Over the last couple of years I have noticed a decline in the number of our North Island clients and an increase in those from the South Island. As such, I have decided to move home and office to Christchurch, right in the middle of the South Island. You will notice our change of address and telephone numbers on our website but our website and email addresses remain the same. The move gave rise to some thoughts about levels of service: Brickbats I phoned the freephone number for one of the world's larger moving companies, one that we used before in our moves to and from Hong Kong. They wouldn't answer the phone so I tried to pay their Wellington office a visit, in person. The street address had no street parking and their site has a large sign stating 'no on-site customer parking'. Did I use them? I phoned the freephone number for one of New Zealand's larger moving company. Again, they wouldn't answer their phone. Worse, they no longer work from the address shown on their website nor were they at the site shown by NZ Post. Yes, two different addresses! Did I use them? Moral of the story - If you want my business, at least answer your phone! Bouquets The third moving company I called were very different. The Moving Company answered their phone within a couple of rings. The person I talked to was very helpful and sent me a questionnaire to complete within a few minutes of our conversation. The questionnaire detailed the items we wished to move and was quite detailed yet easy to complete. I had a quote from The Moving Company within a couple of days, excellent service. And, the packers and movers were very helpful and professional. I cannot recommend The Moving Company highly enough. Freeman Software uses Vodafone NZ for our website hosting, email and telephones. About a month before the move I emailed them about the move. They replied with the number to ring and instructions to get through their voice-mail maze. On the day of the move, the person I talked to knew what they were doing and did what I needed in a couple of minutes. As a result we still have a website and email but, temporarily, don't have a land-line. No fuss, no bother, just what we needed, excellent! We use TrustPower as our electricity provider. About a month before our move I emailed them about the move. They replied saying they had booked a final reading and would post the bill to my parent's address (provided). On the day of the move I called them to confirm my email. They had booked the final reading for later that day and would post the bill as indicated. I had nothing to do. You can't get much better service than that. In summary, we have moved to Christchurch and have learned a few things about service levels. If you keep your website up to date, answer your phones and have good people you will get my business. Thanks to all those involved for their help.