{"id":507,"date":"2009-06-19T14:23:20","date_gmt":"2009-06-19T14:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/"},"modified":"2009-06-19T14:23:20","modified_gmt":"2009-06-19T14:23:20","slug":"back-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

I briefly mentioned in my last post<\/a> I was off for a holiday<\/p>\n

I got back yesterday, a few days later than originally planned<\/p>\n

We went to Puerto Rico<\/a> in Gran Canaria<\/a> and had a great time<\/p>\n

Halfway through the holiday we noticed our youngest daughter Evie, had a couple of spots on her body. Having already been through chickenpox<\/a> with our other daughter Alice, we took her straight to the doctors<\/p>\n

They confirmed what we thought and promptly cancelled our flight back (which should have been on the Saturday)<\/p>\n

After various discussions with the insurance company their original plan was to fly myself and Alice back and leave Bryony and Evie there. I pleaded exceptional circumstances as Bryony\u2019s deafness means she can\u2019t understand English speaking Spanish people (it\u2019s the accents and it\u2019s sometimes hard enough for me!) and they kindly agreed to let us all stay. <\/p>\n

What originally sounds like a free extended holiday isn\u2019t quite what it seems. Evie obviously couldn\u2019t be in contact with anyone who hadn\u2019t already had chicken pox (mainly children) so she was effectively confined to the hotel room. No swimming pool, beach, taxis, buses, etc, etc. We also were only expecting to stay for a week so had only taken enough clothes, money, etc to last that amount of time<\/p>\n

Once we finally got the all clear on the Wednesday we got flights back to Gatwick (instead of Birmingham where we originally flew from) and were then driven back home. Our flight landed just after midnight and we opened our front door around 4:30am<\/p>\n

I popped into the office yesterday afternoon and today is my first full day back. I\u2019ve got a lot to catch up on!<\/p>\n

We had a great holiday and tried not to let it ruin things but at the end we were just hanging around and all wanted to come home. My geek cold turkey was in full effect since my mobile phone was the only bit of tech I took with me and I\u2019m dreading my next bill!<\/p>\n

Never one to miss an opportunity though I made several observations while I was away that I may be able to apply to the business!<\/p>\n

You can stop reading now if you were just interested about my holiday \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Sales<\/strong><\/p>\n

Qualifying your prospects is important.<\/em> <\/h4>\n

I saw lots of guys trying to get people into their restaurants and the most common opening line was <\/p>\n

\u201cHello, have you had breakfast (lunch\/dinner) yet?\u201d <\/p>\n

They then didn\u2019t waste any more time on people who had eaten<\/p>\n

Obviously they didn\u2019t give up that easily so the next line usually was to ask if they were thirsty!<\/p>\n

Pestering people will just piss them off<\/h4>\n

I don\u2019t like to name and shame (much!) but this is a classic example.<\/p>\n

On our first day we walked into the village and were immediately stopped by someone promising us free event tickets, drinks, etc, etc as long as we had a look at their facilities. He told us the idea was that we\u2019d take a look and if we liked when if came back next we\u2019d book with them.<\/p>\n

It was quite a hard sell but I declined explaining it was just our first day. <\/p>\n

We were stopped several times other people doing the same thing and on one day we walked from our hotel to the beach and were stopped nine times and they really don\u2019t take no for an answer. It\u2019s hard to be polite after a while<\/p>\n

The company they were representing was Anfi (I’m not linking to them!)  and we were told by our holiday rep it\u2019s a timeshare thing. The guys actually stopping people claim it isn\u2019t which they are technically correct on. The website says it\u2019s \u201cmembership\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Why is \u2018Vacation Membership\u2019 different to \u2018Timeshare\u2019?
<\/b><\/p>\n

Genuine timeshare is a potentially fantastic concept because it offers flexibility and affordability. However, Vacation Membership goes beyond this by filling in the gaps, expanding on the overall concept, and setting new standards you deserve and that only Anfi can achieve. Vacation Membership is what, in an ideal world, timeshare should have been.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u2019s still time share in my book but even if it\u2019s not the constant pressing just got on my nerves in the end and even if they were giving away free money I wouldn\u2019t listen to them<\/p>\n

If you are lucky enough to have a captive market you can charge what you like<\/h4>\n

Once you have checked into the airport and moved into the departure longue you HAVE to buy from their shops. Obviously their are security aspects to this but is it really an excuse to pick a prices out of the air?<\/p>\n

I paid for 3 soft drinks, and 3 sandwiches and it cost \u00a320. I wouldn\u2019t mind if the food was high quality but it really wasn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

Service Delivery<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our insurance company fell down pretty hard in this area. While I agree they fulfilled their obligations to us the way they did it wasn\u2019t great from our perspective. <\/p>\n

Communicate<\/h4>\n

Several times I called and was told someone would call back. That\u2019s fine as long as you actually do it. There were lots of times we were waiting for news that never came and I had to chase it down. <\/p>\n

We were scheduled to check out of the hotel on Saturday morning yet when we were eating dinner on Friday night I had no idea if the insurance company had arranged for us to stay in the same hotel or if we needed to go elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Empower your staff with good systems<\/h4>\n

The insurance company obviously run a 24 hour operation in case of emergencies so I understand that I’m unlikely to be able to speak to the same person every time. If this is the case you need to give them the tools that anyone deal with issues. I called lots of times and had to wait while our file was hunted down. It was obviously a paper file sitting on the desk of whoever had it last!<\/p>\n

Communicate better!<\/h4>\n

It was arranged that a car would pick us up from Gatwick airport and take us home. I made it clear we\u2019d need a car seat for Evie as she\u2019s only five months old. Our car seat was several hundred miles away in my parents car as they were originally picking us up from Birmingham<\/p>\n

When the driver arrived he had a booster cushion and a child booster seat. Evie can\u2019t even sit up on her own yet so how was she expected to sit in a booster seat for the three hour trip back? Legally in a private hire vehicle she could sit unrestrained \u2013 on Bryony\u2019s lap, but from a parents perspective we didn\u2019t want that. Especially when it could have been easily communicated to the hire company<\/p>\n

Go the extra mile<\/h4>\n

The places went to eat got our repeat business when they went that extra mile. In one place Alice got a free ice cream as encouragement to eat her main meal. A lot of the staff were extra friendly and helpful and made a fuss of the kids. All these people got our repeat business<\/p>\n

Our hotel<\/a> came under this too. The staff were great with us even after news broke of Evie\u2019s chickenpox. I lost count of the amount of times someone asked me<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the baby ok?\u201d<\/p>\n

If I ever go back to Puerto Rico I\u2019d more than likely use the same hotel<\/p>\n

The insurance company did get some plus points too. They could have been insistent and made myself and Alice fly back so I was very<\/strong> appreciative of that. They also paid extra for EasyJet\u2019s \u201cspeedy boarding\u201d on our flight back which brings me onto our next point<\/p>\n

Being organised is key to a smooth running operation<\/h4>\n

Our boarding experience was what can only be described as shambolic and at one point I actually worried for my children’s safety. I\u2019ll post about this separately though as I think it deserves a post all of it\u2019s own but at this point in time if i need to fly anywhere EasyJet won\u2019t be the first name on my list<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll stop there as I’ve wittered on long enough<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve enjoyed my time off but I did miss my tech, though it did give me lots of time to reflect on where I am from a personal and professional perspective and I\u2019m looking forward to the weeks ahead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I briefly mentioned in my last post I was off for a holiday I got back yesterday, a few days later than originally planned We went to Puerto Rico in Gran Canaria and had a great time Halfway through the holiday we noticed our youngest daughter Evie, had a couple of spots on her body.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,31,38,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-customer-service","category-personal","category-rants","category-sales"],"yoast_head":"\nBack in the UK - Andy's Techie Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Back in the UK - Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I briefly mentioned in my last post I was off for a holiday I got back yesterday, a few days later than originally planned We went to Puerto Rico in Gran Canaria and had a great time Halfway through the holiday we noticed our youngest daughter Evie, had a couple of spots on her body.Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-19T14:23:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Parkes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Parkes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/\",\"name\":\"Back in the UK - Andy's Techie Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-19T14:23:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-06-19T14:23:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3534e8ac6b1bec765cd061feff56679d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/06\/19\/back-in-the-uk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Back in the UK\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Andy's Techie Blog\",\"description\":\"Professional Geek\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3534e8ac6b1bec765cd061feff56679d\",\"name\":\"Andy Parkes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3824cbf53df51d7ca5cf809b6ad81a157fbfff2292e36ab8666f04ddad06bfcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3824cbf53df51d7ca5cf809b6ad81a157fbfff2292e36ab8666f04ddad06bfcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andy Parkes\"},\"description\":\"Andy Parkes is Technical Director at Coventry based IT support company IBIT Solutions. 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