A little rant.....

[nick lamb]

I would just like a rant to nobody in particular .It's about computers and more to the point,the dickheads that program them .
I buy tar based products off a company that I've dealt with for 15 years or so.I only buy them about twice a year and business probably totals about £12-1500 quid a year.I pay them every 30 days from date of invoice.I know it's not alot but even at a grand a year it adds up to £15000 over the years.I have a few of their competitors come in to my yard occasionaly trying to pinch the business but I tell them that I'm happy with my current supplier.
I try to place an order with them this week(they have a product to sell and I have the money to pay them)simple,or so you'd think......'sorry'the counter chap tells me'you're on stop'......'What do you mean?' I reply' my account's up to date,so what's the fu**ing problem?'.'oh your accounts fine sir but you haven't used it since November so the computer has red flagged you'.'Are you trying to be funny mate?'I asked him'put your Gaffer on and I'll talk some sense into him'.
The manager then picks up the phone and I explained to him how long I had been a paying customer of theirs but he couldn'd really care less(some manager I thought!)It obviously wasn't his company.(I would have sacked him on the spot).
Anyway they told me that I would have to fill in an updated account form before they could dispatch the tar.I told him to shove his form up his hole.
On Friday the post arrived and there was this sodding form.I opened it and it asked for only one reference and if I'd had an account with them before?.I decided to fill it in just for the hell of it and stated their company as my reference and that I had an account with them before(until the previous day in fact).
I wonder if they'll re open my account?
Watch this space.

[nick lamb]

My next rant is really more of a little chuckle to myself
I have hired D8's to a particular company that I won't name here for over 20 years.They are a great company to work for and are good payers which isn't common in the construction industry.They have an account with my little plant hire company and my timber merchants business.I have done literally hundreds of thousand of pounds worth of work for them over the last 20 years or so and we have a sound relationship together.
Anyway,on the rare occasions I need to hire a lowloader(I nearly allways get the company I'm working for sort out the lowloaders) I tend to use their truck.It's a smart rig that's properly insured and I like to give them the business back.Allthough they have 2 accounts with me,I don't actually have an account with them.This has never been a problem before as some human has allways seen sense and 'just done it' and I have allways paid them in due course.
However,in January of this year I shifted a D8 three times and owe them around £700 .I have rang them a few times since to tell them to send me the bill so that I can pay them but I am imformed that they installed a new computer system in January and that it doesn't recognise me as an account holder and therefore won't raise me an invoice. .I have suggested to them to raise a cash sale invoice but it won't do that either .I have even offered to pay them cash as their trucks often pass my yard but nobody seems to be bothered!
Is it just me?

[v64paul]

Unfortunately they are'nt the only ones. a company my brother used to work for does this also. it's wound a good few customers up over the years. As for the second rant, maybe they have too much already? i'm pretty sure we're on the same wavelength. the md recently announced he was donating £20000 to clare house. After making a few good men redundant at christamstime of course. I dont begrudge the charity, but you would be entitled to think they would be careful with the pennies. Urula would play hell if she found out....

[modelman093]

Hi Nicky,
I too run a small business (selling and servicing garden machinery) and my experience is,that with one or two notable exceptions, the bigger the company the the worse the accounts department. If one can deal with an owner things are usually fine but managers and credit controllers - ugh!
Only last we took a call from the credit controller of a company with whom we spend over 50k a year saying that our account was in arrears for March - couldn't understand this as we pride ourselves in paying on time and taking whatever settlement discounts are offered. Turned out that our account was actually in credit - the muppet had failed to take into account that they owed us for warranty work done on their behalf!
Not so much as an apology - unfortunately we are quite deeply committed to their product so rather than telling them to poke their account I had to satisfy myself by sending a fairly "straight" email to their UK managing director - as yet unacknowledged!
Angus

[nick lamb]

Hi Paul,I saw Al and Grahem last week.He's buliding a log cabin for the D8 he's going to buy :
Hi Angus,their M.D will blame a 'computer error' They just don't care because they don't really think it will actually affect their pay packet!,.......but it does in the end.......

[v64paul]

He's got a long way to go. he's had a try on a 210 and a wa 490. i was'nt invited in case i laughed but they did send me the pictures...

[3CMK1]

Here's my rant for today,
Firstly my situation.... I'm a qualified fitter came out of my time last year (so not really qualified but when your a fitter you never are).
I work for a JCB dealer in Derbyshire rumour has it we are going central service aka working from home. However this leaves me in a bad situation as im workshop based and they are moving the central workshop to Sheffield so like alot of folks I may well be unemployed very soon. This only being a small part of my rant then leads me to Chapter two, I decided to take this bit of news as a kick up the arse to try my hand at machine operation (training to get a CPCS card) So I decided to start applying However.... and here is the real reason for my rant....
Every reply I have had and there are not many say "you must have X amount of years experience" what grinds my gears is that there is always people telling me there is a shortage of keen younger folks in this industry. Now what I would like to know is how these illusive young operators and to some extent fitters are going to come about? I dont like to think that anyone is out of work but in these tough times but it would be nice to think we could all get a fair crack at the whip?
Sorry to go on but I had to before I burst!
Jason.

[diggerhayne]

to 3cmk1 forget the cpcs its not worth the hassel go with national plant training they test on ability on the day, they advertise on ebay (not got no to hand) they are starting to become more acepted

[si25]

my rant, (and this may last a good while as things are quite unlikely to change...)
the boss of a particular company, not especially big, having one or two other mechanical items in the "company fleet" which do not constitute working tools, ie a digger or dozer etc.
now i know that accross the board the general work rate has quietened down and that the rate of earning for any machine will be down on previous years but that is no excuse for not looking after your kit should work be required.
what i am getting at is that should one of said other mechanical items require anything at all, even to the point of blasting and re-spraying, it is fine! spare no expense, yet the kit that earns money, the kit that paid for said mechanical items does not recieve a shilling spent on it.
rant over.

[d4c24a]

many major contractors will only accept cpcs cards
i renew mine later this year ,anyone have a filled in log book i can borrow
i will exchange it for a nice shiny unused one or two