Cuffy/Skill - Stafford customer service thread - Stafford retailers reports.

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
It’s by design.

Same reason they’ll send someone from Stafford to Wolverhampton for a disability allowance assessment, if you can get to Wolves you clearly aren’t disabled right?

The assessments are often outsourced which is one reason it might require travelling. Also, who on earth thinks someone who is disabled is not disabled if they can travel? There's plenty of disabled people in the workplace travelling to work every day, they just often need their disability status for other reasons, Motability etc.
 

Thehooperman

Well-Known Forumite
The assessments are often outsourced which is one reason it might require travelling. Also, who on earth thinks someone who is disabled is not disabled if they can travel? There's plenty of disabled people in the workplace travelling to work every day, they just often need their disability status for other reasons, Motability etc.
Well said @gilesjuk.

Whilst I am not classified as disabled enough to claim any benefits I qualify for a blue badge and there are days when I would struggle to travel to my own bog let alone Wolverhampton!!!

@Cue please try googling the word disabled and then make your judgement!
 
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EasMid

Well-Known Forumite
I don’t think @Cue was expressing his own opinion there. I took it to mean that Capita (who I have experience of the way they carry out their PIP assessments) view all claimants in that way.
We care for (unpaid) a young adult with an “invisible disability” that had a PIP assessment appointment in Walsall at 8-30 am. When we arrived 5 minutes early & waited for 25 minutes for the appointment only to be told the person doing the assessment “wasn’t coming in that day & no/one else was available so we’d have to make another appointment”
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
The assessments are often outsourced which is one reason it might require travelling. Also, who on earth thinks someone who is disabled is not disabled if they can travel? There's plenty of disabled people in the workplace travelling to work every day, they just often need their disability status for other reasons, Motability etc.

Well said @gilesjuk.

Whilst I am not classified as disabled enough to claim any benefits I qualify for a blue badge and there are days when I would struggle to travel to my own bog let alone Wolverhampton!!!

@Cue please trying googling the word disabled and then make your judgement!

I don’t think @Cue was expressing his own opinion there. I took it to mean that Capita (who I have experience of the way they carry out their PIP assessments) view all claimants in that way.
We care for (unpaid) a young adult with an “invisible disability” that had a PIP assessment appointment in Walsall at 8-30 am. When we arrived 5 minutes early & waited for 25 minutes for the appointment only to be told the person doing the assessment “wasn’t coming in that day & no/one else was available so we’d have to make another appointment”
@EasMid has it

I wasn’t expressing my own opinion. The DWP will literally decline Disability Allowance because the assessor witnessed you walking across the car park to get into the building. Some of these people are quite literally devoid of any kind of empathy
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
@Cue It appears to me that the modus operandi of the DWP is to try their hardest to deny claimants any form of help rather than to try and give it.
Yup, and if the current situation continues as expected a number of people that look down on benefits claimants are about to realise this first hand.
 

c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
It would be remiss to state that Grocutt and Sons funeral services on Greyfriars were exemplary in arranging the cremation of my wife recently.

Steve is a great guy and really cares about what he does, which helps in my situation having to sort something out when I'm completely out of my depth.
 

Thehooperman

Well-Known Forumite
Cuffy to NatWest yesterday when I went in to pay some cash into my account.

I was told off for folding my plastic money because they have to throw them away if they are too creased. I said they were folded to fit into my wallet and suggested that reverting back to paper notes might be a better option.

Apparently paper notes "don't last as long as plastic ones" to which I replied "they do if they're folded".

Whilst trying to find my NatWest card in my wallet I found a Royal Bank of Scotland card in someone else's name amongst my other cards. I have no idea how it got there.

I remember receiving a new NatWest card earlier this year and putting it in my wallet but don't know if it was this rogue card.

Upon asking the lovely lady if she could check whether the RBoS card was registered to my address I got a sharp rebuke "no we can't give you their address" which wasn't what I asked about.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Cuffy to NatWest yesterday when I went in to pay some cash into my account.

I was told off for folding my plastic money because they have to throw them away if they are too creased. I said they were folded to fit into my wallet and suggested that reverting back to paper notes might be a better option.

Apparently paper notes "don't last as long as plastic ones" to which I replied "they do if they're folded".

Whilst trying to find my NatWest card in my wallet I found a Royal Bank of Scotland card in someone else's name amongst my other cards. I have no idea how it got there.

I remember receiving a new NatWest card earlier this year and putting it in my wallet but don't know if it was this rogue card.

Upon asking the lovely lady if she could check whether the RBoS card was registered to my address I got a sharp rebuke "no we can't give you their address" which wasn't what I asked about.
All the banks in town have a shit attitude to customer service (with the exception of Santander, I have found). Is it any wonder more and more people choose to do as much as they can online or at their post office and the places end up closing.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
All the banks in town have a shit attitude to customer service (with the exception of Santander, I have found). Is it any wonder more and more people choose to do as much as they can online or at their post office and the places end up closing.
I made the assistants in Barclays show me how to pay in cheques using that self service machine for at least 2 years, not a frequent occurrence but maybe every 3 months. Don't work in town now so not visited a bank since!
 

Entropy

Well-Known Forumite
Huge skills to A1 motors on the Wolvo Road....the past 6 months our 05 plate Sh*t box of a Polo has been in and out with a reoccuring issue of going into limp mode plus some other major works needed to be done. Harry, Jane and the rest of the crew there have been superb!

Highly recommend them :D
 

rudie111

Well-Known Forumite
All the banks in town have a shit attitude to customer service (with the exception of Santander, I have found). Is it any wonder more and more people choose to do as much as they can online or at their post office and the places end up closing.

2 weeks ago I needed to book an appointment with Barclays to sort out my moms account. First availability was in January. Luckily it’s not an urgent issue. The lady was very friendly though. It was a Saturday and they had no one behind the counter. Felt a bit sorry for the bloke who a lugged a big bag of change down to pay in but was turned away
 

staffordjas

Well-Known Forumite
2 weeks ago I needed to book an appointment with Barclays to sort out my moms account. First availability was in January. Luckily it’s not an urgent issue. The lady was very friendly though. It was a Saturday and they had no one behind the counter. Felt a bit sorry for the bloke who a lugged a big bag of change down to pay in but was turned away
I was contemplating opening an account with Barclays a few years ago. Couldn't just open an account I wanted....had to go through all the paperwork with an employee in the foyer to book an appointment to 'speak to someone about accounts' . She wanted 2 forms of photographic ID. Told her I'd only got a passport . " Your driving licence will do as well". Told her I'd only got one of the old green paper ones without a photo " What???? ALL driving licences have photos! I don't know whether they will accept just one for of ID. We'll get in touch "

Wasn't as if I wanted money off them , I was going to put some in! By the time I got home I'd decided that when they rang with an appointment I'd say not to bother.....never did get that phone call.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
I was contemplating opening an account with Barclays a few years ago. Couldn't just open an account I wanted....had to go through all the paperwork with an employee in the foyer to book an appointment to 'speak to someone about accounts' . She wanted 2 forms of photographic ID. Told her I'd only got a passport . " Your driving licence will do as well". Told her I'd only got one of the old green paper ones without a photo " What???? ALL driving licences have photos! I don't know whether they will accept just one for of ID. We'll get in touch "

Wasn't as if I wanted money off them , I was going to put some in! By the time I got home I'd decided that when they rang with an appointment I'd say not to bother.....never did get that phone call.

I just don’t bother with banks that want to do anything in person any more. Santander insisted on an in-person appointment to setup our business credit card and account IIRC, and setting up a savings account for my business resulted in me filing a complaint because I had to post a form to do it and felt that was ridiculous in this day and age.

If I want a savings account at Natwest it’s all online, and I use a FinTech (Tide) for my business and have literally never had to deal with a person unless I wanted to.

I’ve borrowed from banks with less formality than you were asked for to opened a Barclay’s account.
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
I have savings with NS&I everything is online, I recently needed to access some of them urgently for vets bills, but I had answered the security questions incorrectly so was locked out of the account.....to gain access they had to send me a written letter asking further security questions, to which I had to reply by post, and then wait for a new password to be sent by post......6 weeks it took in total.....why on earth when everything is online!
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Skills to Henry Burton cycles. Had to have my front wheel bearings fixed. Easy and cheaper than I could do it.

If it's Shimano hubs they're actually adjustable as they use the cone, cup and loose ball bearings setup. Cartridge bearings are simpler to do yourself but once worn they're throwaway.
 

Thehooperman

Well-Known Forumite
Not a Stafford retailer but big cuffy to Evri (previously Hermes) the other day for not only being late in delivering my parcel but also for just leaving it on my doorstep in the snow.

I heard a faint knock on my door but they'd disappeared when I went to the door.

The delivery person would have had no idea whether I was in or not and the parcel was left where anyone passing could have stolen it.

Their response to my complaint was to thank me for the positive feedback!!!
 

c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
Not a Stafford retailer but big cuffy to Evri (previously Hermes) the other day for not only being late in delivering my parcel but also for just leaving it on my doorstep in the snow.

I heard a faint knock on my door but they'd disappeared when I went to the door.

The delivery person would have had no idea whether I was in or not and the parcel was left where anyone passing could have stolen it.

Their response to my complaint was to thank me for the positive feedback!!!
If you use their app (and you know the details of the parcel being sent) you can state where the parcel should be left if you're not in (we ask for the parcel to be left around the back of the house). It's not guaranteed, but it's a potential option.
 
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