ALL I wanted was a sticker for my green bin.
I didn’t expect that my efforts to get one would take up the best part of a week. 
Since we moved into this house 20 years ago our garden waste has been collected free.
Last week a letter arrived at my home from the local council alerting me to a change - from August 5 it would be charged at £46.50 a year. As this charge was being introduced part-way through the year, I needed to pay £21.
So I went online as advised. It took around half and hour to register, during which time I was asked to repeat details of my name and address four times.
So on I went to ordering my sticker, only it didn’t seem to accept the details I’d just registered. In the box asking for ‘name’ I wrote Helen Mead. It didn’t accept that. Maybe it was hoping for Michael Robinson or Brenda Smith.
This went on, so I abandoned it and attempted to contact the council by phone, as recommended on the letter, for those without access to the internet.
I must have spent the best part of a day trying to get through, hanging on for periods of up to 50 minutes.
On the fourth day of trying to get through, I called the council’s general switchboard and was so taken aback when someone answered I almost choked on my corn flakes: the early bird catches the worm, I thought.
The woman at the other end of the phone told me that she was sorry she could not help, but she could put me through to the department named on my letter. She was  sympathetic, and shared with me the number of people queuing for that particuar number - 41.
So I didn’t pursue it. A week has passed and my bin remains stickerless. I also wanted a sticker for my elderly neighbour, who is unable to register online as she has no computer.
I lodged a complaint and got a message back asking me to call the number provided - the one that’s impossible to get through on.
Regular readers of this column will know that I have harped on about this sort of thing before, bemoaning the lack of human contact in customer service.
The most-used phrase we members of the public hear when calling companies is ‘visit www dot…co-uk’ - where you’re discouraged from waiting on the phone and told to go online because ‘all the answers you need are online.’ We all know that’s far from the truth.

Why does everything have to be done online? Picture: PixabayWhy does everything have to be done online? Picture: Pixabay
I hate hearing ‘www dot’ - to me, it spells the beginning of the end. While there is no substitute for human beings, I am quite happy to use online services if they work. But when they don’t - as is often the case - you shouldn’t be left to flounder with nowhere to go for help. 
Customer service isn’t always bad, but when it’s good it comes as a surprise. Whether a local authority, a public utility, a medical practice or any other service, there should be enough staff in place to ensure a response in a reasonable time.
It’s good to know that other people feel the frustration in the same way I do. Watching Wimbledon last week, the Hawk-Eye system - which checks whether the ball is in when players challenge a line call - suddenly failed.
As the umpire waited on the phone for someone to address the problem, John McEnroe one of the commentators quipped: “Give me a real person - I need to know whether the ball was in or out.” Thankfully, a response came quickly.
I am bracing myself to have another go at ordering a bin sticker next week. I’ve set aside three days for the task.