Lloyds Bank, Doctors Milking Covid.

[HeHasRisen]

11 minutes ago, West 77 said:

That's correct.  However many older people who have been customers of the banks for decades don't do online banking. 

Thats a sweeping generalisation of older people, many have embraced modern technology, my own 86 year old gran included. They arent all Luddites.

[Anna B]

9 hours ago, PRESLEY said:

 Contacting SSC Housing repairs  last week , number 29 in the que then this week I had the same making a Council tax bill  enquiry, one hour and forty five minuets I had to wait,  its ridiculous, before covid getting through to council tax  was always a bit of a wait, average time 30 mins, we are all aware that lots of office staff  were working from through covid but now staff are back at work so what is going off.

Personally, I think this might be one of the things that is helping to cause the rise in mental illness. I know when I come off the phone I'm usually ready to scream.

 

When you need to talk to somebody you usually have a problem that needs help, and help simply isn't there any more, causing endless worry and anxiety. Multiply that by just about every company you might be having to deal with and you can understand why people are finding life so difficult to the point of insanity.

[Padders]

2 hours ago, Anna B said:

Personally, I think this might be one of the things that is helping to cause the rise in mental illness. I know when I come off the phone I'm usually ready to scream.

 

When you need to talk to somebody you usually have a problem that needs help, and help simply isn't there any more, causing endless worry and anxiety. Multiply that by just about every company you might be having to deal with and you can understand why people are finding life so difficult to the point of insanity.

Tell me about it Anna,

I have to get my Daughters to sort things out,

I just can't cope with this technology, I manage to struggle through, and even laugh about things...

But, it's not funny, 

If I didn't have two helpful daughters, I would be verging on insanity..

 

[Kidorry]

14 hours ago, West 77 said:

That's correct.  However many older people who have been customers of the banks for decades don't do online banking. 

I am 84 and I have a smart phone, PC, laptop, chromebook and a 10 inch tablet. How much more do we have to have to have say we are up to scratch? 

[PRESLEY]

14 hours ago, West 77 said:

That's correct.  However many older people who have been customers of the banks for decades don't do online banking. 

I agree, I think with a majority of the old school,  safety/trust,  dealing with a person face to face suits them better, they want to see who they are trusting there money to,  not a machine that CAN be hacked. 

[hackey lad]

I much prefer to talk face to face 

[PRESLEY]

2 hours ago, West 77 said:

I agree not all older people don't do online banking but it's the older members of our community who are the most affected in general by bank closures.  I'm not quite as old as your 86 year old gran but I prefer to go into a branch of bank to speak to a member of staff about an issue than attempt to plough through endless telephone messages and choices and then wait a long time before speaking to someone.

You have more devices than me.  

I prefer to go in a clothes shop and try on stuff before I purchase ìt,   I gave the whole online shopping gig a whirl with Amazon, to my dismay, what a flippin let down, I ordered three Harrington type jackets XXL only one fitted out of the three and the colours were nowhere near the advertised, example I got a bright red one delivered as opposed to burgendy,  OK if you work at Butlins, anyhow  I ended up paying as much to send them back as what the initial items cost,  so hence each jacket worked out costing double to the original price, I contacted Amazon Customer services and they just told me some blarney about  different sellers have different variations on XXL or summat,  lets put this way IMO online shopping is not all that. 

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, PRESLEY said:

I prefer to go in a clothes shop and try on stuff before I purchase ìt,   I gave the whole online shopping gig a whirl with Amazon, to my dismay, what a flippin let down, I ordered three Harrington type jackets XXL only one fitted out of the three and the colours were nowhere near the advertised, example I got a bright red one delivered as opposed to burgendy,  OK if you work at Butlins, anyhow  I ended up paying as much to send them back as what the initial items cost,  so hence each jacket worked out costing double to the original price, I contacted Amazon Customer services and they just told me some blarney about  different sellers have different variations on XXL or summat,  lets put this way IMO online shopping is not all that. 

Its hardly blarney.    I think it's pretty well known that even in the physical shops there is significant variance in sizes. I can certainly vouch for the fact that buying a pair of jeans from M&S is a wholly different "size 36" to those sold in say H&M or River Island so can hardly be blamed on Amazon for that. Also, many online retailers don't  charge for returns. You simply shove it into a freepost bag and off it goes.  I work with plenty in my office who are more than happy to order several items, try them on in the comfort of their own home and chuck back at least half of them as returns no problem.

 

I am not saying that online shopping suits everyone for all purposes but we cannot simply dismiss progress. Yes of course machines are fallible but so are humans. You talk about hacks and data breaches but let's not forget it is also possible for Tellers to make mistakes, miscount or people simply get robbed of their physical possessions or cash. Something, I will add, is far more difficult for the police and insurers to evidence and trace compared to electronic transactions.  At least if my credit card got hacked or nicked, they could tell within minutes the moment an unauthorised transaction is done and where exactly it was.

 

Mainstream internet has been around for almost 30 years with significant numbers of the population having mobile phones for at least 20 + years. The current generation of elderly have been around long enough to embrace at least the basic levels of this. The Next Generation will have not ever known any different.

 

Physical presence is not needed for every single thing anymore. The world has moved on and businesses and organisations should not be forced to prop up redundant operations just to appease a few dinosaurs who won't embrace change. 

 

There was a time and everyone used to queue up in the British Gas or YEB offices with their bills in hand ready to pay.....   there was a time when everyone got their salary in little brown envelopes with a cash or a cheque written out. They would have to look after that and be responsible for either keeping it tucked away  safely or queuing up in their bank once a week to pay in their salary......   there was a time when consumer credit was only for the privileged and wealthy. A time when obtaining even the smallest amount of HP involved reams of paperwork, collateral and support from the guarantor,  unless you want a visit from the man in the long leather jacket to come and knock out your kneecaps.....

 

Things evolved.

Edited March 18, 2022 by ECCOnoob

[Anna B]

19 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Thats a sweeping generalisation of older people, many have embraced modern technology, my own 86 year old gran included. They arent all Luddites.

No they're not, and I can just about manage things when they go to plan as they should.

But when anything goes wrong (as it often does) I'm lost.

That's when I need to ring up and get help, and just getting through to a real person is all on impossible these days.

 

At work if you can't do something there is generally somebody in the office who can put you right. Not so if you're on your own.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Anna B

[hackey lad]

My dad going up 80 , walks miles every day and refuses to have a mobile phone . Mams got one but only used when they are on holiday