There's a phrase, whether it was from the 'Ronseal' TV commercial campaign during the 90s, I do not know, I'm sure someone will duly correct me!!.... it simply said at the end of the advert, "it does exactly what its says on the tin". No frills, no gimicks, our products stains wood. I like that - what you see is what you get.
Now, that brings me onto one of my pet-hates, love them or loathe them - customer call centres. CUSTOMER SERVICES - It does exactly what it says on the tin? Right? It provides a service to its customers and their needs/concerns. I could be very much mistaken though.
To set the scene, I'll back-track for context, so bear with me.
When relocating from Slough to Haverhill, we fell in love with the last property we saw on a long day of 20-viewings (that's probably one every half hour between 9am-6pm - not recommended from first-hand experience). We discovered the property had been on the market less than a week so we were one of the first to view. We promptly put an offer in and it was accepted.
One of the best features about our 1960's-built terraced house is an out-shed/alleyway that runs parallel to the property - hence providing access to the back-garden. These out-sheds have exterior doors either side. It is interesting to note that this differs from property to property. Some owners keep the out-shed as a store for bicycles etc. Others have bricked up the doorways to provide a separate room (such as a utility room). Ours has the exterior doors remaining but the partion wall has been knocked through, providing an extra-large lounge space. This is one of the reasons we love the property.
So, we sat down with the layouts/measurements and decided that a sideboard and dining table/chairs would fit perfectly in the room with still plenty of space for a large TV and a couple of two-seater sofas. We went window-shopping to all the furniture retailers - the Ikeas, Argos, Harveys, MFIs, Furniture Villages etc etc. We tried out loads of tables and chairs and plumped for an oak-veneered table with leather high-backed chairs, accompanied by matching side-board and coffee table from Harveys. We placed the order, subject to successfully completing the house move. So, this was all set-up and we received our furniture on 25th September. The delivery driver did notice a scratch/chip on the coffee table so took photos on his digital camera and wrote a comment on his delivery note stating the problem and recommendation for replacement. I then received a phone call from the delivery company in November saying the new replacement coffee table had arrived from the manufacturer. Delivery was scheduled on 20th December.
I managed to arrange to have the day-off to receive the new delivery. So, I waited.... and waited... and waited. I kept myself busy by doing housework when my mobile phone rang.... it was my boss..... I then got a call from the wife..... then continued to wash up. Whilst doing so I had another call but assumed it was either my boss or the wife again so let it ring. It was only then when listening to the voicemail that it was the delivery driver calling to say the replacement coffee table had been damaged during transit so no point him coming and he'd take it back to the depot. I was quite furious but these things happen.
I then had another call mid-January with a new delivery slot - Mon 12th Feb. I was told that the delivery could arrive any time between 12noon and 8pm.
Fine, I'll work from home. So again I waited.... and waited.... and waited. The wife was getting quite fidgety about 7pm - I calmed her down reassuring her the delivery could take up to 8pm. We'd been at our parents for the weekend and hadn't got the chance to go shopping - so by now the wife was hungry and tired. So at 7.55pm the mobile rings - the delivery driver! Oh good. "I'm afraid we're gonna have to leave your delivery off as by law we can only do 10hours driving a day and the depot have given us too many drop-offs". I went mental. I phoned his office and went mad. I explained that it was now the third time we had failed to receive a quality product - some good six months since we placed the original order. The supervisor spoke to the driver and called back - apparently it was the driver's/warehouse's fault for departing the depot late. So, as usual one person blames the other. I told the supervisor that I didn't care who's fault it was and I was increasingly getting fed-up of using paid-holiday (she is not to know that I can work from home) - and I would prefer a delivery slot after 5.30pm. She said she couldn't guarantee this but would speak to the distribution manager and call me back the next evening to confirm - which was meant to be last night. She sounded really f*cked off with me at the time - so no great surprises that I got no phone call.
I will take all the paperwork and visit my nearest Harveys store at lunchtime. Quite tempted to persuade perusing potential customers not to buy from a shoddy outfit as their delivery times are truly awful.
Still, it's Valentine's today so I bought a bottle of pink champagne and two packs of strawberries last night. I also bought the wife a sentimental card and bought her a little white porcelain mug that says 'I love you'. Silly, I know! I will buy her some roses later on.
