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Just sent this to my MP in the hope that he will vote against the Healthcare bill.  I used 'Write to Them' so he should have received the email by now (well, presumably one of his people will have and will hopefully be putting it with the many other messages he receives on the same subject, hopefully all politely asking him to oppose the healthcare bill):

Labels: healthcare, john hemming, write to them, writetothem.com

  ¶ 12:09 1 comments

  Pains of Moving House
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I'll be moving house soon so I've been notifying the various people who need to know my new address of this and when I think I'll be moving.  Mostly it's worked out OK.  Gas, Electric, Insurance &c all no problems, over the phone, done.  Bank want a written form but I could request that over the internet and they'll change my details on all their systems.  Local council is a different matter.  I called their call centre and got through to someone who told me I'd come through to the wrong section (I'd selected for general enquirers as there didn't seem to be an option for change of address) and told me to try a different option.  I did and got the same person again.  Third call I got through to the council tax who could change my council tax details but nothing else.  They tried to put me through to the switchboard who they said might know who I need to talk to but they just put me through to a message saying the office is now closed. 

I've written to the councilors for the ward I'm moving to, via Write to Them,  hopefully they'll be able to explain the problem and get it dealt with.

Dear Paul Tilsley MBE, Sue Anderson and Mike Ward,

I shall be moving to your word in the next couple of weeks (not sure of the exact date but the 19th is looking hopeful) from South Yardley.  This lead to the genesis of my query.

As I'm moving house obviously I have to notify the council of this so that council tax records, electoral roll &c can be updated.  I had understood, from publicity material I have seen, that a major goal of the Customer First transformation programme was to provide a single point of contact so that when a citizen's details changed they would just have to call the council once and all affected systems would be updated.  However, when I called yesterday I was notified by the call centre that I would have to call each department and notify them individually.  I have, so far, notified council tax (which took 3 calls to finally reach the correct team) but have not yet been able to find the combination of key presses to get through the IVR to the teams for electoral roll or libraries.

Was I misinformed as to the goals of the Customer First programme?  Was I misinformed by the call centre yesterday?  Is it just that the programme hasn't gotten around to joining things up yet?

Specifically on the updating of my council tax records I was disappointed that when I changed my address I had to give my bank details, twice!  Once to prove my identity and again to set up a new direct debit to replace the existing one paying the council tax on my current home.  I can understand having to prove my identity but given that I'm moving from one band A residence to another band A residence in the same city (same constituency even) so will be paying the same amount each month from the same bank account to the same local authority to have to set up a new DD seems nonsensical.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen

Labels: annoyed, Birmingham city council, councilfail, Mike Ward, moving house, Paul Tilsley, Sheldon ward, South Yardley Ward, Sue Anderson, Yardley Yonstituency. John Hemming MP

  ¶ 12:50 0 comments

  Going to work ill
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It's cold and flu season again which, of course, leads to the question of whether one should go to work ill or work from home (if possible) or take a sick day.  Management, obviously, want us to come in even if we will infect the rest of our co-workers and devise policies that punish us if we do take a day sick.

I posted yesterday on my Facebook wall that a number of the staff sitting near to me at work had colds and were coughing a sneezing.  I said it didn't look good, I'd probably catch it from either or both of them.  One of my friends made an interesting comment likening being in the office with people with colds to passive smoking.  Both are injurious to our health.  Both are potentially life threatening (in particular where there are other factors involved such as age, general health and conditions such as diabetes or asthma).   Both carry a risk to third parties (smoke on clothes from passive smoking, secondary infections when we come home from work or visit friends and relatives).

Why then, do we ban smoking in the office but ban not coming to the office when ill?  ¶ 08:43 0 comments

  Potential Scam call from 02070597699
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Just had a call from 02070597699. Very bad background noise, caller sounded like she had a Phillipino or similar accent. Asked if I'd enterted an online competition recently for an iPhone, I've entered a few so said yes. She said that this was just a courtesy call to tell me that the competition had now closed and I'd be getting an email soon telling me what I'd won. She then went on to say that everyone who entered the contest was getting some free lottery tickets and how lucky I was. I hung up.

The phone they called me on is a mobile on Three and the only people who have that number besides myself and Three are my sister and the Telephone Preference Service. I only have the phone because my sister has a three phone and it's cheaper for me to have another phone on Three than to call her on my main phone which is on Orange.

I called the number back and asked the person who answered the name of the company, she said it is BTD European Services. I confirmed the company name and hung up.

I Googled the number and found a number of forums where people reported that this is a scam. Apparently later in the call they ask for personal details to prove ID and for bank account and sort code details.

  ¶ 11:26 3 comments

  Many a true word said in jest
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Not sure of the provenence of this:

Let's put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.

They'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they'd receive money instead of paying it out.

They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell.

They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.

They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counselling, pool and education.

Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ's and legal aid would be free, on request.

Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens.

Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls.

There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.

The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised. Lights off at 9pm, and showers once a week. Live in a tiny room and pay £600.00 + per week and have no hope of ever getting out.

There does seem to have been a major shift in the last decade or so, an accelorating one, to move away from public sector provision of care to private sector. Care was never well paid but now it minimum wage territory.

Labels: elder care

  ¶ 09:54 0 comments

  Happiness at work
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BBC Breakfast are talking about a survey on what makes people happy at work. Usual stuff, apparently none of us are bothered about money but we all want regular feedback (not sure if the survey was deliberately biased, accidentally badly written or just totally fictional). I emailed int he below comment:

I think it varies from person to person, and from time to time for the same person, what makes them happy at work. It also probably depends a lot on the other pressures in their life.

For some people it's more money, for others it's a short commute. For some it's regular praise, for others it's varied and interesting work. For some it's the opportunity to meet people and work with them, for others it's the opportunity to shut themselves away in a room full of computers and only interact with people outside their immediate team by email.

Whilst much derided, more money may bring happiness as it allows you to support your family, finance activities that make you happy or support a charity or cause that is important to you. Money itself may not make you happy but what you can do with it does.

Probably too long (and too true) for them to read.

Labels: BBC Breakfast, happiness, Work

  ¶ 08:02 0 comments

  Very annoyed with Virgin Media
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Each week end for the last few weeks my dial up internet has been failing. Either no dial tone or get engaged tone when I dial up. My phone and Internet are both through Virgin Media so I've been calling their customer service line. Calling at the weekend, when the problem happens, is a disaster as only their Indian call centre is on duty so it's 40 minutes navigating their IVR and on hold to finally get through to someone who can't understand my accent or deal with anything that isn't in their script, who eventually says they're passing me to someone who can resolve the problem then another 30 minutes on hold when their system finally drops the call. I finally got through this morning and spoke to someone with a faint Scottish accent who could understand my Brummie accent. She called up their internet support section who said I'd have to call them direct on the premium rate number. This was 08:14 (according to the clock on BBC Breakfast). I called the nujmber they gave me only to get a recorded message to say that their office doesn't open until 08:00 (i.e. about quarter of an hour ago). I waited about 5 minutes and called back but just got the same message.

I do think that there's something seriously wrong with making a technical support line premium rate. This is something that is clearly a problem at their end, I'm calling their internet dial-up number and getting an engaged tone. This should not happen, yet they want to charge me to resolve it!

Not happy, very annoyed.

Labels: annoyed, dial-up, internet, virgin media

  ¶ 11:44 0 comments