The Saga continues

Readers may recall my profound dissatisfaction with Saga over the renewal of my medical insurance. The premium increased by 100% and when I queried this I was told there was a computor issue.

A new letter arrived quoting the disputed sum as last year’s premium and increasing that. In desperation I wrote to the the only human I could see in correspondence – the director of customer services. There was no address. I duly received a call in my absence and letter from Erin from that office.

The direct line she gave me was the switchboard and, not wishing to listen to more seventies pop music to find her, I wrote again for her email and direct line. I then received a letter stating that the deadline for renewal was shortly to pass. No doubt computer-generated. Was Erin too a robot customised to deal with complaints in the most unhelpful way imaginable?

The use of computers is one of the most irritating aspects of modern service.

Our own Daffers cannot stand arriving at a restaurant or hotel to find the greeter’s face sunk in a computer. Doug Heath was complaining that the new people who run the Lords Debentures have created their very own hub and serve food at £90 per time of mediocrity. How many times so do we hear “Sorry, my computer is slow today”?

Saga with its silver-haired clientele might be, you would have thought, the one company which majors on personal service.

But no. Every day I receive their promotions which are of no interest.

All I ask for is for a human who can get it right.