Customer Service - Greek Style
Everyone is talking about the weather. Yesterday and today there were a few clouds about, but nothing threatening rain. Granted I have changed from wearing thin cotton trousers and sleeveless cotton tops to cotton jeans and short sleeved T-shirts, but I am still feeling hot. We still need to keep jugs of cod water in the 'fridge. We still need the put the air conditioning on, albeit for just half an hour, in the evening to cool the house down.
Waldo was out playing with Heracles, the Bobcat yesterday and will do so most of today. He is clearing thorn bushes and creating a new ledge just alongside the cobbled path to the AcropoLiz. Somehow or other, when I had the computer and was working in the lounge he found all manner of reasons to be in the lounge; working at his computer, talking to himself as he did so, shouting on the telephone or Skype, looking for his glasses / keys / the piece of paper he had in his hand a minute ago! He kept talking about all the work he had to do outside and how important it was to get it done before the rains come and the ground is too slippery to work. Somehow he never got round to it. It was too hot. He had to upload a new programme on the computer.
Now it has been just four days since I moved down to the AcropoLiz and Waldo has not had any distractions of heat, e-mails to reply to, telephone calls to make or programmes to download or upload! He has strimmed the grass to the back of the AcropoLiz and he has strimmed the grass to the front. He has brought out the Bobcat and cleared thorn bushes at the back of the AcropoLiz and now he is clearing to the front. What is this magic thread that keeps him wanting to be near me? It must be love!
Now that Waldo is busy, I take the opportunity to go out in the car myself. This morning we had a telephone call from the good courier service to say that he would be outside the Hotel Romantica in 10 minutes. Most unusually, it was me who took the drop-off. It was headphones which Waldo had ordered from the largest office supplies company in Athens. Now it is important to understand that Waldo is not deaf! People don't speak clearly. The telephone settings are not good. The computer headphones for Skype are just standard things and not good quality. I keep the TV sound far too low because I've got ears like a rat!
Waldo's mother was the same and when she lived with us we were forced to take action - thank goodness - when the neighbours two doors down complained about the volume of her TV! We bought her a set of headphones which solved the problem, although when she took them off I could hear them four rooms away through three closed doors! Now, when in Cardiff Waldo uses these headphones and I can have the TV at a normal volume. So during his distracted time on the computer in the lounge, he came across a set of headphones which he could use on the TV and Skype. He ordered them via the Internet and waited for them to be delivered.
About a week later we collected them from the courier at the Romantika Hotel. Eager to try them out immediately Waldo was disappointed to find that when he opened the packet he found that someone had been there before him. Perhaps it had been a display model, but the batteries were missing. The next morning we went up to Potamos and bought some batteries and rushed back to watch some news on the TV. The headphones still did not work. Waldo left them on their stand, thinking that perhaps they had to charge. Some hours later he still could not get them to work. He contacted the company concerned, via their website and directing the query to Customer Services. He heard nothing.
A few more e-mails of increasing anger were sent and still nothing. Eventually Waldo telephoned the Sales Manager who was very apologetic and said to return the headphones immediately and he would ensure a new set were sent out. So, we packed up the headphones, travelled down to Livadi and returned the goods via the courier. A few days later Waldo had a bizarre e-mail saying that as his headphones were still under warranty they could be repaired free of charge. Waldo simply forwarded this e-mail to the Sales Manager and repeated the agreement to have a new set. Another apology was forthcoming. Still nothing was heard from Customer Services.
The new headphones arrived about 10 days later, via the good courier, collected at the Romantika Hotel! Waldo started to open the box and then started to do a war dance around the lounge. He could not believe it. The batteries were in the box this time. The stand for the headphones was in the box. The connecting leads were in the box. But there were no headphones! Immediately he sent off an e-mail to Customer Services with a copy to the Sales Manager.
As expected, he heard nothing from Customer Services. Two days later, the Sales Manager telephoned with another round of apologies. Not only could he not believe the incompetence of his packing department but he also had to bring the news that the particular type of headphones were now out of stock and so there would be about a month's delay whilst new ones were delivered. In the intervening two days Waldo had been surfing the new again looking for alternative headphones. The ones that he now chose were only available through one company in Greece - yes, you've guessed it!
Arrangements were made for Waldo to cancel his original order and be refunded his money plus compensation for two sets of return courier deliveries, telephone calls and inconvenience. Waldo would also place a new order for the different headphones and the Sales Manager would personally oversee the packing and dispatch. That was yesterday and amazingly, true to his word, the package arrived this morning. Waldo has tried them out and they work! he has looked at his credit card account and seen that so far he has been credited for the price of the original headphones, less the price of the new ones. So, as for compensation we wait and see what happens. We can but wonder at the Troika's faith in Greece working its way out of the economic situation it finds itself in!
As Waldo's headphones had arrived so quickly I thought there must be post to collect. we are both waiting for things to arrive, most of which are about 4 - 9 days overdue. So, I decided to go to the post office this morning. I also had some more DVDs to post. I do love driving on the island. Waldo always says that I drive much faster than he does; but I don't think so. The roads are mostly quite and I do like to try to get to the limit on corners where it is safe to do so. the only distraction is that when a car comes it is invariably someone we know and I have to go through the ritual of flashing lights, parping the horn and waving; all of which slows one down enormously.
The supermarket in Potamos had pineapples for sale today and so I went in and bought one; a great treat. I love pineapple and the island is totally devoid of tins of pineapple. The only fruit that are sold not fresh are tins of peach halves and bottles of cherries, and these come in large sizes more suitable for a taverna than a domestic household. On the way back I remembered that Waldo has asked me to get some butter and a bottle of lemonade, so I decided to call in George's in our village. When there I asked George when he would revert to closing the shop in the afternoons. He told me that there were still a few visitors here and so he would stay open until they have gone. They only buy some water to drink on the beach, but, he added, it not a good reputation for the island if shops are closed when visitors are here. So George stays from 7am to 11pm in his 'prison without walls', all for the good of the reputation of the island.
George would be better placed training people in Customer Services positions in big companies in Athens.
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