We used to have an 'in house' IT team who, at the dialing of a 4 digit internal number, would come and fix any problem within an hour. Now, in an effort to make our IT support more "streamlined and efficient" we ring an 11 digit number where we are eventually put through to an operative somewhere in the middle of Northumbria (or it could be Kazakstan) where we're given a case number and told to await *The Call*. This call can take up to 4 hours to come and then we're asked all manner of security questions, whereupon our computers are 'remotely accessed' and allegedly fixed if it's a software problem. If the problem cannot be fixed immediately, we get shunted off to another machine and ours is labelled 'out of action, fix due'. If it becomes obvious that it's a hardware problem, the call is routed to a 'local operative' - who is seated in our building, awaiting the ring on that 4 digit, internal number previously mentioned.... Go figure.

LTS