CategoryConsumer

Where I live, public transport means a state government-run bus service. These buses are so frequently late – especially during peak hour – that lateness has just become the norm, accepted by all. With bus timetables so completely unreliable, passengers leave home much earlier than we otherwise would, allowing ample buffers in the hope of getting to work or other commitments on time. Yesterday I had a job interview in the late morning. Even with a generous buffer for public transport disasters, I still arrived at the interview late and embarrassed. One scheduled bus didn’t turn up at all, and...

My business’ monthly insurance payment was accidentally duplicated several months ago, and it took months of wrestling with the insurance company to get the money. I spotted the duplication the day after it happened while checking our accounting records. I called up the insurer, explained the issue to them, then requested for our money to be refunded. They told me that I’d need to call back in a couple of days, because they couldn’t validate the claim until after the duplicated payment had cleared. I called up the insurer two days later, as instructed, and they confirmed the duplication over...

Two things are driving me mad: big bureaucrats who make stupid rules, and littlebureaucrats who refuse to break them. I recently went through a bureaucratic nightmare trying to extract my savings from a frozenoverseas bank account. Finding a way to communicate with them was the first hurdle. Theyrefused to deal with me via their own “secure mail” system because it wasn’t secure enoughto discuss personal information. They couldn’t help me on the phone because I failed tocorrectly guess the answers to the verification questions that were based on informationseveral years and even more countries...

Over the Easter long-weekend, I needed to change a booking I had made with a large company in the entertainment industry. Their website helpfully directed me to an online form to request the change, which I filled in. I received an email confirmation that was a few paragraphs long, of which the last line noted that the organisation was running a smaller-than-usual number of staff over the long-weekend, therefore if my change needed to be processed within two days, I should contact the venue directly. Feeling relieved that I had noticed the final sentence at all, I dialled the venue...

I was recently involved in a minor collision with another driver’s car. The other driver was at fault,so I needed his details to get the cost of my repairs covered. I took photos of the damage to bothcars, and the other driver, somewhat reluctantly, let me hastily photograph his licence plate anddriver licence at the scene. Unfortunately, I took the photographs so quickly that I didn’t notice that one of them was blurry.When I returned home, I found that the information on the licence wasn’t clear. I couldn’t makeheads or tails of it, but I needed to give that information to my insurer so...