Category: Brickbats And Bouquets

Hear what we have to say about businesses based in and around the High Peak both our complaints and compliments.

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A blight on our Royals

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Last week our family experienced the appalling service so many users of Royal Mail are regularly complaining about.

Our daughter, unable to get to see her Mum on Sunday, had posted a Mothers Day Card, including a voucher for a day out in a couple of weeks, from Sheffield City Centre on Thursday afternoon, 1st Class (next day) delivery expecting it to arrive on Friday.

Not only did it not arrive Friday, but it didn’t show up on Saturday either (yes they do claim to do Saturday deliveries still)

This left both parties embarrassed and upset, on what should have been a pleasant start to “Mums Day” and me running round trying to make the best experience I could cobble together

It is notable that our daughter had grumbled to me after posting the card “do you know how much it costs to send a card by post”? I do in fact know as I had recenly had to use Royal Mail myself, I normally only send parcels and most of those via courier, and I too had been staggered at how expensive it was.

It therefore rubs salt into the wound to see in today’s Martins Money Newsletter a notice that stamp prices are about to soar to over a £1 each

Is it any wonder that so many of us have given up sending cards and simply use email or messaging services. You can have a video call halfway around the World easier, without the expense of buying a card, or getting wet finding a post box.

Yet this shambolic system is still called “Royal Mail”, it seems to me that in the year of his Coronation, King Charles II, should ensure that Royal Mail, becomes simply “Postal (lack of) Service”, and at least the Royal Family would be rid of one embarrassment

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BrickBats & Bouquets & MORE Brickbats

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Brickbats, Bouquets & Brickbats – New from mid 2022, in the era of Covid and its aftermath we have found less to blog about, we have certainly eaten and drunk out less and at fewer places, but we have become more aware of Customer Relations showing in general a decline, particularly from larger (multiple), businesses, but smaller ones too. There seems to be some sort of “we have had these years of hardship, so now we have to cut back, charge more, open less and care less”.

This is particularly true of the Airline and Travel industries, who have cut back on services, sacked droves of staff, many of whom have returned to homes overseas, so now post Brexit are not available to return. Similar issues affect even Supermarkets, where a lack of hauliers and the war against Russian evil, mean that many products are erratic or unavailable and this is often used as an excuse to shunt up prices. We are going to name (and shame) the examples we feel are doing these sort of things, and will happily apologise if any are able to adequately explain what we perceive as poor service of shysterism.

At the same time, we really want to offer recognition to those few examples we do find where businesses are going over and above in the line of helping their customers and society in general, so we will be handing out some Bouquets as well