Please Hold...

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Here we go again: now it's large energy companies bemoaning their lot in this oh-so-difficult world. E-ON have been sounding off about how their website and call centres have been down because of the unprecedented traffic apparently caused by Martin Lewis in a tweet about meter readings and the impending price-hike in energy costs. Not content with unprecedented forecast profits - aided and abetted by this shameful hands-off Government and its now woeful Chancellor refusing to impose a windfall tax on these companies - they moan and whinge that their 'customer service systems' can't cope with the traffic.

As if any modern 'customer service system' can cope with even moderate normal use by customers. Their systems don't function because they're outsourced at the lowest possible cost to the companies concerned, to firms running such tight margins that they employ people at bare minimum wage on crap 'contracts' and use systems woefully under-spec for the job. We have a dossier of over one hundred pages on our dealings with our former 'energy supplier' (read one man and his dog with a computer and a debenture from Shell), that tells our own tale of utter frustration with these idiots [blog posts passim].

These companies wouldn't know customer service if it jumped up and slapped them in the face. They wouldn't even survive in business left to their own devices, and the Government should not be favouring, let alone helping, them. Dig deep enough and the personal interest involved in all of this will become blazingly apparent. As always, follow the money...

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