It’s 3rd January 2025 and I logged into my ForexVPS.net account to see that there is £43.70 in there that I’ve earned through referrals.. yay!

I ordered some stationary the other day and their fulfilment partner is Yodel… now Yodel’s tracking system was ok in that they were able to tell me when my parcel was expected. However, I wasn’t at home at the time but I have the Arlo doorbell so I could see him deliver.

Not only did it put it in front of the door in whole view of anyone walking past the house but he managed to deliver someone else’s package. So when I got home, it was good to note it was not stolen (we have had packages taken from our front door), there was a box of wine there address to someone else and at a different address. The first part of the postcode was correct but the second part not and probably a good thousand few properties as well in the local area.

So I put in a message to Yodel.. I searched for a phone number and when I rang it.. it’s an automated service and I went through it.. there is no human and there are limited options.. my scenario didn’t exist so I had to drop the call… there is no ‘other’ option to select.. so I go to their online chat

I was well in the opening hours and nope.. after typing in my message and getting a response to say that a customer representative would get back.. nothing happened. I left it until the closing time and tried again the next day. I did not expect anything from the online chat since it failed yesterday but there is no other option to contact them.

So I’m on another window when I get a live customer representative make contact… and as I didn’t see it until 5 minutes later, they closed my connection and I had to resubmit. Frustrated to say the least! Again, send in my message and after about 45 mins finally got someone.. I explain the issue and whatever I said the person did not understand. They kept saying that they had proof that delivery had been made and I told them yes, delivery was made but they had delivered the wrong package to my house. They could not accept or understand this and I gave up!

I contacted the retailer about the issue and they made contact.. they had better luck and were able to get Yodel to explain. They said that Yodel would rectify the issue.. they would come and pick up the wrongly delivered package and delivery the correct one… so I waited a couple of days and went back to the retailer after nothing had arrived. They made contact with Yodel again and were now told that they couldn’t do this.. I had to go and get it myself!

However, at least the retailer said that they would replace the product if I wasn’t able to get it but this customer service from Yodel is attrocious!

#yodel #customerservice

Ok, so just going to put some down here in this….

My Vlog / TikTok venture

I was thinking of logging my achievements of the year… not that I have any particular goal that I want to reach but I do think it’s important to log some progress. I actually started a TikTok channel at the beginning of the year as a video vlog to do this and it was meant to be anonymous… I didn’t link it to my contacts, I didn’t use my name, I didn’t tag anyone I knew in my real life but yet, at one of my childs birthday party, this dad came up to me and said “Hey, I saw your TikTok channel.. I let my son watch it! I’ve followed you!” I was mortified, not that I had anything too personal or incriminating but because I wanted an outlet where I can blurt out whatever I wanted anonymously. I only had about 3k followers at the time so have no idea how he managed to find it. I did ask him and he said it just came up on his fyp (for you page – I learnt this on TikTok). Anyway, I’ve disabled it now.. seems a waste of the 3k follower build up.. took a lot of energy and I also learnt how difficult it is to speak off the cut to a fixed camera.. people say that I’m quite good speaking to people but talking to my phone camera which doesn’t provide any visual feedback is not easy!

Fitness

I’ve joined a local Crossfit gym.. I use to go to Crossfit before I had kids. I noticed the dadbod was getting out of control so wanted to take back control. The great thing about Crossfit is that it’s totally accessible.. yes you get some crazy ultrafit 20 year olds but everything is scaleable and now that I’m coming up to my 50s.. I’m finding that I can’t do all the moves but it’s fine… Crossfit is fine like this.. it’s a really inclusive vibe. However, I started off with a niggling backpain which I saw off with a chiropractor and now I have this muscle pull / pain in my forearm so can’t lift heavy weights.

Illness

Usually I get ill once a year.. but this year, I got ill (when I say ill, I don’t count the small colds) like 3 times. When I’m ill I’m miserable and have no motivation to do anything. I eat a lot too when ill.. not sure if that’s because the body needs more energy to fight it. Still, the illness meant that I couldn’t get to the gym and it slow my progress down generally this year for all my endeavours. Wondering if it’s an age thing or whether the bugs out there are more contagious / harmful.

Time and Money

We all want more time and money in life! However, time at work is how most of us make money.. it’s a trade off. I work as an independent consultant so I get paid to work.. if I take day off to give myself more time, then I don’t get paid. When we book holidays, it’s usually around the time when I can maximise of public holidays (this is usually Easter or Xmas) and then I just take the minimum. I finally got the thought in my head that I need to take more holidays… don’t worry about the money.. money I can get back but time I can’t.. my kids are growing up unbelievably quickly! I want to enjoy with them as much as I can whilst they are young and I’m still relatively fit and mobile.