This week in comments – calories, call centres and check-in

Royal Mail’s third class service

Commenter Martin has had an ‘utterly atrocious service’ from Royal Mail. Yet, he decided to conduct a little experiment:

‘Yesterday, I posted two identical letters “First Class”: one to myself and one to a friend who lives five minutes away. Wouldn’t you know, this morning my friend received his letter but the postie passed my door without so much as a junk leaflet.’

We should be watching calories at the cinema

Not everyone thinks we need to know the true calorie cost of cinema snacks:

‘Unless you go to the movies every day and consume this type of caloric food on a daily basis, why feel guilty over the calories on an occasion out? And the last time I checked, the ticket holders at the cinema weren’t shoving the high calorie treats down your throat,’ said CMF0530.

But Sophie Gilbert thinks the information could be helpful:

‘There is a possibility that if we were informed of the amount of calories, salt and fat in “cinema” food, we might be tempted to buy the small portion instead of the regular or especially the large.’

Is it right for game publishers to turn off online servers?

Jack Turner thinks video game publishers should clearly state how long a game’s multiplayer servers will be available. Chickenfeed offers another solution:

‘I think that if EA or other companies plan to shut down servers for their multiplayer games, they should at least let the people who bought the game make dedicated servers.’

It doesn’t matter where the call centre is, it’s about service

Nick Cheek thinks call centres are all about service, not location. Bob H agrees:

‘A very polite guy in India from BT Broadband technical helpline ‘took over’ my Mac remotely and sorted my problem effortlessly. I think its great fun and had a few words about the weather in Bangalore. I don’t recall anything but polite efficient service. I can live with an accent that isn’t the same as mine.’

Do you leave your appliances running unattended?

Rose used to leave her appliances on while she was out, ‘but then a friend’s house caught fire (and was uninhabitable for a few months) due to a tumble dryer catching fire’.

However, Dean doesn’t think we should have to change our habits:

‘I always leave the washing machine on when I go out. It’s a good way to combine doing two things at once – put the washing on, go food shopping’

Luggage allowance – have you been caught out at check-in?

BooDeLaHoo has been hit by strict luggage weight allowances when going on a snowboarding holiday. He gets our Comment of the Week:

‘This year, with Thomas Cook and Neilson, the charge was £35 per bag and there was a 10kg limit. To put that into perspective, my snowboard bag empty weighs 4kg. All I could put in the bag was the board itself. We had to buy a second bag for my girlfriend’s board – and both bags looked ridiculous as they were designed to carry more stuff.

‘So we paid £70 instead of £18 and had much less allowance and an extra bag to carry. To say I was annoyed doesn’t come close.’

Comments have been edited due to length, so make sure to read them in full on their relevant Convos (by clicking on the red title link).