Just received my Gas Bill from British Gas.

[geoff]

Like the occasional person who asks why I can't "just pop down to the post office" to dispatch a pcb to them

15 minute walk, 10 minutes waiting behind old grannies getting their pension ...

[Huge]

Nonetheless, you have spent more time posting on this topic (and indeed, I have spent reading it) than I have spent dealing with cheques in the last year.

[Andy Hall]

Just doing my small bit to hasten the demise of outdated methods.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Demise.

Strangely enough, its harder to forge a signature than to forge a PIN...

I wouldn't say cheques are as outmoded as you think.

[Andy Hall]

That would assume that they are checked (or even chequed)

[The Natural Philosopher]

audit trail. If one arrivse with someone elses sig. on its pretty clear its the banks fault.

And its a lot harder to duplicate a chequebook than a credit card..

[Andy Hall]

Hmm....

I'm not sure that that matters when there are numerous card holder protections in the event of this and other CC frauds.

I don't think that either are compelling arguments to justify continuation of the use of cheques. I did also include BACS and DD etc in the realm of non-cheque payment methods

[Mark]

Going back to the old saying "the customer is always right" then they should be able to pay anyway they like. I take paypal on ebay sales even though it cost me extra.

What I object to is BT charging 3.75 to provide a paper bill. It can't cost that much! (1.25 per month "discount" for paperless billing, one bill every 3 months).

M.

[Mark]

Rumours have it that there are still some NHS dentists about. I don't believe it myself ;-)

M.

[Mark]

Aren't they closing all of the Post Offices?

M.

[David Hansen]

On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:29:30 +0000 someone who may be Mark wrote this:-

That is my view too.

When I am in customer mode if a supplier is arrogant enough to try and force me to use one form of payment then I look around for a less arrogant supplier to do business with.

[Roger]

The message from Mark contains these words:

Only some of them.

I put my postcode into the Royal Mail finder box and was amazed at the number of sub post offices there are in the area. I was surprised they were only trying to close 4.

[Roger]

The message from Mark contains these words:

I still visit one which is why it is mentioned above.

Some years ago (mid 80s IIRC) my then dentist, who I had stuck to out of a misplaced sense of loyalty when I shifted workplace, suddenly gave me an ultimatum - sign up to an insurance scheme and go private or get lost. I quickly got lost and perhaps because I had been forced out the NHS quickly found me a NHS dentist local to my home and I have been with that one ever since.

Apart from the prohibition over credit cards (which to be fair the dentist did offer to overlook when I had to pay for a crown) the other thing I notice about private patients is the speed with which they get from entering the door of the practice to entering the dentist surgery. I have never yet seen one wait more than a couple of minutes at the most.

[Tony Bryer]

In a recent news item on this, the BT surcharge was one of the lowest. I suspect that there is some correlation, real or otherwise, between a willingness to pay by DD and desirability of the customer.

[David Hansen]

On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:34:12 GMT someone who may be Tony Bryer wrote this:-

I suspect that there may be such a correlation in the imagination of some/many people in some large customer-hating organisations. However, I would suggest that any such imagination has more to do with the convenience of the organisation itself.

It is no doubt very convenient for a large customer-hating organisation to be able to steal money from their customers, whenever they feel like it. It is no doubt very convenient for them to have customers so apathetic about their best interests that they agree to this.

If those not being fooled into opening their bank accounts to customer-hating organisations are in some way less desirable as customers then Ebico would not have been able to trade for the best part of a decade

[Roger]

The message from David Hansen contains these words:

Suggest away. You can't separate cost from convenience in a commercial organisation and calling them "customer-hating" suggests your grip on reality is tenuous at best.

Well they do say there is one born every minute.

Ebico must make its money by appealing to the guilty consciences of those who don't need to seek out a supplier that won't vary the costs according to the expense its customers cause it. They dress their policy up as equitable but it is really less equitable to treat all customers the same regardless of the costs of servicing their needs, not more equitable.

[Andy Hall]

Best thing really. Denistry with the level of funding provided to dentists by the NHS isn't tenable in terms of any level of quality of treatment. They simply can't afford to major on it and not go bust.

It would be far better, if the NHS discontinued the charade, took away funding and taxation was reduced. GPs would be a good move after that.

[Andy Hall]

There is a cost associated with waiting around.

The other factor is how long the dentist can then take over doing the treatment. Outcome is certainly dependent on that.

[Andy Hall]

It can easily be stepped up until the rest are closed.

This organisation really has lost the plot.

There was a half page advert from The People's Post Office in one of the papers today offering Peoples Broadband.

WTF is that all about? Have their marketing department caught up with the fact that this is not N Korea?

They really have no clue if they are embarking on that tack as a raison d'etre.

[The Natural Philosopher]

It soon will be tho ;-)