Corporate Difficulties

I try not to rant too much in these blogs but my unwritten rule is about to be broken.

I shan't name names unless you force me to but you won't be able to get anyO2thing from me.

Whatever you say won't make me Talk Talk, it doesn't matter how Hot your Point is you just won't be able to make me Volvo.  Did I say Volvo?  I meant talk.

So, we got new 'phones recently and as part of the deal I had to send the old 'phones back... which I did in the bags provided.

I then got a letter saying that if I didn't send the 'phones back my account would be debited with £661.  Of course, I rang to complain and the guy at the nameless 'phone company said 'nope, the 'phones had arrived and all was okay.'

The next letter to arrive said they had our 'phones and would be charging me £52.50 for damage to a case.  Fair enough - there was a dent and a chip.

Then I checked my bank account and £661 had been debited.

So, of course, I called.  There was a profuse apology and a promise to refund me £661.  Immediately?  No.  In 10 to 15 days.  Working days!

How is that fair?

But then I suddenly thought to myself 10 days later that I hadn't had the refund... except I had - my O2 (ooops - there, I've spilled the beans) account had been credited but I should have been told that I had to call again to get my bank account refunded.

I asked for the refund - guess how long before I'll get it.

Yep... you're quite right.  Another 10 to 15 days!  O2 could have my money - more than £600 - for nearly a month... and they took it incorrectly.  Some would say 'stole'... but not me of course.  Just some.

Talk about incensed.

And talk about Talk Talk.

I got an email that said I was moving out of my house and other people were moving in and didn't want Talk Talk anymore.

First I'd heard of it - I ain't moving and I hadn't been in touch with said company.  Could it be anything to do with data being stolen and other companies taking advantage?

Just asking.

So, I called.  The first two people clearly didn't understand:

'So, you wanted to leave Talk Talk and now you've changed your mind..?'

'No, I never wanted to leave in the first place.'

'But it says on our system that we have a termination request.'

'Well it didn't come from me.'

'Who did it come from then?'

'How the bloody hell should I know?'

'Please don't use offensive language...'

The third person said they'd sort it, which I didn't believe and lo and behold a letter turned up on Saturday saying our service would be terminated on 29th January.

So, another 'phone call which, to be fair, seemed to sort things.

I just wouldn't try to call me at home on the 29th January - just to be on the safe side, you understand!

Feeling Good

I've never found someone's wallet lying on the pavement... until today, that is.

I was walking Barney down to the office about lunchtime (and I know what you're thinking when I say that - but I wasn't skiving) and there it was.

Just laying in the middle of the pavement, with plastic cards scattered about it.

The mix of emotions I felt when I saw took me completely by surprise.

My first thought was: what a pain, I need to do something about this.

My second thought was guilt as I picked up the wallet... in case someone thought I was half inching it and my third thought, when I saw the family photographs was 'poor bloke'.

But once you've picked up a wallet, what do you do with it?  It felt wrong to put it in my pocket but what else was I supposed to do?

I looked round in vain for someone to hand  the problem off to... if only there was a passing police officer I could give it to.  But there was no-one.  Government cuts you see; there just aren't the same number of Bobbies on the beat as there used to be.

So I tried the shop outside which I found the wallet.

Nope, they didn't know who it was either.

There was only one thing for it; I was going to have to go through the wallet to look for some kind of contact details (more guilt at doing that) and lo and behold there was a business card for a local car dealership.

So I rang it on the off chance and got a lucky break: the guy was a customer of theirs.  The receptionist left a 'phone message for him and an hour later he called me.  Half an hour after that he came to the office and collected his wallet.

As I thought, it was the pictures of his wife with their grandson that he was most worried about losing but all's well that ends well and bloke and wallet were reunited.

And then I thought - what kind of muppet am I that a) my first thought was 'what I pain, I need to do something about this' and b) I felt guilty for picking up the wallet in the first place in case someone thought I was nicking it?

But, there you are... even being a muppet doesn't necessarily stop good things from happening.

Singing Praises

I don't do this very often - perhaps I should do more of it here in our blogs.

But today I am going to be serious (for once) and take the opportunity to sing the praises of two of our team members.

(Although I could do this for every one of our team... it's just there have been two very specific instances recently.)

Farhan joined us a few months ago and has proved to be a brilliant addition to our accounting team.  This was really brought home to me on New Year's Eve.

A customer of ours had a deadline to meet which just happened to be 31st December 2015.  It wasn't an easy set of accounts and it was a bit of a rush job.  There was some info missing from what we needed and all in all it would have been easy for Farhan to say 'you know what... I didn't get everything I needed on time, I'm going home.'

But he didn't.

He completed his background work at about 6.30pm (on New Year's Eve, remember), journalled in the accounts, checked everything and called the customer at 8.30pm asking for permission to file.

All on New Year's Eve...

And what's even more impressive is that he did it all with a smile on his face, communicated with the customers all the way through the process and got the job done.

The accounts were filed within deadline... whilst the customer was at a party!

Brilliant.

The second member of our team I want to thank formally is Arjun.

VAT returns have to be filed by 7th of the month after the end of the VAT quarter... so if your VAT quarter finishes 30th November you have all of December and 7 days of January to file (and pay your VAT bill if there is one).

We spotted we had a customer who hadn't filed their VAT return by about 6.00pm on 7th January... it was an oversight, nothing more, on their part.

Arjun contacted the customer to get their records emailed through, completed the VAT return, got the figure to our customer, filed the return and the customer paid their VAT bill... all within deadline which means for the customer there was no fine and everyone was happy.

Arjun stayed and finished the process, leaving the office at about 9.30pm.  This is what the customer wrote to him:

'Hi Arjun, you are incredibly kind doing this for me tonight.  I have just paid the outstanding via my online banking so that is great.  I owe you guys for this.  Have a good night also and thank you very much again.  Cheers.'

Arjun's reply was priceless.  I love it and will keep it forever because it's exactly how we operate, it's our ethos and what we strive to be and do for everyone.  Here it is:

'Not a problem at all, XXX.  Pleasure is all mine.  That's why we are different at TaxAssist.

Good night.'