Parcelforce Complaints Form is a Waste of Time

I wanted to vent this here and to let people know what a heartless, rubbish company Parcelforce is.

Just before Christmas one of my customers commissioned me to make a memorial stone for a memorial service for a dead colleague. I made the memorial and sent it using Parcelforce whom I have account with.

My customer called me understandably upset that the memorial did not arrive in time for the service. Even though it was sent to arrive three days before the service. On checking Parcelforce’s online tracking I saw that the parcel was not delivered due to it being improperly addressed.

Improperly addressed! When you use Parcelforce now, if you are an account customer, all bookings are taken online and you cannot enter a wrong address. You enter the postcode and then you select the number of the road or the house name. It just so happens that my delivery was to a stately home and it was the only address in that postcode!

To add insult to injury, my customer had called the Parcelforce depot where the parcel was held up to arrange a redelivery and enquire why it had not arrived when it was supposed to be, was given a torrent of abuse!

I took time to compose a formal complaint to Parcelforce and submitted it using their online form and they didn’t even bother to reply.

Subsequently I have found a better company and I have never used Parcelforce since. Neither have I paid their last two bills – though I suppose that I will have to, as it’s not worth sabotaging my credit rating over.

Glasgow to host Commonwealth Games

Looks like Glasgow will be holding the Commonwealth Games. I am taking a wild stab that it will be Glasgow hosting the commonwealth Games – it’s going to be announced in 20 minutes and are currently favourites to win. Nigeria are also in the running for hosting the games but they won’t stand a chance against the Scots. Forget me if I am wrong!

Get Chris Moyles out of Here!

Chris Moyles hinted this morning on his show that he is going into the jungle on “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!”

I hope that he does. I would like the whole nation to see how petulant and annoying he is. I really, really do not get why the so called (self acclaimed) “Savior of Radio 1″ is still employed by the BBC as a DJ but I guess it’s just a matter of taste.

It would be great seeing him in the jungle, watching the others eying him suspiciously every time he goes near the food supplies.

Wait, maybe he’s not going as a contestant but one of the disgusting dishes? He could keep the camp going for quite a while – two or three series is my guess.

David Beckham squeezes his balls

I had to laugh when I saw The Sun this morning. They show a pic of David Beckham pulling his shorts up with the headline “Becks shows off his ball skills”. As well as showing his (what I thought was modest – but what do I know?) pant load (the front load, not the back load) he scored two goals as well, three if you count the extra thousands he will make by showing the bulge of his knob!

The Sun also goes on to say that Victoria must be very proud of that tackle. Um, were they looking at the same picture? So, is this Victoria’s Secret?

Emily has quit X Factor

Emily has dramatically quit X Factor today after videos were shown of her beating a girl up and threatening a boy. Sharon says she’s deeply saddened by the outcome.

Emily’s “Happy Slapping” antics where she punched and kicked a girl after throwing her to the ground came to light in the newspapers earlier in the week. It’s also said that some sort of knife threat was involved in a similar incident.

Goodbye Emily, unless they rename it as Xtremely Violent Factor you have pissed on your chips. No doubt you will be a star on youtube.com

Jade Goody Warns of Slimming Pill Dangers

I just heard Jade Goody on the news saying about her slimming addiction and abuse hell. I find it difficult to be sympathetic to Jade Goody as she is such an annoying cow. However, I do find it sad that she has risked long term damage to her body with a higher probability of have a hear attack or a stroke. I don’t even wish that on Jade Goody, let alone her family.

Is that the headline that will resonate through tomorrow’s tabloids? There is bound to be copious speculation as to whether Sir Ian Blair’s resignation will be called for.

Sir Ian Blair resigning might not be a bad thing

TJ said earlier on his web of lies and SEO myths website.

Met Guilty Over Jean Charles de Menezes shooting

London Metropolitan police have been fined over Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes shooting in a London Tube station back in 2005.

It has been fined £175,000 with £385,000 costs for endangering the public in the shooting of Jean Charles.

I find this amazing – no one is going to be held culpable. Cressida Dick, who was in charge of the operation has been accused in the past of not being in control of the officers under her!

I got pissed off at the Oxted and Edenbridge Show this year. So I decided to complain. I got the secretary’s email from the Edenbridge and Oxted website and wrote her the email below. the reply I got was so condescending I decided that it needed a post category of its own!

Read on – this is my initial email:

Hi -,

As a family of five visiting the Oxted and Edenbridge show on Monday, I have to say that overall it was a nice day – even without the livestock.

I was, however, disgusted with the prices of the fairground rides once again. With three children and two adults entries into the show it was a small fortune anyway, but to be held to ransom over the fairground rides really marred the day. The kids were so looking forward to the rides but at the cost of £2.00 per person for a four minute ride on the teacups was way too extravagant. The ghost train seemed a better deal at £1.50 but was so appallingly short that it was in face even worse value for money than the smaller childrens’ rides. We cut our visit short after those two rides much to the disappointment of the kids.

I am writing this in the hope that you will take it on board. I expect that there were many many parents thinking or even writing the same thing that I am. Perhaps next year you could try and book a fairground group that aren’t as greedy – although I expect that in some part their high prices are in direct response to the price they are charged for the pitch.

The condescending and somewhat snotty reply that I got is below:

Dear Mr. -
Thank you for your email from which we regret to note your concern about prices of fairground rides. Whilst we agree with your concern regrettably the charges are in fact similar wherever fairground rides are present up and down the country.
We make every attempt to include lots of attractions and entertainment for visitors to watch and participate in and mostly these are all included in the admission charges.
We are sorry the cost of these rides ruined your visit but we do hope you will visit again in the future and perhaps persuade your children there are far more fun things to do and watch than the fair, which is just a very small part of the whole show.
Regards -

I realised quite fast that I was dealing with someone that I was not going to get a satisfactory response from so decided to post my correspondence here so that others may comment or at least be prepared.

For the record, the prices were very much on the high side for fairground rides – even for the ripped off south east – but that wasn’t particularly my gripe: the quality of the rides were appalling. The Ghost train was pathetic! If the Oxted and Edenbridge show need to make prices as high as they were then they need to make sure that the people they book are providing quality.

In response to this statement:

and perhaps persuade your children there are far more fun things to do and watch than the fair

I challenge anyone to steer their kids away from the fairground attractions. After all – it’s why they put them there!

I’d like to hear from others who feel that they have been ripped off at the Oxted and Edenbridge Show.

Well it seems that the:

Shipley Bridge Garage
Antlands Lane
Horley
Surrey
RH6 9TE

Has made my list.

I took a car to be MOT’s at this garage and as suspected it failed. I was called by the owner and asked what I wanted to do. As there were very minor fail points; wiper blades, a light bulb and a weak spray from the washer on to the windscreen he suggested that it would be cheaper for me to leave the car with them to do the work as I would not be charged a re test fee if they completed the works. “OK”. I agreed. “Don’t let the cost run away if there is a problem with the washer motor”. I said.

I went to pick up the car and the total bill, including the MOT was £120.00 the test fee was £45.00. Two wiper blades cost say, a maximum of £12.00 and a bulb, what? A quid? 2 quid max? No washer motor had been replaced. So I got charged £61.00 approx labour charge for 5 minutes work? What a rip off! I said the person who I was dealing with “That can’t be right, they haven’t replaced the washer motor” So she queried it with the garage owner who told her that he had had to take apart the motor to fix it and that was why the labour cost was so high. I checked, the motors cannot be taken apart. I asked a mechanic friend of mine (ironically, the person who would have done the work for me for a fraction of the cost and still saved me money even though I would have had to have paid £25.00 for the retest) and he said that they would have just cleared the washer feed line with an air line. Typically, the washers still do not work great even after spending so much on labour.

Anyway, due to the greed of this local businessman I have decided that a fair warning to others would not go amiss.

Please note that the car sales part of this garage, which I believe is a separately owned business, is not implicated in my gripe.

I hope that it helps you to make an informed decision about the Shipley Bridge Garage if you are planning to have any work done there. They seem to be unable to check their greed even though it means that I for one will never MOT there again and this blog may further damage their pocket.