Got to start somewhere

I'm starting this blog because I've had a fantastic couple of years but some of the worst luck you could possibly imagine. I wanted somewhere to be able to express my hatred and distaste of terrible and shocking customer service without boring and annoying my friends and family senseless any longer.

My intention is to be scrupulously honest though and I will give credit where is due, praise products and services I love. Give the subjects of my ranting a fair and even chance to respond, change my mind, refute my claims and accusations or improve their service and I'll let you the reader know.

So a little background.

In the past couple of years, Mrs Bunny Chow and I have gotten married become parents, bought a modest home, furnished it with love, a stupid but very sweet staffie called Bunny Chow and two indifferent cats who we love anyway.

Our first son is the light of my life and I can't wait for his little brother to be born in a couple of weeks time.

We've had appalling experiences with insurance companies, of the vehicular and buildings variety, we've had cowboy builders, used big companies to install and reinstall bathrooms, we've been burgled, Mrs Bunny Chow has lost both her parents, we've tried and failed to sell our modest little home for a slightly less modest and more family oriented one because of the incompetence of our estate agents.

As I say we've been very unlucky.

So my intention for now is to try and move forward whilst documenting some of the issues we have had and the mistakes we and others have made in the hope that one or two of you out there in the cyber world can benefit from my hindsight.

I don't intend for now to drag up any of the past complaints or how we eventually resolved them but I urge each and every one of you to do your own research before making the decision to invest your hard earned money in any of the following list of organisations that I have had run ins with in the past couple of years and believe to be rotten beyond redemption.

B&Q
Admiral Car Insurance
Aviva Home Insurance
Wallis Carpentry
ROK
HDNL
British Telecom
Capital One
The Zimbabwean Government

The list is by no means exhaustive and I'm sure that there are individuals within these organisations who are excellent at what they do and my distaste is not aimed at them personally but the culture in which their organisations are run.

You see what gets my goat more than anything else is a lack of individual pride and ownership of the customers issues, complaints and gripes. I know that I am a difficult customer, I am a customer service and sales professional and I expect the businesses that I give my money to, to provide me with a level of service and pride that they would be willing and proud to receive themselves. I expect them to invest in their staffs happiness and morale so that their staff actually care about the end customer the little man on the street, me, my family and friends.

I appreciate that times are tough and there has to be a bottom line and every business needs to scrimp to make the maximum profit but I don't believe for one minute that the way for these mostly large, swollen and faceless corporations to stay in business is to forget the customers who in the grand scheme of things don't bring a huge amount of revenue into their coffers, but there are a lot of us and if they upset us all as individuals then where will their once thriving businesses end up.

But enough of my doom and gloom for now I want to wholeheartedly recommend a few companies who I feel are the antithesis of my prior ranting. These organisations deserve to grow, they want you to come back and spend more money with them so they invest their time and often money in ensuring you keep bringing your personal as well as recommended business back to their door.

www.myalldesigns.com/ - a web design company with big talent and big ambitions

Timpsons - they fixed my boots and then asked for a donation in their charity box

Bumi Hills Safari Lodge - an idyllic spot on Lake Kariba in beautiful Zimbabwe. www.bumihills.com

The Courtney Boot Company - manufactures of expensive but extremely hard wearing footwear  www.courteneyboot.com/ 

So I'll sign off for now with my introductions, initial mini rant and praise done but look forward to hearing of your thoughts and experiences of both terrible and great service.

ttfn

Mr Bunny Chow