Thursday

Hello. Welcome to British Gas. Calls are recorded for training and quality purposes.

Me: Hello, I wonder whether you could help me. One of your engineers is coming to service my central heating boiler this afternoon - between 1pm and 6pm - and I just wondered whether there is any possibility of giving me a slightly more specific time. I'd love just to pop out and do a bit of shopping.

British Gas: Sorry but our afternoon appointments are always between one and six.

Me: But surely your engineer must know by now how many jobs he's doing and so could give a rough estimate of when he'll arrive here. It seems a bit ridiculous that he can't say whether it'll be before 3pm or after 3pm, don't you agree?

BG: Yes, I do agree. I'll try to track down the engineer and ring you back as soon as I can.

Me: Oh that's wonderful. Thank you so much, I'm most grateful.

Conversation Two. 2.05pm

Hello. Welcome to British Gas. Calls are being recorded etc ....

Me: Hello, I rang about an hour ago and a very nice colleague of yours - I didn't catch her name - said she would ring me back to let me know whether it might be possible for me to leave my house to do a bit of shopping for about 20 minutes between now and 6pm when the engineer is supposed to come. She hasn't rung.

BG: I do apologise. But we have a rule that we can only ring the engineer half way through the 1pm to 6pm period. So I'm sure you'll get a phone call shortly after 3.30pm.

Me: What? That seems a very ridiculous rule. Don't you agree? What's the reason for it?

BG: I don't know what the reason for it is. I agree, it seems a bit ridiculous.