Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

I thought all exam papers were scanned and sent to India for marking now! Matthew's reports now just consist of grade, target grade and a mark for "engagement". Actually I am very impressed with their standard of homework marking, he knows why he got a grade and how to improve it.

Back in the old days the most popular page in the staffroom thesaurus was the one that contained other ways of saying "satisfactory".

I can remember having to ask colleagues to reconsider gems like "sets himself a low standard and fails to achieve it" and "should do well next year assuming his chosen career is as a clown".

 

Tony

[BoD]

How does one deal with banks these days?

 

My wife handles her mother's affairs as she is eighty odd and at times isn't fully aware of what is going on.

Last week she got a letter saying that M-i-L's current account, used only for direct debits and bills, was overdrawn by £2.10. Usual silly charges being applied. Our fault as my wife hadn't transfered money over from savings account over the Christmas period.

My wife phoned up to transfer funds. M-i-L answered a few security questions and then passed phone over to my wife to issue instructions. Problem solved? Not likely. Another letter this morning saying bank had refused to transfer funds as they felt there may be some fraud going on. For goodness sake, it was a sum of £300 from a savings account into a current account - a transaction that has been carried out every other month for the last several years.

 

All this time the bank has been adding extra silly charges each day - and charging for these letters. We feel so angry and frustrated.

 

 

 

 

[gordon s]

If you haven't already done it BoD, it may be worth setting up Internet Banking and adding your wife's name to her mother's account. I have done this for my mother and it works fine. I can access her accounts and transfer money easily via the Internet and by adding a simple description reference on the transaction, my mother can see on her printed statement exactly what has happened.

 

Once you are on the account it simplifies matters completely and you are then able to deal direct with these issues. I have found that once you get a sympathetic ear to the problem, these types of charges can be waived immediately.

[Tony_S]

I had a similar experience with Matthew at Christmas, he wanted to pay for something using his debit card online. It wouldn't accept it so he had to ring Barclays help line. The man asked him some questions and as Matthew didn't know, he asked me to confirm he didn't have any Standing Orders. The "help" line then said that wouldn't help him as someone else was providing the answers. They knew it was a first time query. I suggested he transferred to our bank as I'd been phoning with stupid queries for over 30 years and they were always helpful. He set up a new account and having previously found out what documentation he needed to close the old account we went in. They of course said the birthday on his account was different to his documentation. He explained that despite them having seen his birth certificate and passport when setting up the account they had got it wrong in their records. Then their silly little hand held card reader didn't work and they wouldn't let him close the account in one go. They then told him they had their procedures. At this point I got annoyed and intervened and said they may have procedures but they also had his money. We managed to negotiate how much he could take out each day on just a signature and other ID. When we went back the next day and explained to another cashier what had happened, after raising her eyes to the ceiling (I mentioned it was the manager who had "helped" the day before) she sorted it all out. One of the other staff seemed very keen for Matthew to start a complaint procedure! Anyway Matthew now has a account in a nice friendly bank with full internet access.

 

My mother hated going into banks and quite liked my brother dealing with her accounts. He had power of attorney and had internet access. My mum used him like a telephone banking service and would request payments to be made. The biggest problem he had was setting up a current account for her. She didn't have a passport or driving licence and had only just moved to that address. Most banks just said no, one just sorted it out. One institution (a large insurance company) actually told my brother he would have to send all the documentation (original not copies) to Chennai if he wanted to have the power of attorney to apply to their product. He didn't think this was very prudential.

 

Tony

[DDolfelin]

I won't bore you with details but I recently had to transfer a largish sum from one account to another.

The sum transferred was 40p short of what it should have been.

 

It took three days work, calls to India, letters, 'phone calls and was eventually written off.

Service? A lot of them can't even speak English.

[BoD]

I have found that once you get a sympathetic ear to the problem, these types of charges can be waived immediately.

We did get a sympathetic ear, eventually. We had to threaten to take this account (and other larger accounts) elsewhere to get a manager with a sympathetic ear involved.

My wife's name is on the account and this was recorded on paper records in the branch. It was not recorded anywhere else. Once this became known, charges were waived.

 

As they say - result. But still one fairly upset and worried M-i-L

[Tony_S]

The language issue can be quite irritating. There is the pretence of being based in the UK "Hi, I'm Steve ..." What really irritates Mrs S is that you get put on hold and they never come back if you ask a question that isn't scripted. I was talking to someone from India who before retirement (she got married!) had worked for a US mobile phone service on their help desk in India. Anyone who was good at the job got promoted to supervisor and sent to the US for further training so these were desirable jobs. My wife's cousin (well one of them, she does have rather a lot) actually owns a UK based help centre for Indian companies doing business in the UK.

I don't know where the call centres get their staff from. When any of my wife's older relatives from India speak they sound very British. Her younger relatives all sound American. Matthew describes his mother's accent as BBC with a touch of Yorkshire!

 

Tony

[DDolfelin]

I was once (as a callow youth) smitten with an Indian beauty so I have no racist act to grind.

(That episode ended when I slipped on the floor of her father's restaurant and went rrrs over - too much for the fragile ego and self image of a teenager).

However, one would think that a job answering the telephone in English would require a smattering of pronunciation of the language.

Their accent is such that I can rarely understand them.

[Tony_S]

I was once (as a callow youth) smitten with an Indian beauty so I have no racist act to grind.

(That episode ended when I slipped on the floor of her father's restaurant and went rrrs over - too much for the fragile ego and self image of a teenager).

However, one would think that a job answering the telephone in English would require a smattering of pronunciation of the language.

Their accent is such that I can rarely understand them.

My wife speaks Hindi and Punjabi and she can't make much sense of some of the call centre accents.

I too can't understand how some of the people who get employed in overseas call centres get the job. I think some of the people employed would have a job communicating clearly in any language. They don't listen properly to what your problem is and then mumble, perhaps they have rubbish headsets. I'm always convinced they are playing Solitaire or listening to their iPods at the same time. Perhaps the call centres should try getting their employees from another source. My brother-in-law and his wife were doing the tourist trip round Rajasthan last year. They were approaching a group of "tourist guides" who were discussing how to approach them. They looked at my sister-in-law and surmised she was English and sent an English speaker in their direction. They then heard my brother-in-law speaking Hindi to someone and this seemed to create confusion in the ranks. It would appear that the guides/beggars identify the language and dispatch an appropriate linguist.

 

Tony

[NGT6 1315]

Here's Albert and Trude having a nap:

 

 

 

 

 

[Tony_S]

Here's Albert and Trude having a nap:

 

 

 

 

They seem very happy. Do they ever squabble?

Matthew had a pair of rats and we only saw one disagreement. We gave them a bone to chew and they both tried to start from the middle and had a bit of a scuffle. After that they started from opposite ends and seemed quite happy to share.

Tony

[DDolfelin]

They look damned dangerous to me.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It's a nice morning here - blue sky and sunshine, but a very chilly -3°C. By all accounts the roads are quite icy in some parts of Germany and there were some pretty nasty accidents overnight.

 

I'm just enjoying a cup of coffee and looking forward to the day ahead. I'm now off to Jam's cycling thread to post some pictures from yesterday.

 

Have a good day everyone :icon_wave:

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all!

 

Calm and sunny outside at -4° - looks like a typically peaceful Sunday morning. Slept like a rock and will need a while to fully wake up!

 

They seem very happy. Do they ever squabble?

 

Hardly. However, Albert can be quite egoistic when it comes to food, and will often push Trude away from the food bowl or whatever else we may give them. When he does, he is not really aggressive, though - it's more like if he were pushing to the front in a crowd. He also is quite sharp when it comes to observing what is going on around him - if me or my girlfriend try to stroke Trude he will usually come from wherever he was sitting before and demand his share of attention as well. Likewise, when I lie down on the floor he will usually come to me immediately and sniff on me - or indeed jump onto my back .

[DDolfelin]

Doh!

[skipepsi]

Morning all bright clear and -4 the walk can wait awhile I think.

[JohnDMJ]

Morning all,

 

-1C and about 1 okta here - crisp and bright!

 

Looks like I'll have to take the long way to work - stick to the dual carriageways rather than some B Roads up 1:8 gradients through woodland - could be lots of black ice that way!

[DDolfelin]

Zero oktas.

Morning sunshine is beautiful.

I'm hoping to be able to emulsion both sides of two ply layout boards outside today.

SWMBO is allergic to raw wood.

I used to have a large bench saw in its own barn - knee deep in sawdust (well, almost).

The first time she entered, her throat closed up and she passed out.

[BoD]

Perhaps she just cant hack saws.

[DDolfelin]

We had to put her on the panel.

The doctor was cross, cut up about it.

I told him not to fret.

We have to bow to greater knowledge.

[BoD]

The problem is plane to see.

Once solved you will feel like dancing a jig.

[NGT6 1315]

Now where's that blade I saw?

[Tony_S]

Morning.

Glad you are all coping.

 

Tony

[eldavo]

Morning All, I'll bet you a tenon she has piercing eyes as well.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Tony_S]

Just for a quick pun break. When I was at school in the lesson known in other schools as metalwork I can remember the look on the teacher's face when one boy answered "North" in the exam in answer to the question about which way the teeth pointed on a hacksaw.

Tony