Customer service?

On the 4th of May, I received a letter from one of my Internet Service Providers, that a deposit of € 500 that they had taken from me a couple of years was to be returned to me. They gave several alternatives for me to get my money back.

The first was to fill up a form and post it back to them. The second was to visit a web page and fill in the details. (I tried this but the page was so complicated that I did not get past filling in my name and address!) The third, and simplest, was to ring a Customer Care phone number provided in the letter.

I obviously chose the third alternative.

On Friday the 7th of May, in the afternoon, I rang the number. The girl who answered did not know the existence of such a service at this number. Then she said her computer was down. She took down the required details and then told me that she would send me a text message.

I waited, and I waited.

On Monday the 24th of May, I rang again. The immediate response of the lady who answered the phone was that he computer was down. I told her that it did not matter that the computer was down but I wanted to get an answer as to why something the Customer Care person had promised was not acted upon. With great reluctance, when I told her that it was me to get some money back, she took down all the details and said she would ring me back.

Guess whether I got a call back?

On Wednesday the 26th of May, I rang again. I spoke to a gentleman who spoke excellent English. I posed my problem and when he looked at the computer, which was obviously working, he did note that my call and notes of the 7th of May were in front of him, but he could provide me with no answer as to why nothing had happened in the intervening 20 days.

I asked him some basic questions as, if I did not pay a due to their company, what would be the action? I asked him whether his company would pay the penal interest for not paying my dues on time. I also told him that the letter I had received was most interesting that there was not even a name or signature attached to the letter. I told him if anyone received such a letter purporting to be from my company without a name and signature, it would probably be thrown in the dustbin!

He was most apologetic. As a gesture, within his powers, for the trouble I had been put too, cancelled my last bill, gave me an ad hoc credit of € 50 and then said he would follow the matter through his supervisor.

I also told him that his Customer Care Division of his company had recently gone on strike to get substantial service benefits. I asked what should the Customers who they harassed by the inefficiency of their Customer Care Division should do? He told me that he was not one who had gone on strike, but acknowledged that the handling of my situation was certainly not correct.

Let us wait and see what happens before I reveal the name of this service provider! Stay tuned!

When -300 can equal +1300

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

This is yet another mathematical puzzle which is solved very easily for your benefit.

Kannan and me.

When Kannan approached me with his tax return, there was a demand for tax to be paid of around € 300.

I had asked him to maintain detail personal accounts, as is specified in the book "Handbook for Survival in Finland" that Annikki and I had written and published in 1994. The logic of our advice was that only if you know your outflow, can you budget your life.

Kannan had kept meticulous accounts. Using the Google Docs facility, he sent me his accounts and also his tax return forms, from Rauma, over the internet.

I studied them carefully based on all the tax laws that I am still aware of. I am certainly not up-to-date, as for many years, maybe 10, Annikki and I have not had to fill in any tax returns.

Kannan was quite unbelieving that what I claimed for him would pass the scrutiny of the tax office. He was worried that he would be caught for some form of offence of over claiming (tax evasion) his legitimate tax deductible expenses (tax avoidance).

Yesterday evening, I had an excited call from Kannan. He had just received his final tax return statement. Even with his limited knowledge of Finnish, he could read a line at the end of the statement that said he was receiving € 1300 + as his tax return in December of this year!

A turn around of € 1600 +.

But I was not happy, as my target for Kannan at the beginning of last year had been € 5000 as pension savings and € 2700 as his tax return! A net of € 7700.

Well, hopefully he will follow my advice this year and generate that sort of savings this year.

Those at CHAFF will remember that I held a session on filing of tax returns at one of our meetings. I wonder how many of you followed the advice given and how many of you achieved this level of tax refunds?

Do let me know your successes as your stories can motivate others to a financial discipline which helps beat the horrendous inflation that is occurring here in Finland.