JOB centre rage

pennyshahin_2

Hi where do I start, got married in october living apart from my wife because she was looking after her elderly father who wasn't well (he died in january) I signed off work in december because I was getting alot of stress at work I'm epileptic ,it's controlled i've been working for 9 years,i was living in chelmsford in a housing association flat,what with stress at work and living apart from my wife I signed off sick beginning of december then decided that I wasn't going back signed off until xmas,decided to move to stevenage to live with my wife who is not well herself she has agorophobia and arthritus and gets disability living allowance, I've been going backwards and forwards from stevenage to chelmsford to sign on while trying to come to stevenage-was thinking of getting housing association transfer wasn't happening-so gave up flat ,moving in march.Decided easier to sign on in stevenage -had to go through all that rigmorale again-went down this morning to sign on -sat down ,female member of staff comes up to my wife says are you signing on ,she says "no" ,"Oh you can't sit there (there were plenty of spare seats)your have to look at jobs (my wife is on disability living allowance)or wait outside,my wife replies I don't feel well ,which is often the case being outside with her agoraphobia,no compassion was shown ,my wife was upset went outside -didn't wan't to cause a fuss,it was just the womans attitude,ok if they've got rules but I think some of the staff there should go on a public relations course to learn a few manners,I get called over asked if I've been looking for work, am honest and say had funeral couple of weeks ago and I'm looking to move to stevenage( i hadn't filled in looking for work form,so she says she's giving me a warning-writes it in red on all my forms, like i'm a naughty schoolboy,i feel very upset at the way i've been treated,i also noticed that the security staff make people sit down,so different from my experience in chelmsford where my wife often had her suitcase when she was coming to stay with me.I found the whole experience very intimidating and upsetting and i'm not looking forward to signing on again,when you need a bit of compassion and support there was nothing,i think that a bit of power has gone to their heads ,i want to work but i was made to feel like a crimial.

BOB_A_H

pennyshahin wrote: »

Hi where do I start, got married in october living apart from my wife because she was looking after her elderly father who wasn't well (he died in january) I signed off work in december because I was getting alot of stress at work I'm epileptic ,it's controlled i've been working for 9 years,i was living in chelmsford in a housing association flat,what with stress at work and living apart from my wife I signed off sick beginning of december then decided that I wasn't going back signed off until xmas,decided to move to stevenage to live with my wife who is not well herself she has agorophobia and arthritus and gets disability living allowance, I've been going backwards and forwards from stevenage to chelmsford to sign on while trying to come to stevenage-was thinking of getting housing association transfer wasn't happening-so gave up flat ,moving in march.Decided easier to sign on in stevenage -had to go through all that rigmorale again-went down this morning to sign on -sat down ,female member of staff comes up to my wife says are you signing on ,she says "no" ,"Oh you can't sit there (there were plenty of spare seats)your have to look at jobs (my wife is on disability living allowance)or wait outside,my wife replies I don't feel well ,which is often the case being outside with her agoraphobia,no compassion was shown ,my wife was upset went outside -didn't wan't to cause a fuss,it was just the womans attitude,ok if they've got rules but I think some of the staff there should go on a public relations course to learn a few manners,I get called over asked if I've been looking for work, am honest and say had funeral couple of weeks ago and I'm looking to move to stevenage( i hadn't filled in looking for work form,so she says she's giving me a warning-writes it in red on all my forms, like i'm a naughty schoolboy,i feel very upset at the way i've been treated,i also noticed that the security staff make people sit down,so different from my experience in chelmsford where my wife often had her suitcase when she was coming to stay with me.I found the whole experience very intimidating and upsetting and i'm not looking forward to signing on again,when you need a bit of compassion and support there was nothing,i think that a bit of power has gone to their heads ,i want to work but i was made to feel like a crimial.


Take the persons name, and make an official complaint about their attitude. If you do not they may treat other vulnerable people in a similar manner.
To be fair, I have been attending JCP in Aberdeen for a few months now and on the whole have been pleasently surprised with the service. The problem is that one bad apple can ruin the reputation of all JSA staff.

CHARDONNAY_3

I have been signing on for a couple of months & I'm appalled with the way I've been treated - with the exception of the advisers I saw for appts, the staff are very rude & patronising.

On Mon I received a letter to say I'd failed to apply for a vacancy, which I had in fact applied for, had written this in my booklet & shown it to the adviser when I signed last week, it was obv too much for her to transfer the correct info on to the system.

This was the 2nd letter of this type in a month, so phoned to complain. The man I spoke to told me he had answered 2 similar complaint calls that day & advised me to write a formal complaint, otherwise situation will never improve.

I'm fortunate that I'll be signing off next month, I've accepted a position as an apprentice, even though it means living off less than 100 pound a week, it's better than being on JSA, as the past few months have been so demoralising.

B.E.N

CHARDONNAY wrote: »

On Mon I received a letter to say I'd failed to apply for a vacancy, which I had in fact applied for, had written this in my booklet & shown it to the adviser when I signed last week, it was obv too much for her to transfer the correct info on to the system.

As a JCP employee (albeit not frontline), I do take exception to this.

Alot of things that we get moaned at aren't even our fault!

e.g. Only £64.30/£50.95 a week!?, Living with earning partner so no JSA(IB), etc - Well go complain to your MP, they're the ones that make up the rules, not the poor person that has the pleasure of signing you on every fortnight.

As with this case, it isn't a JobCentre error at all. The vacancies that you refer to are known as "notified vacancies" - e.g. the advisor gives them to you, then they check up with the potential employer/agency to see whether you have applied. If they give wrong information, then that's unfortunate but still not our fault. As for it being in your job-book, - that, unfortunately doesn't really mean anything. There are work-shy people out there, and notified vacancies are one of the ways these are singled out and then, if no reasonable excuse is given, their benefit is disallowed/sanctioned, etc.

I think that people that do complain need to ask why something has happened/who is at fault before taking it out on the most obvious target.

As for the OPs experiences - it certainly does sound rather bad, however, reading into things a bit deeper, you mentioned that your (ex)wife is agrophobic and therefore didn't want to go outside owing to disability issues, but, was this obvious, or even mentioned to JCP staff? The fact is that they don't want extra people "hanging around" as they can cause problems, so if they are not signing/jobhunting, they may (dependant on JCP) request that someone vacates the premises. You say that Chelmsford JCP were alright with your (ex)wife being there with you, but maybe that was because they were aware, and made an exception for her..

so_little_time

pennyshahin, you should definitely put in a written complaint about how you were treated. Would like to add however that not all JCP staff are that rude (well they weren’t when I worked at one) so hopefully you will get someone more helpful next time you go.

Kaleidoscope27

I've found from experience that experiences at the Job Centre will vary not only between job centres but also between which staff member happens to sign you on that day.

I found staff at Worsley JC (in Manchester) were snotty and looked down on me because I have a degree and yet was unable to find work (almost like "hah! She's paid all that money for education and where's it got her? We're better la la la!".) But in Watford JC (where I am now) most of them are really nice, do their jobs properly and take the time to chat to me whilst they type in my job search details. Well... I did think that. Now I sign on with one of two girls, who I'm sure are younger than I am, who seem to take more time to swap chewing gum and faff around with "oh you didn't pick up my sheet..." "oh didn't I? I'm sorry..." "yeah I asked you but you didn't... never mind... I guess I'll get it..." etc etc. I'm supposed to sign on at 9:25 but regularly don't get seen until nearly 10am. I'm sure they don't start signing people until like 9:20 which means they're backlogged before they've even started.

And my boyfriend's brother signed on in Hasting's and found them to be fantasticly helpful as they actually found him a job, helped him apply for it and everything.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on there.

My point is, I think it's pot luck, as with any company, which member of staff you get to see. Sometimes you get lucky and get someone nice, something you lose out and get an idiot.

To the OP: I'd lodge a complaint. Because, even if they have rules like not wanting extra people hanging around, they don't have to be rude about it. And if someone says they're not well, any courtious human being would sympathise and make a compromise. Hopefully your next signing session goes better and you get someone who understands you more.

pennyshahin_2

Thank you for all your comments ,the chelmsford job centre didn't know of my wifes illnesses because she doesn't even live in the area-I found the whole experience very intimidating I want to work,as if my nerves weren't bad enough-a little bit of respect would have been nice,ok perhaps I hadn't done enough in looking for work,but I think my wife was treated appallingly and the whole experience has left us depressed.

tripled

Despite being fortunate enough to sign by post when I was out of work for a couple of months last year, I found the system and the staff generally unhelpful and a complete waste of time. In the end I switched to the approach of just ignoring them, and ignoring the letters threatening sanctions for not going to this or doing that. By the time they threw me off JSA for not talking to them, I'd found a new job anyway.

CHARDONNAY_3

I think that people that do complain need to ask why something has happened/who is at fault before taking it out on the most obvious target.

In response to your above comment B.E.N, if you had read my post you would see that I wrote a letter of complaint on the advice of a J.C adviser.

It just goes to prove my point that J.C advisers are all keen to blame someone else, rather than acknowledge where they went wrong.

It may have not been the advisers fault that the potential employer gave her the wrong info but it is her duty to be polite, respectful & helpful, something she & others at the J.C never bother to do.

ALL J.C staff should be re-trained in the concepts of customer service & taking responsibility for how they treat others, maybe one day they will be in my shoes & see what it is like from the other side of the desk.

applecharlotte

CHARDONNAY wrote: »

I think that people that do complain need to ask why something has happened/who is at fault before taking it out on the most obvious target.

In response to your above comment B.E.N, if you had read my post you would see that I wrote a letter of complaint on the advice of a J.C adviser.

It just goes to prove my point that J.C advisers are all keen to blame someone else, rather than acknowledge where they went wrong.

It may have not been the advisers fault that the potential employer gave her the wrong info but it is her duty to be polite, respectful & helpful, something she & others at the J.C never bother to do.

ALL J.C staff should be re-trained in the concepts of customer service & taking responsibility for how they treat others, maybe one day they will be in my shoes & see what it is like from the other side of the desk.

I am astounded at your ignorance. How dare you blame ALL jc staff for your bad experience. With an attitude like that no wonder you had a bad experience. If anybody was so rude to come on here and accuse ALL jc customers as being lazy scroungers i'm sure you would be among the first to complain

basmic

Might I suggest you read up on the word 'customer'? http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=define%3Acustomer

What exactly did you buy from the job centrre?