Tag: DPA

Late Information

MandeeLeave a Comment on Late Information

We were given information at work today that we should have had at least a week ago, in most cases, but 3 months ago in one case. Price changes that went live yesterday. DPA changes that went live last week. Changes to certain policies that went live 27 March for the first stage, and 1 May second stage. But the company felt it was ok to give us all of the information today – 2 June!

Turns out that people have had failed calls on certain things because our managers didn’t even know about these changes. We’re wondering if the fails will now be overturned. This will be interesting.

I’m sure it’s not just our company that is so badly organised when it comes to communication. I’ve come across it in many companies, not just ones that I’ve worked for.

Our company has the big massive policy of putting the customers first in everything it does. But when it comes to the staff on the front line it’s a completely different story. They don’t seem to be able to understand that if we don’t have the information then the customer won’t either. So by treating us so shoddily they are also preventing us from giving the customer correct information, which is definitely not putting the customer first.

Consequently I have not been in a good mood today. And here I am trying to be more positive about everything – Law of attraction, etc. Sometimes it’s extremely hard to keep the spirits up.

Children

MandeeLeave a Comment on Children

A lady phoned me today after receiving a mailing from us about one of our policies. I could hear her children crying in the background. It also sounded like they were being smacked. They were crying properly, not the moaning crying that kids do to get their own way. The lady wanted to set up the policy, but it bothered me quite a lot that her children were crying.

‘Are your children ok?’ I asked her.

‘Yeah, yeah.’ Came the answer, and then it went very quite.

I explained how long it would take me to set the policy up and asked again if she wanted to check on her kids. She then said they were with their grandmother. She then began to swear at someone who was with her. I was about to remind her that the call was being recorded, more for the sake of her kids than the swearing, but she hung up on me.

It worried me that she thought more about making a phone call then she did about the well-being of her children. We often get people calling us when they’re obviously holding a baby, the poor little thing crying when it needs a bit of attention. I often ask if the person would like to call us back.

The powers-that-be at work will probably say that I should never get involved in things like that, just do my job and ignore anything in the background. But is it really that easy? And is it right to ignore it? Surely children should come first? If we can hear someone being hurt should we really ignore it?

And what if someone actually tells us that they are doing something illegal? The DPA laws say we can’t give their information out without permission. But surely there should be a moral duty, a humane duty, to pass the information on to someone in authority who can investigate? Or should we just ignore it and let it continue?

Your Address

MandeeLeave a Comment on Your Address

If you phone me up at the call centre one of the things I will ask you for is your address. This is part of the Data Protection which we have to comply with.

About 30% of the answers I get are the actual address. That is the full address. The other 70% is anything but. Here are some of the scenarios:

1)
‘Can I have your address please?’
‘Mr J S…’
‘And the address?’
‘2 Dumb Street.’
‘And…?’

2)
‘Can I have your address please?’
‘2 Dumb Street.’
‘And where is that?’

3)
‘Can I have your FULL address please?’
‘2 Dumb Street.’
‘And…?’

4)
‘Can I have your address please?’
‘London.’
‘And whereabouts in London might that be?’

5)
‘Can I have your full address please?’
‘2 Dumb Street.’
‘And where is that?’
‘2 Dumb Street.’
‘But where is it?’
‘It’s Mr J S… from 2 Dumb Street.’
‘If I put 2 Dumb Street and your name on an envelope I doubt that it will get to you. So what is the rest of the address?’
‘I’ve just told you. I don’t know what you are talking about.’
‘Where is 2 Dumb Street? Is it England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Mars, India, the Moon? Where is it?’
‘Oh.’

The above are based on actual calls. I say based as names and addresses are obviously not included for real!

I think that most people should know their address. The exclusions would be the very young, people with extreme disabilities, or possibly someone that has just moved into the property – but they would more than likely have it written down somewhere, such as on the contracts they have signed when they purchased the property. Basically there is no excuse for the majority of people for not knowing their address. Whether it’s laziness or just plain stupidity I don’t know.

For most occasions the first line of the address and the postcode are sufficient to find the rest of the details. But for security purposes the full address is always better.

Margaret Road Wednesbury WS10 7QT 07505067286 naturalmatrixtherapy@outlook.com By appointment only, so please contact me to discuss available times.