Addressing post office problems

SOUNDING OFF: A reader from Dublin was shocked by the rudeness of An Post staff in a Dublin post office recently. She called in shortly after 8am with a view to filling in a form in order withdraw some money from a savings account she had. She joined a short queue at the appropriate desk and when she got to the top asked the woman behind the counter for the form which, she says, was given to her in a very brusque and offhand fashion.

"I filled in the withdrawal form and because the woman who had given me the form in the first place was busy with another customer, I went to the stamp counter in search of an internal post envelope so I could have my withdrawal processed. When I asked for an envelope for the internal post I was told she did not give out envelopes and sent me to the information desk."

The information desk was not manned so our reader returned to the stamp seller who "threw her eyes to the heavens and told me in an offhand fashion that the information desk didn't open until 9am. Why she could not have told me that in the first place, I don't know."

Our reader then returned to the original girl who had given her the form and told her what happened. "I said I could not get an envelope and she said 'that's not my problem'. She was extremely rude, bordering on aggressive, so I asked for her name. She refused to give it to me, citing 'security reasons', although I fail to see what are the security implications of giving a customer your name so they can make a complaint."

At this point our reader asked to see a manager and the woman demanded to know why she wanted to see a manager, saying "You want to see the manager for what? An envelope?"

"Eventually a man purporting to be a manager came up and said, and I quote: 'What's your problem?' I explained the situation and he said that it was all my fault and if I had just told the girl that I wanted an internal envelope in the first place then there would have been no problem. He brushed off my protestations, gave me the envelope and said, 'On your way now, you're sorted'."

She was left feeling terrible about the incident and now feels that she has no option but to close her account because "I believe the way I was treated was appalling. It went beyond rude. This was almost bullying."

It certainly does not seem like an appropriate way for any company to conduct themselves, so we contacted An Post ourselves. We put our reader's story to them and asked for a comment. We also asked if there really was a policy in place at An Post whereby staff could refuse to give customers their names.

An Post spokeswoman Anna McHugh said our reader's complaint was viewed "very seriously". She said it was "a matter of great concern that a customer would report such a bad experience. Our business is all about service and customer satisfaction."

She continued: "Your reader's claims have been thoroughly investigated, and the fact is that the staff and supervisor involved strongly dispute your reader's version of events. We can only apologise to the customer for any fault on our part that led to her feeling so troubled and upset. Our people are also very upset by the allegations, and by the impressions conveyed through her version of events. We would welcome the opportunity to have a senior manager meet directly with this customer."

She said that post office staff serve up to two million customers every week, assisting them with several million transactions. She said all retail staff were "involved in ongoing training, and a stringent 'mystery shopper' programme identifies areas that need improvement or extra training."

She went on to say that, following "a number of very serious security issues in which individual members of staff were targeted, it is not the practice for counter staff to make known their names.

"All counter positions are numbered and easily identifiable should it be necessary to seek the involvement of a supervisor for any reason."

Wi charge guests for internet access?

Mark Crowther was at a business meeting in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry recently and was shocked by the high cost of WiFi internet access there.

"This hotel sells itself as a location for business people, with multiple conference rooms and a location near Dublin Airport," he writes. He says the company he works with have used it regularly since it opened, "and in general have been very satisfied with it". This year, however, he has been less than pleased by "some stealth price increases" which he says have appeared.

"For example, instead of tea and coffee facilities being available in the conference area, we had to purchase them from the Starbucks franchise in the lobby. However, the worst example is the WiFi access. One of my colleagues had brought his laptop to use during the meeting. When he tried to log on, he was prompted for a username and password."

They had assumed that access would be free, as the hotel prides itself on offering a service to business people. They went to the front desk where they were told that there was a charge of €15 per day to access the broadband link.

"I am sure that the hotel already has broadband for its own use, so they are not incurring any additional costs in providing this service to its customers. Instead, they have identified this as another source of income. I don't know what this says about their concept of being a business-friendly hotel," he writes, and concludes that "even though it is only a relatively small charge, it would put us off using the hotel in future. There are a lot of hotels touting for business customers."

We called the hotel to see what they had to say. A spokesman said that the charges were as our reader outlined them, but he pointed out that hotel residents were given free access to the WiFi network in the public areas and all the rooms had free broadband access. He also said that, for large conferences, delegates could also be given free access to the network. He accepted our reader's point but said such charges in other hotels were not uncommon and that the hotel's primary responsibility was to its residents.

He also said it was a policy that was under constant review.