Do Large Organisations Cut Themselves Off From the Internet?
I sometimes criticise (and praise) companies and organisations on this blog. Here are a few examples.
- Dixons
- First Great Western
- John Lewis
- Leon Restaurants
- Runners Need
- Towneley Park and Hall
- Virgin Trains
Most of those comments are positive, as I don’t want to get a reputation for not being fair. However, the really interesting one is about John Lewis, where I didn’t hold back in criticising their performance. If you read the comments on the post, you’ll see that Customer Support at John Lewis found it and asked me to e-mail them. The problem I had been having was resolved.
So if say you are the manager of the Islington Upper Street branch of the Midland Bank, other than being immortal, do you check what is being said about your branch on the Internet? And if you do, do you check blogs and forums?
I have a feeling that John Lewis might be an exception here. But surely, any business interested in what its customers think about it should be searching what is on the Internet, even if some of it is perhaps abusive or badly-written. To take my bank example, it is very easy to set up a Google Alert for Midland Bank, Upper Street, Islington.
I have a feeling that companies often spend fortunes on market research finding out what customers and others think of them. But do they need to, when with a bit of training and perhaps some affordable software, of the sort I can write, it’s all out there waiting to be delivered?
The Non-Arrival of a Refund from East Coast
On the 3rd of February, I travelled down from York on the 19:35 East Coast train from York. The train was about ninety minutes late into King’s Cross and forms were given out to claim a refund. I filled the form in the next day and posted it to Newcastle in the envelope provided.
I have not heard anything since.
It could be a malfunction of the postal service, but since I have moved, I regularly send letters to my old house in Suffolk and know that they arrive the next day, when I put them in the box opposite my house here.
On Sunday, I tried to report this non-arrival of the refund through the East Coast web site. I got a server error, asking me to submit it again. I didn’t as it was quite a long form and after all, it’s not that much money in the greater scheme of things.
But I tried again to submit the e-mail and still got a server error.
I also tried to send a simple e-mail saying that I was getting server errors and got another server error.
It really isn’t good enough!
So I put a letter in the post.
Patek Trading Company
I haven’t seen one of these for some time.
Greetings, If you have access to a computer, and have up to three hours spare time per- week, would you like to work part or full time online from home and get paid weekly? If yes, then please read carefully. _____________________________________________________________________ ABOUT US ______________________________________________________________________ Patek Trading Company Limited was founded in 1986. Besides its main office and laboratory, the Company also owns large warehouse to serve its customers with on time delivery. Since its establishment, the Company has been focusing on trading of textile dyestuffs, pigments and auxiliaries imported from all over the world and Products include reactive dyes, acid dyes, direct dyes, cationic dyes, disperse dyes, vat dyes, leather dyes, pigments and auxiliaries of textile dyeing, printing & finishing etc… ______________________________________________________________________ JOB POSITION _______________________________________________________________________ We are currently seeking part/full time employees for our ever-growing Foreign Payment Receiving Officer. Through extensive demographic research, we have discovered a wealth of untapped human resources that, for one reason or another, need the freedom to work from home and consider becoming part of our company. as part of our ongoing Multi Level Marketing Network, we seek capable individuals to work for us as our representative.You can easily make £500 – £2,000 or more in a week by working for us as Sub-contractor in your geographical location, you will be in charge of collecting payment on behalf of our affiliates and Smallbusiness organizations that are registered under us. Note that no form of investment is needed from you and this job will take only 1-3 hours of your time per week. ______________________________________________________________________ JOB RESPONSIBILITY _______________________________________________________________________ The position of Foreign Payment Receiving Officer entails the following duties: coordinate payments from our clients, receive payments which come in form of Bank Wire Tansfer, process payments at your local bank, and forward 90% of funds received to the proper branch office, as instructed. The remaining 10% is your gratuity. Since this position is need-based, you will have plenty of free time while enjoying a good income. _______________________________________________________________________ RENUMERATION _______________________________________________________________________ Every assignment in form of payment received from clients, you’re entitled to 10% which excludes the cost of processing western union to any regional office accountant Also you get a monthly salary of £1500 which comes at the end of every month, plus other incentives and benefits that accrue, which includes tax holidays. ________________________________________________________________________ INTERESTED APPLICANTS (HOW TO APPLY) ________________________________________________________________________ Interested applicants should reply with: First Name:- Last Name:- Address:- Gender:- Phone Number(s):- E-mail Address:- Our Human Resource Managers can contact you via email, with further details if the management decides you’re a successful candidate. We look forward to working with you. NB: Ignore this mail if you are not interested in this offer. Sincerely, Mr. Sue Young President/CEO Patek Trading Company Limited. Hong Kong, China. .
But just like all of the others, it’s a scam and will do you no good if you sign up.
I do like the opening statement about if you have access to a computer. Would you have received this rubbish, if you didn’t have access?
It also appears to be from a boy named Sue!
Do We Need WikiPlates?
I think I know London and its various sites very well. And as I have read the excellent book; The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis
But I was caught out on Wednesday, when I went to the Olympic Park, in that I hadn’t realised that the Greenway sat on top of Bazalgette’s Northern Outfall Sewer.
But there was nothing to tell me, that I was walking on the creation of a giant!
Obviously, a proper information board would be best, but these get damaged and if you made them from metal, then scrap thieves will take them.
But surely in this age of the Internet, all that is needed is a simple plate, which points you to the relevant place on the web.
If they linked to Wikipedia, through say a reference number, they could be called WikiPlates.
The possibilities for a simple system are endless, especially if you bring in smart phones and SMS messages.
My Arm is Giving Me Some Trouble
mMy left humerus was broken by a bully at school and for the last few days, it has been giving me quite a bit of trouble. Or that’s what I hope it is. My left hand was terrible yesterday and I had difficulty tying up my shoe laces. I also couldn’t get the souvlaki off the skewer. But after a good night’s sleep it seems to be a bit better. I’m actually using the shift key with my forefinger easily this morning. Usually I make a few mistakes and have to correct them. But today it seems alright. It could also be better because the Caps Lock key on this computer isn’t so easily mis-hit. Who needs the key anyway? I never normally use it.
I suspect that as I haven’t had any physio on the upper arm and shoulder for nearly two weeks now, that this is the problem.
Programming in the Nude
The story about Comic Relief reminds me, that most of the time I was programming Artemis at Debach and was alone, I never bothered to get dressed.
It did have its drawback, in that once I trod on a loose nail and hurt my foot. Luckily after a bit of TLC from C, I was able to carry on.
How many people, other than a few models and actors, can claim that they made their fortune without their clothes on?
Why SMEs Don’t Get a Look In
David Cameron is reported as saying that he will open up more contracts to small and medium sized companies.
But it won’t happen, as these sort of contracts don’t fit bureaucrats thought processes.
As an example, a government agency found that my software Daisy would be ideal for an application. The cost would be a couple of thousand pounds for a special system. But as they were dealing with contracts in millions, they couldn’t find a way to buy the software or pay me for the consultancy. In the end I walked away from it. I suspect that in the end they did nothing or spent several millions with one of the major consultancy firms to do a job that was worth five grand at most.
As a contrary example, a division of a major British company found that Daisy was useful to their researchers. So they put it on their approved software list and allowed those who wanted it to buy it with credit cards and then bill it on expenses. I sold many copies that way, just because the accounts department at this company wanted their people to get the work done.
And then there is the question of bribes. Not actual suitcases of the folding stuff, but big companies can afford to have things like days at sporting events and ask the purchasers along. Small and medium sized companies can’t afford that and anyway they have more important things to do, like keeping their business solvent.
How To Organise a Company
I found this article on the WordPress site.
It just shows how blogging is more than just an expression of one person’s vanity, but a complete philosophy for the management of a company and its web presense. I won’t say site, as that is so out-of-date and constricting.
Death, Taxes and Spam
Benjamin Franklin said that there are only two certainties in life; death and taxes.
Today he would have added spam.
If I look at my unwanted e-mails and remove everything that is obviously crooked, comes from a foreign source or is related to companies I once signed up to, I end up with a surprisingly short list; Rodial and Heaton Wealth Investments. As I said before, Rodial is a company I have no need for and I find it mildly amusing that they are targetting me. The other company is trying to sell me useless property investments and my financial advisor has told me to steer well clear of them. As most of the properties they seem to be promoting are from places, I wouldn’t visit, if you paid me, I doubt I’d be pulled in by their charms.
What worries me, is that these companies wouldn’t do it, if it wasn’t profitable for them. So perhaps there really is one born every minute.
A Better Way to Measure Blood Pressure
I do hope so, as the current method seems to cause all sorts of problems when healthcare staff measure mine using the traditional cuff, whether it’s connected to a high tech machine or a manual device.
In Hong Kong, they were very worried about my blood pressure and they were always measuring it. Sometimes they changed from the new to old devices.
My previous doctor too, often got a different result to her nurse and another doctor, said I suffered from a classic case of white-coat hypertension.
So a new blood pressure device developed at the University of Leicester is to be welcomed. Especially, as it can measure the blood pressure closer to the heart or the brain.
It also looks to me that after fully researching and sorting the medical principles, instrument engineers have applied modern electronic technology to the problem.
We shall be seeing more devices like this to monitor many bodily parameters in the future.
The Anonymous Widower 