Canada. Are we a backwater?
One of the great irritations about living outside of Canada is realizing how hard so many businesses work to avoid letting you give them money. The image above is from https://www.rew.ca. If you're looking for a house in British Columbia that's 95% likely the first option that Google or other search engines will offer you.
And they're not alone. There are a variety of real estate companies that do the same thing. (we're considering Gabriola Island at the moment).
Why? I don't know, and I don't care. I use Firefox on Linux, and can't get in. Susan uses Chrome on an Apple, and can.
Until last week I had two bank accounts in Canada, one at East Coast Credit Union in Nova Scotia, and one at Vancity in Vancouver. Both seem to share the same software, so when they did a big update last month my phone apps stopped functioning.
Why? I don't know, and I don't care. All that I know is I have been told that it's because I'm outside the country.
Then there's the whole gender thing. When contacting real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and the like I am VERY specific in saying "Please make sure that Susan is copied on all messages. Here's her email address."
So far three of seven companies have replied to me without including Susan in the CC line
Why? I don't know, and I don't care. All that I know is if they can't manage a request so simple, and so utterly normal, I'm not sure that I'd trust them with a purchase that may cost a large part of a million dollars.
We often tell Canadian companies that we prefer to use Zoom, or WhatsApp, or even Teams for meetings. Essentially, all of these are free, unlike phone calls, and all of them let us see people's faces.
Again, this seems to be a strange and exotic choice for many Canadian companies.
Why? I don't know, and I don't care.
On one hand, moving back to Canada is a wonderful and welcome option. Family, familiarity, and the chance to work legally are all appealing. As is paying Canadian dollar prices with our Canadian dollar pensions. (prices in UK pounds are roughly the same as dollars, except that the pound is worth twice as much.)
On the other hand, the harsh reality of living in France, or the UK, is that Canadian businesses are really not good at customer service. Even smiling and saying "hello" to customers seems like a challenge. And if you have problem, well, "Call our helpline, and sit on hold for a half hour before finding out we won't do anything." Or, as with TD Insurance, battle your way past a horrible voice response system that never, ever, can do what you need.
Although when I did manage to talk to a real person, they agreed that "I don't know why they have that, and I don't care. And there's nothing I can do to change it."
