Word From On High

Some time ago I exchanged emails with the Home Office regarding ID cards. More recently I received an email from them with the content...

Please see letter from the Home Office attached.

...followed by the usual stuff about intended recipients and virus scans. The attachment was an MS Word document which, on this occasion, could be opened and basically said that the HO had commissioned a Customer Satisfaction survey and I would shortly receive another email about taking part.

Now, I generally feel that it is rude and lazy to email information (like this letter) in attachments when it can be easily be included in the body of the email, and that it is poor form to use proprietory formats for exchanging data, particularly with people outside of your organisation, when alternatives exist. Others have written at some length on the subject, though I am not as militant as some. So I sent an email back to the HO, raising some of my concerns and, for good measure, I sent a copy to my MP, Ed Vaizey, too.

I quickly received an email from my Vaizey's PA, asking for more information, which I provided, and this was followed by another email saying that if it was OK by me, Vaizey would contact me once he had heard back from the Home Office. A few days later I had an email from the Home Office, acknowledging that I had made good points and that they would do better in future. A week or so after that I received a real, honest to goodness letter from Vaizey's PA, enclosing a copy of a longer letter from the HO, which was similar in tone and content to the email I had received. OK, so I didn't get a personal letter from my MP this time, but I'm quite happy with the outcome overall. (I tried contacting my constituency's previous MP, Robert Jackson, once but never heard anything from him, so my 2-for-2 with the new guy is a definite improvement.)

Of course, if the Home Office send me a Word document again I'll be a bit annoyed, but that will be a good excuse to have a bit more fun with them.