Regardless of the nature of your ecommerce enterprise, customer service will be a key ingredient in your success. Remarkably though, online stores are at something of a disadvantage in this regard because face-to-face human interaction is not possible. Your customer service team must become adept at helping people remotely, while leaving them feeling they’ve experienced a personal encounter. Apple Computer is among the best in the business when it comes to this. Here’s how Apple reinvented customer service. The Power...

Just 30 miles wide, Menorca might be Mallorca’s little brother, but it shouldn’t be ignored until there’s no one else to play Xbox with. It’s a small island of concentrated fun, with a wealth of beaches, so much nature that Unesco got involved, and oodles of rustic charm. Most locals don’t speak English. It’s fantastic. Climb up one of its many peaks for a soul-nourishing vista of mottled greens and browns of fields, farms and fincas. Or, make a beeline...

More than 100 politicians have been killed across Mexico ahead of general elections on 1 July. Mexicans will head to the polls this Sunday to elect a new president, senators and members of the Chamber of Deputies as well as more than 3,000 posts at regional and local levels. But the event has been marred with accusations of state corruption. The entire police force of the Mexican town of Ocampo was detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a...

Last week I talked about Jurassic Park and how, at 11, it felt like my movie. Sleepless in Seattle isn’t that. It’s my mum’s movie. I honestly don’t know where I got the movie bug, none of my family are cinephiles. My parents, generally speaking, like their movies safe. I used to have to assure my mother that a film would have a happy ending if there was even the tiniest bit of suspense during it. My folks are great,...

Ilie Florin Dragusin (trip corr) was one of three head tenants to convert the property into an unlicensed HMO where 35 men were crammed into substandard living conditions with mattresses decked from wall-to-wall.

The Government should write into law a positive definition of self-employment to provide clarity on who is and who is not genuinely self-employed, IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) has said. The call follows a decision in the employment tribunal today that a group of Hermes couriers were workers and not self-employed. GMB, the union for lifestyle couriers, scored a landmark legal victory against Hermes after an employment tribunal ruled their couriers are entitled to basic workers’ rights. The...

Learning SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) can be a confusing task: there is no one way to do it. Due to the fast-paced nature of technology, the ins and outs of optimizing your content might also change over time. For this reason, it is important to maintain an open-minded and diverse attitude when learning about SEO. It’s critical to be flexible and understand that SEO will continue to evolve. In other words, if you get stuck in a single formula, your...

A private girls' school in west London has sparked outrage after serving baked potatoes with beans and coleslaw for lunch to mark an "Austerity Day" designed to help pupils learn about "less fortunate" people. St Paul's Girls' School, which has fees of £7,978 per term, had an "austerity lunch" of baked potatoes and fruit in a bid to introduce attendees to "simple" foods. The school, where a typical menu for students includes herb-crusted salmon and duck leg confit, posted about the event...

The Social Security Advisory Committee – the panel of experts responsible for scrutinising laws which affect the benefits system – have published the Government’s draft proposals for moving more than two million disabled people onto Universal Credit. The Government has said that this will take place between 2019 and 2023. It will affect around one million people with mental health problems who currently receive the disability benefit Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Under these proposals people currently getting ESA will receive a letter informing...