I AGREE with your recent correspondent that the Trafford Council claims of "Excellence, Investment, Efficiency" couldn't be further from the reality.

My recent experience of trying to acquire some replacement food waste bags has left me exasperated.

During April and May I have made five telephone calls to request replacement bags.

Only two phone calls resulted in me actually speaking to real people, whereas three calls have left me holding in unanswered queues listening to an endless recorded message, (Recorded in a strong Liverpool accent too - why not a local to Trafford accent?)

On April 6, I was promised the replacement bags would reach me within five days but they didn't arrive.

I was subsequently advised that there is no stock to send to an apparently very long waiting list of Trafford residents.

There is a strong principal in my request for replacement waste bags rather than me buying my own stock.

I am entitled to them via my hefty council tax bill.

As telephone calls have not provided me with the replacement waste bags I requested, I last week emailed the council via its own website link.

Why am I not surprised to have received an unhelpful reply to my email? This is the council response to my email: "Thank you for contacting the One Trafford – Waste Management Team. We are no longer receiving emails at this address. Your email has not automatically been forwarded, so please resend your email to the new address. We apologise for any inconvenience caused".

I duly forwarded my email to the alternative address supplied. Have I received a reply or an acknowledgement yet, or have I received some replacement waste bags? What do you think?!

Name and address supplied