An increasing part of my workload is in answering questions about, or attempting to resolve, operational problems. Clients routinely refer to these as “computer says No” decisions. They involve a combination of bureaucratic inflexibility, bad decision-making and what we have previously titled “applied muppetry”. Regardless of their mode of creation these situations are more often than no intractable, often following long exchanges of correspondence.
Neither, any longer, do we have a hotline to someone with an old school service ethos and a enough common sense to put things right. At the extreme end this involves contractual remedies, but most commonly we advise commercial write offs; you are unlikely to be successful and the pain and time involved in getting to this point will cost more than the issue in dispute is worth.
That said I am visiting a client with a 5 figure dispute tomorrow but without much hope in my heart.
UPDATE
Literally no sooner had I completed this post than a client informs me of a decision totally and completely the opposite of this; flexible, sensible and in the old spirit of partnership. Credit where it is due.
