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AIBU

To make a formal complaint

(56 Posts)
Anne58 Fri 28-Feb-14 15:56:49

This is very unlike me, but I have just phoned the council to make a formal complaint about the behaviour and attitude of a member of staff in the council tax department! shock

A phone call today was the third time that I have had the misfortune to have to deal with the rude, arrogant obnoxious apology for a human being, and she just went too far.

Ana Fri 28-Feb-14 23:05:34

I used to get regular phone calls from my mortgage provider when I was a single parent and lost my job many years ago. When I did find part-time employment, they still kept phoning asking when I was expecting to work full time, and my mortgage was really quite small!

I think all they all have their own 'hatchet man/woman' to put the pressure on...

merlotgran Fri 28-Feb-14 22:55:54

I remember a friend's daughter, who had all kinds of financial problems after her marriage broke up, saying that the bailiffs were like cuddly uncles compared to the council gestapo.

I had a run in with a woman at the planning department last year. She sounded all of twelve years old and treated me as though I needed to be spoon fed. angry

Dragonfly1 Fri 28-Feb-14 22:47:40

I know it's a serious matter, Phoenix, but your theory has just made me chuckle aloud, to the consternation of my dog. Love it!

Anne58 Fri 28-Feb-14 22:38:53

Deeda I know that there are some really good ones around, and I must say that the person from the benefits department couldn't have been more helpful, but this one.....................angry

Anne58 Fri 28-Feb-14 22:36:26

PS No matter what the issue was, I think that she was very rude to ignore a courteous hand shake gesture.

Anne58 Fri 28-Feb-14 22:35:03

Ana in arrears with our Council tax blush but I have kept them informed every single step of the way, hence actually going in to the council offices to talk to them, of my own free will I might add, I was not asked to go!

jinglbellsfrocks Fri 28-Feb-14 22:33:47

She would do well to remember even her job might not be safe and secure forever. She could well be down on her luck someday.

Don't let it get to you phoenix. You are the better person.

Deedaa Fri 28-Feb-14 22:28:09

How unlike the nice Indian lady who used to help MiL sort out her Council Tax and Housing Benefit. When I ask her if she could help with a problem of mine she said she could only deal with Council tenants, but if I happened to be at MiL's when she came to see her ..........
Sadly, I think she's in a minority.

Ana Fri 28-Feb-14 22:26:58

But what was the issue? I accept that she was rude and arrogant etc., but that's the only information we have.

Of course you are Not Being Unreasonable to complain if you feel you've been unfairly treated phoenix - but without knowing what it was about, all we can say is just that!

Anne58 Fri 28-Feb-14 22:21:01

I have a theory about people who work for local councils.

There is a huge warehouse somewhere in Milton Keynes where they are produced en masse by some sort of cloning process, and they are not let lose on the general population until they have mastered the art of customer non-service.

The training includes:

1) Practising a cold stare, until they reach a standard just short of Medusa

2) Saying "that's not my department" sufficient times until they can achieve the underlying tone that actually means "I don't give a flying f*c#"

3) De-sensitisation to the point where they can witness small animals being tortured to death and believe that this is acceptable because after all they make no contribution to government funds

4) Complete acceptance and belief in the ethos of "I work in Local Government, therefore I'm better than you, and by the way, my farts smell of violets"

carnationa Fri 28-Feb-14 20:21:32

Well done Phoenix hopefully complaining about her will lead to her sacking and she may not get the chance to be so mean to someone else. You may have saved some other poor person from her mean ways smile

Elegran Fri 28-Feb-14 20:00:21

A little power goes to some people's heads.

merlotgran Fri 28-Feb-14 19:59:14

There are a lot of Hitlers working for local councils. Power soon goes to some heads.

rosesarered Fri 28-Feb-14 19:41:27

You were right to make a formal complaint phoenix this was a public servant being rude to a member of the public!We should all complain more about rudeness of staff and poor service.

NfkDumpling Fri 28-Feb-14 19:26:03

Oh dear, and she thought you looked like a really nice easy going person she could bully. Never push a nice person too far. They're the worst. That'll teach her!

Anne58 Fri 28-Feb-14 19:23:33

No Dragonfly I definitely didn't, and it's not like me, I usually like people until they prove that they are not likable.

I really hope that todays conversation was recorded, I also hope that the brief meeting I had with her last week was too, but somehow I doubt it.

Grannyknot Fri 28-Feb-14 19:17:33

then and there!

Grannyknot Fri 28-Feb-14 19:17:17

How dare she ignore an outstretched hand in greeting.

I don't know what's aggressive up with me lately , but I'd have asked her then and here what her problem is.

Dragonfly1 Fri 28-Feb-14 18:11:26

You didn't like her, then Phoenix......? Sounds a right cow.

Anne58 Fri 28-Feb-14 18:03:52

I phoned her, after receiving a letter from the council. I also had the misfortune to meet her in person last week, immediately after seeing a really nice and helpful person from the benefits department.

I might post a bit more info when I have time, but basically I do NOT appreciate offering my hand to shake to someone who doesn't reciprocate, who looks at me as if I had either crawled out of a nearby gutter or as if I was something unpleasant stuck to her shoe.

I also don't particularly like people who give inaccurate (and threatening) information, tell me that something I have said is "ludicrous" and whose favourite word seems to be "bailiffs".

I think she may have missed her vocation in life, just born too late to have served the Fuhrer.

jinglbellsfrocks Fri 28-Feb-14 16:49:50

My post should have read YANBU!!!

Blame it on the daft game! hmm

Dragonfly1 Fri 28-Feb-14 16:36:00

Funnily enough, someone has posted on our village forum today to say she's put in a formal complaint about one of the women working in the post office, asking if people thought she'd done the right thing. Well, the floodgates opened, and so many people said they've found her rude, arrogant, obnoxious etc that I'm surprised she's still got a job. But nobody says they've complained in the past. So we get what we deserve, and I think you've done the right thing Phoenix. Well done.

jinglbellsfrocks Fri 28-Feb-14 16:24:42

And tell us more.

jinglbellsfrocks Fri 28-Feb-14 16:24:18

UANBU

Ana Fri 28-Feb-14 16:22:10

Who phoned who? Was she harassing you phoenix?