Monthly Archives: February 2009

Home Delivery Network, Rants

HDNL redundancies my fault?

12 Comments

It was suggested to me this week that the 700 job losses at Home Delivery Network were my fault. I of course rebuked this claim, but after some consideration there may be an element of truth to that.

For example, if you’re distribution manager for a firm such as Littlewoods or Vodafone, and you’re looking to cut your costs by switching from Royal Mail to another delivery company, you’d obviously Google the company first to check their reputation. By Googling ‘Home Delivery Network’ you’ll find MrDaz.com on the first page, right behind their own site, with the story of how they tossed my parcel over the gate into a puddle. You’ll also read over 100 comments from other dissatisfied customers who’ve had the displeasure of dealing with HDNL, and also comments from HDNL delivery drivers who are proud of their lack of care and attention, openly racist and abusive towards customers.

For example, here’s one comment from a Home Delivery Network driver, and this is one of the more intelligent ones:

Chris
Chris@home.net
193.200.150.47

Wow, “Mr” Daz, I’m really in awe of your incredible intellectualism and well-honed debating skills which mean you would NEVER, EVER have recourse to childishly using four-letter words.

Now “Mr” Daz, I suggest you take a long, hard look at yourself and ask yourself if it was REALLY such a big deal that the packaging of your silly little toy got a little damp?

Also, reflect upon the FACTS that

1) You’re NOT the only person on this Earth
2) The world is an imperfect place.
and
3) Real people who do REAL jobs (ie – they get their hands dirty and actually SWEAT) such as driving for HDNL are NOT on this planet solely to wipe your sweet, perfumed backside.

Would you want your brand associated with that sort of company, when their staff don’t care that they throw parcels over fences and they’re openly abusive towards customers? Of course not.

Therefore anyone looking at hiring a delivery firm would discount HDNL (quite rightly) perhaps accelerating the company’s decision to cut back on staff.

Rants

Tariq Zaman on BBC Watchdog

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If you remember the follow up programme that BBC Watchdog did on Tariq Zaman, some kind soul has uploaded it to YouTube so you can watch it back. It shows Nicky Campbell interviewing students in Leeds saying how Zaman has withheld money owed to them. In this video you also see Zaman looking around a student’s accommodation, and finding it immaculately kept, and promissing the students that they’ll get their deposits back when they leave.

The video isn’t the best quality as it appears to be recorded using a video camera pointed at the TV. You get the gist of it though.

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Rants

What does Jack Tweed see in millionaire Jade Goody?

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Jack Tweed and Jade Goody have finally tied the knot in a public ceremony designed to make her some more cash before she snuffs it.

Seriously though, what does Jack Tweed see in Jade? She’s one of the thickest people on the face of the planet, she’s openly racist, she’s obnoxious and she’s pig ugly. Even the fact that she’s a millionaire can’t be enough of a reason to marry her?

Unless of course you consider this fact, from the BBC website:

Goody has spoken of how Tweed, 21, proposed to her shortly after doctors told her she may only have months to live.

Ah… he’s only got to stay with her for a few months, then once she’s dead, he can inherit her cash. Makes sense now doesn’t it?

It makes even more sense when you consider the fact that Jack Tweed is actually serving time for hitting a teenager with a golf club. Clearly Jack’s a very nice lad, and deserves his terminally ill, millionaire bride.

How does someone like Jade get to be so rich in the first place? When we live in a society that rewards people like Jade Goody with fame and fortune, and girls aspire to be just like her (famous for doing nothing) instead of actually making something of themselves it’s no wonder our country is in such an economic crisis.

Now, I’m not blaming the recession on Jade Goody, but her loyal ‘fanbase’ who look upon winning the lottery or being on Big Brother as career goals has surely helped.

Google, Internet, Michael Jackson

MJ coffee scale creates quite a buzz

1 Comment

When I invented the Michael Jackson coffee scale, I knew it would prove quite popular. However I wasn’t quite prepared for the level of links I’ve picked up, and other websites that have run the story. The response has been staggering. Just look at the results in Google when you search for it.

I guess everyone needed a uniform way of requesting their coffee.

MJ coffee scale with stolen brandingHowever, I’m a bit pissed off at one thieving twat who’s taken the MJ coffee scale I created, and added his own domain name to it. This knob sack here is trying to pass it off as his own work.

Sure mate, keep kidding yourself.

You can see the original Michael Jackson Coffee Scale, by MrDaz, here.

CSA, Rants

CSA mistakenly send me someone else’s bank details

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A few weeks ago (January 20th) I asked the CSA to send me a breakdown of what I paid to date, and what I owed. I recorded the phone call, because I knew they’d either lie about my requesting it or just muck it up. Sure enough, when I phoned back some weeks later they had no recollection of my having called (even though I had) so I asked the same question again.

This time a chap named Barney said he’d send me the details, which to his credit, he did. I did tell him I was recording the call though, so he’d have struggled to worm his way out of it.

I received my details through the post in a timely fashion; however, I also received something else. I received something which highlights a level of incompetence and lack of organisation that only the Child Support Agency has the ability to display. They sent me a printout of internal email between one of their accountants, Natalie Walters, and Patricia Corris. In the email, Natalie asked Patricia to update the details on a PWC (parent with care), and printed the woman’s bank account number and sort code for her building society.

This email was printed out by Patricia Corris, left lying around on the printer at the CSA in Birkenhead, and then picked up and posted to my address! In doing so, Patricia Corris broke data protection laws.

Here’s a copy of the email, with the bank details removed (because I’m not incompetent like the CSA):

Patricia Corris email

Corris Patricia CSA Birkenhead
From: Walters Natalie CSA Birkenhead
Sent: 09 February 2009 19:42
To: Corris Patricia CSA Birkenhead
Subject: ******4210

Sorry trish am on training now and the phones have been mad im trying 2 do me 2 pieces of post b4 she has me ha.
Will you update iico please for pwc bank details sc 165521 acct num ******62 thanks don’t forget

Natalie
OA3 Accounts
Ext 2463

You’ll notice by the mix of broken English and text speak that Natalie isn’t the sharpest tool in the box, and by the fact that Patricia printed an email containing someone’s bank details and left it lying around on the printer for some other bright spark to pick up and post to random people, it’s clear that the CSA isn’t really filled with geniuses.

So, if you’re a parent with care and your bank is the Cumberland Building Society, Cumberland House, Castle Street, Carlisle, CA3 8RX, with the sort code 16-52-21, your bank account details may have been printed out and posted to me. Perhaps they’ve been posted to other people as well? Who knows!

The real question is, what did the CSA have to say about this? Let’s ask them!

Here’s the recorded phone call of what happened when I phoned the CSA to tell them of their gross negligence.

As you can hear, they ‘claim’ they’ll contact the PWC to let her know about the screw up, and they ‘claim’ that a manager will be involved. I doubt either will happen, so I phoned the Daily Mirror and got a journalist on the case. He spoke to the CSA, and received a grovelling letter back from them admitting the mistake, but I have yet to hear back from them, either in writing or by phone call. I was promised that Patricia Corris would call me to apologise, but she hasn’t.

Hopefully she’s been sacked. Hopefully the whole of the Birkenhead office has been sacked, but sadly I doubt it. This type of cock up is hardly out of the ordinary, and I expect the CSA will continue to do this until the whole organisation is shut down amid mass public outcry. How many screw ups will this take though? How many CSA mistakes must we endure before something is done?

If I wasn’t laughing so hard I’d be crying right now.

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Internet, Rants

Trading Standards investigating the Student Property Shop for possible fraud

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The Leeds letting agent, the Student Property Shop, was featured on BBC News this week in a news report that is also available on the BBC website. Students have been lobbying outside of the office of the Student Property Shop, trying to get their deposits back from the previous occupants of the premises.

When asked, the Student Property Shop denied any connection with the previous occupants of their office, Providence Properties.

Watch the video and see what you think. The report closes with the narrator stating that Trading Standards are now investigating the Student Property Shop for a possible fraud concerning the £70,000 in deposits that the students have yet to be returned.

CSA, Podcasts

CSA mistakes continue

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I phoned the CSA again today, chasing up my request from January 20th where I asked for a complete breakdown of what I had paid so far, and for a recalculation of what I am due to pay.

As you may remember from my phonecall on January 20th, I was told that I had paid £58.75 for 23 weeks, totalling £900. Of course, as I pointed out at the time, £58.75 x 23 isn’t £900, it’s £1,351.25. The woman on the phone knew it was wrong (as you can hear in the phonecall) and she said she’d get it resolved and I’d get a new payment schedule sent to me in a few weeks.

It’s been 3 weeks now, so I phoned up just to check where they were up to.

Guess what?

That’s right, not only have they NOT done it, they have NO RECORD of my ever phoning up!

You honestly cannot make this shit up. The CSA may not have any record of my phonecall, but I have. Plus, I have a record of this one too, so you can listen to it here.

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Is this latest error down to incompetence from the woman I spoke to last time, or simple corruption within the CSA? You decide.