Dumpling in a Hanky

What do you do when you decide to do what is verging on library-based insanity, and basically scrap your current library service, and relaunch everything - physical layout, LMS, and classification system? In my case, spend a year, planning, developing, preparing….and then a frantic few weeks hauling stock! The background to this apparent madness is this: when I took on this role I inherited a library using a layout that didn’t seem to make sense, a classification system I wasn’t familiar with, and an LMS that had been in place for 20 years but didn’t seem suited to our needs. As I was new to the library, a major part of the time I had available while settling in during my initial few months was dedicated to exploring how well these things were working, both for users, and library staff. I had the benefit of my colleague also being new to the library, only a few months after me, so together we looked at these issues with fresh eyes.We came to the following conclusions: The ...

So, FedEx screwed up, really quite impressively . To their credit, someone got in touch with me via email within a few days of me posting that, to apologise and ask for the specifics so they could get it dealt with. I've been a bit busy this week, so I've not had a chance to reply to them yet. In the meantime, my complaint letter must have winged its way to someone, as yesterday I got an email, confirming the information I'd asked for, and apologising for the bad service. Excellent: I'd got what I asked for, and that was an end to the issue. But this afternoon, a package arrived for me. A big, heavy package from FedEx. I went off to collect it, with no idea why they were still contacting me: as far as I was concerned, the matter was closed. But the label on the box gave a clue as to why it was there: Slightly concerning that this is needed often enough to be a proper label... And the contents gave even more of a clue: an apology note, and lots of delicious go...

Last week was a very trying week for me, website wise. One of those weeks when you just want to scream, because you can't believe people would do such frustrating things. I monitor a lot of web sources for news that's relevant to my employers business, and to do that, I rely heavily on RSS feeds. They allow me to see the output of sites quickly, and mean that I don't have to visit those sites repeatedly each day to be able to track their content. So, RSS feeds are VERY important to me. And in the context of Government sites, they're important for the general public too, helping to enable them to see what's happening in various departments, e.g. if consultations have been published that they might want to respond to, or if new regulations have been issued that may affect their business. Meanwhile...the Government has stated that it's consolidating websites into the www.gov.uk address, and 24 departments will be moving to that address over the next 18 months. ...

OK: I have tried and tried to get this company to respond to me, in any manner at all, but they have spent 4 months doing nothing but screwing up even the most simple of requests. So, for the edification and amusement of others (and the cathartic therapy of me), I present to you: the FedEx Omnishambles. Sit back, relax: this one is EPIC. It began, in August this year. An item was posted to me, and it came to my work address. The item incurred a Customs fee. Then it all went to hell. Here's my first letter to FedEx, (with some edits for clarity, and to help me retain a small amount of privacy). Federal Express Europe Inc. P.O. Box 119 Matlock Road Coventry CV1 4QD Dumpling in a Hanky Home Address Scotlandshire   30th October 2012   Dear sir/madam,  I am writing to complain about the ridiculous level of incompetent service your invoice/billing department has delivered when dealing with me.  An item was sent in the mail fr...

Or really, any sort of service at all, since offering a 'free' issue of a newsletter for assessment doesn't really make me a customer, since I've not bought a product yet.... Ah, the joys of LexisNexis! They must be getting desperate for business indeed, if their new tactics are anything to go by. I was called up a few weeks ago by a woman. I don't know who, she never gave her name. She asked me if I would like a free sample issue of their relaunched "Tolley's Employment Law Newsletter". As thats an area we cover, I said yes, but also that it was hugely unlikely we'd take out a subscription of any sort. She said that was fine, but went on to make a HUGE point of the fact that, I HAD to reply to the email she would be sending me within 30 days. I had no idea what the email content would be, it would be made clear in the email, but I HAD to reply to it. I said no problem, and calendared it in as I was talking to her. She had me spell out my email add...