Having had a very bad internet week, I am appalled at the lack of service from some firms to whom I am consistently paying good money and then so pleasantly surprised by others.

The good: Sebo vacuum cleaners. I only heard of these because in despair I asked someone industrial what to do having consistently trashed vacuum after vacuum. After 24 hours with my new ‘Felix’ I thought ‘we’ had broken that too and in desperation rang the Sebo helpline. What a surprise, the lady who answered the phone told me exactly which button to press and all is now well again.

The bad: Vodafone. (Sorry Vodafone, I love you very much, but only when my gismo is working). Phone line (0870) engaged (only after listening to a load of options and paying for the privilege). E-mail – initial response after several days – please ring us on (same 0870 number). PC World (where I bought the gismo) we can only help you if you have bought absolutely EVERYTHING from us!

The almost as bad: Virgin Media. The web site has got all the obvious help on it for broadband going down and is really good, there is also a free number to ring to see if they have ‘dug up’ your area; sadly, the bloke reading the message out cannot speak so I never really understood which part of Leeds was affected. It is still only working occasionally, I have rebooted everything, done system restore back to before it went wrong, checked every setting known to man, wasted 5 hours…..

The amazing: The IT Support Club on Ecademy. Twice now I have personally received help from the guys on here. They reply on Sundays too. This is one of the few places you can get interactive help for those frustrating computer issues. I cannot recommend this club highly enough. It also means that if you are looking to buy something, look here first – if you are going to need support, you may as well buy your kit from someone who gives it!

Same with insurance and investments. If you arrange them through a firm that gives a service – like answering telephone and e-mail messages coherently for example – then when things are tough, you have someone to turn to. There are IFAs on Ecademy too!! Give poor service and they risk a big bad blog about themselves!

Do you remember the olden days when the council used to grit pavements? Yes, it was a long time ago! Today I walked to the papershop for my FT Weekend with the dog and nearly came a severe cropper on the ice where the sun had refused to shine on the path. Given that the government is trying to get us out of our cars and on to these treacherous paths you would have thought….. also, as it is much rarer to be so frosty we have less experience to deal with it and it wouldn’t have to be done very often, we also have lots of minor offenders holed up in prison…. is this the germ of an idea? You would think that when events like bed races are cancelled due to health & safety concerns (very far fetched and hard to imagine ones) that this extremely obvious peril would be considered.

How did the council afford to do it before? Is there a history lesson here? Now that they can work smart, not answer the phone, not bother to employ anyone who can string a coherant letter together, why can’t they afford to grit paths? Around here every household is paying over £1,000 in council tax, yes, we have lights, we have gritted bus routes (some places we also have DIY grit in case of problems), we get our bins emptied, if we get them out, we are on CCTV although the retrieval process if you want to see who nicked your mobile phone seems a bit hit and miss, so how does the maths work? How much are the Christmas lights costing? How much is the council raking in from planning applications and building regulations? So many questions!

This brings me to service. Before automated answering services and on-line practises abounded, the council and everyone else had to speak to people to get things done. Now, these people that you can speak to are a rare and wonderful thing. Insurance brokers are a great case in point. Especially smaller ones. These people answer the phone, will give you advice, talk to you about your concerns and take instructions from you over the phone, by e mail or in writing.

Maybe Insurance Brokers should be in charge of gritting.

One of my lads was asking  -  all the money wiped off shares, property values, pensions and investments, where is it?

Problems for banks should not have been that difficult to predict, she says with the advantage of hindsight! They have been thwarted at every turn from getting money out of consumers:
No more single premium PPI paying huge commissions – FSA rules have rendered that old chestnut unsaleable by making banks tell the truth about what it costs and what is doesn’t cover.
BACS payments are now instant so there is no three day period for dabbling with client money on the markets.
Free banking is expected without minimum deposit – I wonder how much longer that will last?
Compensation for unreasonable bank charges is being sought left, right and centre.

These are just the main headlines! So with income streams melting away and a ‘credit crunch’ to contend with along with rebellious consumers, banks are struggling. One major investment bank has lost more in the last six months than it made in the last ten years apparently – and we are expected to entrust them with our money! Some finanical institutions are refusing to let go of our investments too. Have they had it good for too long? Are mattresses better places to put your money? Certainly, now more than ever, consumers should get independent advice.

I seem to spend a lot of time doing this especially at silly o’clock in the morning – breakfast is the best meal of the day..? Recently discovered ecademy however, this enables world-wide networking wthout leaving the house or polluting the atmosphere and you can still have breakfast.

Interestingly I have met a young man in Romania who used to live and work in LEEDS! He is totally sympathetic about my weather problems – you know, the weather changes hour by hour, you never know what to wear and can’t plan a bar b que.

This I theorise is what is wrong with the UK, why we don’t drink responsibly and use cars indescriminately.

So in the interests of economy and keeping dry I would encourage you to have a look at ecademy – the business networking site.

Hello

This is my new blog site, look out for Finanical Services Industry news and views, business ideas and general bleating about weather and sport!

Warmest wishes

Karen