The deterioration in service and deliveries

Someone at GPS is sending drivers to the wrong road. So our parcels are going halfway down the next road apparently, and today, their parcels were at our place … three of them.

The food man arrived yesterday (not mine but someone’s lunch). He came to our place, I went downstairs and he’d gone, he came back, still lugging this large, padded lunchbox. No English. Wife worse. However, I showed he needed to be in the next road. I took a look at his readout ...  there was another address on it, looked like ours.  

Poor sod, he ended up taking it back to his shop.

That’s when my delivery man, English, turned up. Yep, he said, ggl have altered the directions … have a look where they sent me. “If you hadn’t been standing there … etc.”

Something else was going on out there too … there were vans and cars, all of them Morrisons Data Services. Who?  I searched, glanced at the tabs and they said British Gas and EON, the latter hounding me to put a smartmeter in and I flatly refuse … when hell freezes over.

Plus four “visitors to our shores”, followed by two more, swaggering, deepest middle-easterners in kaftans and open sandals headed my way as casually as you like, saw me and turned towards the shop instead. 

However, back to the smart meter biz … found this:

You wot?!!  That’s when I saw this:

https://rolfnorfolk.substack.com/p/not-so-smart

It’s about what The System can do to you if it wants; and if it can be done, it will be done.

It does begin with me, in a small way, but the implications are big. A short while ago I was emailed by my energy provider to say I needed to fit smart meters. 

Having made it clear that I wanted to be the last customer in the country to have a smart meter, I then got a message that someone would be round to fit it soon. I exploded with a how-dare you etc.

The complaints department replied:

‘The metering appointment booked for the 11th July shows booked by Customer using anonymous URL. This suggests that you have booked this appointment yourself I am sorry if this is not the case?’

I didn’t do it. I don’t know who did or why but I’m not after any particular individual or company and I don’t want any speculation; the point is about our vulnerability in the Information Age.

Which reminded me of this by Lord T:

It's not just deliveries that are going to hell but customer service as a whole. Most companies have traded complaints and pissed off customers for money by simply setting a complaints target and reducing customer support to minimum. 

For most people this isn't an issue as they get the service they wanted but now when the slightest thing goes wrong it takes forever to resolve. 

For example I'm in *cough* discussion with Eon whose customer service is the worst I've ever seen and we agreed that we couldn't agree so they would raise a ticket so I could escalate to Ofgem, who need a referral or 8 weeks, it is really that poor a service. 

I've waited three weeks now, still don't have the letter, and in 2 weeks I can go without the letter. 

It isn't just Eon either. Service as a whole is down across the whole country although there are still a few who provide it. I just don't seem to deal with them.

Last evening, some of our readers added to this. Ivan:

#18, Be happy James, at least you got your packages. Over here I have encountered one company that is totally useless at delivering to my home (I think the problem is their drivers don't like driving round the right angle bends to get to my road, yet the Amazon drivers don't seem to have that problem). It's either that or they don't like small villages.

I was given a parcel number and delivery day but nothing arrived. When I questioned the company I bought the item from they informed me the delivery company said I was out and must take the delivery message left in my letter box and go 30 km to the drop off point and use thar note to get my package. 

There was no note in the letter box and I asked the guys that were installing a new fire hydrent if they had seen a delivery van on the road - they hadn't, and without that note I was unable to collect. 

This is the third time this has happened with this company and the only way to contact them is by using 'messenger app' which does nor work on my computers. At least the supplier will refund me when they get the parcel returned.

Ivan's map, illustrating the situation there:

Hi James,  attached is a picture of the way to my place, red arrows.  It is simple when you know  but the first turn  appears that you are at a building until you get there then you see the road continues.

PD kicked in with this:

Here's another one. Ordered something from the UK over three weeks ago. Having dealt with the company before and been impressed by the speed at which the goods have been delivered in the past I had no qualms about this particular order. 

My heart sank however when I got a notification from E*** informing me they had the parcel and it was on its way. After 2 weeks of no-show and no further communication I received a message saying the order had been cancelled. 

Obviously it was not me doing the cancelling so I got onto the retailer to find out what's going on. After nearly a week they replied that according to E***'s tracking gizmo the parcel was on its way back to them - well duh! They could not explain what had happened and would not know until the parcel was back in their hands when they would investigate further. In the meantime would I like them to resend the order? 

As I can't get the item anywhere else at the moment I said yes and gently suggested that as E*** has a poor reputation and their reputation has made it over to France could they possibly consider a different carrier? I got an email earlier today. E*** are delighted to say they are dealing with the new order. Sigh! Watch this space.........

I replied:

JH: I asked the Amazon driver today about Yodel … he said they’re ok, expect a large van. I mentioned a firm over here I’ll name … Evri … we both agreed worst in Britain, esp. Herm**. He said the prob is the management at Evri demanding impossible time scales in order to get paid. He joined Amazon instead.

PD replied to that:

That's it! The E one!

Oh and one of our Post ladies won't stop to deliver even a letter if it is a) raining heavily or b) there is a dog wandering loose down the bottom of the lane.

Phew!  Let's stop and draw breath here.  It's clear that at least a few have noticed a deterioration in both service in store and in deliveries, plus coercion by companies.  My view is it is not just the overall drop in ethics but it's an induced drop in ethics in western society now, for example Evri's impossible demands on drivers when we'd be happy enough to wait an hour or two.

Take Amazon delivered Morrisons' groceries. They offer time windows and sometimes the one I'd have liked is no longer available.  Fine! If I'm pushing it, service will suffer ... so I opt for a later slot, drivers in my experience are more relaxed, unlike the poor Hermes boys, run off their feet.

Also, some companies, such as DPD, DHL, Yodel, give time windows ... your parcel will be delivered between 2:17 p.m. and 4:17 p.m. for example. Absolutely fine ... just inform me, I'll arrange to make sure I'm there, often downstairs waiting.

To my mind, yes ... there are criminal elements among drivers, seeing a great chance of a racket here ... yes, that may be so. But I'm sure there are others just trying to make that extra cash in what is now a lucrative market ... due to hiked up prices and rentals.

But why is it so lucrative?  Because the PTB have rearranged society to make it so ... we are being manipulated for sure.

Just Stick To Fixing Potholes And Emptying Bins...

Almost a quarter of Bradford residents live in...

Squalor?  

...“food deserts” - areas where there is little access to fresh, healthy food.

*blinks* Really?  

And that number rises to almost two thirds when looking at families with less than £20,000 income a year – according to a recent survey. The figures were revealed during a presentation on Bradford’s new Good Food Strategy – a plan that aims to improve access to healthy food for people across the District.

A council plan to improve something! How can it fail?  

The strategy also calls for water to become the “first choice drink” and for local influencers to be recruited to promote healthy eating.

Oh. I guess I can see how...

But what on earth is a 'food desert' anyway? I've scoured Google Maps and can't see any place lacking in shops... 

Members of the Bradford and Airedale Wellbeing Board were told that areas were classed as food deserts if people living there would have to walk more than 20 minutes to buy fresh food, such as fruit or vegetables.

As a commenter points out, 'Bet they have no trouble at all walking 20 minutes to the benefit office!' 

Or the local mosque... 

Charlotte Ramsden, CEO of the Bradford Children’s Trust, said access to healthy food was not the only issue. She said: “There is also access to cooking facilities. Some disadvantaged families have nothing to cook with – they might have a microwave if they are lucky. To prepare healthy food they need cooking facilities.”

It's Bradford, love! I'd be astounded if there weren't cow-dung fired stoves in the backyards... 

The criminality is what they all knew and then did through it

https://dailysceptic.org/2023/06/26/pandemic-leaders-were-biodefence-puppets-and-profiteers/

Meanwhile:

Why is Midazolam Matt still out of prison? Ferguson? Whitty?

Lessons have been learnt, eh?  Well yes, they will be bloody well learnt all right ... the reckoning is coming.

Further reading this morning:

https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/yeadon-delingpole-and-why-the-vaccines-could-never-have-been-safe/

Sure You're Worrying About The Right Identity Group, Progressives?

Oh, those awful white right wing Christians, eh?

Oh! Ooops...

Reform, UKIP or Lozza?

Hope not … Reform is M25 bubble part-conservative. UKIP is far more grounded, even with Neil Hamilton at the head. As for Lozza … he’s entertaining … that flag stunt, lol:

Reform’s best asset is Alice Grant.

But You And Your Cronies Lit The Fire In The First Place...

Oxford University’s new professor of LGBTQ+ history has accused the government of “fanning a culture war” over freedom of speech, insisting it is alive and well in higher education.

*hollow laughter* 

But wait! What on earth is 'a professor of LGBTQ+ history', anyway?

Matt Cook, who was this week named as the first Jonathan Cooper chair of the history of sexualities, a newly created post at Mansfield College...

Oh... 

Cook said the issue had been blown out of proportion and there were only a “tiny fraction” of cases where speakers were cancelled.

Gosh, imagine someone saying that about immigrant murderers, or 'hate crimes'. He'd be lucky to get out of town alive! 

“So my sense is that it’s not a huge problem. I think the issue has been blown out of proportion. I also think there’s some political expediency in this. It’s a way of fanning a culture war. I don’t think we need additional protections for free speech in the university. Free speech is pretty alive and well.”

No-one ever thinks they need protection when they are saying exactly what everyone in their tiny circle agrees with... 

“The trans people I know currently are facing real daily prejudice that’s misogynistic, transphobic. And I think we need to think very seriously about how we allow everybody in this country to have a livable life, and that includes trans people. ”

I won't bother asking exactly what 'rights' trans men and women are lacking, because it's something that never gets a satisfactory answer... 

The old conundrum - for whom to vote?

Second of two posts ... first, two screenshots:

You can see from those, in the fine print, which way I'm still leaning, were I to even bother voting next time round.  

Yes, it has a major negative in Neil Hamilton, given old history but as one UKIP spokesman said, "UKIP is not just Neil Hamilton you know."

True ... but it is the NEC, as has been its Achilles heel all along.  All right ... alternatives?  Tice or Lozza?  Even AnneMarie is leaning back towards today's UKIP.

Presence?  Pretty low so far.  Uniparty?  LibLabConGreenSocialists? 🤣😂😅

Seems to me it's the Kippers or don't vote or do something more radical, non party based.

Not great, is it?

Brave New World

Two posts from me today and to kick off, let's tackle a dangerous topic, given that Julia and I run OoL or Orphans and methinks we do it well enough ... we don't agree on everything but there is a streak of sanity running through this site, in both cases, our second site.

I've a mate up the road who always starts his day with Julia, I do too but on Gab first ... later he gets around to N.O.  I'd say ditto with Microdave and others and to my mind, that's the way it should be. 

Now, this mate of mine is not noted for his love of "modern women" ... you know, from karens to late 50s pink pussy paraders, purple cropped-haired Stop Oilers, manhaters, and yet he was speaking the other day about his firm, one of the larger outfits in IT, where he troubleshoots, being one of the original ITers ... 

... he swears by, not at, several women at or close to his level and says they're "every bit as good", know their stuff, do not suffer fools gladly.

Think we need to drive it through our skulls that there are two sexes and each of them has its capable people, its aging ones, its klutzes, its wimps, its everything ... its Woke left.  I am constantly quoting sane, capable women (and blokes) ... what's the big deal?

It's within THAT context that I present what's happening below ... you already know this, it just outlines it in black and white, ok?  Please consider these:

It says three years ago ... sorry but firstly, I was in education myself until retirement, plus there's a longish series of posts from 2006 at N.O. on "dumbing down" of education ... and of course, those pigeons are coming home to roost in society right now:

That's just downunder you say?

And you can't get any more scathing than our Julia herself. 

And you think I could not take apart the new, SNAGgy, love everyone and hug trees (technically) young male of today, found ubiquitously across firms, esp. in London?  The soy and quorn set?

So what the hell am I getting at then? I'm suggesting that the moment you go "quotas based on the newly qualifified", those bits of paper with grandiose titles ... and a firm is infested with this Wokethink, then best steer clear and engage only with trad firms of sound pedigree.  And as for "all women" boards and committees?

I know one of these but am keeping her hidden ... early Millennial, growth retarded but not entitlement and grievance retarded ... I have to negotiate this person's mind every day at this time.  Sheesh. Kid gloves. It's very real, it's very dangerous, as she hates my age group and "gender".

Do we really need this in the workplace? Seriously?  Do we?

I Don't Want Such A Society Either...

As one of the many people who experience anxiety and poor mental health brought about by the trials and tribulations of modern life in our wealthy country, I urge people not to accept that this is “just the way it is”. There is clearly something wrong if doing something as simple as your weekly shopping involves such distrust.

...but I want one where shoplifters are allowed to go free, unchallenged, even less. 

I don’t want to be part of a society where shop staff behave like law enforcement, where homelessness, hardship and poverty are accepted, and a small percentage of individuals hold the bulk of the country’s wealth and assets. Things need to change. The current model doesn’t work, nor is it morally and ethically justifiable.

As I believe someone very famous once said, "Capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others."

Identifying as a cat ... it's the reaction by "authority" which is insane

Just going to sneak this one in here before Julia's post goes up.

The child standing up to the "teacher" who punished her for calling out the stupidity of another child's identifying as a cat being forcibly enshrined by the "teacher" who should never have been allowed to "teach" in the first place ... this was written at t'other place ... please forgive it below as two large screenshots: