Paid Members Surf Digby Posted April 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 9, 2014 I don't understand how you haven't beat the shit out of some of the people there. Â Yes. Especially this prick; Â I had one advisor continuously talk over me, even when trying to answer questions he was asking. When I eventually said, "Do you mind, I'm still speaking", he responded with "As am I, and while I'm talking, you'll remain silent". Â You must have the patience of a Saint, Surf Nonce. He sounds like he's in need of a short, sharp kick up the twat. Having low expectations helps as it means I'm prepared for this kind of behaviour. I also spent about 5 years in complaint handling, so I'm well conditioned in not rising to provocation. Â Interrupty cunt was easy to deal with. Interrupting and not listening to me is disrespectful and unprofessional. Being treated professionally and with respect are clearly laid out in DWP service standards. To avoid you repeating yourself, perhaps we should have a manager present so you can explain to us both together why the service standards don't apply to you? Â You tend to get eyeballed a bit and they go all tight lipped, but they know they haven't got a leg to stand on and so they pipe down a bit. They're a bit like school bullies that suddenly become your best mate rather than have their parents find out what they're up to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kookoocachu Posted April 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 9, 2014 When dealing with DWP on the phone you can request that a supervisor or manager listen in to the call too, which has helped me out so much in the past when I've had a twat try and practically bully me. Whenever I have to find out any information now I always ask for someone to listen in so that I'm not lied to, although some supervisors can be just as bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey_Piste Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 i am not in GMB, and i dont know if i can be due to being a temp who is employed by an agency, and not the council direct. You cannot deny the pyhsical side of the job indeed, but i am fine with it, always have been, aside from a bit of a crap disgestive system, the rest of me is just fine and lean and mean etc On my average day when employed i do around 5 - 6 miles of walking behind a mower and could easily do double that, fitness is not an issue  Did you ever use a "condor" mower? thats what i use mostly when i am there  The council i work on and off for employ a girl, and she is great, but could not do the heavier stuff or the bigger mowers like i use, yet still gets employed  so it does not seem fair  what work do you do now? i have pidgoen holed myself into gardening and its hard to get out of You're kind of screwed if you were being employed via a third party unfortunately. I have used the big rotary Hayter mowers before, though I mostly used the brushcutter whilst the other guy I worked with did the majority of the mowing. I work security now, though when I was made redundant I did some agency work cutting down diseased Ash trees for the Forest Agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kookoocachu Posted April 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 9, 2014 I think you do. Find out if a solicitor in your area has free advice days or similar if you can and get some advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Thunderplex Posted April 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 9, 2014 Sorry to hear that Malbranque. Are there other companies nearby that do the same kind of work? if it cheers you up any, Brancott wines keep advertising on my FB wall, and every time I see the word Brancott, my brain brings up the Branqueknot picture.  I'm still having fun and games with the local JC+ as they can't handle how someone as workshy and idle as myself keeps needing travel expenses for interviews and keeps signing off after short amounts of time because I've found work. Admittedly it's usually short term agency work and I have to sign back on a week or so later, but work's work and the competition for the (theoretically) permanent jobs is huge.  Highlights from recent weeks include:  JSA payment stopped for failure to attend, despite attending. Notifying staff of a possible scam job, which they rewarded me with by secretly issuing me with a Jobseekers Direction, claiming I'd agreed to apply for this job. Only listing half the things required to claim back travel to interview expenses, so that my claim was rejected when I submitted it. (These three happened on one appointment, and by logging the JSD it meant that the failure to attend was reversed quickly and easily, and there was no need to raise it with management or mention it to anyone else if you wouldn't mind that'd be great thanks glad I could help you today).  Closing a claim because I'd accepted a short term position. Instead of closing it, they cancelled/withdrew it, meaning I wouldn't have been paid what was outstanding. In their usual "It's our fault, but it's your problem" approach, they gave me a JSA1 (form for claiming retroactively) and told me if I wanted what was owed, then I'd better go away and sort it out. I should have expected problems with this one as the woman on the phone suggested I withdraw it completely, and when I declined claimed that I'd said it was pointless and not worth my time in coming in for the interview. When I went in for the interview, it had been cancelled due to the claim being withdrawn, and she'd put that it was both part time and full time, and both less than and more than 5 weeks.  Being told I wouldn't be allowed to request a call recording be pulled as the personal information in the recording (ie: my own) is protected by DPA. Heaven forbid I hear myself saying my own date of birth and the first line of my address. I could send myself a birthday card and then whoosh, complete breakdown of society.  I had one advisor continuously talk over me, even when trying to answer questions he was asking. When I eventually said, "Do you mind, I'm still speaking", he responded with "As am I, and while I'm talking, you'll remain silent".  Having a complaint rejected because even though my version of events was accurate, and it was agreed that the member of staff had failed to follow procedure (which she was experienced enough to know) and failed to provide the expected level of service, because she'd not actually looked up what I asked about, from her point of view she was correct in saying that the information didn't exist. Or something.  And this very morning, I've found that when I signed off for a position a couple of weeks ago, the member of staff knocked a day off and had me as starting work a day earlier than I was. Maybe she should have made her written notes match the dates she inputted.  Oh well, got a couple of months away from there now.  The jsd is only valid if you had sighed the file copy as proof you have received it. No sig, no play. As for signing off, always do it I writing and get a photocopy back, never do it over the phone.  All this pisses me off and gives us a bad name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted April 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 9, 2014 The jsd is only valid if you had sighed the file copy as proof you have received it. No sig, no play. Oh? From what I can tell, these were simply logged on the computer and nothing in print was produced. I certainly never signed anything. Sounds like they're using it as a bluffing tool, relying on the claimant not to question it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Thunderplex Posted April 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 9, 2014 The jsd is only valid if you had sighed the file copy as proof you have received it. No sig, no play. Oh? From what I can tell, these were simply logged on the computer and nothing in print was produced. I certainly never signed anything. Sounds like they're using it as a bluffing tool, relying on the claimant not to question it. Some do. Why I don't know. It's quite a good job when done right, you help people move forward into work, you get them sorted with education needed and alls done. Yes, you have to refer people for decisions sometime, but I often see this as a personal failure that all I have done to explain has not quite worked. Nothing like getting a thank you letter from someone who could not read or write a few months earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgarTheSlouch Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I was supposed to have my (don't give)ATOS assessment in september so they can literally just tick a box next to my name for the rate of ESA I should be on. I was told that they already have all the evidence for the rate and it's what I will be on but they still need to see me in person to be able to "tick the box". They now owe me over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Direct Impact Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Just seen a programme on BBC3 about unemployed people getting jobs; Invasion Of The Job Snatchers. Anyone see it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey_Piste Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I think you do. Find out if a solicitor in your area has free advice days or similar if you can and get some advice. Â Was thinking of seeing citizens advice at first, is that a good idea? Â never done anything like this before Yeah I'd get in touch with CA, they will then give you the the information for a solicitor who takes legal aid, if they think there could be a case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philo_Vance Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Update: the last 3 weeks I've had fuck all shifts, and what I have had have been shit. Last night probably the worst. The nature of the job means that when I'm not out with the firm I prefer, I'm often part of a big team of gobby blokes who discuss only football, women and drugs and it's getting to me a bit. Very beginning of last night's shift one of them, a gobby, pushy, sort who's convinced he can do this (ridiculously simple) job better than anyone else, grabbed something off me because he thought he could do it quicker, trapping my finger in the process and I went berserk at him. He fronted up to me and tried to justify himself, expecting me to shuffle off like everyone else does when he shouts at them. Instead I got louder and swearier as people started to gather and he fannied out and ended up apologising to me. Nice win for me I suppose but it's unusual for me to lose my rag to that extent so I guess the job plus the night shifts are starting to get to me. Â In better news, as of next week I've got a good 3-4 months where the majority of the work is the stuff I prefer. Out on my own for 12 hour stints, probably getting out after 8 or 9 hours. Will give me plenty of chance to get some money saved and I love working alone. Some driving involved, but again, I don't mind that when it's just me in the car, it's ferrying strangers around I hate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Thunderplex Posted April 23, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 23, 2014 All you can do is look forward to next week. I hate working with people like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kookoocachu Posted April 24, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 24, 2014 I've been working with my local MP to help try and sort out the ATOS mess here and my case is going to be used as an example in parliament. Will anything change? I'm not holding my breath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philo_Vance Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Maybe not, but props for doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Thunderplex Posted April 24, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted April 24, 2014 Atos need taking to task, the more people who push, the quicker things will get sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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