Wednesday 3RD September 2008
When you can deal with Naija workman and succeed, you can deal with the world and they will bow down and beg you for mercy (An old Confucian proverb)…
CONTAINER
A container came two months ago to take our family belongings. We shared the container with a friend to reduce the costs. We were quoted a door to door price of 3,680 pounds by Raymond at Gateway Express and went with them after discussions with a number of shippers. Two months later, we are yet to receive our container. Every day a new story. One day it is that the goods are undergoing a physical inspection and we have to pay more duty because of all the new items our friends put in the container (be warned), the next day it is that the container was mis-placed, the day after that it is that the container has been found but some people have to be settled, next it is that nothing is moving because of the rain.
Right now the current story is that the money we paid is not enough and we have to pay an additional two hundred and fifty pounds for our goods to show up or the man is walking away. Talk about being held to ransom. Maybe I should complain to Consumer Protection in the UK and get this useless agent’s operating licence taken away? You learn everyday…
COOKER
Before the family arrived, I bought some necessities for the house thinking that I shouldn’t buy too much as our container of family items was due to arrive shortly (how wrong I was). One of the things I did buy was a new cooker. Not cheap at six hundred pounds. The cooker was delivered along with a broken oven knob. Over the past three weeks, my driver has been returning to good old Park n’Shop almost on a daily basis to ask them to replace the knob. “Oga is not here”, “they were supposed to deliver it yesterday”, “let me call them”, “come back tomorrow”. As in the James Bond film, tomorrow never comes. Madam has gone to visit them, to no avail. Now I have left work to go and discuss with them about a cooker knob. We have agreed with the young earnest Asian man that no knob by tomorrow means I get to choose any new cooker in the store. I chose one and asked them to write down the name in case they go and remove all the cookers except the crappy ones. In this case, tomorrow is coming, let’s me go and halla like a Naija man whose fu-fu has just been taken from him…
HOUSE
We have a nice big house but the interior décor leaves a bit to be desired. The mosquito nets are slightly patched and are driving madam up the wall, (especially considering she has to stare at them all day), one or two door knobs have already come loose, and doors do not lock. Back in the good old days, the landlord/agent ran for the hills once he collected your money and was not seen again till rent was due. I thought I should check if things have changed and surprisingly, the agent so far has been responsible enough to accept responsibility for at least the initial quality of interior works before running for the hills. He has sent various carpenters, plumbers, net fixers and jack-of-all tradesmen round to look (but not fix) things. Fixing things is now the issue. He claims he has to be funded by the landlord who resides in far off Canada. Who knows how long it might take to move money from Canada to Nigeria –days, months, years?
DSTV GUY
Considering madam and the little ones are all going stir crazy in a big house with no tv, I thought it a good idea to splash out on a flatscreen and DSTV. Not cheap. Flat screen 562 pounds for a 32” Samsung and DSTV 396 pounds for the equivalent of Sky (this is intial set up and doesn’t include monthly subscription of 42 pounds. 1000 pounds all in. Just to watch some tv (what is the price of sanity?) Now coming to the issue at hand, my DSTV guy collected up-front costs of N85,000 (350 pounds) yesterday, he brought the dish, the decoder and other paraphernalia and deposited them in my car promising to be at our house first thing this morning for a prompt installation. It’s now 6.43pm; his phone has been switched off all day so I can’t reach him. Now do I;
a) Bawl him out for his clueless customer service
b) Ask him in sympathy whether he had a car accident and send him fruit considering he must have broken both arms so couldn’t call
c) Stab him in the back and pack him in a cupboard
d) Ignore his behavior as a true Nigerian who doesn’t expect anyone to turn up when they say and let him get on with his customer service-less installation
Answers on a postcard please…
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2 comments:
him in the back then send him fruits!!
or ask for your money back when he comes to install the cable, then get another agent
and report that container agent or threaten him or send some awon boyz to see him!!!
oh why are thing crazily expensive??
Definitely stab him in the back and hide him in the cupboard but then the stench of his decay might depress you. Pity really, cos you would have gotten away with it.
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