Wednesday, December 15, 2010

And I'm back

For some reason google had detected suspicious activity and the blog was de-activated..

Sunday, July 25, 2010

A tale of two stores - how customer service can vary.

Having recently purchased an iPad I decided to see if my existing mobile broadband (payg) SIMs on Vodafone could be changed to microsims.

The Vodafone forum on boards.ie had a few postings from Vodafone representatives which confirmed that SIMs could be swapped without problem.

So off I went to Vodafone's Mahon Point shop this morning . I went in and asked could I swap my SIM. The three lads there looked at me as if I'd 14 heads. They said no. I said that it was stated on Boards that this wasn't the case. One of them hit a few keys on their computer and came back with "microsims are on contract only". That was that. No attempt to discuss the issue.

I decided I'd wander into town and called into Vodafone on Patrick St (the former Cudmore's). I told my story. Had a chat about the iPad. The initial reaction was "I don't think so" but was followed up by "I'll check". Plenty of checking was done , the iPad plans were explained and Customer Care was contacted and the deed was done.

At no stage did I feel like I was imposing on them. I got the overall feeling that the staff wanted to find out the exact situation in order to be able to provide customer service. Whilst I was there a number of other people were dealt with efficiently and with good humour.

I also dropped into O2 to change a SIM and it was done immediately.

The lesson for me is that in one store they were willing to do that bit extra to resolve (or at least confirm) the situation whereas in Mahon Point they couldn't be bothered.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Cork Airport's Dodgy Advertising

What the picture giveth, the small print taketh away and suddenly it looks less like a bargain.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Bagad Lann Bihoue in Cork St Patrick's Day parade 2010

Amongst the many nations who participated in the 2010 St Patrick's Day parade in Cork was France. A crew from a French naval vessel marched along with a few members of that great navy pipeband - the Bagad Lann Bihoue

Sunday, February 07, 2010

The Mills of Cork Corporation grind slowly.

On December 7 2009 I posted a picture showing litter outside the Boardwalk restaurant in town.

On December 10 I emailed the Environment Section of Cork City Council complaining about the litter - after all the Council tells us that they take littering seriously.

However a reply didn't seem to be forthcoming so on January 7 I resent the email to Environment but also copied in the Corporate Affairs section as they are the guardians of the Customer Charter.

No response from them either.

Judge my surprise when I received an email from the Council on January 20 - a good six weeks after my initial contact. In it I was told that they examined the area on January 4 and it was found to be clean. I did wonder if they would have taken action sooner if it was a small shop owned by a nobody rather than a restaurant fronted by Cork's Loudest & Most-Opinionated mouth ?

So folks, let it be known - the City Council's Rapid Reaction Force is out there and keeping an eye on our city.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

A question to Councillors

Councillors:

Prior to the bad weather what did ye do to ascertain if your Local Authority was ready for bad winter weather ?

Did you contact your Roads manager and establish if there were sufficient stocks of material on hand ?

Did you contact your Finance officer to see if there was overtime budget available ?

When you saw the forecasts for bad weather did you ring the relevant people in your authority and ask if they were going to be going out gritting ?

Did you keep your constituents up to date with what was happening ?

Or did you wait until you awoke out of your post-Christmas slumber and caught up with the events as noted in the indo ?