Darling Alistair, you've got it wrong again

Mr Alistair Darling, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer is probably, even as I write, checking his notes and preparing to address the House of Commons and give his pre-budget speech.

As you would expect, the main dish on his menu of recession-busting issues was leaked to the press over the weekend.

I totted up what difference a 2.5% cut in the VAT (value added tax) rate would have on my personal ecomomy, but the best I could come up with was a penny off the price of a pack of my favourite chocolate biscuits. You have to do better than that Alistair - couldn't your boss Gordon give you any better tips?

It will make a marginal difference to a tank of diesel for 'Lily' my faithful VW Golf. That is nice, but I am not planning ro replace Lily, or make any other major purchase which I wouldn't have done otherwise and that would bring the Government more VAT in the end.

Had Mr Darling consulted me before decinding on his budgetary changes, this is what I would have advised.

1. Remove the 5% special VAT rate on energy bills.
   The UK has seen very high rises in energy costs this year, and the energy companies have not been very quick to reflect the drop in oil prices and reduce their tariffs again. This measure would really help every household in the country at a stroke and free up money to spend on other things.
   
2. Make the tax rise for the highest earners immediate and restore the 10% lowest income tax rate band. It is nitpicking to say that this Government have not yet broken their pledge not to change income tax rates. the 10% band WAS the standard rate for millions of low-paid workers.
   
3. What is the point of delaying this rate, other than to hand a future Government a poison chalice. British workers are already feeling wholly betrayed by the Labour party they used to regard as 'the workers' friend' with policies that helped them
   
4. Fix and reduce the tax take on every litre of petrol and diesel so that it is less sensitive to changes in the oil price. Every small business is hit hard when fuel prices rise, from farmers to plumbers and window cleaners. It has to be stabilized and quickly.
   
5. There were major complaints from the business community about the most recent changes to corporation tax. Reverting to the previous arrangements would boost business confidence considerably.
   
6. Stop mortgage lenders proceeding to home re-posssessions and force them to pass on bank rate changes. What the Government disregard is the fact that millions of UK homeowners are on mortgage interest rates tied to the LIBOR (inter bank lending rate) and NOT the standard bank rate. This is a racket and needs to be made illegal. It is pushing homeowners around the country into arrears when their loans should be getting cheaper to repay. Removing the threat of repossession will make people happier to go and do Christmas shopping and they will be more generous with presents for their families.
   
7. Cut the tax rate on beer wines and spirits. That little holiday present to the nation will make it a happier festive season for everyone, including the pub landlords who need a boost. Forget the issue of binge drinking. It's not the price of beer over the bar, but in the supermarket that causes this, plus the social attitudes to drinking. Parents should be much more thoughtful about the standards and examples they set their children about the use and abuse of alcohol. Stop the closure of hundreds of pubs across the country every month and you will do a great deal for the economy and society in all sorts of ways.

In general Mr Darling should be looking more closely at every little thing that will make life financially less stressful for Jane and Joe Public and the small and medium sized businesses that many of them run or work for.

Listen to what the CBI have to say today and anything subsequently said by organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses. The FSB made a submission to the Chancellor in anticipation of today's statement and it will be interesting to see if any of their suggestions are taken up. I have read this document and commend it to the Chancellor who appears to be deaf in that direction and to pleas from ordinary British citizens like yours truly.

I shall send him the link to my blog, but I don't expect to get a reply or a comment!

O2, your Customer Care stinks

While some mobile phone users may change their network as often as their knickers, I have, thus far stuck with O2 because they treated me well, offered me upgrades when due and recommended changes of tariff to match my usage.

Today’s events have really come as a nasty surprise. In May last year my mobile phone broke in trying to get the back off it. I was spending a couple of days away and realised I’d forgotten my in-car charger AND I’d forgotten what model my phone was. So, tried to get the back off to find the model number while in a German autobahn services and jammed it. Found a charger that worked and the phone worked too, so didn’t bother too much about replacing it for a few months until things got worse and the battery wouldn’t charge at all for more than a few hours.

At that point (about a year ago) I called O2 thinking that what I was doing was making an insurance claim. No problems, they told me that my phone was no longer made and I could have this or that blah de blah at no extra cost. I chose something and they sent it. I had to go into a local O2 store who had to BREAK the back off the old one, but no worries, I thought, it was scrap anyway. I got my SIM out, the new phone was fine.

I’ve been thinking for a few months that if I’m going to carry on doing the various part-time jobs that I am, the most useful thing would be a GPS and it seemed easiest to go the mobile phone route since I thought I was due for an upgrade.

I went into the O2 store in West Quays and was shocked to be told that they had my ‘insurance replacement’ on record as an upgrade last October and that as they changed my tariff at the same time, on THEIR recommendation, not my request, I was locked into an 18 month contract with another 6 months to run. I told the store assistant the story but she could do nothing. In fact due to ‘data protection’ she couldn’t even see all my information and having called customer services they wouldn’t tell her even with me sitting beside her with a recent bill in my hand plus other identification.

When I got home I called Customer Services again. They said their computers were down, but there was another number I could call at a different office.

Same story, repeated everything, call centre guy put me on hold, and called someone else and came back apologetic, but could not change anything. What I had was recorded indelibly as an upgrade. I asked what else I could do and was asked to write in. Of course I will be doing so, pointing out that this is no way to treat a long standing customer (over 11 years) and that other networks had already made me better offers. Oh, and that according to other literature I’d seen the phone I wanted was supposed to be free with my level of contract on O2 - so where's the problem?

What I didn’t mention was that there was no chance whatever that I was going to cough up hundreds of pounds to have that upgrade early. Oh no. I can do exactly what I’m doing now, on ebay and bidding for an unlocked handset - my chosen Nokia N95 8gb.

Your previously excellent customer care has apparently descended into the depths of don’t care there’s always another new customer around the corner. And of course, I’ll be mentioning that when I write along with the fact that my complaint is now public property here, online for all to see.

O2, you replaced a broken phone with another one. It wasn’t my fault you couldn’t give me like for like, I would have been quite happy with another identical one, even if it wasn't brand new.

I absolutely protest that what I thought was an insurance claim has been treated as an upgrade and I don’t give a damn what your system says now, it’s wrong, and you need a lesson in public relations. You’d obviously rather spend a fortune on a huge expensive shop in a premier location like West Quay than a few pounds keeping little me happy. Bad move.

POSTSCRIPT

It took a week or two, a very acidic letter to customer complaints and another phone and email spat with someone who couldn't read or just couldn't be bothered, to resolve this problem.

I am pleased to say, that finally I got to talk to someone at O2 in Leeds with a bit of common sense and the recognition that it is a good idea to keep customers happy.

I now have my Nokia N95 8gb, at no extra cost per month, and I'm having fun learning how to use it.

I was also told that it is common for O2 customer services to avoid the insurance path by 'upgrading' because apparently processing a claim makes too much work for them.

The only sad bit is that a friend showed me their Iphone on Saturday and I had to admit that it knocked spots off my new toy. I will try to put aside the feelings of gadget-envy until my next upgrade really is due!