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Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
:zzz: :zzz: :zzz: :D
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Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by arkon
So for not liking a country I’m a racist, Having standards and not liking the fact you get ripped off at every opportunity means I’m a racist. Having no confidence in the educational system here and voicing that opinion means I’m racist. Finding faults in the country and its people means I’m a racist? Well I’m a racist then. I’d rather think I have standards something that this country is sadly lacking in. Being upset that not a single call has ever been returned from any service in a whole year and telling people about it is racist. I’ve never heard such bull.
So I should just be content with all the things that are wrong with the place and hope they change for the better by themselves, That’s a novel way to improve things…say nothing, do nothing….expect nothing and all will be better. |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by arkon
I suppose it depends on what you want out of life, Unfortunately I am running 2 businesses here and one it the farm, add in the process of having the baby and everything else new immigrants do then here on the mid north coast that’s a recipe for disappointment.
If we had have moved to say Port in a nice tidy house near the sea and not done or tried to do all the things we have tried to do then I can imagine it could have been a good life. But now I go all excited when I see a Westfields!! How stupid is that. We are going home for a month soon and I can’t wait, I need some new socks and shirts, pity I need to travel 12,000k to get some! If you want to retire from life and don’t have too high a set of standards, skin as thick as a rhino’s ass and no need for good food out or a night life then this is the place to come and rest your weary bones. If on the other hand you haven’t quite got to the stage of senility then maybe you need to look elsewhere. At night when I’m sleeping I now dream of Westfields….1 westfield…2 westfields…..3 westfields…. Oh did I mention that my mum got her handbag almost nicked from the toilets in settlement city, Port Macquarie a few weeks ago? No? She was sat on the seat doing whatever women do on the toilet for a few hours when a hand came over the top of the toilet door and tried to grab the bag, The arm wasn’t long enough so a 2nd different arm came over and tried to snatch the bag, also too small so then a 3rd arm came over and got hold of it, by this time my mum managed to pull up her knickers and grab it back. The police are searching for a 3 armed woman thief as we speak! I told my mum to tell the police it was probably 3 different woman but she said the police can’t be that thick to be searching for a 3 armed assailant, little does she know……. Hey ho, another day in paradise. |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by Exile
Japan excels in customer service (even the kids working in McDonald's), but it has other problems unfortunately.
There seems to be a trade-off in terms of wider society. You can have discipline and responsibility and good service, but at the expense of individuality and the ability to assert yourself. Here (and in the UK, perhaps), people sometimes seem over-confident and assertive, even when they have nothing to be confident about or rightful grounds to be assertive (ie, when they are in the wrong). I guess there is no perfect place, and we can only aim for balance in our own lives and in how we bring up our children (while also trying to avoid the morons, who crop up everywhere, but it seems in greater numbers in certain areas). That's just one of many none too pleasent experiences. We were warned though by our Australian friends who said to us on arrival. "welcome to australian customer services, there isn't any" |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
I took my car to be fixed at a registered VW car dealership here in the UK. The gearbox had been making funny noises and after a quick examination the garage told me that it was ****ed beyond repair and that we'd be needing a new one and that'd be 1200 quid excluding their fee. So I said I'd source one, which I did, from a breaker's yard - it was fully guaranteed as working. It got shipped to the VW garage, they fitted it and then phoned me up and said that the spare box was broken. I sighed, got the broken box sent back to the dealers, who informed me that the box had been working perfectly when they sent it and that the incompetent ****wits at the VW dealership had clearly ****ed it up - there was evidence of bits being forced on box. I put this to the VW dealership who told me to tell the breakers yard to **** off. I ended up paying the courier costs (200 odd quid) and had nothing to show for it. Then my BIL (who is in the motor trade) put me onto a specialist gear box repair company that the trade use. I had the original knackered box sent to them - they told me that the VW dealership had been talking out of their collective arses and that the box with very repairable. So I gave them the go-ahead and they repaired it, at a cost to me of £100. It was sent back to the VW dealership who managed to fit it without ****ing anything else up - and charged me 350 quid in labour costs. All in all, it nearly cost me the price of a brand new gearbox just because of a bunch of incompetent English arseholes.
So there you go. An example of absolutely piss-poor customer service here in the UK. I, and I'm sure everyone else, probably has a billion other examples. You sound, for all the world, like nothing shitty *ever* happened to you before you landed in Australia. Do you ****ing morons seriously believe it's *any* different here? Do you think that by flying to Australia with your families, a magic wand was waved and the UK suddenly becomes some incredible service culture where nobody gets ripped off and everything works and there are no dodgy builders, no rip-off car garages, no cowboy car clampers, no brain-dead shop assistants who wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, no third-rate schools, no school bullies, no piss-poor run-down clapped out domestic holiday destinations, no insanely over-priced property, no idiot estate agents to sell your insanely over-priced property, no traffic-clogged roads, no road accidents, no four hour queues in casualty, no sink estates, no old people snuffing it on trollies in hospital corridors, no 11 year old kids with cystic fibrosis getting stabbed to death by 14 year olds, no bored teenagers kicking the shit out of strangers and filming it on their mobile phones and that everyone's shit smells of Chanel No.5? You get shit service everywhere - welcome to the 21st century. If it's happened to you, then boo ****ing hoo, everyone else's life is obviously a great big bowl cherries and *everything* always works out the way we want it to. It's not. Australia's. Fault. |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by Hutch
I took my car to be fixed at a registered VW car dealership here in the UK. The gearbox had been making funny noises and after a quick examination the garage told me that it was ****ed beyond repair and that we'd be needing a new one and that'd be 1200 quid excluding their fee. So I said I'd source one, which I did, from a breaker's yard - it was fully guaranteed as working. It got shipped to the VW garage, they fitted it and then phoned me up and said that the spare box was broken. I sighed, got the broken box sent back to the dealers, who informed me that the box had been working perfectly when they sent it and that the incompetent ****wits at the VW dealership had clearly ****ed it up - there was evidence of bits being forced on box. I put this to the VW dealership who told me to tell the breakers yard to **** off. I ended up paying the courier costs (200 odd quid) and had nothing to show for it. Then my BIL (who is in the motor trade) put me onto a specialist gear box repair company that the trade use. I had the original knackered box sent to them - they told me that the VW dealership had been talking out of their collective arses and that the box with very repairable. So I gave them the go-ahead and they repaired it, at a cost to me of £100. It was sent back to the VW dealership who managed to fit it without ****ing anything else up - and charged me 350 quid in labour costs. All in all, it nearly cost me the price of a brand new gearbox just because of a bunch of incompetent English arseholes.
So there you go. An example of absolutely piss-poor customer service here in the UK. I, and I'm sure everyone else, probably has a billion other examples. You sound, for all the world, like nothing shitty *ever* happened to you before you landed in Australia. Do you ****ing morons seriously believe it's *any* different here? Do you think that by flying to Australia with your families, a magic wand was waved and the UK suddenly becomes some incredible service culture where nobody gets ripped off and everything works and there are no dodgy builders, no rip-off car garages, no cowboy car clampers, no brain-dead shop assistants who wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, no third-rate schools, no school bullies, no piss-poor run-down clapped out domestic holiday destinations, no insanely over-priced property, no idiot estate agents to sell your insanely over-priced property, no traffic-clogged roads, no road accidents, no four hour queues in casualty, no sink estates, no old people snuffing it on trollies in hospital corridors, no 11 year old kids with cystic fibrosis getting stabbed to death by 14 year olds, no bored teenagers kicking the shit out of strangers and filming it on their mobile phones and that everyone's shit smells of Chanel No.5? You get shit service everywhere - welcome to the 21st century. If it's happened to you, then boo ****ing hoo, everyone else's life is obviously a great big bowl cherries and *everything* always works out the way we want it to. It's not. Australia's. Fault. Well said... ;) |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by arkon
Well I will agree that having a degree means nothing to me either but in the case of the 3 I mention they have them and are very intelegent, so much so they have lost the more normal human skills like streetwise common sense.
http://www.soultracks.com/the_three_degrees.htm |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by cresta57
I'm not sure that a lot of people will back you on that one Hutch. Your banding together far to many different races under one unified banner. If we take your explanation as gospel then all of my African, Asian, Aboriginal and European friends, all of whom are fiercely proud of their own individual races, yet all live in harmony here in this part of Australia are but one race.
We are all of the human race yet common sense tells us that a black African is a different race to a white European or a Hispanic. By stating that the majority of Australians are Northern Europeans you make a distinction between the population of the northern European countries and the Mediterranean countries many of which also migrated here. Again there's huge Greek and Italian influences in Australia and you won't find a more passionate bloke to argue his racial and cultural differences than a Greek Australian. Maybe in a few thousand years there will be no distinction between differing races and we'll all be part of one big melting pot [who sung that?] Until then your offending a large percentage of Australians who clearly don't fit the white Northern European mould BTW, the racist bit is nothing about not liking a country - if someone doesnt like a country (as a country) that's fine, I have no problem with that. If someone doesnt like the way something is done where they live - once again that's their perogative, they either build a bridge & get over it or move on. Just because I disagree with it, doesnt mean anyone is right or wrong. But when they start coming out with comments like no Australians have an IQ over 18 & other derogatory & what I see as xenophobic & racist remarks that I have a problem. Funny how someone's attitude to me can change dramatically once they find out that I am, in fact, not british but an aussie :rolleyes: :zzz: . Edit - all those remarks about different races were only examples, not what I think of them before someone makes a comment :rolleyes: . |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by Hutch
I took my car to be fixed at a registered VW car dealership here in the UK. The gearbox had been making funny noises and after a quick examination the garage told me that it was ****ed beyond repair and that we'd be needing a new one and that'd be 1200 quid excluding their fee. So I said I'd source one, which I did, from a breaker's yard - it was fully guaranteed as working. It got shipped to the VW garage, they fitted it and then phoned me up and said that the spare box was broken. I sighed, got the broken box sent back to the dealers, who informed me that the box had been working perfectly when they sent it and that the incompetent ****wits at the VW dealership had clearly ****ed it up - there was evidence of bits being forced on box. I put this to the VW dealership who told me to tell the breakers yard to **** off. I ended up paying the courier costs (200 odd quid) and had nothing to show for it. Then my BIL (who is in the motor trade) put me onto a specialist gear box repair company that the trade use. I had the original knackered box sent to them - they told me that the VW dealership had been talking out of their collective arses and that the box with very repairable. So I gave them the go-ahead and they repaired it, at a cost to me of £100. It was sent back to the VW dealership who managed to fit it without ****ing anything else up - and charged me 350 quid in labour costs. All in all, it nearly cost me the price of a brand new gearbox just because of a bunch of incompetent English arseholes.
So there you go. An example of absolutely piss-poor customer service here in the UK. I, and I'm sure everyone else, probably has a billion other examples. You sound, for all the world, like nothing shitty *ever* happened to you before you landed in Australia. Do you ****ing morons seriously believe it's *any* different here? Do you think that by flying to Australia with your families, a magic wand was waved and the UK suddenly becomes some incredible service culture where nobody gets ripped off and everything works and there are no dodgy builders, no rip-off car garages, no cowboy car clampers, no brain-dead shop assistants who wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, no third-rate schools, no school bullies, no piss-poor run-down clapped out domestic holiday destinations, no insanely over-priced property, no idiot estate agents to sell your insanely over-priced property, no traffic-clogged roads, no road accidents, no four hour queues in casualty, no sink estates, no old people snuffing it on trollies in hospital corridors, no 11 year old kids with cystic fibrosis getting stabbed to death by 14 year olds, no bored teenagers kicking the shit out of strangers and filming it on their mobile phones and that everyone's shit smells of Chanel No.5? You get shit service everywhere - welcome to the 21st century. If it's happened to you, then boo ****ing hoo, everyone else's life is obviously a great big bowl cherries and *everything* always works out the way we want it to. It's not. Australia's. Fault. Life here is different especially in the more rural areas. My business thrives on word of mouth recommendations because as many of my customers tell me I return telephone calls and I turn up when I say I will. Not difficult things for anyone to do yet no one else here seems to bother. In my part of the world you can book a job in for a Monday and if the surfs up tough shit, no call no explanation it's just accepted that when the surfs up the blokes surf instead of work. It's all part of the beach culture. Sure we can all make sweeping generalisations and itemise events to support our respective points of view. I could give you loads of instances of both excellent service and piss poor service here and in the U.K. Until you've experienced a year or so here you just won't understand. "Rose tinted specs" was a popular term banded about the forum a while back, a bit derogatory yet quite appropriate in some instances. I love my life here, so does my family. For all the bad points there are more good [in our case anyway]. We've integrated into the local community made a lot of good friends and live a much happier lifestyle than we did in the U.K. Sure shit happens here, it happens in the U.K too. Wild horses wouldn't drag me back though ;) |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by Hutch
I took my car to be fixed at a registered VW car dealership here in the UK. The gearbox had been making funny noises and after a quick examination the garage told me that it was ****ed beyond repair and that we'd be needing a new one and that'd be 1200 quid excluding their fee. So I said I'd source one, which I did, from a breaker's yard - it was fully guaranteed as working. It got shipped to the VW garage, they fitted it and then phoned me up and said that the spare box was broken. I sighed, got the broken box sent back to the dealers, who informed me that the box had been working perfectly when they sent it and that the incompetent ****wits at the VW dealership had clearly ****ed it up - there was evidence of bits being forced on box. I put this to the VW dealership who told me to tell the breakers yard to **** off. I ended up paying the courier costs (200 odd quid) and had nothing to show for it. Then my BIL (who is in the motor trade) put me onto a specialist gear box repair company that the trade use. I had the original knackered box sent to them - they told me that the VW dealership had been talking out of their collective arses and that the box with very repairable. So I gave them the go-ahead and they repaired it, at a cost to me of £100. It was sent back to the VW dealership who managed to fit it without ****ing anything else up - and charged me 350 quid in labour costs. All in all, it nearly cost me the price of a brand new gearbox just because of a bunch of incompetent English arseholes.
So there you go. An example of absolutely piss-poor customer service here in the UK. I, and I'm sure everyone else, probably has a billion other examples. You sound, for all the world, like nothing shitty *ever* happened to you before you landed in Australia. Do you ****ing morons seriously believe it's *any* different here? Do you think that by flying to Australia with your families, a magic wand was waved and the UK suddenly becomes some incredible service culture where nobody gets ripped off and everything works and there are no dodgy builders, no rip-off car garages, no cowboy car clampers, no brain-dead shop assistants who wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, no third-rate schools, no school bullies, no piss-poor run-down clapped out domestic holiday destinations, no insanely over-priced property, no idiot estate agents to sell your insanely over-priced property, no traffic-clogged roads, no road accidents, no four hour queues in casualty, no sink estates, no old people snuffing it on trollies in hospital corridors, no 11 year old kids with cystic fibrosis getting stabbed to death by 14 year olds, no bored teenagers kicking the shit out of strangers and filming it on their mobile phones and that everyone's shit smells of Chanel No.5? You get shit service everywhere - welcome to the 21st century. If it's happened to you, then boo ****ing hoo, everyone else's life is obviously a great big bowl cherries and *everything* always works out the way we want it to. It's not. Australia's. Fault. |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by cresta57
It's no good getting all wound up defending a country you've yet to experience living in for an extended period of time.;)
b) I'm a dual national australian |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by Hutch
a) I have lived there for an extended period of time
b) I'm a dual national australian |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by cresta57
Then you should be more than aware already of the shall I say more relaxed approach to the way a lot of business is conducted here in Australia.
:rolleyes: |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by cresta57
It's no good getting all wound up defending a country you've yet to experience living in for an extended period of time. I to used to post in the same vein as you and I've watched countless others go through exactly the same change in attitude. Once you've lived here for a while you'll realise that everything that's winding Arkon up so much does happen and is just part of daily life. Most of us just settle into the system nicely and get used to it. Arkon is still going through the motions of fighting against it. Eventually he'll either learn to accept it or go back to the U.K.
Life here is different especially in the more rural areas. My business thrives on word of mouth recommendations because as many of my customers tell me I return telephone calls and I turn up when I say I will. Not difficult things for anyone to do yet no one else here seems to bother. In my part of the world you can book a job in for a Monday and if the surfs up tough shit, no call no explanation it's just accepted that when the surfs up the blokes surf instead of work. It's all part of the beach culture. Sure we can all make sweeping generalisations and itemise events to support our respective points of view. I could give you loads of instances of both excellent service and piss poor service here and in the U.K. Until you've experienced a year or so here you just won't understand. "Rose tinted specs" was a popular term banded about the forum a while back, a bit derogatory yet quite appropriate in some instances. I love my life here, so does my family. For all the bad points there are more good [in our case anyway]. We've integrated into the local community made a lot of good friends and live a much happier lifestyle than we did in the U.K. Sure shit happens here, it happens in the U.K too. Wild horses wouldn't drag me back though ;) The "laid back" culture all so often means that nothing gets done, nobody cares, no-one is responsible etc etc. It's IMO far more prevalent along the coasts for obvious reasons. It's intensely irritating and such a waste of a country, but in the end we find it's a better place to live than the UK and have no wish to go back. As I have said in another thread, anyone coming to Oz who is prepared to work at a business and really look after customers can do really well - if they pick the right place and business. There's no real competition! |
Re: What the hell am I doing wrong?
Originally Posted by Wol
Exactly.
The "laid back" culture all so often means that nothing gets done, nobody cares, no-one is responsible etc etc. It's IMO far more prevalent along the coasts for obvious reasons. It's intensely irritating and such a waste of a country, but in the end we find it's a better place to live than the UK and have no wish to go back. As I have said in another thread, anyone coming to Oz who is prepared to work at a business and really look after customers can do really well - if they pick the right place and business. There's no real competition! To say these annoyances aren’t caused by the Australians themselves is a gross mistake, if it’s not caused by them then who the fxxx is it caused by then? You 100% right that if you come here and are prepared to do a full days work for yourself, return calls promptly and turn up when you say you will you can’t fail to make a success. |
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