What the….

I think that Steve and I are fairly positive people. We often try to see the positive side of things and compliment each others moods quite well so when one is down the other is up and can raise the others spirit. Today however this is proving to be hard. Sometimes this country just really does your head in!

Today I worked from home. Thankfully the technology we have available and the type of work I do makes this possible. Personally I prefer going into work but when the need arises it is always fab to have the option to work from home. The reason I stayed home was to wait for a delivery.

We paid a premium price last Friday for a quick delivery. Being reasonable people we figured we would let it slide for Saturday but should expect it Monday. No, they advised it would be Tuesday. No worries. I call Tuesday to make sure it is on the truck for today. Yes it is and will be there before 5pm. 5pm comes and goes. I call again. Oh, no it was dispatched from our warehouse to the courier company, it will be there Wednesday. Well I won’t be here Wednesday which is why I got Tuesday as a work from home day (can you visualise my pulsing neck muscles about this time – not helped by the copious amounts of caffeine I have consumed today – another reason not to work from home).

So it will be here Thursday, apparently, which means Steve can take the day off to wait for it. Oops, no, he’s not off on that day either. Bugger. Believe me this is not a one off occurrence. I have heard many stories similar to this. There is no point complaining as they have your money, you want the goods and you are held to ransom in the meantime. You vow to never use them again, which you stick to, but it is rare to find a company that does provide a good service.

Don’t get me going about trying to get a doctors appointment! Next to impossible so don’t get sick!

In short, so this doesn’t come off as a whinge, there are many things and wonderful people that we do really enjoy over here however it is always interesting to reflect on what we did have back home and believe me in many ways we do have it incredibly sweet in Oz and NZ. I always thought that population density was a big disadvantage in NZ. Now I realise that because we have such a relatively small pool of clients in Oz and NZ you need to set yourself apart from the competition or sales walk. This results in a far better level of customer service. Bring back old fashioned, decent customer service I say.