Another day moving junk. We stopped part way down to drop off several boxes at a charity shop with convenient parking. Last week when we tried it was closed for a week according to the notice in the window. Today it had a notice up telling us it wasn’t accepting donations. We are giving it up as a bad job and will find somewhere else. I’ve also communicated my concern to the relevant organisation. It’s not a complaint, just a heads up that their management team might be letting the side down.
I have just had an automatic response telling me that if my message isn’t on the list of subjects they deal with they won’t answer. Add arrogance to unreliability in the list of faults. There are plenty of other charity shops, albeit slightly less convenient for unloading, so we aren’t stuck for places to go. They need to remember that they exist in a competitive environment, just like any other shop. We could also put it all in a skip. It will cost us, but it’s much more convenient that cleaning things and sorting them and packing them and then taking them to a shop which doesn’t want them.
Tea at Stoke on Trent
It took me several key strokes to get through to the page to leave a message, and that’s what you get in return. Makes you wonder if it’s worth the effort.
Meanwhile, having decided to leave the hospital a message I got lost in their contact section. Apart from a broken link and a needlessly complex system, there is a mass of self-congratulatory text to go through, tinged with more than a hint of arrogance. It came close to me not leaving a message, but it’s not the fault of the people in Rheumatology that the admin system is run by people who can only be adequately described by words that are probably best not written in a family blog.
They should perhaps clone the staff from the Treatment Centre and Rheumatology Department and use them to bring the rest of the staff up to standard.
Nice cup of tea
I can think of businesses which are as elusive.
So can I – Currys and the Post Office are both bad too. They are all using technology to hide.
Maybe they rely on volunteers to staff the shops, and volunteers are sometimes waylaid by life. It is annoying all the same. Clear messaging is the oil that greases the wheels of day to day life. Without it, everything is a grind.
I’m sure they do rely on volunteers, but they will also have paid staff somewhere in the organisation. When I had a shop I was told by a very experienced dealer that you might only open one hour a week, but it was important that you were there when you were supposed to be. When I was involved in youth sport we had to provide volunteers in specified numbers with qualifications and all that gubbins to ensure that matches could go ahead safely and that we could keep out Clubmark Gold accreditation. I have no problem with volunteers having a private life – my problem is with the paid professionals who seem to have a problem doing the job they are paid to do.
The shops here pretty much take anything, allowing one to find some real treasures.
I hope today goes better for you. Preparations for moving always add to the stress.
Yes, I am feeling stressed. this is a shame as the worst is still to come. 🙂
We have a number of pick up points around here for donations to Ukraine – do you?
Sounds like they might have a staffing problem.
Agreed.
We have a lot of bins for old clothes – mainly salvation army, one for books, a few for apper/card but nothing else. A lot were removed during or after lockdown, though they were badly looked after and people kept leaving flytipping stuff by them.
What about Peterboough?
Still finding my way round Peterborough (we didn’t do recycling last time I lived there) but we are trying to avoid cluttering the bungalow by simply getting rid of stuff en route. It’s not entirely working . . .
Oh, I didn’t realise you were moving!
Yes, I have reached those stairlift/bungalow years and we decided to move nearer family if we were moving. My sister is in Peterborough, one son in Norwich and Julia’s three siblings in Suffolk.
Yes, Peterborough sounds much more convenient. My parents are trying to sell their house to buy a bungalow but so far no luck.
It’s difficult finding a good bungalow. Too many old people and not enough properties.
Some charity shops in this part of the world a bit precious now and then and won’t take certain objects. So I understand your annoyance.
I can understand they don’t want fur coats or VHS cassettes or electrical goods, but I don’t understand why they think it acceptable to close unexpectedly or to refuse everything. One of our local shops was heard turning down books last week, even though they are part of a group which has specialist bookshops.
Maybe they have a storage problem!?
Possibly. Julia went into a local shop today – same thing – they are tidying the shop so not taking donations.
A bit strange. I’ve noticed that within a charity, donations are moved from one shop to another if they don’t sell, so it is a puzzle. How long till you move? Could you advertise a garage sale or something?
That would involve a higher leve of organisation than I currently have, but I could definitely manage it early next year. Good thinking. We are hoping to be in for Christmas.
Good luck!!
Thank you. After a dodgy week we are starting to progress again.