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Demise of Ebay?
In message 485bc023@qaanaaq, at 15:35:15 on Fri, 20 Jun 2008, Andy
Hall remarked: Most of them seem to be off duty firemen and look for payment in cash. I've never understood why. Mine is a full time window cleaner. He told me what previous job he'd retired from, but I forget what it was. The fire service. Looking at him, that's very unlikely. They retire at some ridiculously low age from there. They could put all the over-50's onto admin/inspection work. Same goes for the police. -- Roland Perry |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 14:07:35 +0100, Roland Perry said:
In message 485b53c4@qaanaaq, at 07:52:52 on Fri, 20 Jun 2008, Andy Hall remarked: Seriously though, Andy seemed to be implying that going to the post office was a waste of time (when compared to doing "post officey things" online) - I only see it that way if I'm going to the post office to do a single chore. There are only four things that I have done at the post office in the last year: - Send a package of information by Special Delivery to my accountant. This happens every couple of months. Considering the time taken waiting to be served, it would be cheaper to send it with a courier who will collect. Pick the right time of day and the queue will be shorter. It's frustrating to wait for more than ten minutes I agree. If you are sending things as a business then paying for a courier will make more sense than if it was a personal item being shipped. Whether it's my business or my personal time it's expensive. Either way I can be much more productive by not having to wait around in queues at the Post Office. - Renewed vehicle excise duty for the car. That took 45 minutes of waiting in line while people who didn't have the right or complete set of information argued with the counter staff or chatted about the weather. Last time, it was renewed on line - a time saving of an hour overall. I won't be using the Post Office for that again I've had two lost in the post on the way back to me. On balance I would probably now still order online, but only because I now know how to get a replacement in only half a dozen letters and phone calls. - Collection of an imported parcel and payment of VAT. That involved a wait in the rain of 30 mins and surly service. Royal Mail is still out of touch with customer service. I now mandate that professional private courier services are used and don't place business with anybody using Royal Mail At a Post Office? How odd. Everywhere I've lived you do that (and other similar transactions) at the sorting office. And there are rarely any queues, albeit they have rather restricted opening hours. The sorting office is at the Post Office. They may be seaparate organisations but have the same bad public sector culture of the past. Hopeless. - Return of goods purchased on line. I now favour suppliers who a have a return arrangement where the goods are collected. Which they charge you for in the general price of their goods. But if that's affordable for you, then who are we to criticise how you spend your money. This isn't the issue. If they sell defective goods, then they should be dealing with that problem. in either case there are plenty of places to meet socially for a chat with willing participants rather than getting in the way of people who simply want to make what should be quick and efficient simple business transactions. When I lived in Somerset, that place was at the supermarket checkout till. sigh Clearly the Post Office has lost all touch with reality since it launched its "People's Post Office" marketing. What kind of sh*t is that? It demonstrates that they have lost the plot completely. It demonstrates you are not really within their target market, that's for sure. I am so pleased to know that. I wonder who is though. Are there really people who would be suckered by that nonsense? It has no actual value other than trying to pretend that they are providing something for "the common good". The product offerings are presented as something suitable for people who haven't used them before - somewhat insulting to their intelligence. |
Demise of Ebay?
Mary Fisher wrote:
Yesterday someone phoned to ask if it would be OK to pay by BACS (I know, some people have odd ideas). Spouse said yes. I cam to the PC and it was here within ten minutes. I have no idea when interest begins to be paid but on the current account it's so little that I immediately transferred it to my e-saver. Her bank isn't even in the same group as mine. Maybe you're already on Faster Payments, which started on 27th May. To pinch a list from elsewhe Able to SEND (up to ??10K) - HSBC (including First Direct) - RBS (including NatWest) - Barclays (although some people report amounts limited) - Lloyds TSB by TELEPHONE only (not online) - Tesco Able to receive - HSBC (including First Direct) - RBS (including NatWest) - Coventry BS - Egg - Tesco - Northern Rock - Newcastle (but doesn't show online until next day, though with previous day's date) - Halifax - Lloyds TSB - Alliance & Leicester (certain sort codes only?) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=985463 Theo |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 14:38:04 +0100, "Clive George" said:
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485b53c4@qaanaaq... There are only four things that I have done at the post office in the last year: - Collection of an imported parcel and payment of VAT. That involved a wait in the rain of 30 mins and surly service. Royal Mail is still out of touch with customer service. I now mandate that professional private courier services are used and don't place business with anybody using Royal Mail Interesting. I just realised I had the same problem - imported parcel, VAT and duty to be paid. I recieved a standard form through the door telling me I needed to do this. I went online, paid the duty, and the parcel was delivered the next day. USPS priority mail on the USian side, translated to parcelforce on this side. No queueing at post office, rain, or anything like that - I didn't have to go outside or even lift the phone. Perfect customer service IMO, and no private courier services used. clive Their behaviour is inconsistent. That system relies on the tracking working properly. I have found that it doesn't 50% of the time. Even a card system is appalling customer service. They have wasted over a day in doing this and expect the customer to take an action. If I am importing something with DHL as the courier, they call or email me while the goods are in transit and the customs clearance is underway. They take a card number over the phone and there is no delay. If I use Fedex, they simply deliver the goods and invoice me afterwards. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 14:17:22 +0100, Roland Perry said:
In message , at 23:40:14 on Thu, 19 Jun 2008, geoff remarked: Andy's gone uncharacteristically quiet for some reason ... Maybe he's sat at home waiting for a courier to arrive? I am not frequently at home and when I am, it certainly isn't waiting for anything. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 15:07:32 +0100, "Bob Eager" said:
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:58:35 UTC, Andy Hall wrote: On 2008-06-20 09:34:36 +0100, Mark said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:05:22 +0100, Andy Hall Have you tried a Mac? OS/X has about 4-5 icons in the dock after loading and most common things can be done from these. It's very stable and simple to use if you don't want sophistication. It doesn't break or deteriorate like Windows either. But a lot of people are brainwashed into thinking that Windows is the only OS. I know, which is all the more amazing when it isn't even that, but just a disk file system with unstable graphics on the top. I'm no apologist for Windows, but that's just plain wrong. OK, so nowadays, with the NT technology shamelessly taken from VMS, they have a little middleware glue. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 14:20:48 +0100, Roland Perry said:
In message 485aa6d4@qaanaaq, at 19:35:00 on Thu, 19 Jun 2008, Andy Hall remarked: I'm pretty sure it was a child, and that was the only way they could easily transmit the funds. I expect "bank of dad" was getting fed up with being an intermediary. The name wasn't Bunter was it? A good solution for this issue is a prepay card. To the seller it works like a debit card. Prepay cards have high commission rates, and also mean (in practice on eBay) that you have to get a PayPal account. Lots of bother for a kid who just wants to buy one or two things. So shop in other places than Ebay. There are some thing that a re much easier to find on eBay. As a self-professed "people should make their own choices" nut, I wonder why you think people shouldn't be allowed to make a choice to use eBay (and Postal Orders) if that's what they think soles their need the best. I'm not a nut about anything, let alone freedom of choice. By definition, people need to discover that themselves. As far as Ebay is concerned, I really don't care whether people use them or not. However, if one does use an organisation to buy and sell and it doesn't work properly, it's an equivalent to banging one's head on a brick wall. Stop doing it or don't whinge about the pain. People seem to think it's a be all and end all. It isn't. It's better than anything else, a lot of the time. But it's not immune from drawbacks. Bettter than.... A lot of the time....?? What's that all about? Either it works properly or it doesn't work properly. If it works properly, then great. If it doesn't then don't use it. It's an unregulated E Commerce organisation. That's all. It's regulated in many ways, although lots of folk don't realise it. All the more foolish for not understanding the rules of the game. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 14:24:24 +0100, Roland Perry said:
In message 485aa660@qaanaaq, at 19:33:04 on Thu, 19 Jun 2008, Andy Hall remarked: given repeated grief I've had over the years with local councils "losing" payments it's overall simpler and easier to send them a cheque for the council tax. You also keep the money in your account for a few more days, not earning the interest that's paying for the Bizarre. Online banking shows on-screen statements of exactly when the direct debit was collected. All that shows is they collected the money. It doesn't prove it was applied to *my* CT debt. That is then their problem. You have the proof that they collected payment. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Some people, for example, have two properties, so showing *a* payment to the council doesn't prove *both* sets of CT have been paid. As a result they make it *your* problem if the CT account for any property hasn't received the incoming funds. Even if the payments were precisely the same, it would be possible to look over a period of time and see that the total amount of money paid was the correct amount for two properties. As far as I'm concerned, they can do what they like and can make representations for the money. Should they wish to do that through the courts they can do so. Bits of paper are superfluous to being able to prove or not that money was transferred to the recipient. So I can go down the council office with my laptop and mobile data card, and point at the screen? And they'd take that as *proof*? Why on earth would you do that? What a waste of time. Let them make representations for the money. The 'representations' are letters saying "see you in court". That's fine. Their solicitors will receive a string of very lengthy letters by FAX demonstrating that monies have been paid and when. That doesn't require the use of cheques or any other form of treeware. Since cheques require to be touched by multiple human beings and local government employees, the chances of mishap are far higher than with EFT. I have found the reverse to be true in practice. I'd close the Co-op bank account in that case. I don't remember which bank the councils were using. The piggy one, probably. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 14:28:36 +0100, Roland Perry said:
In message , at 19:36:57 on Thu, 19 Jun 2008, Mary Fisher remarked: PayPal: payment received within minutes Apparently not always the case. There are many reports of so-called "instant transfers" being converted into something called an e-cheque, which takes about 10 days to 'clear'. That's NEVER been my experience. It's always been instant. But there are exceptions in every field. Things have apparently changed considerably in the last few weeks, to co-incide (it is alleged) with the "everyone must offer PayPal" edict. It's not clear what the "rule" is, and I've not yet got enough anecdotal evidence for a complete picture to emerge, but it's something like: An echeque is issued if the funds to make the payment have to be taken from a bank account; when that PayPal account does not have a currently valid Credit Card associated with it, or the transaction involves certain "high risk" items. What a lot of unnecessary complexity and crap just to buy and sell something. |
Demise of Ebay?
On Jun 20, 4:10 pm, Andy Hall wrote:
Interesting. I just realised I had the same problem - imported parcel, VAT and duty to be paid. I recieved a standard form through the door telling me I needed to do this. I went online, paid the duty, and the parcel was delivered the next day. USPS priority mail on the USian side, translated to parcelforce on this side. No queueing at post office, rain, or anything like that - I didn't have to go outside or even lift the phone. Perfect customer service IMO, and no private courier services used. clive Their behaviour is inconsistent. That system relies on the tracking working properly. I have found that it doesn't 50% of the time. Are you talking Royal Mail (I guess so form the reference to a PO) or Parcel Force (referred to by the previous poster) which has it's own network of depots? With the latter, I've found the tracking works just fine and you don't need to wait for the letter informing you that they have a parcel. If you try to use the online or phone system you do need the reference from the letter. Instead, just ring the depot as soon as the tracking system shows they have received the parcel from customs and quote the 13 digit tracking code. I've just done exactly that today (Milton Keynes depot). The phone was answered within three rings (after listening to a choice of options) and the guy on the other end was very helpful and pleasant. In the real world, I class that as good service form Canada Post and Parcel Force. Now I just have to ring customs to find out why they held onto the parcel for four days. MBQ |
Demise of Ebay?
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485bc858@qaanaaq...
Even a card system is appalling customer service. They have wasted over a day in doing this and expect the customer to take an action. A whole day. Whoopee ****. This isn't intended to be a time-critical service. They've said what they're going to do, and they've done it. That's just what you always say is what proper customer service is. clive |
Demise of Ebay?
On Jun 20, 4:30 pm, "Clive George" wrote:
"Andy Hall" wrote in messagenews:485bc858@qaanaaq... Even a card system is appalling customer service. They have wasted over a day in doing this and expect the customer to take an action. A whole day. Whoopee ****. This isn't intended to be a time-critical service. It is if you have paid for it to be so. In the example I quoted, a Canada Post express post item is landed and goes into the Parcel Force system as a Parcel Force 48 hour service. Unfortunately, I was shafted by customs taking 96 hours. MBQ |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 16:26:41 +0100, "Man at B&Q" said:
On Jun 20, 4:10 pm, Andy Hall wrote: Interesting. I just realised I had the same problem - imported parcel, VAT and duty to be paid. I recieved a standard form through the door telling me I needed to do this. I went online, paid the duty, and the parcel was delivered the next day. USPS priority mail on the USian side, translated to parcelforce on this side. No queueing at post office, rain, or anything like that - I didn't have to go outside or even lift the phone. Perfect customer service IMO, and no private courier services used. clive Their behaviour is inconsistent. That system relies on the tracking working properly. I have found that it doesn't 50% of the time. Are you talking Royal Mail (I guess so form the reference to a PO) or Parcel Force (referred to by the previous poster) which has it's own network of depots? In the particular case, Royal Mail, but these organisations are tarred with the same brush. With the latter, I've found the tracking works just fine and you don't need to wait for the letter informing you that they have a parcel. If you try to use the online or phone system you do need the reference from the letter. Instead, just ring the depot as soon as the tracking system shows they have received the parcel from customs and quote the 13 digit tracking code. Therein lies one of the problems. They don't have the tracking until it is at Customs. I've just done exactly that today (Milton Keynes depot). The phone was answered within three rings (after listening to a choice of options) and the guy on the other end was very helpful and pleasant. In the real world, I class that as good service form Canada Post and Parcel Force. Herein lies the problem. Acceptance of crappy service because the person was nice. I'm pleased if people are nice, but I would also like them to get the job done quickly and efficiently and with little or preferably no intervention from me. These bolted together public sector and ex public sector services are inefficient. I've had this game with USPS and Royal Mail. Sender dispatches goods on what is supposed to be an express service and sends me the tracking number. The tracking number is not detectable in the USPS system and the goods are now in a black hole. For two weeks. The next thing is a card through the door from Royal Mail expecting me to present myself at the sorting office to pay the VAT. Still no tracking number so no means to do anything remotely. At the sorting office there is a record of a tracking number that has been generated as the goods passed customs. They had been too lazy to put it on the card. Nothing was joined up about this service and it wasn't particularly cheap either. I don't consider this to be acceptable real world service. It's a hangover from the past. Now I just have to ring customs to find out why they held onto the parcel for four days. Because nobody had done the proper clearances while the goods were in transit and had not corrected any issues before the involvement of Customs. I'll contrast this with two shipments I did with Fedex this week. One was from the U.S. to me and the other from me to Germany. In both cases, the documentation, including in the case of the U.S. to UK shipment a commercial invoice were generated on line. Tracking numbers can be emailed to sender and recipient. A flag to send emails if there are scan exceptions (i.e. issues during transit) can be set. I can then call Fedex and they will collect the shipment, often in under an hour. The inbound one arrived in two days from the U.S. exactly on schedule. The invoice for VAT will probably arrive tomorrow and can be paid by BACS. For the outbound one, deivery was the following day and I can refer to the Fedex web site for proof of delivery including a scanned copy of the recipient's signature. I therefore know he received the shipment, the precise time and who signed for it and where. *That's* good service in the real world. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 16:30:23 +0100, "Clive George" said:
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485bc858@qaanaaq... Even a card system is appalling customer service. They have wasted over a day in doing this and expect the customer to take an action. A whole day. Whoopee ****. This isn't intended to be a time-critical service. They've said what they're going to do, and they've done it. That's just what you always say is what proper customer service is. clive If they took the trouble to organise themselves properly, they would be able to offer a better quality service at zero extra cost. There is always room to make improvements, increase customer satisfaction and make more money. |
Demise of Ebay?
Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 02:09:03 +0100, John Rumm said: Andy Hall wrote: Cheques are a deprecated means of payment that should have been dropped 20 years ago. There's certainly no reason for cheques to be used at all Probably true... in the 21st century. Last year I wrote one cheque. This year I am aiming not to write any. In general anybody expecting payment by cheque does not get repeat business from me. Still they have the occasional use - quite handy for paying the milkman I find.... I thought that they were normally paid in kind ;-) Perhaps, but he is not my type! -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 16:45:22 +0100, "Man at B&Q" said:
On Jun 20, 4:30 pm, "Clive George" wrote: "Andy Hall" wrote in messagenews:485bc858@qaanaaq... Even a card system is appalling customer service. They have wasted over a day in doing this and expect the customer to take an action. A whole day. Whoopee ****. This isn't intended to be a time-critical service. It is if you have paid for it to be so. In the example I quoted, a Canada Post express post item is landed and goes into the Parcel Force system as a Parcel Force 48 hour service. Unfortunately, I was shafted by customs taking 96 hours. MBQ You were shafted because there were multiple organisations involved in the process or because the sender didn't complete the shipping paperwork properly. I make large numbers of shipments into the UK from countries outside the EU and UK Customs does work pretty well. As long as airwaybills and commercial invoices are properly completed, it's very rare for there to be any delay at all let alone 4 days. A proper commercial courier takes care of these issues by making sure that the shipper does do the paperwork correctly at the outset and maintaining single organisation tracking all the way through. If that is done, then generally shipments will have had the Customs entries made during shipping and will clear automatically. It's very much a case of management by exception and unfortunately the cobbled together postal type services create a hit and miss situation that attracts attention or simply results in goods going through an inspection channel. |
Demise of Ebay?
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:42:43 UTC, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 14:45:16 +0100, "Bob Eager" said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:44:22 UTC, Jules wrote: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:00:09 +0100, Andy Hall wrote: Probably compiler writing... That's a long lost trade these days "-) It'd be interesting to compare some of the standard courses back then to typical ones at modern universities. I often wonder what modern courses actually involve - I mean do they still do all the assembler, distributed computing, functional programming etc. that we used to do way back when? Whilst not always directly useful, such things were vital to teaching basic computing skills that could be applied to all kinds of situations... Assembler per se has gone. But functional programming still has a module in the first year, and distributed computing in the second. They get TCP/IP in the first year (from me!) So there's hope yet. They're not all becoming CCIEs, able to regurgitate the IOS manuals but not understanding about networks. That's not teaching. That's training. -- The information contained in this post is copyright the poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by http://www.diybanter.com |
Demise of Ebay?
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:13:29 UTC, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 15:07:32 +0100, "Bob Eager" said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:58:35 UTC, Andy Hall wrote: On 2008-06-20 09:34:36 +0100, Mark said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:05:22 +0100, Andy Hall Have you tried a Mac? OS/X has about 4-5 icons in the dock after loading and most common things can be done from these. It's very stable and simple to use if you don't want sophistication. It doesn't break or deteriorate like Windows either. But a lot of people are brainwashed into thinking that Windows is the only OS. I know, which is all the more amazing when it isn't even that, but just a disk file system with unstable graphics on the top. I'm no apologist for Windows, but that's just plain wrong. OK, so nowadays, with the NT technology shamelessly taken from VMS, they have a little middleware glue. It's certainly son of VMS, but at least they fixed a few things this time round. -- The information contained in this post is copyright the poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by http://www.diybanter.com |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 17:29:59 +0100, "Bob Eager" said:
Assembler per se has gone. But functional programming still has a module in the first year, and distributed computing in the second. They get TCP/IP in the first year (from me!) So there's hope yet. They're not all becoming CCIEs, able to regurgitate the IOS manuals but not understanding about networks. That's not teaching. That's training. Exactly. That's why I have a pet aversion to anything described as "training". It's the antithesis to learning. Einstein once said: "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." "Training" would have been an even more applicable word than education. The sad thing is that most people don't understand the differences between these three and use them interchangeably. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 17:30:00 +0100, "Bob Eager" said:
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:13:29 UTC, Andy Hall wrote: On 2008-06-20 15:07:32 +0100, "Bob Eager" said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:58:35 UTC, Andy Hall wrote: On 2008-06-20 09:34:36 +0100, Mark said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:05:22 +0100, Andy Hall Have you tried a Mac? OS/X has about 4-5 icons in the dock after loading and most common things can be done from these. It's very stable and simple to use if you don't want sophistication. It doesn't break or deteriorate like Windows either. But a lot of people are brainwashed into thinking that Windows is the only OS. I know, which is all the more amazing when it isn't even that, but just a disk file system with unstable graphics on the top. I'm no apologist for Windows, but that's just plain wrong. OK, so nowadays, with the NT technology shamelessly taken from VMS, they have a little middleware glue. It's certainly son of VMS, but at least they fixed a few things this time round. Taking out the DECNET stack? ;-) |
Demise of Ebay?
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485bdd47@qaanaaq...
On 2008-06-20 17:29:59 +0100, "Bob Eager" said: Assembler per se has gone. But functional programming still has a module in the first year, and distributed computing in the second. They get TCP/IP in the first year (from me!) So there's hope yet. They're not all becoming CCIEs, able to regurgitate the IOS manuals but not understanding about networks. That's not teaching. That's training. Exactly. That's why I have a pet aversion to anything described as "training". It's the antithesis to learning. Einstein once said: "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." "Training" would have been an even more applicable word than education. The sad thing is that most people don't understand the differences between these three and use them interchangeably. Something we agree on. Training is for monkeys - I don't do it. Never stop learning though. clive |
Demise of Ebay?
"Clive George" wrote in message
news:0pKdncEa5YZKQ8bVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@plusnet... Training is for monkeys - I don't do it. Sometimes it is useful to be able to do the right thing *now*, rather than in a few seconds' time when you have worked it out from first principles. Particularly if your brain is already overloaded. -- Tim Ward - posting as an individual unless otherwise clear Brett Ward Limited - www.brettward.co.uk Cambridge Accommodation Notice Board - www.brettward.co.uk/canb Cambridge City Councillor |
Demise of Ebay?
On Jun 20, 4:56 pm, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 16:26:41 +0100, "Man at B&Q" said: On Jun 20, 4:10 pm, Andy Hall wrote: Interesting. I just realised I had the same problem - imported parcel, VAT and duty to be paid. I recieved a standard form through the door telling me I needed to do this. I went online, paid the duty, and the parcel was delivered the next day. USPS priority mail on the USian side, translated to parcelforce on this side. No queueing at post office, rain, or anything like that - I didn't have to go outside or even lift the phone. Perfect customer service IMO, and no private courier services used. clive Their behaviour is inconsistent. That system relies on the tracking working properly. I have found that it doesn't 50% of the time. Are you talking Royal Mail (I guess so form the reference to a PO) or Parcel Force (referred to by the previous poster) which has it's own network of depots? In the particular case, Royal Mail, but these organisations are tarred with the same brush. With the latter, I've found the tracking works just fine and you don't need to wait for the letter informing you that they have a parcel. If you try to use the online or phone system you do need the reference from the letter. Instead, just ring the depot as soon as the tracking system shows they have received the parcel from customs and quote the 13 digit tracking code. Therein lies one of the problems. They don't have the tracking until it is at Customs. Who doesn't have tracking? Tracking was available on the Canada post website. I've just done exactly that today (Milton Keynes depot). The phone was answered within three rings (after listening to a choice of options) and the guy on the other end was very helpful and pleasant. In the real world, I class that as good service form Canada Post and Parcel Force. Herein lies the problem. No problem to me. Acceptance of crappy service because the person was nice. I'm pleased if people are nice, but I would also like them to get the job done quickly and efficiently and with little or preferably no intervention from me. He did. I didn't "intervene". I rang up and paid what I owed. Now I just have to ring customs to find out why they held onto the parcel for four days. Because nobody had done the proper clearances while the goods were in transit and had not corrected any issues before the involvement of Customs. It's never happened before so I fully expect the problem is with customs. MBQ |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 17:50:37 +0100, "Tim Ward" said:
"Clive George" wrote in message news:0pKdncEa5YZKQ8bVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@plusnet... Training is for monkeys - I don't do it. Sometimes it is useful to be able to do the right thing *now*, rather than in a few seconds' time when you have worked it out from first principles. Particularly if your brain is already overloaded. The trouble with that is that you then have to trust the training. That's something that is very difficult to do if you are someone who learns. Learning doesn't have to imply first principles. It can also mean sorting, checking and comparison of information from different sources. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 17:53:18 +0100, "Man at B&Q" said:
On Jun 20, 4:56 pm, Andy Hall wrote: On 2008-06-20 16:26:41 +0100, "Man at B&Q" said: On Jun 20, 4:10 pm, Andy Hall wrote: Interesting. I just realised I had the same problem - imported parcel, VAT and duty to be paid. I recieved a standard form through the door telling me I needed to do this. I went online, paid the duty, and the parcel was delivered the next day. USPS priority mail on the USian side, translated to parcelforce on this side. No queueing at post office, rain, or anything like that - I didn't have to go outside or even lift the phone. Perfect customer service IMO, and no private courier services used. clive Their behaviour is inconsistent. That system relies on the tracking working properly. I have found that it doesn't 50% of the time. Are you talking Royal Mail (I guess so form the reference to a PO) or Parcel Force (referred to by the previous poster) which has it's own network of depots? In the particular case, Royal Mail, but these organisations are tarred with the same brush. With the latter, I've found the tracking works just fine and you don't need to wait for the letter informing you that they have a parcel. If you try to use the online or phone system you do need the reference from the letter. Instead, just ring the depot as soon as the tracking system shows they have received the parcel from customs and quote the 13 digit tracking code. Therein lies one of the problems. They don't have the tracking until it is at Customs. Who doesn't have tracking? Tracking was available on the Canada post website. This is often the case when the services of public postal services are used. As you saw, even having that information did not result in good service because nobody was really taking responsibility for expediting the shipment. Acceptance of crappy service because the person was nice. I'm pleased if people are nice, but I would also like them to get the job done quickly and efficiently and with little or preferably no intervention from me. He did. I didn't "intervene". I rang up and paid what I owed. A more useful service would be one of notification and even better clearance followed by an invoice afterwards. Now I just have to ring customs to find out why they held onto the parcel for four days. Because nobody had done the proper clearances while the goods were in transit and had not corrected any issues before the involvement of Customs. It's never happened before so I fully expect the problem is with customs. Very unlikely. It would be an interesting but fruitless exercise to contact Canada post and ask them to give you an explanation for the delay. They were paid for the service, not HMRC. |
Demise of Ebay?
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485be383@qaanaaq...
A more useful service would be one of notification and even better clearance followed by an invoice afterwards. That would be a poor business decision for them. Insisting on payment before delivery means they don't need to worry about bad debts. Would you issue credit to a name and address you knew nothing about? (otherwise opportunity for fraud is trivial - fake name, drop box for address, collect parcel, ignore invoice). clive |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 18:16:23 +0100, "Clive George" said:
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485be383@qaanaaq... A more useful service would be one of notification and even better clearance followed by an invoice afterwards. That would be a poor business decision for them. Insisting on payment before delivery means they don't need to worry about bad debts. Would you issue credit to a name and address you knew nothing about? (otherwise opportunity for fraud is trivial - fake name, drop box for address, collect parcel, ignore invoice). clive Setting up an account with credit checks done in advance would resolve that issue. |
Demise of Ebay?
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:20:48 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
So shop in other places than Ebay. There are some thing that a re much easier to find on eBay. As a self-professed "people should make their own choices" nut, I wonder why you think people shouldn't be allowed to make a choice to use eBay (and Postal Orders) if that's what they think soles their need the best. The way I look at it, if you don't like ebay but want to use it, there's little point whinging in public about it. I can't stand ebay, and I'm yet to find anything that I need and can't obtain in a way that's somehow better (cheaper / faster / less risky etc.) elsewhere. Maybe I'll buy something on there one day, but I probably don't have any business grumbling about it when I do :) cheers Jules |
Demise of Ebay?
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:58:49 +0100, Chris Shore wrote:
If my own experience is anything to go by, the longer one works with computers the more cynical one gets about what they are claimed to be able to do! Actually, I suspect there's an awful lot of truth in that! |
Demise of Ebay?
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485beab6@qaanaaq...
On 2008-06-20 18:16:23 +0100, "Clive George" said: "Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485be383@qaanaaq... A more useful service would be one of notification and even better clearance followed by an invoice afterwards. That would be a poor business decision for them. Insisting on payment before delivery means they don't need to worry about bad debts. Would you issue credit to a name and address you knew nothing about? (otherwise opportunity for fraud is trivial - fake name, drop box for address, collect parcel, ignore invoice). Setting up an account with credit checks done in advance would resolve that issue. Indeed. However it's an unnecessary additional overhead, and thus it makes sense for the public carriers to not do that. That leaves a market for value-added couriers to perform that service. Everybody wins. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 18:46:40 +0100, "Clive George" said:
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485beab6@qaanaaq... On 2008-06-20 18:16:23 +0100, "Clive George" said: "Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485be383@qaanaaq... A more useful service would be one of notification and even better clearance followed by an invoice afterwards. That would be a poor business decision for them. Insisting on payment before delivery means they don't need to worry about bad debts. Would you issue credit to a name and address you knew nothing about? (otherwise opportunity for fraud is trivial - fake name, drop box for address, collect parcel, ignore invoice). Setting up an account with credit checks done in advance would resolve that issue. Indeed. However it's an unnecessary additional overhead, and thus it makes sense for the public carriers to not do that. That leaves a market for value-added couriers to perform that service. Everybody wins. That's reasonable. Sadly people seem to believe that the crappy service provided by the public carriers is the industry norm because they have not experienced anything better. |
Demise of Ebay?
"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485bee72@qaanaaq...
On 2008-06-20 18:46:40 +0100, "Clive George" said: "Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485beab6@qaanaaq... On 2008-06-20 18:16:23 +0100, "Clive George" said: "Andy Hall" wrote in message news:485be383@qaanaaq... A more useful service would be one of notification and even better clearance followed by an invoice afterwards. That would be a poor business decision for them. Insisting on payment before delivery means they don't need to worry about bad debts. Would you issue credit to a name and address you knew nothing about? (otherwise opportunity for fraud is trivial - fake name, drop box for address, collect parcel, ignore invoice). Setting up an account with credit checks done in advance would resolve that issue. Indeed. However it's an unnecessary additional overhead, and thus it makes sense for the public carriers to not do that. That leaves a market for value-added couriers to perform that service. Everybody wins. That's reasonable. Sadly people seem to believe that the crappy service provided by the public carriers is the industry norm because they have not experienced anything better. TBH for a single parcel delivery, it's a lot less hassle for me to pay before delivery than to go through the joy of pre-arranging an account etc. So for occasional use the pay before delivery works better too. This is why private carriers also do it this way - they know a sufficient portion of their business is with people who don't want an account that it's not worth working in just that fashion. And as regards crappy service provided by public carriers - as previously noted, our experiences differ here. I consistently get good service from RM/post office/whatever, whereas private carriers have been a right pain sometimes. clive |
Demise of Ebay?
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:40:31 UTC, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 17:30:00 +0100, "Bob Eager" said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:13:29 UTC, Andy Hall wrote: On 2008-06-20 15:07:32 +0100, "Bob Eager" said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:58:35 UTC, Andy Hall wrote: On 2008-06-20 09:34:36 +0100, Mark said: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:05:22 +0100, Andy Hall Have you tried a Mac? OS/X has about 4-5 icons in the dock after loading and most common things can be done from these. It's very stable and simple to use if you don't want sophistication. It doesn't break or deteriorate like Windows either. But a lot of people are brainwashed into thinking that Windows is the only OS. I know, which is all the more amazing when it isn't even that, but just a disk file system with unstable graphics on the top. I'm no apologist for Windows, but that's just plain wrong. OK, so nowadays, with the NT technology shamelessly taken from VMS, they have a little middleware glue. It's certainly son of VMS, but at least they fixed a few things this time round. Taking out the DECNET stack? ;-) Well, yes...although nothing inherently wrong with that when it was invented. I was thinking of the show-stopping limits in the file system. -- The information contained in this post is copyright the poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by http://www.diybanter.com |
Demise of Ebay?
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:40:09 UTC, Jules
wrote: On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:20:48 +0100, Roland Perry wrote: So shop in other places than Ebay. There are some thing that a re much easier to find on eBay. As a self-professed "people should make their own choices" nut, I wonder why you think people shouldn't be allowed to make a choice to use eBay (and Postal Orders) if that's what they think soles their need the best. The way I look at it, if you don't like ebay but want to use it, there's little point whinging in public about it. I can't stand ebay, and I'm yet to find anything that I need and can't obtain in a way that's somehow better (cheaper / faster / less risky etc.) elsewhere. Maybe I'll buy something on there one day, but I probably don't have any business grumbling about it when I do :) I agree...although I did buy somethign recently that I doubt I'd have found elsewhere. A microfiche reader, in good condition, *with printer*. 77 quid! -- The information contained in this post is copyright the poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by http://www.diybanter.com |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 19:07:46 +0100, "Clive George" said:
TBH for a single parcel delivery, it's a lot less hassle for me to pay before delivery than to go through the joy of pre-arranging an account etc. So for occasional use the pay before delivery works better too. This is why private carriers also do it this way - they know a sufficient portion of their business is with people who don't want an account that it's not worth working in just that fashion. It's reasonable to offer a choice, although there is no need to have accounts with every supplier. However, as a principle, I much prefer to have control of part or all of the payment until after the goods or services are delivered. And as regards crappy service provided by public carriers - as previously noted, our experiences differ here. I consistently get good service from RM/post office/whatever, whereas private carriers have been a right pain sometimes. Obviously one should choose based on performance. |
Demise of Ebay?
On 2008-06-20 19:09:00 +0100, "Bob Eager" said:
I agree...although I did buy somethign recently that I doubt I'd have found elsewhere. A microfiche reader, in good condition, *with printer*. 77 quid! Was that to read the VMS sources? At one time, that was the only way that DEC would supply them to customers where they couldn't get away with escrow. I suppose that they thought that it would take someone a very long time to type it all in. |
Demise of Ebay?
Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 14:07:35 +0100, Roland Perry said: In message 485b53c4@qaanaaq, at 07:52:52 on Fri, 20 Jun 2008, Andy Hall remarked: Seriously though, Andy seemed to be implying that going to the post office was a waste of time (when compared to doing "post officey things" online) - I only see it that way if I'm going to the post office to do a single chore. There are only four things that I have done at the post office in the last year: - Send a package of information by Special Delivery to my accountant. This happens every couple of months. Considering the time taken waiting to be served, it would be cheaper to send it with a courier who will collect. Example: 3 years ago renewed my passport and driving licence (due to a change of surname) got the driving licence back within the week and the passport took about 10 days, both safely delivered by Royal Mail. My husband renewed his passport about 6 months later when they'd switched to using a courier — took about a month, because the special courier aborted delivery 3 times. Pick the right time of day and the queue will be shorter. It's frustrating to wait for more than ten minutes I agree. If you are sending things as a business then paying for a courier will make more sense than if it was a personal item being shipped. Whether it's my business or my personal time it's expensive. Either way I can be much more productive by not having to wait around in queues at the Post Office. Even worse having to wait in all day for a courier... at least if it's not in that day's post you know it won't be there until the next delivery and do other things. - Renewed vehicle excise duty for the car. That took 45 minutes of waiting in line while people who didn't have the right or complete set of information argued with the counter staff or chatted about the weather. Last time, it was renewed on line - a time saving of an hour overall. I won't be using the Post Office for that again Only because they've closed about half the post offices, as people still need the service, the ones that still exist will be busier. I've had two lost in the post on the way back to me. On balance I would probably now still order online, but only because I now know how to get a replacement in only half a dozen letters and phone calls. Not my experience, posted two cheques (1st class) this week and both got there the next day. - Collection of an imported parcel and payment of VAT. That involved a wait in the rain of 30 mins and surly service. Royal Mail is still out of touch with customer service. I now mandate that professional private courier services are used and don't place business with anybody using Royal Mail At a Post Office? How odd. Everywhere I've lived you do that (and other similar transactions) at the sorting office. And there are rarely any queues, albeit they have rather restricted opening hours. The sorting office is at the Post Office. They may be seaparate organisations but have the same bad public sector culture of the past. Hopeless. In 'the past' when we were snowed in, the postman brought us our milk and butter as well as the mail. The past was better. - Return of goods purchased on line. I now favour suppliers who a have a return arrangement where the goods are collected. Which they charge you for in the general price of their goods. But if that's affordable for you, then who are we to criticise how you spend your money. This isn't the issue. If they sell defective goods, then they should be dealing with that problem. Most on-line suppliers I use include a pre-paid returns label. Repack item stick label on and post getting proof of postage. Simple. in either case there are plenty of places to meet socially for a chat with willing participants rather than getting in the way of people who simply want to make what should be quick and efficient simple business transactions. When I lived in Somerset, that place was at the supermarket checkout till. sigh Clearly the Post Office has lost all touch with reality since it launched its "People's Post Office" marketing. What kind of sh*t is that? It demonstrates that they have lost the plot completely. You ought to visit some of the villages where their POs are under threat of closure... the people seem to want to keep them and even their local parish councils are thinking of subsidising them to keep them open. It demonstrates you are not really within their target market, that's for sure. I am so pleased to know that. I wonder who is though. Are there really people who would be suckered by that nonsense? It has no actual value other than trying to pretend that they are providing something for "the common good". The product offerings are presented as something suitable for people who haven't used them before - somewhat insulting to their intelligence. |
Demise of Ebay?
Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 14:55:18 +0100, "Chris Shore" said: "Roland Perry" wrote in message ... In message 485aa098@qaanaaq, at 19:08:24 on Thu, 19 Jun 2008, Andy Hall remarked: My window cleaner seems to be fine at cleaning windows, and yes I pay him by cheque. Really? Yes, he seems to prefer it to cash. Possibly so he can avoid carrying large amounts of cash around towards the end of the day? We pay ours by cheque most of the time as well. Since I have to make trips to holes in the wall to get cash (or remember to ask for it when paying in the supermarket), I regard cash as a scarce commodity only to be used when other means will not do. Chris Absolutely. That should be the next thing to go after the abolition of cheques. No need for it. Rubbish. Cash. You can only lose what's in your pocket. Losing that no way compromises you bank account. You can get it almost anywhere if you take a card. There are no hidden charges, with cash. Cash does not say anything about you, where you are or what you are spending it on to anyone connected (fraudulently or otherwise) to your bank account. Cash provides an easy way to limit spending: draw so much and when its all gone, stop buying crap. You don't have to remember your PIN number after you have got the cash. If you hold onto your cash, the bank cant lose it for you. If you don't tell the government you have it, they can't lose it for you either. Credit card fraud is rising faster than people are stopping using cash. The cost of that fraud is reflected back to you in bank charges. Go cash young man. It's safer. |
Demise of Ebay?
"Owain" wrote in message ... Mary Fisher wrote: And do their shopping online to give them time for outings as well. I've 'eard that most people enjoy shopping. It IS an outing. Especially to places like garden centres. I enjoy shopping - I just hardly ever do it in shops. Apart from food shopping and scavenging in charity shops. Charity shops aren't bad but I only drop in when I'm passing, wouldn't want to leave what I'm doing to go to one. Food shopping is a necessity when the cupboard is bare. I've got it down to no more than six weekly. Mary Owain |
Demise of Ebay?
Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-20 16:45:22 +0100, "Man at B&Q" said: On Jun 20, 4:30 pm, "Clive George" wrote: "Andy Hall" wrote in messagenews:485bc858@qaanaaq... Even a card system is appalling customer service. They have wasted over a day in doing this and expect the customer to take an action. A whole day. Whoopee ****. This isn't intended to be a time-critical service. It is if you have paid for it to be so. In the example I quoted, a Canada Post express post item is landed and goes into the Parcel Force system as a Parcel Force 48 hour service. Unfortunately, I was shafted by customs taking 96 hours. MBQ You were shafted because there were multiple organisations involved in the process or because the sender didn't complete the shipping paperwork properly. I make large numbers of shipments into the UK from countries outside the EU and UK Customs does work pretty well. As long as airwaybills and commercial invoices are properly completed, it's very rare for there to be any delay at all let alone 4 days. A proper commercial courier takes care of these issues by making sure that the shipper does do the paperwork correctly at the outset and maintaining single organisation tracking all the way through. If that is done, then generally shipments will have had the Customs entries made during shipping and will clear automatically. It's very much a case of management by exception and unfortunately the cobbled together postal type services create a hit and miss situation that attracts attention or simply results in goods going through an inspection channel. Like DHL? Delivered a pair of £70 pair of Ugg boots to the wrong address, who honestly returned them to the PO who asked me to come and collect them. Like UPS? Kept a box china air-freighted from North Carolina for *6 weeks* at their depot 10 miles away and never let me know it was there. Both these incidents took place within 3 months. |
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