markkingtheauthor@gmail.com
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King
Well I pleased to announce that there are still people and times were a hand-shake means trust and honesty.
For regular readers you will know that last Saturday my car was hit from behind and damage caused to the bumper. An agreement was made over a hand-shake and on Wednesday Evening the guilty party arrived at my home with payment in hand to cover the repairs. I gave him a signed letter in exchange as a receipt which stated this was the end of the matter.
No Insurance companies, no lawyers, no middle men, no garages, just a mobile repair man who will spend an afternoon on my drive way while I keep him supplied with mugs of tea as he works his magic on the family car.
If only most things in this modern world could be so easy, uncomplicated, and carried out in a manner of good will!
Just think what a different world we could all be living in now?
People happily keeping themselves to themselves not forcing their views on anyone who doesn't want to listen, and if their lives bump into each other for what ever reason then both parties would treat each other in an honest, and respectful manner, sealed with a bond over a hand-shake.
Unfortunately there are too many people in this world who will use any opportunity to feed off some ones misfortune for their own greed, or push their personal view point, be it in politics, religion, business or personal life, and a hand shake is no guarantee of honesty.
It's easy for all of us to ask why can't everyone live a positive life without lies or deceit, but a lot harder to admit that you lie to yourself all the time. As an example as it's now the weekend I know for a fact that I will wake up either on Saturday or Sunday morning with a stinking hanger over, and will then say to myself, 'that's the last I am going to drink so much alcohol!'
I know for a fact that will be a lie.
Regards
Mark
Friday, 11 October 2013
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
The Car Crash
markkingtheauthor@gmail.com
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King
On Saturday afternoon I was driving with all the family in the car. We were travelling to see my parents and as I approached a roundabout I put the brakes on and came to a stop. The only problem was the car behind failed to do either and went up my back-side. Well not my back-side but the car's rear end.
I heard the screech of the tyres, and then a shudder, as car hit car, and then a loud crunch. So there we were on the edge of the round-about blocking half the road, but it didn't seem to stop, or slow down, other drivers who carried on with their journey.
My daughter went into a frenzy and started to cry, but my son was fast asleep and no car accident was going to wake him up.
The other driver got out of his car at the same time as me with his hands in the air saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault.'
We inspected the rear bumper and it was manly damage to the paint work, and number plate. There was no damage to his car. It was agreed that we wouldn't involve the insurance companies and he would pay for the repair to the paint work. We swapped details and then went our merry way.
When we arrived at my parents my son woke up non the wiser and after a few stiff drinks, and a Chinese meal we had delivered, I had forgotten all about the incident until as the wife was driving back home we passed the same spot.
On Monday morning I got a quote for the repair and in the afternoon the man phoned me up to find out the cost. He seemed happy and has even offered to drive over to me, and pay in full.
So far so good, it took just a couple of days to sort it out sealed with a hand shake. I only wish the customer services department at Dulux paints could have been so easy two years after we bought their faulty product.
He has arranged to drop the payment off at my house on Wednesday evening and soon after the repair worked will be complete. So by Friday's posting the whole affair should be over. I hope!
Regards
Mark
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King
On Saturday afternoon I was driving with all the family in the car. We were travelling to see my parents and as I approached a roundabout I put the brakes on and came to a stop. The only problem was the car behind failed to do either and went up my back-side. Well not my back-side but the car's rear end.
I heard the screech of the tyres, and then a shudder, as car hit car, and then a loud crunch. So there we were on the edge of the round-about blocking half the road, but it didn't seem to stop, or slow down, other drivers who carried on with their journey.
My daughter went into a frenzy and started to cry, but my son was fast asleep and no car accident was going to wake him up.
The other driver got out of his car at the same time as me with his hands in the air saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault.'
We inspected the rear bumper and it was manly damage to the paint work, and number plate. There was no damage to his car. It was agreed that we wouldn't involve the insurance companies and he would pay for the repair to the paint work. We swapped details and then went our merry way.
When we arrived at my parents my son woke up non the wiser and after a few stiff drinks, and a Chinese meal we had delivered, I had forgotten all about the incident until as the wife was driving back home we passed the same spot.
On Monday morning I got a quote for the repair and in the afternoon the man phoned me up to find out the cost. He seemed happy and has even offered to drive over to me, and pay in full.
So far so good, it took just a couple of days to sort it out sealed with a hand shake. I only wish the customer services department at Dulux paints could have been so easy two years after we bought their faulty product.
He has arranged to drop the payment off at my house on Wednesday evening and soon after the repair worked will be complete. So by Friday's posting the whole affair should be over. I hope!
Regards
Mark
Friday, 4 October 2013
I smell gas
markkingtheauthor@gmail.com
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King.
The other day I awoke in the morning and walked down the stairs still half asleep. When I stepped off the bottom step I thought I could smell gas. I walked into the kitchen sniffing the air.
Now in our part of the world you can get the odd funny smell wafting in from the fields that edge around where I live, but when my little boy said he could smelly eggs I decided to call out the gas board.
There is a national free phone number to use for emergency call outs if you can smell gas, but as there is always a double standard with most businesses these days you have to pay for the call if you use the mobile phone!
I followed the instructions given by the chap on the phone and turned off the gas from the box outside, then opened all the windows and told the family not to turn on any electrical switch's.
Anyway within the hour a friendly man arrived from the company who look after the national gas system with his little machine which could sniff out any gas. He walked from room to room and then checked the outside box.
Walking back into the kitchen the man said we had low gas pressure then walked over to the cooker and said, 'here is your problem.' He pointed at the cooker hob and turned off one of the nob's.
The wife and I looked at each other, blushing, and she immediately blamed me.
The previous day I had cooked a lovely traditional Sunday dinner with roast chicken, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, cabbage, stuffing and various other vegetables, plus lashing of gravy. As the gas man then pointed out that if I had left one of the rings on it would still be burning so the most likely course of the problem was coursed when the cooker was cleaned.
So it was the wife's fault, but I still took the blame anyway because sometimes all we want is an easy life.
I could have taken this view with Dulux Paints, but with them I have decided not to take the blame for their mistake and to fight all the way with this big international company.
Regards
Mark
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King.
The other day I awoke in the morning and walked down the stairs still half asleep. When I stepped off the bottom step I thought I could smell gas. I walked into the kitchen sniffing the air.
Now in our part of the world you can get the odd funny smell wafting in from the fields that edge around where I live, but when my little boy said he could smelly eggs I decided to call out the gas board.
There is a national free phone number to use for emergency call outs if you can smell gas, but as there is always a double standard with most businesses these days you have to pay for the call if you use the mobile phone!
I followed the instructions given by the chap on the phone and turned off the gas from the box outside, then opened all the windows and told the family not to turn on any electrical switch's.
Anyway within the hour a friendly man arrived from the company who look after the national gas system with his little machine which could sniff out any gas. He walked from room to room and then checked the outside box.
Walking back into the kitchen the man said we had low gas pressure then walked over to the cooker and said, 'here is your problem.' He pointed at the cooker hob and turned off one of the nob's.
The wife and I looked at each other, blushing, and she immediately blamed me.
The previous day I had cooked a lovely traditional Sunday dinner with roast chicken, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, cabbage, stuffing and various other vegetables, plus lashing of gravy. As the gas man then pointed out that if I had left one of the rings on it would still be burning so the most likely course of the problem was coursed when the cooker was cleaned.
So it was the wife's fault, but I still took the blame anyway because sometimes all we want is an easy life.
I could have taken this view with Dulux Paints, but with them I have decided not to take the blame for their mistake and to fight all the way with this big international company.
Regards
Mark
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Turkish Delight
markkingtheauthor@gmail.com
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King.
I have been in a frenzy over the last four days going through two years of paper-work trying to gather as much evidence in my quest to gain justice from Dulux paints after their faulty product caused our internal doors to fade. They have pushed us from pillow to post. We have the original tin of a paint plus the faded doors, but this isn't good enough for them!
Never mind I did get some good news that cheered up my weekend. The rights to translate my book FRENZY into Turkish have been bought by a publisher in Istanbul. There are 100 million people around the world who speak this language, and now they can read themselves into a frenzy with my book. So another country to add to the list where FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King is on sale.
I found out late on Friday about the successful completion for the Turkish deal after I returned from my Friday morning voluntary work. I also had a wedding to organise at the Parish Church, and with other things that need doing in the day to day running of family life it was wonderful to open the letter when I got home. With all that was going on it was quite late until I had written, and then posted my Friday blog. It can be hard getting my Friday blog out and I'm tempted to post it on Saturday morning instead, But, and as I say there is always a but, it all depends on you want.
So please feel free to give me your views at markkingtheauthor@gmail.com and I will see how it goes. Just going back to my last posting I finally got my money from Barclay's bank, but double standards go on as I encountered the other day.
I had to pop into the city centre for half an hour and parked on a street where there are parking charges paid for at the on-street parking meters'. The thing is they don't give change and with the fee set at forty pence per fifteen minutes the cost for my half hour of parking was eighty pence, but I only had pound coins in my pocket. So the local council made an extra twenty pence out of me. Now I once worked in the car park industry, and I know for a fact that all pay and display machines can give change, and when they don't it's a deliberate con to get more money out of the general public.
Could you image the uproar there would be if you went into a supermarket bought eight pounds worth of goods, handed over a ten pound note, and then the till operator refused to give you any change?
It's the same principle but the double standard is that the council on the one hand want you to pay all your local tax's due in full, and on time, and to be a good citizen by leading a clean, and honest life while at the same time they are stealing my twenty pence.
So there is Dulux, then Barclay's Bank and now Norwich City council to add to the list of organisations and no doubt there are plenty more to add.
Regards
Mark.
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King.
I have been in a frenzy over the last four days going through two years of paper-work trying to gather as much evidence in my quest to gain justice from Dulux paints after their faulty product caused our internal doors to fade. They have pushed us from pillow to post. We have the original tin of a paint plus the faded doors, but this isn't good enough for them!
Never mind I did get some good news that cheered up my weekend. The rights to translate my book FRENZY into Turkish have been bought by a publisher in Istanbul. There are 100 million people around the world who speak this language, and now they can read themselves into a frenzy with my book. So another country to add to the list where FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King is on sale.
I found out late on Friday about the successful completion for the Turkish deal after I returned from my Friday morning voluntary work. I also had a wedding to organise at the Parish Church, and with other things that need doing in the day to day running of family life it was wonderful to open the letter when I got home. With all that was going on it was quite late until I had written, and then posted my Friday blog. It can be hard getting my Friday blog out and I'm tempted to post it on Saturday morning instead, But, and as I say there is always a but, it all depends on you want.
So please feel free to give me your views at markkingtheauthor@gmail.com and I will see how it goes. Just going back to my last posting I finally got my money from Barclay's bank, but double standards go on as I encountered the other day.
I had to pop into the city centre for half an hour and parked on a street where there are parking charges paid for at the on-street parking meters'. The thing is they don't give change and with the fee set at forty pence per fifteen minutes the cost for my half hour of parking was eighty pence, but I only had pound coins in my pocket. So the local council made an extra twenty pence out of me. Now I once worked in the car park industry, and I know for a fact that all pay and display machines can give change, and when they don't it's a deliberate con to get more money out of the general public.
Could you image the uproar there would be if you went into a supermarket bought eight pounds worth of goods, handed over a ten pound note, and then the till operator refused to give you any change?
It's the same principle but the double standard is that the council on the one hand want you to pay all your local tax's due in full, and on time, and to be a good citizen by leading a clean, and honest life while at the same time they are stealing my twenty pence.
So there is Dulux, then Barclay's Bank and now Norwich City council to add to the list of organisations and no doubt there are plenty more to add.
Regards
Mark.
Friday, 27 September 2013
Double standards
markkingtheauthor@gmail.com
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King
Thank you for all your support with my dispute with Dulux paints, and it seems that I'm not the only one who has had a poor level of customer service from this once well respected brand.
I do wonder why a lot of companies don't learn that to keep a customer's loyalty involves more than just getting money out of you. Or why they don't learn from history because in the long run the most successful companies, and the ones that ultimately survive, are the ones that learn how to not only give customers what they want, but also how to treat their customers when they do get it wrong.
We all get things wrong and humanity has a great ability to forgive, but not to forget.
Dulux are not the only brand to be claim to offer a premier product and service when they cant live up to that claim. Another brand which at present has a terrible case of double standards is Barclay's Bank. They seem to have been involved in one way or another with most financial scandals that have come out into the open.
Barclay's chief executive was forced out and replaced recently by another who then claimed in the national media that the bad old ways of exploitation purely for profit would end, and they would focus on the needs of their customers.
What a load of old Cod's-wallop as we say in my part of the world.
I have two accounts with Barclay's Bank with one of them having a six monthly charge to use it. They take money automatically from account one to pay this charge on account two, and the money is transferred by their computer in a fraction of a second between the two.
Now this is the double standard that Barclay's bank employ.
The other day I transferred some money from account two back to account one and did it take a fraction of a second to complete? No it will take seven days!
Yes, seven days. The money disappeared instantly from account two and then I received notice it would take seven days to appear in my other account.
What is Barclay's bank computer doing for the next seven days, going on holiday? Has their computer booked seven days leave so is now laying by the pool soaking up the sun, drinking cocktails?
No. I tell you want it is doing! It is holding onto my money and earning interest which is not paid to me, but which is used to inflate the bank's profit. It should be classed as theft because the bank is taking interest that should rightfully belong to me. If you consider that millions of their customers will be transferring money electronically, and which should go through the system in seconds, but is being held back, then the money they make using this scam must run into millions of pounds.
This brings me back to Dulux paints or what I should say is Akzo-Nobel who manufacture the paint. We have been dealing with them for over nine months in trying to get fair compensation and what a farce it has been.
Matt Pullen a U.K based director of the company for Northern Europe appeared in the national media twelve months ago to admit that Dulux paints has changed their product causing it to become faulty. He claimed that all complaints would be sorted out quickly and fair compensation made.
I ask then is nine months considered acting quickly, and is £100 fair compensation for the cost of re-painting 26 internal doors both sides plus nearly two years of stress?
What do you think?
Regards
Mark
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King
Thank you for all your support with my dispute with Dulux paints, and it seems that I'm not the only one who has had a poor level of customer service from this once well respected brand.
I do wonder why a lot of companies don't learn that to keep a customer's loyalty involves more than just getting money out of you. Or why they don't learn from history because in the long run the most successful companies, and the ones that ultimately survive, are the ones that learn how to not only give customers what they want, but also how to treat their customers when they do get it wrong.
We all get things wrong and humanity has a great ability to forgive, but not to forget.
Dulux are not the only brand to be claim to offer a premier product and service when they cant live up to that claim. Another brand which at present has a terrible case of double standards is Barclay's Bank. They seem to have been involved in one way or another with most financial scandals that have come out into the open.
Barclay's chief executive was forced out and replaced recently by another who then claimed in the national media that the bad old ways of exploitation purely for profit would end, and they would focus on the needs of their customers.
What a load of old Cod's-wallop as we say in my part of the world.
I have two accounts with Barclay's Bank with one of them having a six monthly charge to use it. They take money automatically from account one to pay this charge on account two, and the money is transferred by their computer in a fraction of a second between the two.
Now this is the double standard that Barclay's bank employ.
The other day I transferred some money from account two back to account one and did it take a fraction of a second to complete? No it will take seven days!
Yes, seven days. The money disappeared instantly from account two and then I received notice it would take seven days to appear in my other account.
What is Barclay's bank computer doing for the next seven days, going on holiday? Has their computer booked seven days leave so is now laying by the pool soaking up the sun, drinking cocktails?
No. I tell you want it is doing! It is holding onto my money and earning interest which is not paid to me, but which is used to inflate the bank's profit. It should be classed as theft because the bank is taking interest that should rightfully belong to me. If you consider that millions of their customers will be transferring money electronically, and which should go through the system in seconds, but is being held back, then the money they make using this scam must run into millions of pounds.
This brings me back to Dulux paints or what I should say is Akzo-Nobel who manufacture the paint. We have been dealing with them for over nine months in trying to get fair compensation and what a farce it has been.
Matt Pullen a U.K based director of the company for Northern Europe appeared in the national media twelve months ago to admit that Dulux paints has changed their product causing it to become faulty. He claimed that all complaints would be sorted out quickly and fair compensation made.
I ask then is nine months considered acting quickly, and is £100 fair compensation for the cost of re-painting 26 internal doors both sides plus nearly two years of stress?
What do you think?
Regards
Mark
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Terrible service
markkingtheauthor@gmail.com
www.the-frenzy.co.uk
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King.
To all my readers around the world I must apologise for the late posting of my Tuesday blog, but I had to let my anger settle before I could write.
My blood has been boiling to the point I thought steam would come shooting from my ears like a cartoon character.
Please let me explain.
A couple of years ago the wife and I decided to paint our internal doors in our home. So we went out and purchased what we considered to be a premier brand of gloss paint. We bought Dulux. We took a week off from work and as I'm self-employed I lost a weeks earnings.
I'm not a great lover of painting especially glossing as the smell gives me a head-ache plus a sore throat as well, but as you can expect an internal door to last twenty years before re-painting is required I thought it was worth the effect.
Anyway, within a couple of months my wife noticed the bright white doors were turning yellow. They have got to the point the paint looks as if our home is a Victorian Chinese opium den.
We didn't know what to do until senior directors at Dulux U.K admitted in the national media that their product was faulty because they had changed it, and that it caused their white gloss to fade prematurely.
As we still had the remains of the original tin of Dulux gloss as proof and the hard evidence of the yellowing doors we thought it wouldn't be too difficult to get due compensation.
How wrong could we be?
My wife has been communicating for over nine months with Dulux customer services. She has spoken to them on the phone, she has emailed them, she has sent off photo evidence, she did every thing asked. Dulux either didn't respond or took months to reply. Then they kept loosing all the evidence, so after nine months of terrible, stressful customer service from Dulux they finally offered some replacement paint and £100.
The problem is that the cost to employ a decorator to repaint 26 internal doors is between £700-£1000 (Labour only) and that doesn't include our own original labour, or even for the nine months of stress plus the time spent, and wasted.
Well I'm not going to give up without a fight so keep reading as I inform the world how I get on with seeking fair justice from a company that once prided itself on its customer satisfaction.
Regards
Mark
www.the-frenzy.co.uk
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King.
To all my readers around the world I must apologise for the late posting of my Tuesday blog, but I had to let my anger settle before I could write.
My blood has been boiling to the point I thought steam would come shooting from my ears like a cartoon character.
Please let me explain.
A couple of years ago the wife and I decided to paint our internal doors in our home. So we went out and purchased what we considered to be a premier brand of gloss paint. We bought Dulux. We took a week off from work and as I'm self-employed I lost a weeks earnings.
I'm not a great lover of painting especially glossing as the smell gives me a head-ache plus a sore throat as well, but as you can expect an internal door to last twenty years before re-painting is required I thought it was worth the effect.
Anyway, within a couple of months my wife noticed the bright white doors were turning yellow. They have got to the point the paint looks as if our home is a Victorian Chinese opium den.
We didn't know what to do until senior directors at Dulux U.K admitted in the national media that their product was faulty because they had changed it, and that it caused their white gloss to fade prematurely.
As we still had the remains of the original tin of Dulux gloss as proof and the hard evidence of the yellowing doors we thought it wouldn't be too difficult to get due compensation.
How wrong could we be?
My wife has been communicating for over nine months with Dulux customer services. She has spoken to them on the phone, she has emailed them, she has sent off photo evidence, she did every thing asked. Dulux either didn't respond or took months to reply. Then they kept loosing all the evidence, so after nine months of terrible, stressful customer service from Dulux they finally offered some replacement paint and £100.
The problem is that the cost to employ a decorator to repaint 26 internal doors is between £700-£1000 (Labour only) and that doesn't include our own original labour, or even for the nine months of stress plus the time spent, and wasted.
Well I'm not going to give up without a fight so keep reading as I inform the world how I get on with seeking fair justice from a company that once prided itself on its customer satisfaction.
Regards
Mark
Friday, 20 September 2013
Personal moments
markkingtheauthor@gmail.com
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King
It was a sad day on Wednesday.
I went to a cremation of my friend's mother and afterwards the wake was held at his house. My wife offered to look after their young son for the day, and they gladly excepted.
I go through a lot of funeral services now I'm a verger at the parish church, and I have to attend to two next week. The wedding season is now coming to an end and as they drop off the amount of funerals seem to increase.
Weddings, funerals, christenings are all personal moments that we hopefully will never forget. I say that, but I had a troubling experience when I entered the crematorium because I had visited it before, but I couldn't remember for whose funeral it was for.
It has been bugging me since and as I wright this blog it's still slipped my mind. I have racked my memory, but I still can't place a face or name.
We all have personal moments and I am having another one because for the last nine months my wife has been trying to get some simple justice. We bought a product that was defective and she has been trying to get compensation, but for nine months this company has been giving her the run around.
I think because she is female they think they can bluff her off, and like I said after nine months of wasted excuses I have now got involved.
Hopefully we can get this dispute sorted out, but if we can't then I will need your support.
Where ever you are from America, Central America, South America, from the whole of Europe through to the Middle East/Africa and then onto the far east in India, China, Japan, and finally in Australia plus New Zealand I know we can work together to get justice.
Regards
Mark King.
www.the-frenzy.com
www.bookguild.co.uk
twitter@author_king
FRENZY a Daniel Jones story by Mark King
It was a sad day on Wednesday.
I went to a cremation of my friend's mother and afterwards the wake was held at his house. My wife offered to look after their young son for the day, and they gladly excepted.
I go through a lot of funeral services now I'm a verger at the parish church, and I have to attend to two next week. The wedding season is now coming to an end and as they drop off the amount of funerals seem to increase.
Weddings, funerals, christenings are all personal moments that we hopefully will never forget. I say that, but I had a troubling experience when I entered the crematorium because I had visited it before, but I couldn't remember for whose funeral it was for.
It has been bugging me since and as I wright this blog it's still slipped my mind. I have racked my memory, but I still can't place a face or name.
We all have personal moments and I am having another one because for the last nine months my wife has been trying to get some simple justice. We bought a product that was defective and she has been trying to get compensation, but for nine months this company has been giving her the run around.
I think because she is female they think they can bluff her off, and like I said after nine months of wasted excuses I have now got involved.
Hopefully we can get this dispute sorted out, but if we can't then I will need your support.
Where ever you are from America, Central America, South America, from the whole of Europe through to the Middle East/Africa and then onto the far east in India, China, Japan, and finally in Australia plus New Zealand I know we can work together to get justice.
Regards
Mark King.
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