Upon complaining to the supervisor, we were told to send a fax, detailing the missing items. After repeated calls and letters over many weeks, they replied saying that they cannot look up 40 numbers because they do not have the time (seven minutes) for such things. Yet it seems that they had the time to take my money for a thousand 3-kilo bags at approximately $8 per bag, each carrying half a kilo; so I paid for 2.5 kilos that I never used (no doubt landing them a huge profit). On top of that, I purchased the additional ‘Registered’ service with insurance (which is nothing more than a sticker in terms of cost for Australia Post). In all, they made a packet. That added another $2000 or so to the expense, not counting the contents (books and videos) worth hundreds per parcel.

When it came time to query why they lost my important parcels, whose disappearance caused me to lose opportunities, they did not care. I escalated the matter to their managers (plural) and legal officers, who snubbed my company and our request. It took over one year of effort, because we started to fight the issue on principle.

Being a government instrumentality, they were under the assumption that I could not sue them. In truth, many lawyers with whom I spoke were also under this impression. Legal experts advised me that there was nothing I could do. I persisted and pursued legal avenues, and won, because it was essentially unethical and wrong. Australia Post made my case easier because they had sent a defence lawyer who did not know what he was talking about. I had previously given them every argument in the hope that they would see the error of their ways. No-one paid attention. It was arrogance in full flight. How sad.

During the hearing, the Australia Post lawyer had the gall to say that I was cheating the system because I had purchased a national 3 kg red bag, and used it to send parcels from Sydney to Perth. He estimated that if I were to send the parcels via regular post, I would have had to pay $9 instead of the $8 I paid per bag (plus $1.50 or so in registration). You can see why I was fighting on principle. A national bag, is a national bag. The fact that 10 out of the 1000 I purchased had gone from Sydney to Perth, was turned against me as if I am abusing the system. My reply reminded my friend that I would be happy to pay him the ten dollars difference if he, in turn, would pay me for 2.5 kg that I never used as part of the 1000 bags that I purchased. The bally cheek! Besides, he was comparing what it would have cost if I had used regular post from Sydney to Perth. The silly man should have known, had he read his brief, that 700 or so bags went to Sydney CBD and Metro areas. Using his logic, and using regular post, that would have cost me $5.70 for 20 kg. Yet I paid him $9.50 for half a kilo. How’s that for a lopsided argument. Who’s abusing who now?

Australia Post’s second argument was that they had lost the parcels, and they admitted to this, but they denied responsibility. Apparently, I was not supposed to have placed the ‘registration’ stickers onto the red bags. The Member hearing our case asked, ‘And how is a customer supposed to know that the registration stickers are not to be used in conjunction with the red bags, considering that the registration stickers are promoted as a service that can be used on any parcel?’ In response, and with contempt, the lawyer pulled out a massive legal binder and pointed to some gobbledygook like Statute 7s Subsection 5 of Clause b5a.2.3.6 of the Act of 1972 as amended 1987 with Parliamentary blah blah blah.

‘And are these legal binders available at point of sale, to warn customers of this rule?’ asked the Member. The lawyer replied, ‘No, but the statute is available on the Internet.’ To which the Member asked if an Internet connection and computer are made available at point of sale. The lawyer retreated and sat down.

All along, during the many months of correspondence, Australia Post kept insisting that the registration stickers cannot be used on the red bags. I would not be telling you this story if it were not for the recent innovation at Australia Post, which not only promotes the use of the stickers on the red bags, but has the impertinence to print this fact on the bag itself, and provides a rectangular area within which to place the sticker! Yet, all along, they made out that I was doing the wrong thing, despite taking my money and saying nothing about it! If the registration of 1000 red bags was null and void, perhaps I should have sued for a refund, due to their admitting that registration was not acknowledged, which means that I had paid for a service that they did not deliver. The bally cheek.

What can we learn from this? Don’t take money, promise a service, provide a phone number, keep people waiting ten minutes, and then say that you can’t help them. When a client escalates the matter to a supervisor, it would be a good idea to wonder why someone feels that the matter needs extra attention. When the client escalates the matter to the regional management team, it’s time to engage some brain cells. When a client enters into correspondence with your legal officers, and furnishes a thirty-page report, it’s time to sit up and pay attention. When the client sends you a summons to appear at a hearing, it’s time that someone reads the brief and nibs the jolly thing in the bud because the facts are plain for all to see. Pomposity and snobbery towards a client who is one of the largest clients in the district, does not augur well in front of an impartial judge who will only wonder how an organisation the size of Australia Post can treat customers so poorly, and wonder how the many layers of management could not make a decision to rectify an obvious failing. No-one begrudges Australia Post for losing some items (that’s if they were not stolen by unethical staff), but when the company mistreats its clients, who keep it in business, then it had better reconsider its statement of ethics, which says, ‘Australia Post is committed to conducting its business with integrity, honesty, fairness and in compliance with all relevant laws, regulations, codes, corporate policies and procedures.’

Click here for another article about Australia Post.

How sad it is when the technical brilliance of Steven Jobs and his crew meets a brick wall when customer service goes down the drain.

Apple has got a lot to teach the world. Unfortunately, the very basics of customer service are overlooked, and in the end, customers will soon forget the miraculous miniaturisation and remember the hideous frustrations.

My first dictionary of computing was written on the first Apple Mac; the one that did not even have a hard drive. It worked well, and my fond memories of Apple’s product quality never faded, even after being forced to switch operating systems to conform to the corporate jungle. So, recently, I purchased a new MacBook Pro. It is not perfect, but it is a million times better than my old Windows rubbish.

I was at the George Street Apple Store one rainy afternoon, and I placed an order for the MacBook Pro, a large monitor, and a range of accessories, plus I paid for three years of service and one year of help/training. The product was wheeled out, but at that moment, their cashier system broke down, and they could not process my order. I asked if they could take my card details and process it the next day as a phone order and then have the products delivered to me. They said that it was impossible. And they said that they do not take phone orders. Oh well, their loss. When I got home, I conducted some research and noticed that an even larger Dell monitor was $800 cheaper. So they missed out on that sale and I went with the Dell monitor. I finally purchased the MacBook Pro with the service and training.

Alas, I was led to believe that any issues with my product can be dealt with via courier or post. Again, a lie, it seems, because my Mighty Mouse has been faulty, and now it does not work. It set me back three days in my work. After waiting for Apple to come back from holidays, and waiting fifteen minutes to speak with someone, they said that I would have to take the mouse in for assessment or repair etc. I explained that it was not feasible to travel such great distances, and hassle with parking etc, for something that can be dealt with, as I was misled to believe, by mail. The phone operator escalated the call to a Josh, who informed me that he was the most senior person on the help desk. I told him that I will be protesting most strongly and most vigourously, and he was not phased. A brick wall.

If a company wants to take my money, my perfect money, and dish out products that do not work, and take more money for support and warranty, then it had better not waste my time. I paid $122.55 for One on One training and $521.10 for extended warranty. Isn’t it absurd that one purchases a quality product from a quality company, and then pays $521.10 as insurance in case the product fails? Yes it is silly of me, but you see, I would do anything for peace of mind and to save time. My time is worth more than any headache of running around trying to fix a vital business tool. This money that Apple pocketed is the cream. It provides them with millions of percent profit. It is free money for nothing at all. Just money for nothing in return. And they know it. Any product fault would surface quick-smart, and beyond that, the product is stable. And who keeps a product for three years anyway? Nonetheless, I just wanted peace of mind, and now that my Apple Mighty Mouse ($94.05) is faulty (8 months in), I can see that I have been ripped off, big time.

Also, the One to One training has not been used, and can never be used, because silly me did not ask the right questions. When people of decency deal with a company of reputation, we somehow take people at face value and accept what they say to be plain English. Now I realise that I should have asked more questions. If I had been told more about the One to One training, I would not have taken it up. I was not told what I should have known, and I did not think to ask something that did not occur to me. I was misled on that score as well.

You see, the One to One training, I now find out, can only happen for a one-hour session at any one time in any one day! Having spoken with a few people at Apple George Street, and the help desk, there is no way that I can book two sessions. I live 30 km away from the store. They want me to drive 90 minutes in, pay $20 in tolls, not to count the petrol and my time, and park my car at around $35 to $50, just to have one hour. Then 90 minutes back plus petrol and time and car expenses! I wanted to go in and have training on a range of applications so that I could become a power-user and leave the Windows environment. It would not make sense to drive in just for one hour. They said that they could not provide more than one hour. It was tough luck. Well my dear Apple, if you knew this, why don’t you make it clear when making the sale? How can you stand there and take money from people, knowing that the customer has not asked you the right questions? It was sold to me in terms of ‘all the training you like’. Never a mention of the limitations.

I once upgraded an old phone, to a new space-age phone. When I got it home, I found that it did not have a countdown timer or stopwatch, which I need while on stage. Who would have thought to ask about such a basic feature, when my previous seven phones all had this feature. I just assumed that it did. Much like you would now assume that any phone you will purchase tomorrow will contain a clock. Silly to ask the question. So you see, I did not ask about the One on One training, because it was put to me in such a grand way to make me feel that I could have as many sessions as I had wanted. That was a lie. It was deceit. It was unfair. It was unethical. To this day, I have not been able to take up this offer, so that is another million percent profit for Apple.

Today, I was let down yet again, and today, this minute, I searched the Apple website, and this is what they say, which is what I was led to believe, which is not what they delivered:



So today, while they were lying to me, and ripping me off, and making out that I had to drive in to get the Mighty Mouse fixed (or go to Rhodes), I was admonishing myself for being so docile. But hang on, this image from their website today proves what I was saying. I was told that life would be easy. I would just send it in the mail. It says so above. And so I thought to delve deeper and read the terms and conditions, and here is where the link goes:



Brand consistency is vital in any organisation. There are certain divisions within Apple who are leading the world. Unfortunately, they are being let down by their colleagues. In this case, Apple is to blame, even though the entire help desk function is outsourced to IBM. The sales person at the time was impressing me with the fact that all of Apple’s help desks are local. What he did not tell me was that they were outsourced.

Anyway, silly me for trusting anyone. They lied to me. They misled me. And now I have their faulty product, and they have my perfect money. That seems like a fair exchange.

P.S. For those who might assume that the mail-in service was for the MacBook unit, and not the peripherals, here are two points. One: it would be ludicrous to send out a MacBook Pro in the mail. It would be damaged! So any such repairs need to be hand-picked and hand-delivered, and not posted in the mail or be chucked into the courier bags. And two: their policy is for peripherals. I know this for certain, because my remote cordless keyboard was faulty within two months, and they replaced it via the courier/mail system. So now what’s the deal? They changed their mind after they had taken my money. They broke the contract. How convenient. It will not do!

UPDATE: I wrote a letter to the CEO of Apple. The next day, I received a phone call from one of the Apple Executives who was most concerned that a customer should have had negative experiences. The executive gathered information and contacted me the following day, apologising for this situation. He admitted that the help-desk supervisor was in error. An Apple genius has since contacted me about my training requirements. Also, a third Apple Executive contacted me several days later to check that everything was now satisfactory. At all times, I emphasised that I was not seeking any special treatment. I just wanted to know what my contract afforded me.

The speed and attention that I have received in the past few days is the kind that I would expect from a company like Apple. It sure is difficult to keep all staff members trained about all the aspects of the business. In the end, Apple was grateful that I raised this matter. It is not a situation that the company wants repeated. Full marks for the speed of response. Full marks for the professionalism displayed by the executives.

If consumers, along with internal staff members, do not speak-up when we see incongruence surrounding the brand-promise, we would be guilty of harbouring a phantom that gets too big for its boots. There are some companies to whom I would not bothers complaining. They are simply best left to rot. Others, like Apple, are excellent on so many fronts, that when we spot the seeds of negativity, it is in all our interest to speak up. The smallest shards of incompetence can grow to become invisible, mighty black holes wherein corporate cancer is incubated. Once a company is gripped by stupidity, there is nothing it can do to shake it off. For this reason, resolute action, at high speed, might seem an over-kill, but negativity in a company like Apple must be arrested with urgency and rigour. I am pleased to see that Apple executives know this. The attention that I received in the past few days has nothing to do with me personally, but with a corporate culture that understands the dangers of corporate cancer. We all fear it tremendously.

My, and Apple’s, abhorrence to ‘bad attitude’, stems from an understanding that it takes years to grow a fine corporate reputation, and only days to destroy it. It takes ages to nurture a healthy work-ethic, and only a few moments to smother it. In ‘How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People’, I wrote, ‘…atmosphere and attitude, if rotten, cannot improve. Their movement on the scale (from bad to good) cannot be gradual because they would never reach the midpoint because of the forces acting against them… Evil will triumph over good. A negative system can never evolve into a positive one. A putrid atmosphere cannot blossom. An obstructive attitude cannot gradually swing towards the constructive. If your organisation is spreading an epidemic through atmosphere and attitude, you need to destroy the carriers. Bringing in new blood, fresh ideas, new people (no matter how exceptional) will not generate a competitive advantage because they will become affected and/or infected faster than they care to realise. You need to destroy the silent, intangible, and merciless enemy.’

The swift response by Apple shows that the company fears bad customer-service. Not because they know that they could lose customers, but because they know that they could lose their heart and soul.

It is becoming common for airlines to slap posters and signs at every turn. This one is from Jet Star, saying that the airline cannot be held responsible for dents and scratches on bags. Fair enough. But when contents are broken, that's a bit less than fair.

When I wrote to Mr Brett Godfrey, the CEO of Virgin, I doubt he saw the letter. Some underling wrote to apologise but took no responsibility whatsoever. They denied having damaged my goods. I have footage of the Virgin staff mishandling luggage. Sure, one can expect wear and tear, but bags have handles, so lifting bags by their zipper or other protruding element, and chucking them about, does not constitute wear and tear. It’s more like rip and burn.

Anyway, one musician told me that apart from mistreatment, the temperature and the pressure in an airline’s luggage compartment could damage the instrument. If you would like to see what I mean, place a new packet of chewing gum in your luggage and retrieve it upon arriving at your destination. You will note that the chewing gum (I use Wrigley’s Extra) becomes stiff due to the excess cold. And before an airline writes to me and tells me about the air pressure being equalised and calibrated, I would respond thus: ‘If that’s the case, then why do you prohibit certain cans and sprays and pressurised containers in luggage?’

My local Woolworth’s supermarket has a team of night packers. I see them in action, because I like to shop late at night when there is little traffic and fewer shoppers. I see how the packers handle the boxes. Imagine how many people handle the products before they find their way onto the shelf. Every time I go into that store, I visit the hair-care section and the tinned section. It amazes me that staff members have little respect for the products they handle. These are heavy-duty tins. You could stand on them and jump, without damaging them. I have a feeling that we could line-up a few of them and drive a car on top. These are tough cans. So imagine the mishandling that causes this type of damage (see photos below). I once dined with a two senior managers from the Woolworth’s group. One laughed at me for protesting about the fresh milk being placed at the back. I insisted that I prefer the fresh article because I am forever throwing milk away. Last night, I had to ditch 2 litres! The fresher item was better for my household because it has a longer use-by date. The second manager told me about an ingenious staff member who had suggested that the fridges at the supermarket should be turned up (meaning, not made so cold). By raising the temperature of all the fridges and freezers by one or two degrees, the company maintained the freshness of the food, while saving thousands of dollars in electricity. Count all the stores and all the fridges across all the supermarkets around the world. If each managed their fridges a little better (the same goes for Cocal Cola, the company that perhaps owns more fridges than anyone on the planet), we could save a lot of energy and pollution; not to mention money.

With these observations ringing in my head, I wonder how many cans are damaged and why this is tolerated. I wonder how much it costs Woolworth’s or the supplier or ‘someone’, not to mention the expense in transporting them to land-fills, and the subsequent flies and rotting food once the rust had broken through all those cans.

Two weeks ago I was at my local supermarket and I saw a night packer not only dropping, but throwing boxes of goods on the shop floor. Rather than walk three steps to where a box needs to be placed for later unpacking, she would just throw the box there, irrespective of its contents, whether it was pasta, drink bottles, or canned goods. So I kept an eye on her. The sound of boxes thumping on the floor could be heard from anywhere in the store. Her colleagues were all around her. Did anyone dare to notice or say anything? No. So it fell upon me. And I am not even one of the 380,000 shareholders. I approached the front counter and two young women told me that they are only in charge of the supermarket, not the night packers, but they did promise to tell the back-room manager. But why does it fall upon me to point this out? In the scheme of things, Woolworth’s is a massive company celebrating 85 years in retail, assisted by 191,000 employees, turning over 50,000,000,000 (50 billion) dollars. And that’s a small group in a small country. Just imagine Walmart with 2 million staff members, selling US$401,000,000,000 (401 billion) across 4,200 stores.

Well dear reader, I am not trying to save tin cans. Nor am I trying to save the planet. I am just wondering who something that is so obvious can go unchallenged. No staff member seems to care to solve this problem. Somewhere, somehow, someone is dropping the boxes. Maybe accidents can’t be avoided. But every single week? Something needs a manager’s attention. Yet again I ask, where have all the managers gone? Besides, accident or carelessness: why place the damaged tin on the shelf?

A long time ago I was told that damaged tins could leak air into the food, which would cause the food to lose its freshness, and accelerate its perishability. I am not sure of the science behind this, but I never buy damaged tins. However, this article is not about tins, but about tin-pot employees who do not care about the assets of the hand that feeds them!

Here is the secret to better life-management and business-management: heed the insignificant signals. Learn to read the clues that do not necessarily present themselves in white-papers and green-papers. The astute will be able to hear the alarm bells, long before they ring. It’s like hearing a tune by looking at the score, long before the musician converts the notes into sounds. There are dozens, if not hundreds of clues that scream out at me when I walk through a client-site or a school or a hospital. Not all things in life speak English. Not all ailments have names. Similarly, not all corporate cancer is immediately visible. However, with x-ray vision and super-sonic hearing, you can avoid much of the drama. It’s a bit like Radio Moscow. This very minute, Radio Moscow, as well as the BBC and the ABC radio waves are bouncing off this very computer screen. At this instant, ambulance, fire, and police conversations are bouncing off the walls. You cannot hear them, but they are there. With the right receiver, you can decode the signals. If you do not have a receiver, or have no idea about radio signals, or if you do not know what the BBC is, nothing changes. The signals are ever-present whether you like it or not.

In business and in life, the signals are there. We just need to hone our decoding skills. Sadly, managers are so busy with systems and procedures and reports and paperwork, that they have no time to listen or to observe. And when they do see something suspicious, they are easily distracted because the signals might at first be weak or disjointed.

The knifing problem is not isolated to the hair products. This box contains a desk lamp. It was purchased from the same Woolworth's. You can see the vertical cut mark. Some simply does not care about their job or their employer's assets.

By way of example, consider that five years comprise 1825 days. For the past 1825 days and nights, I have, at random, frequented my local Woolworth’s Supermarket. I enjoy shopping there. Most of the time, the food is fresh and of good quality. The place is spotlessly clean, and most of the time, the checkout is rapid. However, for the past five years, I have been monitoring the hair-dye sections. Every time I visit the supermarket (which is more than twice per week), I walk past the section that sells hair colour products. It has become a ritual of disbelief. You see, every time I go there, I see a range of products that had been sliced open by someone who does not know how to use a cutting knife (see photos below). Retailers must open thousands of boxes. Usually, a knife is needed. Ideally, people should teach each other how to do things. Yet, I cannot understand why in five years, no-one has corrected this situation. It no doubt costs someone a lot of money. It could be that the outer boxes in which these products arrive are thinner than they ought to be, or badly designed.

I just cannot understand how no packer, no supervisor, no store manager, no merchandiser, no sales rep, no floor walker, no security officer, no financial controller, no staff member, no casual, no temp, no stock-taker, no cleaner, has noticed that these boxes are always, always, always, ripped by someone who does not know how to use a cutting knife. I am not complaining about cut boxes. I am raising the alarm at the deaf and blind. If something so obvious is not ringing alarm bells for anyone at Woolworth’s or at L’Oreal or at Schwarzkopf, it makes me wonder what else is being ignored. What other small, invisible, intangible, insignificant, irrational technicalities are being overlooked, which, in due course, will create difficulties, obstacles, and indirect losses or problems. All I am saying is that the clues are plentiful, whether they point to matters of the heart, the head, or the wallet. Maybe you can start by playing a game every Wednesday morning with all your staff. The game can be called ‘observation’. Place a hundred small objects on a tray. Ask the team to study the tray. Then, ask them to turn around, and remove one item, and then ask them to look again and see if they can spot what is missing.

Make sure that each of your staff members walks through each process (by working in different departments) so that they can see life from a different perspective. Start by calling your company’s phone number and listening to the music-on-hold. I bet it’s out of tune, and either no-one has heard it, or has not observed it, or has not noticed it, or has not cared about it, or does not know what to do about it.

These are 52 of approximately 2000 images I have taken. They show cut and damaged boxes at my local Woolworth's supermarket. I will continue to visit this section and place bets with friends. Nothing has changed in five years. One wonders how long this can go on. It's a constant source of bemusement. I really would like to meet the person who handles the knife.

This knife has clicks that lock the blade at certain intervals. This level of extrusion is the least I could set. This means that this knife is not a good one for opening boxes. The blade extends too far out. All that one needs is less than a millimetre. Sticky tape is much thinner than that!

Incidentally, when I was 13 years old or so, I worked at Woolworth’s after school and on weekends. I recall one of my first experiences with a cutting knife. I was on the shop floor, about to open a box, when a man twice my height towered over me and said, ‘Let me show you how to use that knife.’ The first thing he did was withdraw the blade until it just extruded. He said, ‘You are only trying to cut sticky tape on the box. All you need is the tiniest tip of the blade. That will do the job.’ Since those days, I have grown fond of such knives because I prefer them over scissors when cutting paper and card. I have had my horror stories with them. On my finger, I have a scar that I will take to my grave. I am now a seasoned knife cutter, after years of bitter experience. One of my friends nearly had his eye out, were it not for his glasses. This might help you to understand how my mind works, and why I was attracted to those cut boxes!