Monday, December 26, 2016

PRE-SUASION best reads of 2016 [2 of 5]



Robert Cialdini is credited with changing the way marketing worked with the publishing of his best seller Influence. Published 15 years ago, Cialdini has continued studying what makes people do what they do... and this latest book records what he thinks are the must important changes.
An area I particularly like is the discussion of preloading a situation - in NLP terms, this might be called anchoring. Basically by predisposing someone to a particular view you can influence their decision and predict the answer.
If you are involved in anyway with marketing this is a must read.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

PayPal Buyer Protection found wanting

On November 27th I purchased a digital download using using paypal as payment, thinking I was being protected by buyers insurance offered by paypal... a small but significant purchase of $250 US The file was delivered for a week, then it was delivered as an unusable 6 gig file, and then as a smaller file but, due to the time that had passed, a paypal resolution request had been raised, the files were password protected. PayPal told me told they had extended the time for the seller to respond and they wouldn’t review the claim until December 24th. I have pointed out the details of my claim, the fact the seller is passing himself off as a legitimate business [ using a very close version of their name ] and that after a month I haven’t got my purchase... but to no avail. A promised call from a supervisor hasn’t been received... a text / tweet exchange with @AskPayPal has produced nothing and I am still expected to wait until the recalcitrant seller replies to a second request - paypal’s 10 days to resolve the matter has long since passed. This is my last message from @AskPayPal: Ask PayPal @AskPayPal I am sorry that I cannot resolve this for you. I have passed on the information to our Claims Department and they will contact you directly. Thanks ^SLS So, please don’t put any faith in the buyers protection nonsense that paypal peddle. A month after the event, I am still without what I paid for, and the matter could drag on for another couple of weeks. paypal have obviously got “too big to care” and they use call centres in the Philippines where low paid staff have no authority to resolve obvious cases of fraud. I have supplied details of the sellers fraudulent name copy and also the real site but nobody cares or is prepared to make a decision. A request to speak to a supervisor at 11am - now some 8 hours ago, was met with “They will call you back” and obviously you know the result of that... I am still waiting. I am very happy to post my correspondence with the seller here if required but I raise this issue... the buyers protection offered by pay pal is not worth the digital space it takes up... Fingers crossed this will eventually be solved.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

USEFUL BELIEF Best reads of 2016 [1 of 5]

Useful Belief Chris HELDER
Useful Belief by Chris Helder 2016 saw me presenting our most popular half day seminars Stepping Up to Supervision and Successfully Managing People. A common theme was that “the young people of today” are just horrible: lazy, opinionated, entitled selfie-lovers and of course narcissistic. In Helder’s book “Useful Belief” proposes if you treat these young people as “lazy, opinionated, entitled selfie-lovers and of course narcissistic” you get that result. He proposes that a Useful Belief would be that they are the most amazing you people that ever were... and that if you treated them as such, you would have these amazing young people who surprised you everyday with how good they were! Of course there are example of this in the workplace of 2016 - Apple Shops characterise their young people as GENIUSES and magically they act that way - they are still all the other things that set young people aside but somehow that simple re titling turns them into Super Stars. There are many other examples that are practical and useful in this book and i commend it to you - either to further your management career or just to be a better parent. Available at all good book stores - I have purchased and gifted more than a dozen - I grab them at Bookshop at Melbourne Airport - a great place to find new books.

Saturday, December 03, 2016

Nothing is constant BUT change

Yesterday I was looking for something familiar so I went o Facebook to check the posts of Family, Friends and clients... but Facebook had changed again. where my SMART custom lists used to be was NOTHING. My first reaction was to rant and rave [ as you do when something changes ] but after reflection of though of all the things in my great life that have changed and have never changed back... Margaret River of my boyhood - it is different now, the world loves it but it is not what my childhood memories were made of, Perth the lazy BIG COUNTRY town that is now an expensive big city, simpler phones but now mini computers like iPhone 7’s, flying used to be exciting and romantic, it is now ordinary and like catching a bus, everyday was exciting with new challenges but not nothing is extraordinary. I am not complaining just saying. My go to futurist, Alvin Toffler said: “The illiterate of the 21 st century will not be those that can’t read or write but rather those who can’ learn, unlearn and relearn.”
So, the journey to change has started again... I have to get used to ditching knowledge that is no longer valuable - I struggle to give up PageMaker where I must surely have been a world expert but they stopped updating that program 10 years ago - I think that sometimes when you are forced to change - like the Czars at Facebook force us to do on a very regular basis, that change is more palatable. I love podcasts and listen most mornings to James Altucher, Tim Ferris, Joe Polish, Dan Sullivan, Stephen Dubner, etc.. and I heard Kevin Kelly who for those of you who aren’t aware was the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, talk about the consistent need to upgrade himself.. how he would hold onto a program where he had expertise, but the hardware would continue to improve, newer more capable programs would be released, and he would fall further behind and to catch up became more and more a challenge. He eventually decided to be on a constant improvement curve. I feel like Facebook has forced me to have my Kevin Kelly moment.
So, thanks you Facebook for taking away my custom lists... I am grateful!

Monday, October 24, 2016

Best $10 you can spend on Airline travel.

M & M's for experiment!
Recently I read an article on travel tips and it commented that you could change the enjoyment of a flight with a simple $10 purchase.

The advice was "Purchase a box of M & M and give it to the flight staff with the advice... "This is for you and please share with your colleagues" and according to the advice you would be blown away with the service that resulted."

So, I tried the experiment.

It was flight QF792 from Perth October 24th, 2016 leaving Perth at 8.30 am.

I will keep you informed.


#Rebootology #SMO2016 #WayneMansfield

Monday, August 01, 2016

Some ideas deserve to be killed Off

Today I read a great "snippet" from Peter Diamandis titled: Create a culture that rewards killing ideas.

"As I've discussed with regard to Google's moonshot factory 'X', Idealab also believes in killing
ideas quickly.

Ideas need a short life span
Bill Gross, founder of Idealab explains, "We kill a lot of ideas. There is no risk to our people; nobody gets fired. In fact, people get praised when we kill something. We save a lot of money when we kill a bad idea."

It is so critically important that this notion is ingrained into your culture – otherwise, it will never work. Reward your people for finding ways ideas won't work before you invest heavily in them."

So, are you holding onto an idea that really doesn't deserve any more of your time??

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Coles and OfficeWorks declare war on GOOD customers

After big companies continue to get a kicking for shady practices by ASIC and FairWork [ that inludes Coles, Woolworths and Seven11 ] they are starting to get nasty with their customers.

I use OfficeWorks for workbook reproduction and this weekend have spent $700 there. How do you reckon they treated me... I spend this amount or more each month. Firstly I was told that the rules had changed and I had to prepay Ugh?? I has been to the same OfficeWorks for 4 years spending upwards of $1k a month on copying without any issue on payment, yet they wanted a good customer to PREPAY because they had an issue with a customer not picking up a canvas printing job worth $100?

And when I went to leave the store in Malaga just a few hours ago, after paying the bill in full, the door person wouldn't let me leave unless he could itemize my receipt against what I was carrying. Mmmm unfortunately the little guy has been murdered by the Coles giant and I suppose this is the new normal.

On Saturday morning at the Coles Supermarket - you know the guys who have been caught out by the Fair Work Commissioner for underpaying staff... there was a young guy taking photos of behind the scene places that could be used against the current contract cleaners when they terminated their current cleaning contracts.

And oh these are the same guys who run KMART and TARGET and have clothes made in Sweat shops in Bangladesh...

I can see the Financial pages recording that both OfficeWorks and Coles are struggling as "store to store" sales are declining.

I wonder what genius will take responsibility for this latest cost cutting... treat customer as the enemy strategy.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Flat White appears on Starbucks menu board - Australia's gift to the world.

Australia is less and less influenced by the views of Americans.

Flat White Coffee
Australia's gift to the world
Where Americans can’t see anywhere else in the world, we have influence from Asia, UK Europe and the US.


Just a simple example is coffee… none of that dreadful brewed stuff for us Aussies.
Our coffee culture had two dramatic effects on Starbucks… Starbucks closed down stores in Australia as we don't like the sweet stuff that passes are drinks in Starbucks.

Starbucks relaunched in Australia with flat white [ according to Costa Coffee from the UK “Australia’s gift to the world” ] on the menu… it has also been added in the UK.

As I haven’t travelled to the US for 5 years I am not sure it has reached their yet but Hugh Jackman is doing his best to spread the sheer delight of flat white to America.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Best price - a promise or a "bait and switch "The BIG hole that swallowed my leg?

The BIG hole that swallowed my leg and iPhone

The screen shattered - wow!

iPhone 6 drama [ some would say a first world problem!! ] occurred on a recent trip to Bali for the CoWorkingUnConferenceAsia2016 [ and that is another story! ]. While walking between restaurants in Ubud Bali, I stepped into a VERY BIG hole which swallowed me whole.

You can see that apart from skinned knees, a dented pride the damage was focused on my iPhone screen... completely shattered!

Back in Perth I was quoted $160 to fix it... but when I arrived they said it would be $300!! Isn't that illegal? - bait and switch? That was iRepair - so be careful.

Eventually I got the apple shop to do the job at about $275 and a great job they did.

MY POINT: Be careful of getting a quote and then being told, for whatever reason, that isn't available and being suckered into the higher figure... days later iRepair's web still quoted $160 for an iPhone6 new screen.

OK I am no calm.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Seth Godin Poke The Box

Many people mistakenly believe you need to read a book from cover to cover to get the most from a book. I love to grab a book, one like Seth Godin's POKE THE BOX, which is a collection of previously published snapshot ideas and read the ideas from where the page where the book opens. I then continue to read until I get a "shit yes..." idea and then the book has done it's job.

So here goes with "Poke the box"

Poke The BoxSeth Godin

When Can you Start?

Soon is not as good as now.

#WayneMansfield #PowerRead #BusinessSeminarsAustralia #SeminarsJuly2016

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Later Life Work the basis of Rebootology

Later Life Work [ as described in Phil Burgess great book: "Reboot" ]
Work comes in many flavours and for people post retirement defined in terms of obligations and accountabilities, work seems to fall into one of five categories.
Phil Burgess
Authour: Reboot!
Type 1: Paid work.
Many in later-life still work for pay, earning a salary, wages, or fees. Employees work for salaries and wages; professionals, craftspeople, consultants, and freelancers typically earn fees.
For many, paid work in later life will often mean continuing to work as a lawyer, accountant, or pharmacist but often on a reduced-time basis. For others, it may involve work totally different from earlier career-related activities.
For example, after retiring from a well paid middle management job a retiree found that after a few months in retirement, he was bored to tears. His wife felt as though someone had intruded on her home life, a place she controlled for over 40 years of their marriage. Rather than doing nothing, he took up a part-time job stacking groceries shelves at a local supermarket.
Outcome: The job provided a schedule, a chance to work with others, and an opportunity to provide a needed service. The additional income, in his case, didn’t change his standard of living but was icing on the cake, along with the restoration of a more normal relationship with his wife.
Type 2: In-kind work.

Post-careerists trade their time for in-kind benefits, such as managing a apartment complex or house-sitting in return for living quarters, serving as an usher at sporting events in return for watching the game, working on a cruise ship (e.g., as a lecturer or child-care provider) in return for passage, or providing clean-up services at a performing arts centre in return for free tickets.
In some cases, like managing an apartment complex, you are on-call 24/7 with many obligations and accountabilities. In others, such as clean-up services, there is a lot more flexibility, where you may work only two to three times a week for four to five months a year, but the activity is scheduled and obligatory and involves accountabilities to others. It is work.
Type 3: Volunteer work.
Many later-lifers “gift work" i.e., provide a benefit to another on a regular basis without pay or other consideration, usually through a non-profit organization. Volunteers may create products, such as knitting sweaters for the less-advantaged, casting pottery for sale at fund-raisers for the church, building a house for Habitat for Humanity, or manufacturing benches for a neighborhood park.
Volunteers more typically provide services, such as reception services (meeting, greeting, answering phones), helping out at church, delivering meals on wheels for a local nonprofit, coaching a youngsters sports teams, or providing free management assistance to a small-business owner or entrepreneur as a volunteer counselor.
In these cases, charities, community institutions, or other nonprofits get the benefit of your time and talent, and you get the many benefits of social engagement, especially the opportunity to use your gifts to help others and to work to repair the world or make it a better place.
Type 4: Samaritan work.
Person-to-person care-giving or assistance arranged informally is something growing numbers of later-lifers are doing for relatives, friends, or other loved ones. Samaritan work includes care-giving for infirm or frail parents, an ailing spouse, dependent neighbor or good friend – or when grandparents provide child care for grandchildren of working parents.
It also includes personal services, such as rehabilitation assistance or assisting with the activities of daily living, including food preparation, shopping, or transportation to appointments. It may be maintenance services, such as lawn care, gardening, shoveling snow for home-bound neighbors, or home maintenance assistance to later-life friends and neighbors who still live at home but can’t do the heavy lifting to maintain and repair buildings and grounds.
Type 5: Enrichment work.
Some may be surprised that enrichment is considered work. However many later-lifers take a highly disciplined approach to self-improvement.
Examples of a disciplined approach to self-improvement include training for competition (e.g., amateur tennis, club golf, or Masters swimming); enhancing, sharpening, or applying a skill (e.g., woodworking, computer publishing, photography, chess, piano); learning something new, such as a new language, a new musical instrument, a new culture,a new body of literature (e.g., Chinese history, dynamics of aging, nutrition, or the history of baseball) or joining a book-reading club; creating, as in arts or crafts (e.g., playing the guitar in a country music group, portrait or landscape painting, writing, cartooning, carving), philanthropy, or other activities “undertaken for the love of work itself.”
Phil Burgess's book REBOOT!
The important issue here is that “enrichment work” is not just messing around, pursuing a pastime, or something you do when you don’t have anything else to do. If you go out to the courts a couple of times a week just to bat the ball around or read a book now and then – that is what we call a pastime or leisure-time activity. There is nothing wrong with leisure-time activity, but it does not qualify as enrichment work. Activities qualifying as enrichment work are planned and purposeful (e.g., improving knowledge or performance, or applying skills to creating something or helping others) and involve obligating yourself to the process and making yourself accountable to someone (e.g., your spouse, partner, friend, or co-worker who knows of your commitment) who will help and encourage you to be true to your undertaking.


[ This article is inspired by the description of later life work style is the book Reboot by Phil Burgess available from Amazon as a paperback or as a kindle - it is highly recommended ]

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Under $1 a litre... not in my lifetime!

Can you believe this price?? It seems like yesterday it was $1.80

Friday, May 13, 2016

Be careful of the advice you give....

Mmmm... should I write this or not??
You know the feeling, you wan to say something that is laser targeted to someone but you don't want the negative reactions of others, so maybe if I retell an experience, the message might get through to the targeted person.
Being forgiven without change isn't any good [ that is the punch line ]

Beware... trap for young players ahead.


Some years ago, a person I was going into business with, witnessed to me how he had "seen the light" and because of it his life had been turned around. On the particular day of this witness, I listened for over an hour and was touched by what this person was telling me. How he had turned his life around, how he was so grateful for a second chance and how he would strive to be better.
12 months into our business relationship we were royally shafted by this person. Maybe it was my fault for letting down my guard [?]
I was particularly hurt by this persons actions and confronted him, mentioning that he had wanted to witness to me before we went into business together.
Anyway, I said, how did he feel about the situations. And this is what he said:
We Christians are not perfect... we are just forgiven.
so, if you are seeing this and you don't recall the circumstances where you actions were less than honourable... you might be forgiven but you will never earn the trust of most of the people you shafted. And those who are silly enough to trust you again, realise that you will feel the pain of betrayal again.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Weak links versus strong links

Mark Schaefer
Weak links versus strong links — A common misconception is that “audience” equals “action. It does not. If you are reading this post, you might have discovered it through Twitter or Facebook. But if you have no emotional connection to Mark as a blogger, are you going to hire him? Buy his marketing books? No. Social media marketing simply opens up the door for connections through weak relational links. You still have to do the hard work to turn those folks into buying customers. -

See more at:

http://www.businessesgrow.com/2015/06/01/best-social-media-platforms/#sthash.dTUBotPG.dpuf

Red Wine clears Acne


Imagine checking in with your dermatologist for help clearing up a breakout…and leaving her office with a script for pinot noir. Sounds farfetched, but there’s new science behind it. A just-released study demonstrated that an antioxidant found in the grapes used to make red wine slowed the growth of bacteria that cause acne. Not only that, but the antioxidant, resveratrol, also boosted the anti-bacterial properties of benzoyl peroxide, the active ingredient of many over–the-counter acne medications.
The study, published in the journal Dermatology and Therapy, played out like this. In a lab, researchers began growing the specific type of bacteria that causes acne. When resveratrol was applied to the thriving bacteria colony, it slowed bacteria growth. The study team then added benzoyl peroxide to the resveratrol and applied the two to the bacteria, creating a potent combo that put the brakes on bacterial growth for a sustained period of time.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

A Walk with Zig Ziglar

You can have everything in life you want IF help enough people get what they want

Like lots of other people [ the app said 342,000 this morning ] I use Runkeeper to keep track of my progress on my daily walk.

My latest audible program is the Zig Ziglar See You over the Top program.

An interesting thing happened on my walk... I walked faster and with more energy as I listened to Zig! I think in a past life I wore out a set of tapes by continually playing them in my car.

But this morning my energy was topped up, my brain slipped into a higher gear, and fond memories flooded back.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Press Down for Short Straw


If you had the chance would you volunteer for the "shit" job?

Recently I saw this amazing sign, I am sure the irony escaped the person who posted it... "Press Down for the Short Straw"

Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Taxis... don't they get it??

Brisbane Taxi Driver
In Brisbane on Monday my experience with taxis epitomised why new comers like Uber are making in roads.

Airport to City:

When we got in the taxi, the driver asked for our destination:

My reply - the Christie Building on the corner of Wharf Street and Adelaide Street. The drive reached for his GPS... now, if you know Brisbane at all, Adelaide Street is one of the main streets in the Brisbane CBD near a major taxi rank, and Wharf Street is a major road in the CBD going to the river. So, we have a driver who doesn't know the way from the airport to the centre of the CBD.


Later in the day: From the Christie Building to the domestic airport [ Qantas Terminal ].

Driver: where are you going....

Me: The airport...

Driver: which is the best way said the driver??

And then he started to punch that into his GPS. I told him not to worry as I knew the way.

Then I asked him... "Radio station are you listening to?? "Oh the local Indian station!"

I asked him how long he had been driving - I am just new... but I have lived in Brisbane for 2 years.

My question to those how are the Taxi Industry "Is this the level of service you give for a premium service?" And then I would say, is it any wonder Uber are making such a glorious start.

And on that day in Brisbane the Taxi Industry was protesting to the government to have UBER banned... hopefully they will react and give better service... but that is a empty dream I fear.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Tidy Desk Untidy Mind

This could have been my desk
I am in the process of "becoming frighteningly efficient!"

The biggest internal conflict is the belief that if I am too tidy, I will lose my creativity. I have been hiding behind the safe saying, untidy desk is the sign of a creative mind... but just recently I have wasted so much time trying to find stuff that should be at my finger tips but has somehow graduated to the bottom of a very big pile of stuff.

Am I imagining this or is it really true?? Would you be setting out on an adventure of a tidy desk?

Friday, February 19, 2016

Can it be funny without the "F" word

I have listened to two respected commentators on all things about life and economics for years and have never been aware of any profanity from either person.

Yet, for a live podcast, where they are to try out their skills as stand up comedians, the show started with a "bad language" warning, and then both commentators liberally spread the "F" word through their attempts [ some good jokes too ] at stand up.


So I wonder, even though I have been known to use profanity often, usually for dramatic effect when stuff isn't quite working out, isn't it possible to be funny in 2016 without using offensive language - it must have been offensive because they said "be warned, some of the language that follow will offend some people" at the start of the show.

What do you think?

Thursday, February 18, 2016

What's Up With James Altucher?

James and Claudia
For the last year or so I have been listening to podcasts and reading the thoughts and ideas of James Altucher. For more than a year those events of the mid also included is 24/7 companion and wife Claudia.

Without announcement Claudia was replaced with Stephen Dubner and Question of the Day. Still great mind food but I am left wondering what is going on.

Today's lengthy email from James shares some deep personal thoughts... "Last October something really bad happened to me in my personal life." and "A few months ago one of my closest friends did something horrible to me. I cut that person off immediately despite years of friendship."

And I am left wondering... how can I help, should I try, and if help wasn't being asked for, why share...

I will wonder for many days "What's up with James Altucher?"

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Refund? What would you do?

3 hour session - $185.00 registration
Background:

Just back from a National Tour of our management seminars - 285 people attended across 10 sessions... average rating 8.5/10 [ from 260 filled in rating sheets ] but 1 refund request

Problem:

One attendee wrote: I left at the break because this session was so basic that nobody would get any good advice from it... I have better things to do with my time. Please refund my registration.

Question:

If you go to the wrong concert, or mistakenly think steaks of torfu are actually meat steaks, go to a hyped up movie only to find you need to be a nerd to get it, are you right in asking for your money back?

From the feedback across 260 people they rated the session as great value - what should I do for the one person who asked for a refund??

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Back Gammon at 30,000 Feet

How much spare space??
Spoiler Alert: This is a gripe about how little space you get in economy seats when the next passenger is a "LARGE" sized person.

This morning I was sitting next to someone on my Qantas A330 flight from Melbourne to Perth who played Back Gammon on his iPad for the full 4 hours of the flight.

Problem: Every move he made on his iPad meant that his elbow nudged my arm... whether we were staking out the arm rest or whether I had my arm well within the space of my seat.

Not wanting to make a scene I did nothing about it other than to quietly stew for the full trip.

Mmmm.... I wonder what I should have, apart from upgrading to Business,
 done??

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Is what you do on borrowed time?

Quality Required: Be prepared to die!
I was listening to a podcast this morning featuring Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com and he was talking about things that we do that are past their use by date but are often continuing because they are protected by a Government enforced monopoly. He was ranting about paper copies of things that should be OK as digital things... like agreements that need to be printed, then signed and then usually digitized and stored digitally. Such a waste of time and effort.

he said that the Pony Express was killed off very quickly when telegraph wires followed railway lines across America. I suppose the same can be said of teletext machines when we got fax machines or Faxes when people went to email.

I was wondering therefore if we should really worry that the Post Office is dead... except that we support it with our taxes so it can keep doing stuff the most inefficient and expensive way.

It costs less to buy a book from www.bookdepository.com in the UK, have it shipped nearly next day to Australia than it does to by a express Post bag to send a similar weight of papers to the next suburb in your capital city... and then your guarantee is that if it is not delivered in the said time, they will refund your fee so they can stuff up the delivery on another time sensitive item.

I long for the day when the Post Office is a distance memory just like the Pony Express.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Modern Wonder: Quicker to Perth from London, via Paris than Sydney

On Australia Day January 26th, 2016 I was woken with a text that said: "Due to unusual activity we have blocked your credit card" That message was time stamped at 3.30 am.

I rang my bank and they asked "Did you buy clothes in Paris, France today?" As I was still in my bed in Perth at that time, I obviously said no. The result was that my card was cancelled and I was referred to the Fraud Protection area of the bank.

After a few questions the bank decide that they would cancel my card and protect me from the evils of the internet.

At breakfast, whilst telling the family about the experience, a family member fessed up to using the card but saying it was an online purchase from London. Mystery solved. Time elapsed 3 hours.

I was back to the bank, explaining it wasn't fraud and asking for the stop on my card to be removed as I was travelling extensively the next week. I was advised that the cards had been cancelled and it would br 9 to 10 business days for the new cards to arrive in Perth.

The end story:

The items from London via a shipping operation in Paris arrived in Perth on Friday, and due to needing customs clearance were delivered on Friday January 29th, 2016.

The cards from Sydney Australia, arrived 11 working days later, just in time for my trip which got under way on February 7th, 2016.

My simple question is this: How does that work?? Quicker from France than Sydney... and Australia Post wonders why they are losing customers and $$$''s.

24/7 Service from Foxtel is only Monday to Friday Melbourne time #Fail #Foxtel

Just paid my Foxtel bill... but screen says I owe them... phone system [ yeah the automated one ] says I am up to date but I can get anyone to answer a phone to push a button until 9am Monday Melbourne time...

I have tried shouting at the nice man who puts me through to "someone who can help" but that systems hangs up and says ring on Monday.

The automated service [ isn't that an oxymoron?] gets me stuck in a loop. press 1, then 2, then 1 then 2...

Just heard some great stuff today - if your FREE service sucks... don't offer it.

Apparently that advice should apply to 24/7 service... if it sucks, like you can't get through after 5 pm... don't offer it.

[ If you saying I should have paid my bill, the bank cancelled my card due to a suspect transaction and all existing standing payments also suffered the same fate. ]