You know you want to! Retire to Spain. Click on the link for details of our des. res. for sale.

A while ago I wrote about leg room on Monarch Airlines flights. They wrote back to me on 8th December, in reply to my letter of 3rd September. They had acknowledged my letter, but it has taken them longer than they said they hoped (eight weeks I think they said) to reply to my letter.

I had commented that the leg room available seemed inadequate, and there seemed to be no system in place to ensure that the taller people who needed it had preferential access to the limited number of seats with more leg room. In their reply they don't seem to acknowledge the need, just to say they are "in line with the majority of UK carriers" and complying to "CAA and manufacturer's guidelines" and CAA "rigid safety criteria." What safety? I contend that a significant proportion of the population would find it physically impossible to adopt the advocated "brace position" in an emergency in the amount of space provided.

It saddens me when a company's idea of creativity and customer service is limited to not contravening rules and regulations and being in line with the "majority of" others who are presumably similarly unimaginative.

Join in my poll (to the right of this post), or comment on this post, if you are a regular visitor or a new visitor.

I posted the above on 25th November. Over the next two weeks I got 24 hits on this blog, of which 13 were from the UK.

Three people replied to my poll saying "keep it going." Two "yes I read it regularly" and one "yes I read it sometimes."

I decided to pay the money!

I'm impressed by the the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group. I recommend them for good insurance (cars, household, etc.).

I sent in a letter and customer survey form after my car was repaired after a recent accident. The manager in charge of motor claims telephoned me yesterday to talk it through and to discuss his ideas for improving their service.

I had already deduced that they are serious about listening to their customers, as their survey form is very impressive, including general but valuable questions about how customers perceive them that key into their firm's values.

This contrasts with the lack of interest shown by Monarch Airlines (is this Britain's worst airline?) who have still not replied as they promised to my letter, and a coaching supplier that I am linking with who also does not seem to like criticism.

I wonder whether I should ask firms whether they are interested in improving performance, and interested in what their clients have to say, before I write in full?

By way of completeness, Barclays Bank eventually worked out that the messages sent by their order line were not being received by their fulfilment office, apologised profusely, and then deluged me with the envelopes I had ordered. I think that is a good outcome. Hopefully they will modify there system so it detects such errors, and introduce a more accessible escalation process!