Not what Facebook's for!

I've been on Facebook for quite a while now, and it's a very useful tool for keepng up to date with what's going on and what other people, who you may not often actually see but know well(ish), are up to.

But this morning I lost my rag at something I read on the feed from Kevin Black's County Border News page where several Tandridge residents were complaining about the new recycling service that was introduced last week.

Largely, the complaints focused not around the fact that they have been asked to do more recycling, since as well educated Surrey residents presumably they understand the impact of excess rubbish on the planet and the limitations of landfill. No, their complaints were about the conduct of the contractor, Biffa, and how they handled and returned the small food bins and wheelie bins. There were also a few complaints about the manner of TDC staff when they had rung to make enquiries. And they were vitriolic.

Clearly, these people felt strongly, although it was very obvious in one or two cases that they hadn't read the leaflets which the Council provided to every household and so put their bins out at the wrong time. But whinging on Facebook isn't the answer; if you really feel strongly that you have received poor or not as advertised service the way to deal with it is to complain direct to the Council in a reasonable manner and not abuse the staff. Staff rudeness to callers is not acceptable, but after your tenth arrogant and unreasonable whinger naturally patience gets a little tried.

All local authorities have a well publicised complaints procedure which people should follow if there is something (anything) about which they feel they have a genuine grievance. Speaking as a local authority employee (although not locally here of course) I know that they do take complaints seriously and will do their best to rectify it. There are formal procedures for dealing with contractors that do not meet their contractual obligations, and disciplinary procedures to deal with staff that fail to give proper customer service.

Furthermore, all new procedures take a few weeks to bed in, and there will be teething troubles. To expect a new service to be perfect on week one is unrealistic.It won't take long, and where things crop up that are unforeseen problems believe it or not there are good professionals working in local councils who will sort things out.

Some comments also focused around what people considered would have been a better use of money, such as repairing potholes. But money for different services comes from different places. The County Council is responsible for roads and provides the lion's share of the funding, although they do have local depots which is what confuses people. The District Council is responsible for the rubbish from a different budget. But again perhaps if the complainers had bothered to a) get their facts straight and b) talk to the council instead of Facebook they would have known that. But then it's easy to moan isn't it, much harder to actually establish facts!? As a friend of mine says, never let facts get in the way of a good row!

I never thought I'd find myself defending the local authority, but the sheer unreasonableness of these people has driven me to it. STOP WHINGING Tandridgers, and if you have a genuine complaint deal with it properly by writing to the Council and not moaning on social media like some sort of closet internet Troll where things cannot be explained by people who are in position of the facts and where the organisation canot defend itself. Act like adults, why don't you?!