A new Doctors appointment system.

My wife went to the hospital last week for various tests and when she left she was told to make an appointment with her own doctor to add extra items to her prescription. So we went to the doctor's surgery on our way home to make the appointment.

I’m sorry said the receptionist you cannot make an appointment for next week. You have to call the surgery on the day and the doctor will call you back to make the appointment. They said doctors now make all their own appointments? Why?

It is fairly obvious to me this is a silly idea and isn't going to work properly, but we decided to go along with it, so on the day we tried to call the surgery. Well it’s a well known fact that it is difficult to get through on the phone early in the day, so we were trying for about 45 minutes before we got through to reception. They noted our number and said the doctor will call back later. They didn’t say how much later, so we are now stuck at home waiting for the call. About three hours later we called back to see if we were still on the list and were told we were. The doctor called later and said she hadn’t got the results from the hospital but would chase them up and call on the following day. (Well that’s one morning wasted)

So we waited on the following day from 8:30 to 11:45 and then called the surgery, They said doctor will be calling shortly. Well two hours later, after we had been out on to do essential tasks we called back at the surgery, and told them that despite having our home and mobile no’s no-one had called. They said according to our records the doctor called but couldn’t get a reply. We told them that my wife had sat by the phone all morning and no doctor had called. The surgery said the doctor had now gone home. Now bearing in mind my wife’s condition is worsened by stress, this is not the kind of service we would expect. Furthermore my wife had not ordered her repeat prescriptions on line as she was expecting to see a doctor, so she had now run out of her regular medication.

Fortunately another doctor was on the premises and she was allowed to see him to get the repeat prescriptions we needed to tide us over until the hospital letter gets to the doctor.

Can anyone explain why Doctors now have to make their own appointments, as I have been told it is to meet new government targets?

I cannot see why I suddenly cannot book a non urgent appointment with my doctor a few days in advance after this system has worked well for years.

Morrisons

Is shopping getting more complicated?

We went shopping at Morrison’s today and on getting home and checking the bill, I discovered we had paid £6.21 more than expected.

Nescafe Instant Coffee is currently on offer with 300 grams on sale for the price of 200g, ie. A £7 jar of coffee is available for £4.79. But take care which one you pick up. They are all stacked together but don’t all have the 300g for 200g label, and if you take one without the label through the till you are charged £7, even though the identical jars on the same shelf (apart from the label) are £4.79. I wonder how many people don’t notice this?

There is also an offer on Frozen Scampi bits but read it carefully. It says ‘Buy one (for £4) and get two free’. If you only take two packets of Scampi to the till you will get charged £4 for each of them, and the assistant will not point out that had you put another pack through you would save £4, so we got charged £8 for 2 packs instead of £4 for three packs.

Normally we check the bill before leaving the shop, but were in a hurry today so I didn’t notice until later in the day. I phoned them up and they agreed to sort it out.

Firstly she gave me a third packet of Scampi and this created a refund of £4 on the credit card. I said thank you, but what about the coffee? She apologised for forgetting this and rather than process the credit card again she gave me the refund for this in cash. £6.21 back- reasonable result but in future we will have to pay more attention to the exact details of the offers.

I have also noticed these days that occasionally two small packets of a product can sometimes cost less than one large one, due to the constantly changing offers they have.

One other thing I noted was that although we only ever use a small trolley we can still get well over £100 worth of groceries in it, (Could be due to the wine and beer) so heaven knows how much a large trolley full of groceries would cost.

Left hand, Right hand. (Santander)

Santander are offering a new current account that pays interest and cashback on certain direct debits (123 account) – so I applied to upgrade my existing current account, only to be told I didn’t qualify:-

Thank you for applying to transfer your account to a 123 Current Account. Unfortunately, your existing account isn’t eligible for a transfer to the 123 Current Account.

Eiligible accounts (their spelling) are: Preferred, Everyday, Preferred In-Credit Rate, Preferred Overdraft Rate Zero, Premium, Reward, Family Reward, Travel Reward, Premier Direct, Premier, Current Account (Alliance & Leicester), Premier 50, Premier 21.

Just how many different kinds of current account can a bank have if mine isn’t one of these?

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

---

Not satisfied with their answer I asked if I could just open a completely new 123 account alongside my existing account, and got the following reply:-

Thank you for your email. If you already hold a Santander (or former Alliance and Leicester) current account and want to transfer to the 123 Current Account rather than apply for a new account, you can use our easy online transfer service. Not only will you get the same great benefits as new customers you also get to keep your existing account number, PINs and payment instructions. To be eligible for the account you must have at least 2 active direct debits and fund the account with at least £xx per month. From our records your account meets these requirements. I hope you find this information helpful.

Regards, Santander Customer Services

Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

Naturally I complained (I'd give Victor Meldrew a run for his money) and they agreed I could convert the existing account. They also paid me £15 as an ex-gratia payment as they had misinformed me. Good Result!

Stuck in a traffic jam

Torbay Council has erected variable message signage, one of which is located on the eastbound carriageway of Hellevoetsluis Way on the approach to the Gallows Gate roundabout and Hamelin Way. This was presumably erected to help the authority discharge its duties under the Traffic Management Act 2004 which introduces Network Management duty on Local Traffic Authorities. I have written to the council as follows:-

Could you please explain to me why today at 11am this sign was not warning me of the considerable amount of queueing traffic on Hamelin Way on the approach to the junction of Riviera Way and the A380 into Kingskerswell. Had I been informed, I could have turned off at Gallows Gate and found an alternative route that avoided this long queue and saved me from wasting petrol and time and from causing pollution while sitting in this queue. This is not the first time this sign has failed to warn of the queueing traffic on Hamelin Way, it just has some totally useless unhelpful message.

I have suggested that they are failing in their duties by not using this sign to warn motorists when the queueing traffic in Hamelin Way stretches back almost to the Moles Lane bridge, as it was this morning.

I have quoted the following sections of the Act to them and am now awaiting their reply:-

Section 16 of the TMA sets out the requirement of the new duty as being:
"It is the duty of a local traffic authority to manage their road network with a view to achieving, so far as it is reasonably practicable having regard to their other obligations, policies and objectives, the following objectives:

1. securing the expeditious movement of traffic on the authority's road network; and

2. facilitating the expeditious movement of traffic on road networks for which another authority is the traffic authority

Two paragraphs of this act are applicable to my complaint

8.3 The Traffic Manager will ensure that in those locations subject to regular traffic congestion, traffic management measures in the form of on carriageway lining, direction and information signing, junction signalisation and regulatory measures are current, clearly defined and fully operational

8.6 It will be the duty of the Traffic Manager to inform road users in advance, through the deployment of, for example, strategically placed Variable Message Signing (VMS) of the potential for increased traffic congestion on key links on the Torbay Route network

I am not amused when the roadside sign tells me either

Not to drink and Drive, or

to Watch out for Bikers in my mirrors?, or

Not to drive when tired, or

Not to use my mobile phone when driving

When all I want is for them to tell me that if I dont turn round I will get stuck in a horrendous traffic queue that I can easily avoid by turning off at the Gallows Gate Roundabout.

The White House

You may have read in an earlier blog about my problems with US immigration, basically keeping us standing in a queue for over 1.5 hours by using only 4 desks out of 20 available. We nearly missed a connecting flight because of these delays. I did not think it was acceptable so I placed a complaint on the White House site. The reply was less tham useful, so I thought I'd share it with you.

December 30, 2011

Dear Friend:

Thank you for taking the time to write. I have heard many personal accounts from individuals and families across our country, and I appreciate your sharing your story with me. Each day, I read letters from Americans so that I stay connected to their real-life and diverse experiences. By working together and involving all Americans in shaping the policies that affect us, we will build a brighter future for ourselves and our Nation.

Thank you again for sharing your story with me. I wish you all the best in the future.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Does that answer by complaint about US immigration? I think not.

Specsavers

Having unfortunately broken or lost all my spectacles I had to go to Specsavers to order some new ones. Us oldies are entitled to a free eye test but only once every two years (otherwise when we were bored we'd go into a different opticians every week for a test, just to pass the time.) As you would expect, there are a range of different prices but there are also a range of different offers which is so complex that you need a degree in applied mathematics to work out the best one. In the end I decided to be guided by the assistant, so I hope she's on my side and not Specsavers. I was unaware that the old pair, pictured above, were lost and broken, until a kind gent from Brixham rang my mobile to tell me he'd found them, in the road near the sea front, where I had been taking photographs earlier. He advised they had been run over and were no longer servicable, but at least I got them back to see for myself. I always put my phone number in my Spec. case in the hope that when (not if) I leave them somewhere someone will let me know where they are. I'm still waiting for the call about the ones I lost in Newcastle on Tyne last year.

British Telecom

BT were nearly added to the list of dodgy companies recently, but saved themself at the last minute. I was at my mum’s house when we noticed her telephone was dead.

My mum is 91, is only partially sighted, is a bit unsteady on her feet and normally lives on her own. She has an emergency call device which she wears round her neck that is linked to this phone line, so if she falls she can press the button and get help. She also gets very lonely as she cannot get out much and the phone is her way to call family on a daily basis as she would other wise have no-one to takl to from one day to the next. The phone is her lifeline.

Using my computer I went on line and through the BT web site ( www.bt.com ) was able to carry out a test of her line which confirmed there was a fault near her house. BT reminded me that if the fault was in the house then they would charge for a visit, and asked if I wanted to report the fault on line to their website. I opened the master socket, tested the line from here confirming that the fault was outside the house, so I reported it at 5pm on Sunday night.

BT’s website gave a reference number and stated the fault would be fixed by Thursday. I decided to call them to see if they would increase the priority but left this until Monday morning when I knew staff would answer the phone.

When I called on Monday morning, there was no queue, I got straight through, explained the situation and asked if they could increase the priority of the repair. The call centre person said he would see what he could do.

Later that morning, as I was on my way back home a BT engineer called to say he was on site, and by 1:30 pm on Monday the fault was fixed. Considering the original estimate for the repair was Thursday, I think just after lunch on Monday was a good result – Well done BT.

I was pleased that they were able to help, I would have been very disappointed if they could not, as I worked for BT as a telecomms engineer and later an engineering manager for 31 years, and am now a BT pensioner. Any failings on the part of BT always make me feel bad as I know I did my best to make things go well when I worked for them.