Snapfish

Snapfish Order,  date: Monday 28/11/16 ---- (Snapfish are photo printers)
Order total: £22.49
Order acknowledged, Snapfish advise estimated delivery date: Tuesday, Dec. 6,2016

Wednesday 7th December, no sign of item ordered, after waiting in all day yesterday as it is too large for letterbox

Transcript of online chat with Snapfish Customer Service, (complete with spelling errors)

 Bob: Order ID 988800321320 was supposed to be delivered yesterday but has not yet arrived, has it been dispatched?

Chat started
Please wait for an agent.
There are 2 visitor(s) waiting to be served. Customer Service

Thank you for waiting, our agents are currently busy.

Please stay in the queue and you will be connected to an agent soon.

Von Perido joined the chat
Edgar de Gracia joined the chat
Von Perido left the chat

Edgar de Gracia: . No worries I will check on this for you. I do apologize but there was still no update on our end. No worries I will make sure that this will be updated.

Bob:  why was I told it was to be delivered yesterday?

Edgar de Gracia: I do understand what you mean about the but is shows that there was a issue with the carrier and they are doing there best to sort this out. No worries you order as been dispatch there is some issue with the shipping.

Bob: If it is despatched when can I expect it to arrive, I stayed in yesterday for it. Who is the courier?

Edgar de Gracia:  Carrier will be Harrier.  (Harrier the Carrier, is that a joke?)

Edgar de Gracia are we still connected?

Bob: (repeating above question) If it is despatched when can I expect it to arrive, I stayed in yesterday for it?

Edgar de Gracia: I see, as of the moment we still dont have a respond from the carrier no worries once this is sorted out we will send you a email of the date the order will arrive.

Bob: I'll await the email then, but am not impressed with this service.

Edgar de Gracia:  Thanks for choosing Snapfihs and have a great day.

Example of Good Customer Service:

On Friday 2nd December I ordered goods from a company in London. Order acknowledged on same day

On Monday 5th they emailed to say the goods would be delivered on Tuesday 6th December. 
On Tuesday 6th December they emailed to say that the Courier (UKMAIL) would deliver between 12:30 and 1:30pm. At 12:45 Goods arrived, perfectly packaged and fit for purpose.

Moral, use UKMAIL not Harrier for your parcels! (Unless it's Snapfish's fault of course)

Dodgy goings on at The Drum Inn, Cockington

Sunday June 19th 2016, Father's Day.

My daughter has brought me here for Lunch as we have had nice lunches here in the past. Today however was not to be so successful. There was a special fathers day menu offering two courses for a fixed price of £15.50, which we decided to have. We all ordered different main courses but mine, Roast Beef, when it came had a number of shortcomings. The menu promised endless gravy, but this did not materialise. The Beef was extremely fatty, and I cannot eat fat at all. I managed to separate a small amount of beef from the fat but that was all. A few vegetables were included, I could see about a dozen peas, hiding under the cabbage (which I don't like, a couple of roast potatoes and parsnips. I could neither cut through or bite through the parsnip. There was a Yorkshire Pudding but it was dry (no gravy!) and slightly burnt. All in all, a very poor dinner.

Glynis and Emily had different dinners that were acceptable. On complaining to the manager he offered to not charge for my dinner. We decided to order puddings as I was still hungry, and the puddings came and were acceptable.

When we had finished I asked for a bill and we calculated what we should be paying as £44.50 including drinks or £50.50 if they charged for my pudding, whch I thought I should get for nothing as compensation for the poor dinner.

However, when bill one arrived it was for £54.58. So we asked for the itemised version and discovered that they had not charged the fixed price for 2 courses but had charged seperately for all the items we had except my dinner which was free. They had also included the charge for my pudding.

On pointing out this error we waited for a second bill, and this time it came to £47.85. Again I said this was incorrect and asked for the itemised version.

This time, when it came I noted we had now been correctly charged for the two meals, but two extra drinks had now mysteriously been added? I pointed this out and the manager agreed to remove the two drinks we did not have so I paid the £44.85 I was expected to pay.

I still wonder if they added the two drinks in the hope of recouping some of the lost revenue from the free meal they had given me, but then I'm getting suspicious in my old age.

Morrisons - Deliberate deception, incompetence or what?

Once again I find I have a problem with Morrisons pricing of products. Beer is normally found in the Beer section of the store, so when I find a rack of beer by the freezers with two labels on it stating that it is a pound a bottle I decide to buy a few as it looks like a genuine good price offer. However, once I get it home and check the till receipt I discover that they have charged £1.65 for 4 of the six bottles purchased.

As this is not the first time I have had problems with Morrisons product I decided to go back to the store to make sure I hadn't misread the prices. I took a picture of the rack of beer and the only price on it is £1 which is displayed in two places. I assume (wrongly it seems ) that all the beer on this rack is £1.

I asked Customer Services to call the manager and asked him to explain. He said someone had forgotten to put the correct prices on and agreed I could have the bottles I had purchased for £1 each instead of the £1.65 they had charged me. I did point out I had driven back from Marldon to get this sorted out but he offered no compensation for this.

I wonder how many other shoppers have done this but have possibly not noticed they have been charged £1.65 a bottle for anything off certain shelves of this rack? I may go back tomorrow to see if the beer has been priced correctly, if it hasn't I will take another photo and send it to the local trading standards office. I know these supermarkets are always looking to make more money, but not pricing goods clearly is not really a fair way to make their profits.

I would advise that when you shop at Morrisons you check your till receipts carefully to make sure you have not been overcharged for items.

Update 21/6/2016. Morrisons have put the missing labels on the shelf today, if you look closely enough you will see them on these pictures. I've highlighted the new labels to make them easier to spot!

see my previous blog on the subject in 2013.

Specsavers (again)

I posted a blog about Specsavers Opticians a few years back (January 2012) but it seems they haven't changed their rather confusing pricing structure. I went in for my biennial eye test today and decided to see how much the new glasses would cost. There are still a bewildering range of options. I only have 'O' Level and HNC Maths so I found it hard to comprehend.

I need a pair of varifocals for driving, so I can clearly see the road and the speedometer at same time. Also for watching the TV or at the Theatre. Normal reading glasses are essential for close up or computer use.

I could have a pair of Varifocals from the 'buy one get one free' offer on the £69 pound range of frames for £267 (That's £69 for the frame plus the cost of the 'Elite' lenses with scratch resist coat and 'reactorlite' feature). For this price I get one pair of varifocals and one pair of reading glasses for my £267. 'Elite' lenses are apparently better (and more expensive) than the 'Premium' ones I have now which I don't find particularly good.

Or I can have just the varifocals as above from the £69 pound range and not have the second free pair and this only costs £200. So by not having the free pair I save £67. Which leads me to assume that the 'free' pair costs £67!

I asked for an explanation and was advised that there was a 25% off offer on any pair in the £69 or more ranges. The small print on the back of the offer says this only applies if you buy one pair, and does not apply if you buy two on the 'buy one get one free' offer! Soo to save money I could have the one £69 pair of varifocals with 25% off and a full price pair of reading glasses from the £25 range for £225.

Or I could have the elite varifocal with ultra clear vision but no reactorlight and a pair of readers for £218 (that's the 2 for 1 offer on the £69 range again) or just the one pair varifocals with no reactorlight from the £69 range for £163.50.(with the 25% off). AND then buy a pair of £25 reading glasses.

The bus comes at 11:20 and if I miss it I have to wait until 12:35 for the next one. It's now 11:05 and my brain hurts. I have to walk to the bus station so I decided to leave without ordering anything until I have more time to work out which option I really need. I may take my prescription elsewhere to see if they have anything better to offer. Does anyone else have this problem buying Spectacles or is it just me?

Winning

Years ago I used to have the occasional bet, and if I was lucky I won. If I backed a horse with a one pound stake and it won at 'evens'then I got two pounds, I've my original pound back plus the pound I'd won. The national lottery defines winning slightly differently. If I play a game that costs two pounds to enter and I win two pounds they tell me that I have won two pounds, but as far as I am concerned I have just got my original two pound stake back and haven't actually won anything. What do you think?