Customer service....

No, not a gripe or tale of woe. A true story of good customer service, no - two of them!!!!

Saturday - went shopping in the retail mecca that is Salisbury (on my own) I had a lad thing to pick up that I had ordered from Greenfields (Gunsmiths) & wanted to go to MotaMan for some Autoglym (they stock the entire range of commercial stuff). I wandered into the Vodafone Store with a general enquiry about getting a 2nd SIM for my car. Something I had been told by other Vodafone stores as being a bit difficult & not something they really recommended. The Sales Assistant in Salisbury just got on & did it, no bitching, no fussing, no moaning or groaning when he was hanging on the phone to Vodafone HQ trying to sort it out - he just did what I knew was possible. He didn't even charge me, quite the contrary, he found a better tarrif for me whilst I was there!

Friday\Monday - with new car purchase I had to change insurance for it, with the added complication of transferring my cherished plate I needed dual cover for a couple of days whilst the Audi dealership did its stuff. Jason at A-Plan Insurance brokers in Alton (who I have never met, but have spoken to on a few occasions) again, just sorted it. No fuss, no charge, just happy to help & clearly wants to retain my business.

Check out the Hall of Fame for more.

Once again....

I find myself posting a comment about not posting comments enough! [Not that I think anyone reads this crap]

I have been subjected to a couple of reviews at work of late, numbers, numbers & numbers again, then review plans to get the numbers! Seems my numbers don't match their numbers, so the number I have must be wrong. Hence the lack of posts here - sorry, whoever you are.

Time for a new car....

I have over the last couple of weeks had a few issues with my car.

It's a nice car, I like it a lot, but two weeks ago it needed 2 new tyres coming in at £560 in total, last week it cost £550 to get serviced & they also told me it needed new brake discs & pads all round, coming to a projected cost of £720!!

I set my man at Audi Basingstoke a challenge on colour, mileage, price, finance & interior spec etc. He came through meeting all of my criteria without even a blink or "we can't possibly do it for that price" crap that all previous salesmen have come up with, so I signed on the dotted line today for one of these......



An Audi A8 4.2 Quattro Tiptronic in Silver with black leather, less expensive tyres on it and it even comes with a service contract thrown in, so no servicing costs for 3 years! Should be with me by end of the month.

I have been looking at updating it for a while, but these costs have spurred me onto doing it sooner rather than later. I told the service dept not to book me in for the brakes to be done, their sales team will be picking up the cost, not me!

Time for a new passport....

My passport expired a few days ago, I let it run its full course as I wanted to get out of going to my employers Worldwide kickoff, you need to have a passport with 6 months or more left on it to travel to the US.

I can't be doing with that sort of travelling anymore, I have done a lot of travelling in the last 20 years which I have enjoyed, but as I have got older & wiser I feel that my 6'4" frame doesn't like being squashed into a seat made for standard 5'8" person & now I hate it so much I don't do cattle class if I can get away with it, I'll happily pay for Club myself & travel less frequently. Even if I volunteered to pay the extra for Club Class my employer wouldn't let me - so bollocks to it, I ain't going.

I found the online pages of the UK Passport Service & have applied, paid my fee & the paperwork that needs to be filled in by my countersignatory arrived by post the very next day - easy as an easy thing.

UK Passport Service

As expected Blair calls for vote in May....

Mr Blair has called for a General Election on Thursday May 5, as we all expected after his office probably gave details to the press a few weeks ago & they have predicted it in their publications for the last month or so.

Blair says "It's a big choice and there's a lot at stake"

Michael Howard said people could either reward Mr Blair for eight years of broken promises, or vote for his party "which is taking a stand and has promised action on the issues that matter".

Charles Kennedy promised a campaign which would be "positive and ambitious". He said: "I'm not going to spend these precious few weeks doing this country down."

Monster Raving Looney Party says "We will issue a 99p coin to save on change"

You have to vote Looney - anyone with their registered address being a pub has to be a winner! - The Dog & Partridge, 105 Reading Road, Yateley, Hampshire GU46 7LR.

No posts for nearly a week...

I had a plan to post here every 2 or 3 days with details of my rich and varied life (not!), but as last week was quarter end for my business, I failed miserably. It was very busy & completely painful, but I live safe in the knowledge that it will all happen again in 13 weeks time.