How often does one contact a person or corporate body and either not receive a response at all or get a response promising a follow-up which never materializes?
Recently I had occasion to contact LG Electronics Australia…………a company one would think that would have the interests of customers at heart. No such luck…………..further approaches, including a fax to the Manager, had absolutely no effect whatsoever. Why would they care – too busy banking my money!
Also, having a problem with my Uninterruptible Power Supply I sent an email to OptiUPS three weeks ago telling them about the trouble I was having. To date the silence from Opti has been deafening! I guess they too, are busy visiting their bank to count their ill-gotten gains.
The same results were obtained when contact was made with what is euphemistically called Personnel Management Agency of the RAF. Management is really non-sequitur [logic] since management is probably the last word that can be applied to that [dis]organization!
For over twelve months I have been attempting to obtain from that group of no-brainers documents relating to my RAF service. To date I have heard nothing. This in spite of various letters, emails [both pleading and rude] plus the edict of the Data Protection Act which requires that answers are provided within a time-line of 40 days!
Obviously, the incompetents at the PMA have no idea as to time nor for that matter anything else it seems! From my original letter I received a response asking for further information. That was given with a promptitude that must have made this bunch of so-called “Public” Servants dizzy. Again, obviously, they have not yet recovered from the shock of other people reacting so readily, something which is totally foreign to them!
These are copies of letters/emails sent:-
HEADQUARTERS AIR COMMAND
ACOS (Manning) 22E1
RAF DPA
Room 220,
Trenchard Hall,
RAF Cranwell,
Sleaford,
Lincs,
England NG34 8HB
Your ref: ******/DPA/1/3/******
Sirs,
Late in 2008 or early 2009 I wrote requesting the release of my Service Records in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 98) and received the response [attached] dated 28th April, 2009.
As a result of this letter I forwarded a copy of an Electrical Power account plus photocopies of my driver’s licence to the email address given in that letter.
To date, in spite of the highlighted words in that attachment stating there was a 40 day time-frame for delivery of such records and of the constant emails to the person shown as Gemma Young, I have received no information whatsoever.
As a retired Public Servant I am fully aware of the Peter principle as applied to those in the Public Service but it is still hard to imagine the total incompetence and ineptitude of the person[s] dealing with my query.
I have appended copies of my emails together with the dates on which they were sent and must ask – why after over a year, am I not yet in receipt of the documents as requested? In this you are in breach of the DPA and I would ask is it going to be necessary for me to complain to the relevant authority concerning this delay?
Take it as a fact that if this information is not received within a rational period of time then a complaint or complaints will be lodged with the appropriate authority or authorities.
In case, due to the obvious ineptitude of your department personnel, you have mislaid my previous information concerning utilities and driver’s licence I attach further copies.
I trust this will be the last time I will have to contact you about this matter.
Yours faithfully,
****** * ******.
You may find my site rhmercer.com interesting………especially the /blog pages.
The following Email was sent to <gemmayoung@cranwell.raf.mod.uk>on 28/10/2009
Your ref ******/DPA/1/3/******
I refer to your letter of 28th April, 2009 in which you requested proof of my identity in the form of copies of utility bills etc.,.
I forwarded that information including a copy of my photo drivers licence in early May.
To date I have received no reply and although it is possible that workloads are high, it is hard to credit that a delay of almost six months is normal….!
Since I would prefer to receive my service records, including my flight log, before my inevitable decease I would request that this matter be attended to without further delay.
Yours faithfully,
****** * ******.
ex ****** ex Sgt ex RAF and almost ex- everything else!
For further proof of my existence see rhmercer.com
Replies by e-mail preferred since snail mail is delayed excessively.
NO RESPONSE TO THIS EMAIL WAS FORTHCOMING!
The following Email was sent to <gemmayoung@cranwell.raf.mod.uk> on 19/12/2009
Once more I have found it necessary to send this e-mail which I first sent on 29th October, 2009!
Since this request has been pending since early this year or late 2008 I am beginning to think that there is nobody alive at your organization or more probably nobody who is not brain-dead.
WTF do I have to do to shake you lot out of your lethargic coma and get the documents that I have requested?
Is it going to be necessary for me to write to someone at a higher level in order to get the information that I require?
Yours in total exasperation,
****** * ******
Copy of email
Your ref ******/DPA/1/3/******
I refer to your letter of 28th April, 2009 in which you requested proof
of my identity in the form of copies of utility bills etc.,.
I forwarded that information including a copy of my photo drivers
licence in early May.
To date I have received no reply and although it is possible that
workloads are high, it is hard to credit that a delay of almost six
months is normal….!
Since I would prefer to receive my service records, including my flight
log, before my inevitable decease I would request that this matter be
attended to without further delay.
Yours faithfully,
****** * ******.
ex ****** ex Sgt ex RAF and almost ex- everything else!
For further proof of my existence see rhmercer.com
Replies by e-mail preferred since snail mail is delayed excessively.
AGAIN, NO RESPONSE TO THIS EMAIL WAS FORTHCOMING!
I added to the latest letter copies of my electricity account, my driver’s licence, my driver accreditation and my firearm licence. Now I wonder what the response, if any, will be. I am betting on the latter.
Of course, one must realize that there is a huge influx to the UK of multi-nationals the majority of whom have very little knowledge of proper English – it being a “second” language to most of them. Couple that with the fact that in every walk of life and employment these people are being given jobs which most of them find beyond their capabilities. Is it any wonder that trying to get sense into the crania of these rag-heads, nigs or whatever, is definitely akin to emulating Sysiphus with his stone!
Time will tell – even though the PMA doesn’t seem to have any reference to time!
So, I ask again. Is this due to the incompetence and ineptitude of the so-called employees who must believe they are in a sinecure or is it just bad manners? I doubt they would answer since it would require thinking and a decision on their parts!