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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
It's not just about the jam in the sandwich

Customer Service is crucial. If you check into a hotel, you want to be received straight away rather than having to wait while the proprietoress finishes chatting with her friends, and on checkout you want to pay and get going rather than have to wait for her for five minutes while she scrambles eggs in the kitchen. Occasional lapses and busy patches which degrade service can be forgiven, but a pattern such as the above (my experience on Monday night, together with breakfast delays, being seated and moved, and previous guests's debris still in my bedroom) forms a very bad impression. It's not about how good the food is in a restaurant - it's also about how you are received and looked after.

I came back from Cheltenham, having stayed in a B&B that won awards last year and is Egon Ronay listed this - and I found many elements of it interesting and charming. I might even go back some time. I liked their policy of upgrading single to double for single occupancy if there were unlet doubles, I appreciated the offroad parking that was included in the base price, and I enjoyed my breakfast. Light shone into the dining room, and there was a homely feeling. But, alas, my first memory is of looking around to find someone to check me in being a confusing set of "ring this" and "look there" notices, and my departing memory is of having to rush to (and being slightly late) at my appointment because of a frustrating wait at checkout. I have documented my experiences and forwarded it (some 20 bullet points) to the Well House Manor team - but that's along the lines of "let's just make sure we don't fall for this one", and on most of the points I'll admit to being rather smug. We have the occasional issue like everyone does, but we learn from them, they're usually fixed, and not frequent.

It's not just hotel guests who can suffer in this way - Lisa and Dad went out into the local countryside yesterday for a cream tea, and found themselves being given a somewhat surley reception, being offered a very limited choice of places to take that cream tea, and having to wait for the waiter to place their order. The being sent around the place when they wanted to pay ... all of which took the shine off their tale of what sounds like a rather nice offering. It's not just the filling that's important - it's the bread product that surrounds it too!

Our team at Well House Manor has a growing experience, and a real enjoyment of having people and activity around, and everyone's increasingly confident at handling regular and irregular ("curved ball") issues, putting the customer experience first.


Many of our hotel guests are repeat visitors. Others are delegates who have been on our training courses, and like what we do so much that they choose to come to see us - with their partners - in their own time. I'll very often write here (on this blog, where the original article will be posted) about our superb rooms (they are), our wonderful courses (though I say so myself) and our great garden, library, and location. But it's really the total package that counts ... and I'm really proud to have such an excellent team that makes that total package; I don't say "Thank you" to them often enough - I know they're paid for the job, I know they enjoy the job - but each of them goes over and above to look after our customers's needs and our customers, and Lisa and I too, really appreciate that.
(written 2011-05-19, updated 2011-05-20)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
G501 - Well House Consultants - Customer Service
  [72] On Customer Service - (2004-10-03)
  [91] On line every 24 hours - (2004-10-17)
  [126] Feedback shows the tip of an iceberg - (2004-11-22)
  [150] Confession - (2004-12-13)
  [189] Tuesdays and Fridays - (2005-01-25)
  [195] Customer service - examples to warn us - (2005-01-30)
  [233] Giving customers best value - (2005-03-02)
  [265] Business practise, 2005 style - (2005-04-03)
  [327] How far should our support go - (2005-05-28)
  [350] Want to be one better - (2005-06-17)
  [393] Trainer answers phone - (2005-07-28)
  [440] Upgrade! - (2005-09-09)
  [482] Different ways of selling - (2005-11-01)
  [552] Keeping Customers Informed - (2006-01-02)
  [566] May all your screw-ups be big ones - (2006-01-16)
  [569] Instructions for bright people - (2006-01-19)
  [609] Been on a course, but still not got it? - (2006-02-16)
  [621] And the staff put the icing on the cake - (2006-02-23)
  [628] Active Learning - (2006-02-28)
  [650] A person of few words - (2006-03-18)
  [717] A customer service company - (2006-05-11)
  [725] Better communication - (2006-05-19)
  [841] Forum help - a push in the right direction - (2006-08-21)
  [852] Eventful evening - a lesson in looking after contacts - (2006-09-02)
  [944] Just ******* Google it - (2006-11-25)
  [961] Products that our customers want more of - (2006-12-03)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [1007] Friends and family - (2006-12-25)
  [1046] Bounce, bounce, bounce - (2007-01-20)
  [1262] Keep in touch with PHP, Perl, Python and old friends too - (2007-07-09)
  [1319] Customer feedback - lifeblood of a business - (2007-08-25)
  [1434] Market survey - to learn, to prove a point, or to sell your product? - (2007-11-17)
  [1446] An answer to a student asking 'Help' - (2007-11-27)
  [1516] Pictures you can use - for free - from our library - (2008-01-23)
  [1606] Sheep Shearers, Marathon Runners and Ocean Sailors - (2008-04-09)
  [1637] Providing exceptional service - and carrying on doing so. - (2008-05-09)
  [1835] 23:30 bookings and midnight checkins - (2008-10-12)
  [1985] Learning to program as a part of your job - (2009-01-10)
  [1991] Rules for a King - (2009-01-13)
  [2015] Service Excellence Awards - (2009-01-30)
  [2049] Why Choose Well House Consultants for your course? - (2009-02-20)
  [2102] What do people think of our Apache httpd / Tomcat course? - (2009-03-24)
  [2124] Building down expectations - (2009-04-09)
  [2236] Alumni - revisiting and supporting the old University - (2009-06-13)
  [2258] Questions I have been asked on answering the phone - (2009-06-26)
  [2530] Taking a knock over Santa - (2009-12-08)
  [2650] Getting a phone line changed ... - (2010-02-25)
  [2880] Getting in touch - Please allow me to see you when you are online - (2010-07-21)
  [2961] Initial handling of phone calls and walk in visitors - (2010-09-19)
  [3073] Customer Service - the boundary - (2010-11-27)
  [3103] Thank you - and Happy Christmas - (2010-12-24)
  [3271] The importance of feedback - (2011-04-30)
  [3378] New product - ensuring that supply matches demand - (2011-08-03)
  [3808] Can you put names to faces? - (2012-07-19)
  [3835] The Information age - not yet truly with us? - (2012-08-12)
  [4077] Palty or Parliamentary? - (2013-04-30)
  [4078] Train works for me! - (2013-05-02)
  [4232] Not wanted here - hotel guests who will not be happy - (2013-12-30)


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Distributing the server load - yet ensuring that each user return to the same system (Apache httpd and Tomcat)
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Strawberry Cream Teas, Coffee straight from the Bean and freshly squeezed orange juice - Melksham, every afternoon
Some other Articles
Quiet Monday in
A long day, a long journey, and families and similarities the world over
Dog, hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire?
Strawberry Cream Teas, Coffee straight from the Bean and freshly squeezed orange juice - Melksham, every afternoon
It's not just about the jam in the sandwich
Distributing the server load - yet ensuring that each user return to the same system (Apache httpd and Tomcat)
Every tenth picture.
Pay and refund scam - alive and kicking against Melksham businesses
Changes (and no changes) at Melksham bus stops
New Camera - very first picture, and next from first films
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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