Cream of the Crop 11/Cream of the Crop 11-1.iso/educate/kpmost.zip/KP.TXT

Text File | 1996-01-22 | 12KB | 178 lines

We have received a letter from a customer who complains about an
electricwhich, he states, is unsatisfactory after only 2 weeks' use.
He says: "I amthe iron to you, and in view of the 6 months' guarantee
you gave me, I mustsend this iron back to the manufacturers with the
request that they give it aexamination and test."
We are sending the
iron to you by tomorrow's post andgive this complaint your immediate
attention.  I decided that I should have to have a vehicle of some
kind, whethercar or tractor
I must decide for myself. I did not
mention this to Ethelpartly because I did not want to worry her, but I
must admit that myprincipal reason was I was afraid she would make up
my mind for me.During one of my jaunts to the village, I asked a
friend for hisadvice. He tried to persuade me that a car was the only
possible thing. Iargued against it,
but when he pointed out that we
could use it for goinginto the village to do our shopping, I almost
agreed, but there stillremained a doubt in my mind.I almost wished I
had confided in Ethel, and asked her for her advice,but the obstinacy
of the male prevailed against it. How, I thought, would asecond-hand
car, even with special tyres, cope with the mud and slush of
thecountry-side in the winter time? Surely a tractor would be a
betterproposition, but - and this weighed heavily on my mind - how
could we, inthe first flush of our being landowners, go shopping in a
tractor? It wouldbe better than a bicycle,
which I used at present,
but did not seem to fitin very well with our ideas of a simple country
life. Then again, I thought,what would our new neighbours think and
say when we parked our tractor atthe market alongside their sometimes
gleaming cars?In the end Ethel solved the problem for me by
suggesting that weshould buy a tractor for the farm and a tricycle for
shopping! The charms of Monte Carlo are forgotten in the glamour and
fascination ofthe Casino with its appeal to millions from every
quarter of the globe. Tothe student of human nature the Casino is most
fascinating, for there onemeets people of all types and of scores of
nationalities.The last time I entered its portals I moved near the
first Roulette table toobserve the play, to study types, and to absorb
the odd, exotic atmospherethat pervades this place and no other.I
looked round the table at the many nationalities represented there
andguessed at their countries. All were intent, absorbed, oblivious of
all butthe game, all that is save one solitary figure, a middle-aged
woman at theother end of the table. She puzzled me, for she did not
conform to any of thenormal types one saw in the Casino. She was
plainly, even austerely, dressed.This in itself was odd, for all sorts
of strange and extravagant attire is ondisplay at the Casino. Even I
wore a few sparklers in order not to feelundressed or out of setting.
But the Erench woman wore not even a brooch, and her hair was as plain
as her dress. However, what intrigued me most of allwas the absence of
any chips in front of her, coupled with the fact that shetook no
notice of any of the game, but wore a far-away, vacant
expression.Could she have lost all her money? Had she become dazed in
her plight? If so,was she too paralysed to leave the table? It is not
enough to have a good product; people buy the brandedgoods in which
sincere and successful advertising has first giventhem confidence.
Foodstuffs are sold by the creative ideas which fixtheir excellence in
the public mind.Yet ideas alone are not enough. The selling 'theme'
must bedirected by those who understand modern commerce - men with
successfulexperience of the food market. Advertising, when rightly
handled, isno longer a matter of chance - it is the scientific
application ofcreative experience to a tested market.Indeed, the
market must be tested and the campaign controlled atevery step by a
team which specializes in measuring public reaction. Amarket survey is
not a hasty glance at the latest Digest of statisticsand a few
tentative questions to friends of the family; it is ashighly-skilled a
part of modern advertising as the etching of colourplates.That is a
picture of the food manufacturer's ideal advertisingagency. Such an
agency can help to inspire your whole sales effort. Itcan, in time,
make the name of your product an automatic reaction inevery
housewife's mind when she enters a food store. QualityAdvertising is
such an agency. We have specialized in food advertisingWe have
received your letter of 4th March regarding thf non-delivery by the
railway company of the goods which were sent forward to you a month
ago. We would point out that these goods were handed to the driver,
who signed for them as being packed and labelled correctly, and we are
surprised that they have not been delivered to you. We are asking the
railway eompany to look into the matter and we will write to you again
as soon as possible.   Meanwhile we will, with your permission,
obtain a further supply from the manufacturer for despatch with your
other order.   We are returning your invoice No. 102, as the price
charged, viz. 60p per kg, should be c.i.f., and not f.o.b. English
port, as stated in the postscript of your letter of the 5th September.
The amount brought forward from your last account is incorrect, and we
would ask you to check this, as we think you have not deducted
discount which was agreed. The Debit and Credit items should be typed
in 2 separate columns as usual.  We regret to inform you that we are
extremely dissatisfied with the delay which has occurred in connection
with the delivery of our autumn catalogues, which should have been in
the hands of our customers in the third week of August and which
actually reached them in the course of last week, long after the
receipt of the publications of other wholesale houses. You will find
that you gave a definite delivery promise of one month, and had we
known you would have exceeded this period, we should have placed the
printing elsewhere.   As a result of the delay, we have already lost
a great deal of business.  We have received a letter from a customer
who complains about an electric iron, which, he states, is
unsatisfactory after only 2 weeks' use. He says: "I am returning the
iron to you, and in view of the 6 months' guarantee you gave me, I
must ask you to send this iron back to the manufacturers with the
request that they give it a thorough examination and test." We are
sending the iron to you by tomorrow's post and hope you will give this
complaint your immediate attention.  I often passed a house where 2
little boys of about 8 and 10 lived. They invariably came dashing out
to pet my dog and they seemed to have such fun with him that I asked,
"Haven't you ever had a dog of your own?" They shook their heads. "Dad
won't let us have one." So I was surprised, a few days later, to find
the 2 children romping about on their lawn with a puppy. "Well," I
said, "so Dad bought you a dog after all." The children grinned. "No,
he's Dad's dog. We gave him to Dad for his birthday - but he lets us
play with him."   her's Notes  As in the last Unit, an attempt will
be made here to show how common situations ean raise legal problems
which cut aeross the boundaries of contract, tort, crime and other
branches of law.   Consumer protection, like safety on the roads and
at work, is governed by legislation which is aimed primarily at the
prevention of cheating or loss. The legislative eontrols are
administered largely by inspectors appointed for the purpose and
criminal sanctions are provided for breach.   Compensation for the
victim who has bought faulty goods is normally another matter. If the
supplier will not give compensation voluntarily, the victim may have
to start separate civil proceedings for breach of contract,
misrepresentation, or in tort. Not all consumers are so determined, or
indeed can afford the time, energy and money to do this.   Consider
these transactions:   1 Soulsby buys a box of X's chocolates from
Marsh's Confectionery 5hop. Some of the fillings contain impurities.
Soulsby, and his guests, to whom he has given chocolates, oecome ill
after eating them.   2 Soulsby buys a second-hand car from a
neighbour, Marsh, who tells him in the course of negotiations that it
is a 1970 model. In fact, unknown to Marsh, the car is a 1968 model,
the registration book of which has been falsified by a previous owner.
The car proves to be in poor condition, and Soulsby incurs
considerable expense in repairing it.   3 Soulsby buys a second-hand
car from Marsh (Motor Dealers) Ltd., who tells him in the course of
negotiations that it is a 1970 model. The rest of the facts are as in
the previous situation.  Agrieulture Organization can feed them. The
ultimate goal must be to eheek the produetion of people; in the long
run this may be more expedient than to inerease food produetion. But
even if seienee provides the methods of birth eontrol, mankind has to
be persuaded to aceept them. This involves overeoming superstition and
religious objeetions as well as edueating thousands of millions of
people. In the meantime, the economist must be eoneerned in inereasing
the world's food supply to prevent over 30 million people a year dying
of starvation. Seareity ean be deereased given a better distribution
of the world's foodstuffs. There are prophets of doom. Lord Snow (in a
leeture given in the United States of America in 1968 and published by
Oxfam in the United Eingdom in 1970) predieted a major eatastrophe in
the world before the end of the eentury beeause of 'food population
eollision'. Lord Snow eontended: 'We shall, in the rich eountries, be
surrounded by a sea of famine involving hundreds of millions of human
beings.' Can we prevent Malthus from being right, in the long run?
should be subject to professional supervision if it is going to give
a guarantee of satisfactory performance for a reasonable number of
years. We find by experience that firms of decorators who gain
contracts on the basis of the lowest price frequently do a sub-
standard job, which is useless from the point of view of protection of
external timbers. Perhaps you would be kind enough to let me know what
you think about it in due course. HEATING SYSTEM  With regard to the
long list of breakdowns that Mr Granger has supplied us with, I
understand from him that these are all associated with the underfeed
stokers. All that we can add to what is known already is that solid
fuel operated by underfeed stokers is a notorious maintenance problem
in schools of this size, due either to wear on the mechanical parts,
impurities in the fuel, or inadequate routine maintenance. The initial
installation of the solid fuel system was made as a result of
intensive pressure from the Local Education Authority whose committee
had a firm policy that fuel used in all public buildings should be
coal. As the Authority pay for the fuel and the maintenance, it is
entirely up to them to accept the consequences of their own policy,
but if the Managers feel that the whole matter is simply too
troublesome then we think that they should suggest that the Local
Education Authority change the installation over to gas. The only
point that I can add is that the installation was fully accepted by
the Authority at the time the school was built. There is no
suggestion, as far as I know, that the installation was defective in
design, and as far as I can see nothing could be gained by carrying
out a survey. I do hope that this letter will prove helpful to you
and your Committee. Yours faithfully  for a quarter of a century - a
long time, rich in experience. On manya lesson well learned we have
perfected a service which can sellconfidently.