Whose fault is it?

London, December 6th. I arrive at the Royal National Hotel, for a meeting on the 7th. Have to check in and go to meet my hosts at 6pm in a restaurant. The hotel lobby is full of Spanish tourists...

Get to the counter and give a reservation number. My host (University of London) has booked a room for me and will pay. The clerk man comes back with a fax from my host, in which they effectively have cancelled my booking. He says the room is still available, but I have to pay myself for it.

I am astonished. I have not been told anything. I ask the clerk to ring my host. There is an answering machine (it is about 5pm). He says that it is up to me now to decide. I ask if they can help me sort out the problem. He says: "It is not our fault, you have to deal with your host directly".

I get furious. I have heard the same story over and over again. When there is a problem, it is always the customer's fault. I ask to speak to the manager. She is as inflexible as the clerk. I ask them if I can get a copy of the fax. The hotel's policy will not allow it.

I pay and get my room. Get ready and go to meet my host. I tell them that there is a problem with the reservation. They ask me to go back to the hotel and check, as they have made the reservation, but possibly under my full surname (Cordoba-Pachon instead of Pachon).

Back at the hotel after dinner, another queue (yes, lots of Spanish tourists continue arriving!). I get to speak to the same clerk. We search for a reservation, and there is none. I apologise to the clerk, he and I have had a tough day. Next morning, I phone my host and tell them. They meet me afterwards. They have a big apology to make, as it happened, they cancelled the initial reservation and booked me into another hotel. And they forgot to tell me.

Solution: I fill in a reimbursement form and I leave London. Still, feel that there is no one to blame. Each party could have done better (including myself), but whose fault is it?
We live in a society where the customer is the 'king', but also s/he needs to understand what happens behind the scenes.

DHL Delivery: Registering (again!)

As you can imagine, I currently have a sort of interest now in studying the flow of customer requests. This time is DHL, taking a parcel from Hull to London. This is the story:

I had to send something urgently to a University in London. They gave me a DHL account to send the parcel. Arranged collection for Monday. At 3pm, no one had come (they said between 12:30 and 2:30pm). Phoned them again. They said no booking had been made (I did it on Friday, but apparently their system did not register it!). So I arranged a new collection. When I was collecting the parcel from reception (where they were going to collect it) to store it in a safe place that night, I was told the parcel had been collected (!)

Got the receipt, went on the Internet and yes, the parcel had been collected.
The image is from today, it shows it has been delivered. Today, I am sure another guy from DHL could come to collect the parcel again. I have not told them anything...yet

It seems the desire to please the customer results in duplication of work; misunderstandings, and somebody else's waste of time. As with Dell, they were not that concerned (at least on the phone) of having to try a new collection or delivery. Maybe I am not an expert in supply chains, but if I was the postman coming to deliver or collect, I would not be happy.

Friday night

Yes, there is Flamenco in Hull!

We went for Roberto's leaving do, nice paella and music.

A nice environment in Roberto's shed. We saw many people who like Spanish paella and food.

A happy customer

Friday 17th of November. After looking for some months, I have decided to buy a laptop. This morning went to PC world to collect one and pay for it. Before getting to the customer service section, tried the same laptop which was exhibited..and did not like it. Did not feel right.

Escaped from there and came back to my office, and went onto the Internet. Had been browsing through the Dell's website (www.dell.co.uk). Wanted a laptop for home which could also bring to the office when needed.

After using their Dell's online shopping system (which allows you to configure some things from your desired laptop), I paid with my debit card. Felt very relieved to be honest, like having made a good purchase. Not that I am selling Dell here, but I felt I had invested the money well.

Nov 17th. I then printed a receipt and got a confirmation by email. The order specifies the type of payment (up front), the items being purchased (with quantities) and the guarantee conditions. Terms and conditions of sale came in a separate electronic file (what we can call the small print).

They also sent and acknowledgement of my order via email, giving a number and inviting me to track the delivery of my laptop. Estimated delivery was seven (7) days. To calm my anxiety, they suggested to look at www.dell.co.uk/orderstatus to see the progress of my order.

On Monday the 20th of November, I went on the Internet again to see how the Dell guys were doing (out of curiosity to trace the status of my order at www.dell.co.uk/orderstatus). To my surprise, they had already pre-produced, produced, prepared and delivered the laptop. Initially they said that it could take up to seven (7) days, but it appeared that they were going to do this quicker. I got excited!

So it happened. Dell's status tracking system had a link to another company (Walsh Western), who also allowed me to see the progress in the delivery.

From the 20th to the 23rd of November, I could see the progress in the delivery (the different stages of arrival and departure of my 5Kg box, it even went to Coventry from Ireland before coming to Hull!). The delivery company had scheduled the delivery for the 23rd. I phoned Dell to re-arrange a new delivery. They said to me:" The delivery company will deliver on the 23rd anyway, we have re-arranged the delivery for the 24th if you are not there". Interesting...

Finally, on the 23rd of November at 8:18am (also verified by Welsh Western's system), I got my delivery. This picture was taken by my wife before we opened the box. I had to phone Dell on the day to check the computer had the right components . In principle, it appeared it did not (disk of 120GB required), but finally I got advise from Dell's technical support in India (it was 120GB). Yes, India! The guys who answered my telephone queries were there.

So a happy ending for a happy customer. Lots of information resources on the way, some of them on the internet (shopping, production and delivery), some others elsewhere (reachable by phone to rearrange delivery or ask technical queries). Perhaps a bit more of care for the customer so we get a more integrated idea of the flow of information, and a friendlier outlook of the information systems can help making customers like me even happier!

And this is what a test says about me

It is confirmed, my favourite colour is blue According to a colour test:

You (JR) are caring and extroverted. You've made relationships your number one focus, and your lucky blue underwear can bring some balance to them. You thrive in one-on-one situations. You are a good listener and a natural born therapist. Sometimes you let the concerns of others become too important in your life, leading to stress and worry. If you want more balance, put on your blue underpants. They'll help you take care of yourself first.

What Color Is Your Lucky Underwear?

Call of Duty: Football !

Yes,

I am back again in the football market. This time with a group of English mates playing for the "Strongest" team.

We adopted Real Zaragoza's away t-shirt. For some strange reason, we are called the "Strongest", in honour of the Bolivian football team. Notice in the picture the shin-pads that I have to wear. At the first match, I was stopped by the referee who asked: "Where are your shin-pads?". I said "I do not need them". He said, "this is England mate, you better put them on!". He was right.

Since September 2006 we play every Tuesday evening in a tournament. We are doing enough to keep ourselves busy and entertained. The results could have been better, but hey, "The Strongest" is used to play at high altitude ground, and Hull is at the sea level (just another excuse for the team performance). Anyway I am a top scorer! . I celebrate like Bebeto and people ask me to stop cheering up (jaja).

The summer training was fun. We trained every Sunday at a park nearby where I live (Pearson Park). We trained with a lot of people from the Arab countries, Iran, Kosovo, Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe. Some of them are very friendly and very skillful (no wonder they like the Brazilian coaches). After a while we did not train with them anymore, we spent half of the time arguing who should be in which team. It is like Dis-United Nations (DUN). The other thing is that the level of injuries was increasing, so maybe we were in the wrong place.

Football is still my passion, I enjoyed it a lot, makes me feel connected to my close friends and keeps me a bit fit. And the wife is also happy as I am doing some sport!

JR

This is the car!

After living in Hull for nearly 10 years, I have got a car. Ford focus LX 2004, green vitro, 1600cc. Acquired in July 2006 with only 27292 miles (the UK standars is 12000 per year, so this one was not very much used).

It feels as if there is a new life. Takes us to do the shopping, to Leeds, York, Manchester and Uni. I do not know, it just feels that we can be normal people, go around and do what we like.

My last car was a Mazda 323 1300cc, had it only for 5 months (before coming to the UK) and really enjoyed it. Looked after it pretty well. The ford is not an exception, took it to the garage to check the breaks last week. Keep washing it (automatically), hoovering it, bought a small Black & Decker hoover to keep in the car.

Fall season is on its way, cold, but bearable: We have a car!

Attached to my country

Hi everyone.

I felt very happy to take part in a video conference with Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia (Nov 3)

Invited my students Mu from China, Warren from Thailand, Jenni from UK, Yosa from Indonesia, Huilai from China, Yingmeng from China and Florie-Ann from France.

It was great! We shared some stuff on systems thinking, there were many questions. I could see students from there, and it brought so many nice memories.

This is a way for me to keep sharing what I do with my fellow country people.


Enjoy the image!

Hi again

After a year or so without posting things, I resucitate

Yesterday I was in a queue in a supermarket, suddenly a guy jumps over me and goes to the till. I asked him if he saw the queue behind, he told me he had been in the queue but forgot the newspaper.

I then went to the till, and when the cashier was asking me a question (What mobile phone network are you suscribed to?), the guy from before comes and says to the cashier something like "Make sure he knows how to spell it".

I did not quite understand what he meant, but then realised that he was angry at my initial question, and he was meaning to make me feel stupid. When I got home I was furious.

Where I live (yes, Hull, United Kingdom), people do not tolerate foreigners, and this guy seems to think we are stupid.