I’m Trying To Say Farewell To Currys
I have bought the odd thing from Currys in the past, and somehow, they seem to have got hold of my e-mail address. As I’m trying to de-clutter my life, I unsubscribe from every list that sends me an e-mail, as most are about as useful to me as a chocolate teapot.
Currys sends me on average an e-mail a month for goods I don’t want, but there is no unsubscribe address on their spam. I’ve tried contacting customer support, but then they believe in the old adage that if you ignore someone long enough, the problem customer will go away.
With electrical goods, I find what I want and then search for the cheapest price, from a company I want to do business with.
Currys are definitely not on that list.
The Value Of A Train Captain
The Docklands Light Railway in East London is driverless, with trains controlled automatically. But each train has an onboard Train Captain, who is a cross between a traditional guard, a ticket checker and almost a tourist guide. Today two incidents showed why the system is so good.
As we left Bank station to travel in the tunnel to Shadwell, I heard a slight commotion behind me. As I was changing trains at the next station, I got up as we approached and found that a small boy of about five or six had got on without his mother. But the Train Captain was in command and had ascertained that his mother was following on the next train and that they’d be reunited at Shadwell. He also found a responsible lady to wait with the child until the train arrived. I think as it happened, the mother had got in another carriage on the train, so she found him, without the child having to wait on the platform with the volunteer.
It had been handled very professionally and another Train Captain told me it happens all the time, normally because the shopping gets put on more carefully than the children.
The other incident was very much run-of-the-mill with a twist.
On another train, the Train Captain took over the driving of the train, as they sometimes do. As he’d had to move another five or six-year-old boy out of the way to open the driver’s console, he then showed him what the various controls were for, in a very professional manner.
I Don’t Want Another Card
I am trying to declutter my life.
I Don’t Want Another Card
So the one thing, I don’t want is another card. In fact these days, I don’t bother with loyalty cards. If I don’t get decent service, I go elsewhere. Shops, restaurants, train operators and airports, have to earn my loyalty.
If I look at Heathrow, I might go out from there if I could use Terminal 5, as there is a decent gluten-free restaurant there.
Rescued By Eurostar
I hadn’t got a ticket for Eurostar, as let’s face it, what good would it have done me, as I didn’t turn up in Brussels at a date and a time, remotely near anything I could have expected.
So when my number was called after a wait of a few minutes, I approached the ticket counter with more than a little apprehension. After my luck, I fully expected to be told that as it was a Friday and the start of the school holidays, that no seats were available until Tuesday at the earliest.
But the pleasant lady smiled broadly, like air hostesses do in adverts, except that she meant it, and said she could get me on a train in an hour for €190. Expensive, but then it was a last-minute walk-up and what else could I do, as I can’t swim? I then asked how much Premium Economy was and she said €204. So I paid the extra fourteen euros and within an hour I was on my way back to Blighty. Incidentally booking now for next Friday, I’d save somewhere around £80.
On the train, I got a fulsome apology for not being served a gluten-free meal, but I knew that to get one, you have to book in advance. But at least the food was infinitely better than the rubbish you get on German trains, where gluten is compulsory in all snacks.
The train had a very unusual passenger.
A Very Unusual Passenger
The balloon was tied to a child’s buggy. It did give one of the stewards a bit of a fright, as he came through the door.
I was of course, on time in London. But let’s face it, Eurostar have one great advantage. With the exception of the Channel Tunnel and various junctions, it is a virtually straight line largely under their control. So could we expect that HS2 will be a more reliable railway than the West Coast Main Line? I think the answer will be yes!
The Southern Way To Do PR
I flew to Geneva from Gatwick on easyJet on an early afternoon flight, as that way, I got to have a good lunch in Jamie’s Italian in the North Terminal. I always prefer to arrive in a strange place well fed, as I can’t be sure of the food I can get there.
To get to Gatwick, I generally go using the Overground to Clapham Junction and then get one of the many trains to the airport, from there.
Together with quite a few other passengers, I piled into one of Southern’s Class 377 trains. I’ve written about these trains before, and Second Class is so good, I never bother with First. At £6.85 from Clapham Junction to Gatwick, it’s definitely good value, especially as they are well-tabled trains.
But we all piled into a First Class section of the train!
Before the first stop at East Croydon, this was discovered by the ticket collector, who very politely asked us to move on, or buy a simple upgrade. A few jokes were exchanged and I think we all moved, although one guy did buy the upgrade.
I never saw the ticket collector again.
I do wonder though, whether with these trains, the comfort in Second Class is not perceptibly below that in First. The only difference is you have a big table in First and a few signs.
The inspector had handled the situation impeccably and he had warned us about revenue protection officers, who aren’t so pleasant.
I suspect that the whole incident, got Southern a few more returning customers.
Santander Make A Mistake
Paul Lewis, the BBC’s respected personal finance expert, has just flagged up this story on BBC Breakfast. Although, it’s not a big financial failure like PPI, it could have been inconvenient for some former Abbey customers. This is the first three paragraphs of the story.
Santander, the country’s second biggest mortgage provider, says 30,000 of its customers may be due compensation, after errors made in 2008.
All were former Abbey customers, who were put on standard variable rate (SVR) mortgages after coming off fixed-rate deals.
But they were not told clearly enough that they could have transferred their accounts elsewhere.
He also flagged up that there is no central way to notify customers that there might be a problem with their bank or insurance company’s systems and said there was a business opportunity.
He’s right on that last point!
What is needed is a site, where you register with just e-mail address and short post code, like N14 or IP4. You then enter your bank, insurance company, supermarket, broadband and energy suppliers, phone and mobile companies and perhaps your make of car.
Then when anything turns up like this Santander problem or the Virgin broadband failure, the site would send you an automatic e-mail.
All warnings would of course be available for any registered member to view.
Unlike the price comparison sites, the site would never sell or give your details to any third party.
Paul Lewis said it was a business opportunity! It certainly is!
Customer Support From Eurostar
On Saturday, I felt I got exceptional service from Eurostar on the last leg home from Budapest. So I told them!
I recently travelled back from Paris after arriving in the city on Saturday the 13th on the sleeper from Munich.
I hadn’t eaten for about 36 hours, as I couldn’t find any gluten-free food, in the Munich area of Germany.
However, once on the train to London, your gluten free light lunch that I had ordered filled part of the hole.I hope in my hungry state, I didn’t get on your excellent staffs’ nerves.
Ninety minutes after sending the e-mail, I got a reply.
Deepest condolences regarding your losses and the health issues you had, we are happy that you still found the strength to enjoy life. We at Eurostar are pleased that you enjoy this with us and we want to thank you for choosing us. I am sure that our on board staff were happy to help.
I am extremely disappointed to hear that gluten free meals are not obtainable with Deutsche Bahn as this is not an uncommon food request.
I hope your nest trip to Palermo will be a relaxing journey and without the need of being hungry.
You can’t fault the speed of reply and the message.
Three Images Sum Up The Cruise
As I got off the Oriana, three images sum up the cruise.
The first was a good one and it was the nameplate of my steward with a tip underneath.
Mary Did Well
Mary deserves all she receives and I hope she does well in the future.
The second image shows the litter bin containing some of the many tissues, that I used to stem my rhinitis and quite a few tea-bags, as I drank tea incessantly on the cruise.
Tissues And Tea Bags
The third image is only in my mind, but it consists of a queue of glum people wanting to get off the Oriana, as like me, the main thing they came for was a bit of sun, and the weather didn’t deliver.
If I go on a cruise again, I’ll go somewhere, where the weather is guaranteed to be better.
Perhaps though, P&O should pay me to stay away, as it seems I’m always the one, who gets the bad weather.
It’s Not Just The Dutch That Get Rail Ticketing Wrong
We always think of the Swiss as being clever and efficient, but according to this report on the BBC web site, they seem to have trumped the Dutch by bringing in a ticketing system, that is even worse, than the one I described here.
One thing that never seems to work with these systems, but does usually work well in the UK, is how the system deals with the occasional problem or a traveller, like the man I met, who was using a London bus for the first time in his sixties, despite living there for years. In his case, the probably very friendly bus driver was able to help him out.
I’ve had a case on the train from London to Ipswich, where I had got on the train with the wrong ticket. I can’t remember exactly why, but it may have been that I’d punched the wrong button on the machine, when I bought the ticket. In Switzerland, now, that would now mean a fine of £133, but the inspector sold me the appropriate upgrade and even took into account my Freedom Pass and Railcard. Ticket inspectors are the first line in both protecting the revenue and making the customers happy.
Let’s hope British train companies don’t do any of these.
1. Bring in swingeing fines for genuine mistakes.
2. Abandon the simple orange tickets that everyone understands.
3. Insist that everybody has a smart phone.
Point two has so many simple advantages other than the obvious one of familiarity. Imagine your ninety-year-old mother lives in Edinburgh and you want her to come to you by train. You just post her the ticket and seat reservation and tell her to get to Waverley at the appropriate time. It usually works well, as the tickets are of a size and type, that don’t get lost and are easily understood. They can also be easily shown to staff, which can’t always be said for a display on a smart phone.
My Celias Arrived Yesterday
At about ten on Wednesday morning, I ordered 24 bottles of Celia lager from DeliDevine.
Last night just as I was sitting down to my supper, there was a ring at the door and on looking out of the window there was a van from Fedex.
I opened the door and the jaunty driver put the 24 bottles inside.
I know you might get served a little quicker down the pub, but just over 24 hours to get a heavy parcel delivered, isn’t too bad in my view.
The Celia lager is very much worth drinking and I’m starting to add used bottles to my recycling box.
As it’s also available in some pubs, you can actually try before you buy, as I did a few days ago.
It’s also better than the Estrella Damm Daura, that I have to carry home from Waitrose.
The Anonymous Widower 