Office Politics

Where would we be without all these sophisticated office telecoms systems eh? At the weekend my credit card shaped car key stopped working, which made opening and locking the car somewhat difficult. So I rang my local garage on the telephone.

Needless to say they were not answering their telephones. No I was instantly lost deep in the bowels of a voip system giving me a range of choices I did not want. Eventually I got through to someone who could not help me and they diverted me back into the system where I was able to talk to a very helpful man who told me what I needed to do next.

Depressingly, this involved finding a utility bill, my car registration document and an official document with my photo on, then turning up at the garage with £150 so they would then order a new key. Imagine my surprise then when I turned up at the garage later in the day, clutching the afore mentioned documents to find not one but two people sitting at reception with absolutely nothing to do – because the damn VOIP phone system was answering the telephones for them – and making all their customers vow never, ever to buy one of their cars, ever again.

I quietly mentioned in passing that perhaps it is a good idea for a customer-service based business to actually talk with their customers – but I just got a good sneering at. I was tempted to ask about business sdsl availability so they could do everything on line and not have to face real people ever again.

So here I am £150 worse off, still without a key and patiently waiting for Renault to send me another one. When it comes it will let me into the car if I just touch the door handle. And it will lock the car all on its own as I walk away. Great.

What will they think of next? This is the THIRD time my high-tech key has failed. (4th if you count the time I inadvertently put it through a colour-fast cycle in my washing machine. Maybe they will come up with something simple like a key you can use again and again for years. I should be so lucky!