but didn't bother out of principle. I just think people and businesses got used to being awkward and having Covid to hide behind

I've got an operation this week and received a message saying 'do not attend if you have a cough or temperature'. I have been waiting over a year for this procedure and I have a bloody cough. I'm consistently testing negative for COVID but by their standards I won't be able to have it done.

I do like the ordering from your table using the QR card in a restaurant though. I'll keep that.

Not sure if this is covid-related or just shocking customer service, we were in Manchester earlier in the year, it was a Saturday night and we got back to our hotel just before 10pm, to find the bar had closed! We complained to the receptionist, who was mystified, and to be fair she eventually found someone who grudgingly served us. Cheers!

When you have something a bit worrying you want sorting I think that's a fair expectation but I see what you are saying.

Yeah, it's just a different point. Do I want better customer service not involving people simultaneously looking after their kids and working and is it possible to generalise about all wfh from my own experiences of people doing only one role aren't the same question.

Haven’t RTFT but a concerning one is social workers doing all their meetings online and from home. I work with them in a professional capacity and I just cannot understand how children’s social care thinks this is an appropriate alternative to face to face meetings, particularly for statutory meetings like child protection case conferences?!

i was in a meeting with a social worker the other day who ‘preferred to keep her camera off’. And another where the social worker had to interrupt the meeting to deal with builders in her house.

SO unprofessional. What is happening to this world?

I think online meetings should only be in exceptional circumstances when it comes to this kind of sensitive family work.. Not to accommodate social workers who prefer it or councils who don’t want to provide office space. ‘Because covid’ is also no longer a valid excuse!

I know what you mean. Having to check out of an Airbnb at 10am because of 'enhanced cleaning procedures due to Covid'. Ridiculous.
Having said that I much prefer telephone appts with GPs as don't have to take time off work to see the doctor at the surgery.

I think most people in your situation would go ahead with the operation and just not tell them, unless they were actually sick or had confirmed Covid. It’s winter - people will have colds and coughs.

Oh ducking hell no one wants to work for minimum wage! What they actually want to be able to live and eat and pay their bills!? How greedy and lazy!

We’re going to have to agree to disagree.

Well, what the poster actually wrote is right there, so it's not really an agree to disagree issue. People will just read it and see for themselves.

Though the “why should I” comment was not made about wfh.

Didn't say it was. It was made about the part of the situation that the poster could actually control though, so ultimately there's just no basis to what you said about not owning it.

I know how Unis work - they are not the sort of employer who would tell a staff member they are not allowed to return to the office.

Higher education is a massive sector comprising a diverse range of institutions and people in a wide range of roles. Are you trying to say that despite all this, because you 'know how unis work' the poster isn't giving an accurate account?

I call a lot of GP surgeries for work and find that some are awful and some are really good. If some can be good, why can’t all of them?
I did an e-consult with my surgery at 8.30am and had a call back at 10.30am the same day and the issue was sorted. Why can’t other surgeries do that. Every time I’ve had to call them I’ve only waited a couple of minutes to be answered.
Credit card companies are dreadful with an hour plus on hold each time.

I work in accountancy and it’s experienced staff we’ve struggled to recruit. We take on graduates each year and took on a few extra this year but it’s a few years before they are able to to do the work where we have our shortages at the min, taking on more graduates wouldn’t solve this

My local M&S food hall shit the one toilet during COVID and never reopened it. It’s been barricaded by metal cages for 2 years, and they won’t reopen them. So I can’t go anymore if DA is with me because he has a bowel condition which means he needs a loo where possible nearby

Same here!!! My youngest who started school in the pandemic, was so looking forward to it, having watched her siblings do theirs!!

Can I ask you about this? I have a family member who’s been offered a trial but concerned about delays, especially with strikes looming. Are they likely to be delayed?

@MadOnHer - agree. Twelve months ago my young adult son got a new social worker -In that time she met him on-line once (only for 10mins because he couldn't cope). She's not met him or his family or been to our house. Working on sporadic emails it seems to be ok to make decisions about his future and be satisfied that he is safe.