Wednesday 4 December 2013

the perfect tonic...

What is it about 21st century living that leaves us with such rubbish customer service?

Left our previous home at the beginning of September, took meter readings with the new occupier and sent them off to npower - our gas and electricity supplier.

A month later, letter received telling us they hadn't forgotten about us and that our final statement would be with us as quickly as possible. You've guessed - three months after the final readings - nothing. They had forgotten about us. Not so very final. So phone call: now there's a good way to spend nearly an hour.

Result? Nothing. Nowt. Diddleysquat. In the end, they couldn't even put me through to their complaints department because there is a ten day turnaround due to the volume of complaints.

I ask, if I owed npower hundreds of pounds, would they patiently wait for three months for me to pay? Then be content to spend an hour on the phone, only to be told that I couldn't pay for another ten days at the earliest because I couldn't deal with the volume of complaints I was receiving from other utility companies? Would they nellie!!

And npower announced last week that they're sacking 1500 staff to increase efficiency..... It's like looking through some perverse lens that turns reason and sense in the world upside down and inside out.

reused wire shelving = squirrel proof!
While I'm blowing a gasket, the birds are going boogaloo on the bird feeders.

Blue, coal and great tits are busy. There's also a nuthatch 'caching' sunflower seeds in readiness for winter. A chaffinch is watching and then a tree sparrow arrives. Lawdy, that's a special moment in the history of Cordwood. Grey squirrels try and spoil the party, but despite biting big, spiteful chunks off of my birdtable, they are defeated by my squirrel proofing. See - the nice guys can win!! And today, for the first time, the blue and grey tits have sussed the squirrel proofing and can enter and leave the bird table with confidence.
anyone can make a simple garden bird bath

And another first, squirrel proofed the wonderful birdfeeder that Basil and Jen bought for Jill and almost immediately it attracted nuthatch, tree sparrow and blue tits!!

reused fence mesh defeats squirrels
And there's a cherry on this wonderful, birdy cake to lift the spirits of even the most utility brow-beaten:

a pair of fieldfares - striking migrant Scandinavian thrushes - christen my bird bath.

npower - pah!!!



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