Fraud from Russia Concerning Amazon
I have had a lot of e-mails purporting to say that I have ordered something on Amazon. I know they are not genuine orders, as they come to an e-mail I never use for orders, but watch for e-mails.
They are baed on a fake AMazon web site, with a Russian domain name.
Be careful, as if you are a regular Amazon purchaser, your account has a valid credit card.
So login to the real Amazon, change your password and if you can, change your e-mail to something that you reserve for purchases over the web.
A Gluten-Free Nut-Free Strategy for Business
These days businesses like to show that they are friendly, equal-opportunity employers, who are not-racist, sexist or homophobic and of course carbon neutral.
But do they extend this caring attitude to such things as food allergies, when they do business personally or perhaps entertain clients.
Let’s put a couple of facts in here. according to Peanut Allergy UK, it is estimated that 1.8% of children have a peanut allergy at school entry. Also, 4% of the UK ppulation is a coeliac, many of whom are undiagnosed.
So just as you wouldn’t serve meat to a vegetarian, is it not a wise idea to not serve gluten to a coeliac or nuts to someone with that allergy. In fact there is a big difference between veggies and some allergies, in that some allergies are very dangerous and others make you ill.
So why not startt by ensuring that your tea/coffee and biscuits are both gluten and nut free. Also remember that chocolate isn’t banned, so you can indulge your clients if that is your wish.
I’ve actually heard of a couple of companies in London, who do this and now only give away GF and nut-free biscuits with their coffee, as they find it avoids any problems and shows them to be a caring company! One was a financial services company dealing with a faddy actress. They got the business.
At least now corporate events at places like hotels, racecourses and football grounds have got a lot better in recent years. I know that Newmarket racecourse, Ipswich Town and Tottenham Hotspur can all cater, as can most decent hotels with a trained chef. But do at least check about allergies when you book. If they can’t cater, it might just be your luck, that your best client is a coeliac.
In these tough times, profits will be harder to grow or even make. But by applying lots of little details like this to your corporate strategy, you might help your business in the tight direction.
Why I Chose My Bank
I did this because it is in a convenient place in the High Street and I’d heard from people I trust, that the on-line banking worked well.
I also chose it because, I didn’t get too much spam purporting to be from the bank trying to get me to login to a fake site. This cut the chances of getting fooled.
Except fot two e-mails in the last week, which I knew to be very fake, as they were so obvious and lacked security check information, this is still the case.
But there are banks out there, for which I still get masses of phishing spam. I immediately delete them, as I have no account at the bank, so they must be crooked, especially as they go to undisclosed-recipients, which is a sure sign of fraud.
So are these banks ignoring these messages, which are an affront to their good name and a threat to their and their customers security?
Couriers Revisited
I had a parcel delivered today by Parcelforce.
- They sent me an e-mail, so I could track it.
- I was phoned by the driver at 8:30 to check that someone would be there.
- The parcel was delivered at 9:00 by the usual cheery driver.
So if they can do it so professionally, why can’t others? APC can and delivered my repaired Nokia 6310i later this morning.
Is Good Service A Benefit Of The Recession?
Yesterday, I got exceptional service from Vision Express, but this is becoming part of a pattern. O2, Homebase, PC-World and other companies have all given me excellent service in the last week. Have companies increased their staff training in this area because they find that good service means increased sales, even in a recession? Perhaps and in some places I’ve dealt with in the past, it’s about time! But then the most often-quoted example of bad service, Woolworths, went bust!
A Budget To Create Jobs in an Unexpected Way?
One of the provisions in the budget is that if you start a business outside of the South East, you will get a discount of up to £5,000 on NIC for each of the first ten employees.
This is very generous compared to other parts of Europe, such as France and The Netherlands, where social costs are a big cost of starting a business. Remember that over the last twenty years, the French have been one of the larger groups to move to the UK.
So will it mean that entrepreneurs will look favourably on the UK, as a plsce to start a new business, especially as UK income tax is lower than many places in Europe. For instance we have a tax allowance of £7,400 before we pay tax.
The more I look at this measure, it sticks out as a very good idea. It will be interested to see what the rules are and how they are interpreted.
But just imagine, you are something like an Australian or American software company, who needs a European support office. Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle or Manchester, all of which possess good air links to the rest of Europe, must have moved several steps up the list of where to site that office.
Why We All Hate Couriers – 2
I’ve just seen on the courier’s web site that my phone won’t arrive until between 16:55 and 17:55 today. So after waiting in all day yesterday for a non-delivery, I now have to wait in all today, for one at an inconvenient time. I do have other things to do, you know!
At least though, I have been able to charge up an old Nokia 6310i, so I have a phone. But I think, I’m on a tariff far more expensive than the one I need for such a device.
Why We All Hate Couriers
My new phone was supposed to be delivered today, but the courier loused up. If people use DHL, ParcelForce or the plain old Royal Mail, goods always appear on time and usually with a joke and a smile. O2 in the past have used DHL, but this time they didn’t.
The courier actually did turn up, but didn’t come to the house. He claimed on the company’s web site, that he had texted me and left a card at my red front door. I didn’t find the card and didn’t receive the message on my phone. But he did talk to one of my stud staff and didn’t even ask him where I was! I was actually sitting in the garden.
After three calls to O2 on a landline, I got a promise of delivery tomorrow. We shall see! O2 incidentally were very helpful and polite, despite the fact I cut myself off twice, as you do with a gammy hand. I’m sure that they will complain on my behalf to the courier!
At least though they did get to roughly the right place. There are several farms and two studs on my postcode, so in some cases, I find couriers assume, that as I’m the biggest farm and the one at the centroid of the post code, that I am someone else and they just dump the goods and run! I wonder what proportion of goods ordered over the Internet never end up where they should?
Remember though that for outgoing letters and parcels to exotic places, Royal Mail have an excellent on-line system for printing postage and customs declarations. Today, I sent a book to Hong Kong and it took me just a few minutes. It’s ideal in my current situation as I can’t drive to the Post Office. As the stamps are a complex bar code, everything is fully-traceable and so far nothing has gone astray.
Health and Safety
Health and Safety is in the news today, with the government announcing a review by Lord Young.
Strangely, all the Health and Safety training that I got at ICI in Runcorn in the late 1960s, is kicking in to help me protect myself from my weak left side. You have to assess threats in just the way you walked around chemical plants with noxious substances like HF dust all over the place. I still remember the charming and sensible Charlie Akers, who showed me over the BCF plant at Rocksavage Works and still follow his rules on climbing ladders and metal stairs. But Rocksavage in those far-off days had an impeccable safety record and it was all down to everybody working to a sensible philosophy not hard and fast silly rules dreamed up by bureaucrats.
Thank you, Charlie!
Lord Young’s investigation needs to have input from people like you, who are at the sharp end and get hurt when accidents happen.
The Anonymous Widower 