BG Central Heating breakdown care

[Andy Hall]

It doesn't matter how well qualified and skilled the people are, if the customer is not getting the service required because the organisation is fundamentally broken then it all goes to naught.

I had occasion to attempt to use their service prior to privatisation and again more recently. In both cases a 3* or equivalent contract was in place. On both occasions I was told that they were not able to attend for 5 days because they "were busy" and that there were people (unspecified) with higher priority. When I protested that this was not acceptable, the person couldn't understand what my problem was.

That is the essence of it. A culture which believes that it is doing a great job but is falling way short. That is why I blame the middle management and marketing people. They have not provided the service that the customer is entitled to expect and have not recognised it. Worse still, they have not instilled the right ethic into their customer facing staff.

It's a sham.

It was broken and remains so in my experience. They won't be getting another opportunity to do business with me. The only saving grace, post privatisation, was that at least under threat of legal action they refunded my money.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Andy Hall]

The customer decides whether he is being ripped off or not by choosing to buy or not.

This was not my experience.

Extortion is illegal anyway. There is accountability within existing company legislation in that if the shareholders don't like the directors they can dismiss them. It isn't for the state to interfere in the commercial arrangements of remuneration packages - this is unnecesssary regulation for politically dogmatic reasons only.

You'll be advocating statutory wage control next - another throwback of a failed era.

No I mean the individual's line manager and their manager. If that person is not appropriately qualified, then that is a separate problem.

..... and won the undying gratitude of the nation. Give me a break. Protectionism and untenable situations never work in even the medium term. All that Scargill achieved was to prolong the agony of an inevitable death.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[IMM]

The customer was getting the service levels and the system worked, although a computerised admin system would have helped (which were only being introduced as privatisation was cast upon them).

Can't speak for you.

It worked and now is appalling after 20 years.

That's because greed took over.

[IMM]

On privatisation they brought in "managers", who technically knew nothing. Another tier of balls, which Thatcher did to the NHS.

After the miners stile public opinion was firmly against Thatcher despite all the press being for her.

Most of the mines were viable. We stared to import coal from Eastern Europe and elsewhere which was mined by people with appalling working and safety conditions.

[Andy Hall]

Sorry, but I don't call a 5 day delay any kind of useful service level.

I can. I'm simply telling you what happened on two occasions.

Patently it didn't and doesn't.

No it's because there was and is very little business acumen.

Anyway, as I say, it's irrelevant as far as I am concerned.

I want to be able to get and pay for a good quality service. BG were not and it seems are not able to provide it. Therefore they don't get the business - it's as easy as that.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Andy Hall]

Obviously this was not the right strategy. It is not necessary for a manager to have an in-depth technical understanding of a business, but it is necessary for them to have an adequate appreciation of how it works and what can be achieved and what cannot.

Experience shows that if you have a company dominated by any one discipline, be it sales, marketing, finance, HR, engineering, manufacturing, it will probably not work in the medium to long term.. A balance between skills is required to be successful.

Successful private sector companies manage this perfectly well. This is why I make the point that on privatisation, public sector monopolies should be broken up and a new culture created.

The only failing there was not shutting it down then.

The issue was that the commercial conditions, including continuity of supply without union interference could not be achieved in the UK at the time.

Perhaps now it would be different.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[ARWadsworth]

What mines were these then? I thought viable meant capable of success or continuing effectiveness.

-- Adam

adamwadsworth@(REMOVETHIS)blueyonder.co.uk

[Ben Blaney]

We've moved to the days where big business and the politicians in their pockets hold the country to ransom. Progress?

[Capitol]

An American friend's definition of the USA was "350 million people motivated by greed". The results are impressive. They have a population with a work ethic from childhood. They still have a democracy that works, we sadly don't! Their local and national politicians are much more responsive to the electorate than ours and know they are expendable. The people also respect success, want to know how to achieve it and don't descend into envy, which sadly is always the case here. They unfortunately have not yet achieved the UK's biggest success, the NHS (with most of it's faults being caused by political interference). Regards Capitol

[Andy Hall]

Let's see now.

Do I see coal strikes? No. Electricity 3 hours on, 6 off? No.

3 day week? No. Factories idle due to steel strike? No. 6% statutory annual pay increase? No. Sterling crisis? No. Rescue package from IMF? No.

I'd say we've progressed from there......

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Andy Hall]

On those points I'd broadly agree.

On this one, I wouldn't. It is a system that is at least 30 years past its sell-by date, and like all dinosaurs will become extinct. Sadly, a lot of our money will be wasted on discovering that because politicians don't have the balls to do the right thing which is to shut it down and start again with an arrangement suitable for the 21st century and not the middle of the 20th.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Capitol]

I had a number of dealings with the old BG. They weren't too successful.

1) A gas water heater was installed, the water came out of the gas jets! 2) The boiler was serviced, it wasn't! The jets blocked with carbon. They lost the service contract to me. 3) The gas fire was changed over to natural gas, as a result, the gas fire over heated and was a fire hazard. The attitude was "If it ain't easy go away"! 4) A gas water heater required a new heat exchanger, they lost the original and the replacement! With a pedigree like that, privatising it was their only option. Their present success as a servicing operation is totally dependent on good advertising and lack of effective competitors. Hopefully some will appear in the future. Regards Capitol

[Capitol]

Speak for yourself? LOL Capitol

[Ben Blaney]

They have shocking poverty in parts.

[geoff]

In message , IMM writes

Was that Marks as in Marks and Spencer or Marx as in Karl Marx?

The problem in the teachings of the latter is that there are always people who are more equal than others as Orwell said.

If you meant the former, you can always get a nice sandwich

Extremes in either direction, I think you mean

[ARWadsworth]

You missed the flared trousers!

Adam

[Andy Hall]

.. and the cheesecloth shirts and the other kind with curved tips to the collars.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[geoff]

In message , Capitol writes

They are also the world's biggest polluters, they have really bad social problems, they have a massive national debt propped up only because oil etc are traded in dollars, which is the only reason that the dollar is a strong currency.

[geoff]

In message , IMM writes

Inferior stuff with high sulphur content and very polluting

[IMM]

Blair is doing very well.