Saturday, November 7th, 2026, 4:29 pm
Manchester City Council Report Card – Part 5 – Private Businesses, Not Public Services
Filed under: For profit, against citizens?
couple of days ago my wife and I walked to Manchester City Council and spent just over an hour there. We researched the state of things for this series, not out of choice as much as out of real need.
The first 3 parts were a sort of alta vista and part 4 said this was apparently a global trend (allegedly, because so I am told by people I know).
Today I’d like to focus on one aspect. I try to split those aspects apart to make discussion easier, maybe a formal complaint at a later stage.
When my wife and I went to the Customer Services desk on Thursday she took the lead, but she was then given “false” options that were clearly anything but a real service. That was useless, as we were already at Customer Services, which we had traveled to physically.
They told my wife she had “other” options, such as going to the “Post Office” (another privatised thing, owned by a very rich foreigner) and we explained that this was unsuitable an option as the aim was to change/update details, not make payments. Both my wife and I, separately, said this to them.
It feels like the staff there resorted to a fallback… on some ‘template’ reply.
When a browser option was mentioned both my wife and I told them that several browsers on our (several) computers were not compatible with their Web site, or with that particular portal managed by a third party. What’s worse about it is that I had already told them that two weeks earlier and posted feedback. I spent almost an hour arguing, then writing about it. Clearly nothing was done about it.
They don’t read feedback. They don’t seem to care. Just one single ‘pesky’ customer… probably one in a million! Nobody else uses Firefox in Manchester!
I brought up aspects of accessibility and how much of a problem they would cause not just to old people or ‘technophobes’.
It was like talking to the wall. They don’t want to listen and pretend not to understand (or care).
Customer Services should do better than this.
In the next part I’ll discuss details about the “phone” option they spoke of.
I am utterly ashamed that in Greater Manchester or even Manchester “proper” (with millions of people) everyone must rely on such poor performance at the official Customer Services desk.
I am increasingly convinced we need to publicise this.
In my experience, they mostly squash complaints. They try to keep those private to save face.
