An investigation by the weekly North Devon Journal has revealed a disheartening lack of customer care amongst some of the areas businesses and local authorities.

In today's service-driven, technology-influenced world, organisations often stress the importance of customer care.

So the Journal decided to put a number of businesses, MPs, schools and charities to the test.

The challenge was simple - the paper mocked up a letter, asking for more information about their environmental policies, using a false name and a residential address.

Forty-six letters were sent out by first class post on December 5, and all the Journal had to do then was sit and wait.

But in the case of 31 organisations, they are still waiting.

Journal reporter Emma Pearcy said: "We set a deadline of six weeks for the replies to come back, which we thought was ample time, but we were surprised by the lack of response.

"Personally I thought we would get well over half of the replies. And those that we did get back were very much a mixed-bag - it was interesting to discover which ones came back in time.

"Since we published our findings a lot of people have said how interesting they found it and have asked if we've had any more replies since - which we haven't.

"We haven't had any comeback from any of the organisations we sent letters to either, either to say that they never received the letter or to apologise."

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk