Category: fail

Endsleigh Home / Contents insurance #fail then #win

Posted on by primaryt

Probably the best thing about my blog is when I get such bad quality of service that I get to rant about it on here and today was no exception…

Endsleigh have been providing my house & contents and contents insurance for 11 years and sent through the renewal in my dads name. As I am purchasing the family home I wanted to transfer the policy into my name but it now turns out that Endsleigh can not create a new policy to cover this home..
I find it hillarious that a company can provide a service for 11 years then when a customer comes to renew say, erm, sorry we don’t do that any more and we can’t provide an alternative..
To summarize: Save your time, don’t call Endsleigh if you have a property built before 1850!
UPDATE: I received this tweet- @johnmclear Hi John, This seems odd – please call Adrian Nelder in Customer Care 08000858698, as we still may be able to cover you.
UPDATE: I called Adrian today and spent another 30 mins or so on the phone trying to get it sorted, he was able to give me a price for contents insurance but had to go back to the underwriter for a buildings insurance premium.
Good to see a big company is using modern communication methods to contact their customers. I will update this when/if I get my prices.
UPDATE: I now have a price, it is £10 a month less than what my dad was paying but £10 a month more than the insurance comparison websites so I’m going to make some more calls tomorrow then make a decision.
I am happy with Endsleigh insurance, I’m not going to remove this post as it is import for their customer service records. What I don’t understand is why the first girl I spoke to didn’t go through the same effort that Adrian did?

My Extremely dissapointing TTS shop experience

Posted on by primaryt

I needed some prizes for a competition and TTS were the only people that had the items listed on their website. The price was great, unbeatable infact.

I began the ordering process with a positive bounce about me, thinking in a matter of moments I could perform the magical single click that turns an outlook flagged task into a beaming tick of joy. Turns out, I was wrong.

TTS don’t seem to support any browsers but IE in their ordering process. I began to grumble, I’m not usually super fussy about browser support but an online shop should surely support all browsers.

I email them and tell them about this flaw in their ability to generate revenue, no obvious email address on their website so I email sales@.. I get no response, no thanks, no “okay we will fix that”.. Just nothing..

So I started the whole process again, this time in IE. I get all the way through and I think to myself, what if this item is not in stock. So when I get to the end of the ordering process under notes I put in “PLEASE CONTACT ME IF ANY ITEMS ARE NOT IN STOCK”.

I complete my order and receive a verification email that states TTS will email me with the delivery date. This never came..

So I asked a colleague to chase TTS up and find out where the order is, the competition is on the 6th and by the 4th we’re starting to panic..

I think to myself, surely they read the order notes and will be in touch if the items are going to be late.. So he rings, gets through to a phone operator and we ask, when are the items due? With a complete level of content she replies “on the 9th”..

A moment of disbelieve spreads the office and most small insects and animals flee the room in what can only be described as the energy portrayed at the end of Heros season 1 final scene..

I ask her, “did you not read the order notes?” – she blissfully responds, “Yes sir!”..

I asked her to read them to me – she reads “PLEASE CONTACT ME IF ANY ITEMS ARE” and stops there.. I think my phone has cut off, I respond “hello? hello?” She questions, “Yes sir?”. “Is that it?” I ask.. “Yes sir…” I grumble and hang up – using the power of my mind I destroy all positive thinking in the area.

See if you are going to run an online shop/store at least set the right amount of varchar in your table.. Also if something doesn’t make sense on an order then contact a customer. I feel totally let down by TTS.

Update on 14th of July 2009 – Still not recieved all of the items. Looks like no one at TTS reads my blog or tweets 😉

Update on 16th of July 2009 – Rang customer services today after they ignored several of my emails. Took 4 minutes to get through to anyone. The last parts of my order will not be in stock until the first week of September….. Way to wrap up a terrible experience TTSftl!

Junior Librarian is putting me in a bad mood

Posted on by primaryt

1) This software is so badly written

2) It fails w/ UAC on in Vista
3) WTF does a teacher have Vista on a laptop for after COUNTLESS becta guidance.
My exact error is a frmCatalogue.cmdSave_Click which is a procedure in Junior Library so I google it. Nothing, no documentation online.
So I google “”Junior Librarian” vista” to see if Junior Librarian works on Vista or not. Nothing, no mention.
Sucks, they need to document more and spend less time/money on sales.
Can’t believe im doing this at 00:20am for a teacher who needs it the next day.. . I would twitter bout it but everyone is too busy twittering about a talented Gary Glitter.
The internet is starting to fail, we need to get a grip of it..
Yea awesome, in remove software its listed as Junior3, way to understand how to insert spaces into the name of an application you tools. Just for the record, next time use “”‘s..
I’d spend some time blogging all the flaws in this software but I don’t think I have enough hours in the day..
Okay – Disable UAC/Uninstall/Reinstall JL software and reboot of machine fixed it. Rant over. Someone PLEASE make a decent open source/free online version of this.
PS This application cost the school over £1000, tax payers money well spent? You decide.