WHY ARE THE COUNCIL SO SHIT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Last Monday, had a surprise visit from two workment apparently scheduled to do the annual gas safety check, just as I was going out the door, so they told me to ring up and make another appointment. The letter informing me of their visit came the following Thursday (useful!), which is normal for the coucil here: if they send you a letter notifying you of the appointment, you're lucky if it's only a couple of days late, think I've had maybe one in four years that came before the workmen. I tried ringing a few times, but no one answers the phone, so next i hear of it is when I arrive home today to a letter saying I've missed a second appointment and they'll turn off my ghas or force entry if I don't sort it out! Best bit is that this letter states it's "as previously notified" that they'd come today (was it fuck!), and they'd written a time of 9.15 on it, when I'd only been out of the house between 11.30 and 3.15, so not only are the office-twats incapable of posting mail or answering phones, but the workmen are lying for some unfathomable reason!
That plus the draftproofing dudes arrived just as i was heading out, refused to even wait twenty minutes while I dropped off the wee one, and said I'd have to make another appointment. guess what, same number.
So I called the number again, and waited and waited and after over an hour got cut off becuase the office had shut. time i had to pay for, mind, because god forbid they have a freephone number. I've spent a total of just udner three hours in their queues in the past week, and still not spoken to anyone.
And on top of all that, I was due to get extraction fans fitted in the kitchen and bathroom, as currently both have zero ventilation, which is constituted an urgent issue, especially as I have a toddler who has been having health issues due to the mold created by this lack of ventilation, and because it means the building isn't up to code without them, but I've been waiting since July and all I've heard is in November a dude did a core-test on the walls (?) which apparently passed, and he assured me I'd be hearing within a few weeks, and then more silence.
They do not give a shit about anyone, or about doing their jobs. It's disgusting. Snarky e-mail is sent, and I've informed them that I'm not wasting any more money calling a number that clearly is not manned; they can contact me, give me an alternative number to call, or I'll be contacting the councillor next week and start spamming the emergency out of hours number until I get someone who'll deal with it. I am sick of stressing myself out and letting my daughter's health suffer and wasting time and money on phone calls all because they're too shit to do basic admin work.