Healthy Eating

The time around Christmas and New Year is the filled with traditions; and few as solid as the tradition of over-eating followed by a (short lived) commitment to leading a healthier life.

In that spirit I have conducted a short analysis of who in the UK are considered the most influential authorities on “healthy eating”.

The table below lists the top 20 influencers on “healthy eating” in the UK.



We can see that the Food Standard Agency and the Department for Education and Skills are equally influential. They are fairly closely followed by the BBC who is the most popular stakeholder of the issue.


(Popularity is measured on a scale from 0 to 100. Influence on a linear scale from 1 and upwards. The “Rel. Influence” measure is how the actual influence of the stakeholder compares to the influence we should expect given the stakeholder’s popularity.)

Is Amazon.com the new Dell (Hell)?

I have always been a fan of Amazon.com. Great inventory and (formerly) great (no, fantastic) customer service: easy to reach, fast problem solving and resolving issues over and above my expectations.

I have been an evangelist for them. I cannot even count the number of times I have told the story about how their great customer service solved an issue for me in the most elegant way.

Not so anymore. I get about 8-10 deliveries per year from them and it used to work as a clockwork. However, for my last 2 orders I have noticed some changes.

They can’t find my address anymore (even that I have received 15 deliveries where I live) and you can’t call them and talk to a person.

From what I can see their problems have coincided with outsourcing their UK deliveries to a company called “Home Delivery Network”. A new company specialising in (as it says) home deliveries.

They have a tracking capability so I can follow the progress of the parcels. The tracking states: “Unable to deliver, address not found”, so naturally I try calling “Home Delivery Network” to guide them to my address. (Those who delivered for Amazon before them never had any problems finding it). However – they don’t have a phone service so you can’t call them.

Trying to call Amazon is not easier. You can’t call them anymore. They have a call-back service, but all that happens is that you get connected to a voice operated tracking system where you can input your order number to get the status (which is wrong incidentally).

I also mailed Amazon last week about the issue. Logged in and used the appropriate form to do so. No response yet.

Here at Onalytica we have written extensively about Dell Hell and their customer service problems. Some of the Dell Hell problems started when they outsourced their customer service and didn’t do it right.

I wonder if Amazon has taken their eye off so much of their core business that they are the next Dell (Hell)?

Anyone else had problems with Amazon or Home Delivery Network lately?