More Rubbish service

[steveo]

On my return form a holiday in October, I made a post moaning about the rubbish standards we seem to accept in this Country. The roadworks on the Hockley/Rayleigh road were one of my complaints. Guess what, they are still there. The blokes appear to working on the pavement, and have been for over 3 months now but they have to shut off a long stretch of the road and put in temp traffic lights. Why dont they work at night or get more than 2 or 3 people on the job?

I just emailed the government transport office with a query with regard to licenses required for various vehicles, as directed on their website. The instant email response is:

Thank you for your recent e-mail. This is receiving attention. Our service standard is to reply to 97% of all correspondence within 10 working days.

10 days to answer a simple question? Absolutely ridiculous. If most small business' conducted themselves in this manner they would be skint before you know it.

Why cant government departments be run efficiently? Surely there cant be a lack of employable people.

 

[Aberdeen Shrimper]

On my return form a holiday in October, I made a post moaning about the rubbish standards we seem to accept in this Country. The roadworks on the Hockley/Rayleigh road were one of my complaints. Guess what, they are still there. The blokes appear to working on the pavement, and have been for over 3 months now but they have to shut off a long stretch of the road and put in temp traffic lights. Why dont they work at night or get more than 2 or 3 people on the job?

I just emailed the government transport office with a query with regard to licenses required for various vehicles, as directed on their website. The instant email response is:

Thank you for your recent e-mail. This is receiving attention. Our service standard is to reply to 97% of all correspondence within 10 working days.

10 days to answer a simple question? Absolutely ridiculous. If most small business' conducted themselves in this manner they would be skint before you know it.

Why cant government departments be run efficiently? Surely there cant be a lack of employable people.

Though it pains me to admit it, in the last 5 years of living in Scotland and particularly Aberdeen, I have noticed a marked difference in general attitudes towards public services compared to England. There seems to be more of a positive feeling towards getting things achieved and getting them achieved correctly. They do appear to be rather more proactive rather than reactive.

Around Aberdeenshire you very rarely see road works drag on, public transport always seems to be efficient and reasonably priced, all be it there has been a dispute recently with the bus drivers but that was sorted quite quickly.

I put a lot of it down to the Scott’s possibly feeling prouder of their little country that what the English are of theirs and therefore wanting to make it a better place to live and of course there is always the competitive one up man ship over the English that drives them. They like nothing better than to come up with an initiative that is then followed/copied by England.

 

[osymandus]

On my return form a holiday in October, I made a post moaning about the rubbish standards we seem to accept in this Country. The roadworks on the Hockley/Rayleigh road were one of my complaints. Guess what, they are still there. The blokes appear to working on the pavement, and have been for over 3 months now but they have to shut off a long stretch of the road and put in temp traffic lights. Why dont they work at night or get more than 2 or 3 people on the job?

I just emailed the government transport office with a query with regard to licenses required for various vehicles, as directed on their website. The instant email response is:

Thank you for your recent e-mail. This is receiving attention. Our service standard is to reply to 97% of all correspondence within 10 working days.

10 days to answer a simple question? Absolutely ridiculous. If most small business' conducted themselves in this manner they would be skint before you know it.

Why cant government departments be run efficiently? Surely there cant be a lack of employable people.

Becuase their run to make money thats why ;) . Also at this time of year budgets need to be spent hence why we get more roadworks ;)

 

[steveo]

Becuase their run to make money thats why

But making money is not a by-product of offering crap service. Offer a better service and you might have more scope to make money.

If they are saying this is a loss making service they are offering, well why bother to offer it at all?

 

[Aberdeen Shrimper]

Becuase their run to make money thats why ;) . Also at this time of year budgets need to be spent hence why we get more roadworks ;)

Exactly......I know that if I come under budget at the end of the year I get asked one of two questions.

1. Excluding UPP’s, what did you not do in the last 12 months that you said you would and needed money for?

2. Why did you ask for more then you needed?

In the last 6 weeks of the year, I always aim to go slightly over budget ensuring I will at least get the same or more when I ask for it the following year.
I would imagine it is a similar scenario with the council departments.

 

[osymandus]

But making money is not a by-product of offering crap service. Offer a better service and you might have more scope to make money.

If they are saying this is a loss making service they are offering, well why bother to offer it at all?

Ill rephrase that (plus look at Aberdeens post ;) ), the model used in the private sectors aer geared to produce profit year in year out , this cant work for service industrys that provide public services , it makes no sense , say soical workers , child care , health care . The epathisi on these professions is care giving , your "clients" are not consumers , its neccesary to provide as much as feasbly possible the care required , not to build a profit margin.

High earning companies with offices based in countries should be made to pay a proprtion of profits (say you earn 100 million a year a donation of 1% which increments ) to public services.

 

[osymandus]

Exactly......I know that if I come under budget at the end of the year I get asked one of two questions.

1. Excluding UPP’s, what did you not do in the last 12 months that you said you would and needed money for?

2. Why did you ask for more then you needed?

In the last 6 weeks of the year, I always aim to go slightly over budget ensuring I will at least get the same or more when I ask for it the following year.
I would imagine it is a similar scenario with the council departments.

This is why accountants should be made to work in alternate employment for at least a year as part of their training to make them relasise some of them dont live in the "real world"

 

[steveo]

High earning companies with offices based in countries should be made to pay a proprtion of profits (say you earn 100 million a year a donation of 1% which increments ) to public services.

So penalise people the poeple who are doing well and running successful business' then.
Great idea Osy, but they are already paying **** loads of tax so why make them pay again?

 

[pringlejon]

What's the difference between the government and organised crime?

One is organised.

 

[londonblue]

On my return form a holiday in October, I made a post moaning about the rubbish standards we seem to accept in this Country. The roadworks on the Hockley/Rayleigh road were one of my complaints. Guess what, they are still there. The blokes appear to working on the pavement, and have been for over 3 months now but they have to shut off a long stretch of the road and put in temp traffic lights. Why dont they work at night or get more than 2 or 3 people on the job?

I just emailed the government transport office with a query with regard to licenses required for various vehicles, as directed on their website. The instant email response is:

Thank you for your recent e-mail. This is receiving attention. Our service standard is to reply to 97% of all correspondence within 10 working days.

10 days to answer a simple question? Absolutely ridiculous. If most small business' conducted themselves in this manner they would be skint before you know it.

Why cant government departments be run efficiently? Surely there cant be a lack of employable people.

But that isn't what it says. It says it will take up to 10 days. Don't forget this is an automated email. No-one has read your email at this point, and they don't therefore know how long it will take to answer. All they are doing is saying it won't take any longer than that.

Don't also forget that your email isn't the only one they've received. I suspect they answer emails in the order they received them, and so you'll have to wait your turn.

Personally I don't see what the big deal is.

However, don't get me started on roadworks!

 

[osymandus]

So penalise people the poeple who are doing well and running successful business' then.
Great idea Osy, but they are already paying **** loads of tax so why make them pay again?

I really wish it were that black and white Steveo .
But thats just it their not paying their full wack of taxies , even excluding the indivduals, i know for a fact large companies (having worked for a few and even small ones ) will legally engage in loop holes and tax dodges that enable them to skirt around what they should pay .
If they did tax rates could be lowered and the so called people who work for it (and again ive met plenty that really havnt earnt their ridiculous wages) are some of teh ones screwing us over , along with the other end of the spectrum of benifits fruadsters and all the ones in between.

An example of say all the petrolim firms even giving 1% of their profits from last year (and to make it fair 1% of their combined profits ) even say just in this country alone would more then help bolst our flocking coffers.

 

[steveo]

Personally I don't see what the big deal is.

Its just inefficiency. Why should you have to wait up to 10 days for an answer for a simple question?
If they have too many questions, then employ more people.

 

[londonblue]

Its just inefficiency. Why should you have to wait up to 10 days for an answer for a simple question?
If they have too many questions, then employ more people.

But they don't know how detailed the question is. All they have said is that it might take up to 10 days. As I said above, this is an automated email sent to all enquiries. Some of them may well need that long to respond to. Your's is indeed a relatively simple question, but the automated response doesn't know that.

As I also said, you have no idea how many emails they've received recently. Your's may well be the 10 thousandth (quite a resonable guess given the 60,000,000 people in the country) so 10 days is actually a pretty good turnaround. You just don't know.

 

[steveo]

You just don't know.

Ill let you know when we get an answer.

 

[londonblue]

Ill let you know when we get an answer.

Exactly. Wait and see how long it takes, and their explanation of why it took so long before you come down on them.

 

[Firestorm]

Its just inefficiency. Why should you have to wait up to 10 days for an answer for a simple question?
If they have too many questions, then employ more people.

But its says their service standard is 97% answered within 10 days, not what they will or will not do, but the very maximum their regulatory body percieves is the standard to set.

If they have too many questions to meet 97% answered in 10 days, then no doubt they will have to employ.

Your anger , I feel, should be directed at the pertinent regulatory body who set , what is in your opinion, a slack standard.

 

[please delete my account]

Its just inefficiency. Why should you have to wait up to 10 days for an answer for a simple question?
If they have too many questions, then employ more people.

I feel your pain, Chap, I really do...

If you like, we can break into the head honcho's office and have a sit in/ dirty protest, just like the one I staged on the trains when they put their prices up..

Regards

 

[Lord Football]

Its just inefficiency. Why should you have to wait up to 10 days for an answer for a simple question?
If they have too many questions, then employ more people.

At chuffing last!!!!!!! He says something I agree with.


The Government entertains "efficiency drives". That translates as "cutting jobs". They still however try to provide the same service. It can't be done. They can re-organise, reshuffle, rebrand, rename or whatever as many times as they want (and they do) but you simply can't getting three people doing the work of nine at the same standard.

Here is an example of "customer service" HMRC style.

Phone up the Tax Credits hotline at 8am. You will be met by someone who has just arrived at work. They are told they must answer the phone so they will take you through the security questions and then tell you to phone back as their PC isn't working yet. The Department tick a big box saying they answered the call - because that is what they count. Job done. Of course you, as the "customer" get no service you just have to phone back later.

Steve, you may well find that your "10 day" email is also a box ticking exercise on the basis that you got an immediate response.