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CHISWICK
BUSINESSES TEAM UP TO BEAT THE TUBE STRIKE
Caroline
Bramley, who works for “The
Moving Consultancy” had a problem. Her job is
to help people who are moving house, by dealing
with all of the awful, time consuming tasks – like
organising the furniture removals, notifying the
utilities, arranging parking permits and other vital,
but tedious activities.
She
was working on a particularly complex move
for Mr and Mrs Davidson, moving from Chiswick
to Dorking. Mrs Davidson was due to leave on
a business trip, the completion date was still
unclear and they wanted the whole place spring
cleaned before they arrived at the new house.
The
solution seemed simple, get everyone together
for a quick half hour planning meeting. Caroline
arranged a meeting with Mr and Mrs Davidson,
the removal company rep and the cleaning agency
rep – and then found out a tube strike was
scheduled for the day of the meeting!
As
Caroline said “Most moves are simpler than
this, but now I was stuck. Mrs Davidson was
leaving the day after the scheduled meeting.
I tried to rearrange but there was always someone
who couldn’t make it. It seemed the only solution
was for me to spend all day on the phone, liasing
with all of the parties individually. I simply
don't have time to do this and it is never
as effective as getting everyone together anyway.”
At
the gym, she mentioned the problem to a friend
of hers, Rob Brougham, who thought he might
be able to help. Rob works for “Jigsaw
Conferencing”, who provide conference calls
to business customers. Caroline had never considered
that conference calls were an option for their
sort of business and had no idea how it would
work.
Caroline
takes up the story again. “Rob told me his
company could set up a telephone meeting for
us. All those people, scattered across London,
could ring in to one central number and talk
to each other that way. It seemed like the
perfect solution. We went back to the original
meeting time and I told everyone to dial my
Jigsaw meeting number. I dialled in myself
and admit I was a bit nervous, but it worked
really well. We had a really effective meeting,
within half an hour we had a plan which Mr
and Mrs Davidson were delighted with. That
conference call only cost £18 and, best
of all, it saved me from a whole day on the
phone! We’ll certainly be using Jigsaw Conferencing
whenever we can from now on, even on days when
the tubes are running. Mr and Mrs Davidson,
like many of our clients, both work and would
have had to take time out of the office to
attend the meeting. Half an hour from their
desk or mobile is so much easier for them.”
Rob
said, "The Moving Consultancy isn’t really
a typical conferencing customer, most of our
clients do tend to be much larger companies,
but we were delighted to help.”
The
final word belongs to Mr and Mrs Davidson,
now happily living in Dorking. “You always
dread moving home – but with the help we had
it was so easy. We like our new house, and
especially our large garden – but we do miss
Chiswick!”
August
9, 2002
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