Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Martin (Admin) on November 30, 2009, 03:57:17 pm
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So there I am at home going through the bills and various other bits of junk mail and I come across a letter from Xxxxxx Gas Ltd.
'Dear Sucker,
....we have adjusted you direct debit in accordance to your gas useage over the last year.
Your new rates will increase from £72 per month to..... £285 per month.
Thank you for your custom.
Regards,
Uncaring Conglomerate.
Therein followed a very short but very terse conversation to said company.
I followed up with another, more reasonable phone call a couple of days later and I actually got through to a reasonable person
that didn't need any prompting from me! "Your bill seems to have gone up by..... 300% .... in one month! Hmmm, that doesn't
seem quite right, have you changed anything dramatic recently?"
"No. Don't you think you should ring someone to mention that their bill is going up 400%???"
"Well you would have thought so but we don't.... on the other hand, we would have rang you when you Didn't pay it!
What I'll do is arrange for your meter to be changed on Friday. We very sorry about this. We'll assess your bill based on a weeks
useage on the new meter and we'll backdate you bill up to 24 months when you meter was last replaced.
My name is _____ _____. My personal phone No. is _________. Anything else I can help you with sir?"
"Oh!...... Er.......no. Thank you very much."
Well, we'll see what happens next but needless to say, everyone in the house is wearing thermals this week as the heating is set to 1o above the fridge! We sit around a candle in the evenings and I'll light it if it gets really cold!
What's your tail of woe / joy?
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I got an electric bill last week for £98.
Rang up said company and told them i cant have a bill,as i'm on a payment card,if i dont put any money on card,i dont get electric.
OOPS sorry they said,you are actually in credit,i know put £30 on it today i said
Mark
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My brother had an insistent meter reader demanding to have access to the house to read the gas meter. He wasn't even apologetic when he was informed that they did not have gas.
On another occasion he had a vastly inflated estimate for his electricity. When he complained, he was told he was out when the meter reader called. Not denying that that might have been true, he asked why the meter reader hadn't opened the meter cupboard, situated next to the front door, and read the meter. Surely they carried the appropriate key? Mumbled apology, through grtted teeth.
They are out there, working out how to annoy you next <*< <*< <*<
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The Gestapo were round Queensbury last week with their clipboards and hi-viz jackets, demanding to know what we all do with our trade waste. For those of you that do not run a business, waste collection is not covered by the Business Rates. Just managing to keep my temper, I told them that my waste consisted almost entirely of cardboard and teabags, and that most of the cardboard was reused by another business.
So now I have to get this chap to produce a Waste Transfer Note every time he picks up the cardboard and keep it for two years. More likely he just won't bother.
And we pay the wages of these jobsworths and for the gormless glossy brochure they left.
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So, when the guy who takes your cardboard away decides he does not want it this time (but he did not want to offend you by not taking it )and dumps it by the roadside and it is then traced back to you and you receive a summons for fly tipping because you are unable to show you transferred it to him, your quite happy are you?
And when the "jobsworths" detect another trader dumping toxic waste next to a children's play area you think that is a waste of time as well do you?
It is amazing what trying to see things from another perspective can do!
Roger in France.
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I changed to a water meter a while back.
I pay my water bill monthly and my new payment went down by 50%, yes 50%.
Anyway, my last bill showed I was in credit by rather a large amount so I phoned up the water board who checked my meter reading and found that I was actually using
25% of the water they had allowed for when working out my payments.
They reimbursed my over payments without query and again reduced my monthly payments.
I am a very happy person.
More money for boats ?
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Which water Co are you with?
Jimmy
Freebooter
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Solent water,
He dont worry about drinking/bathing in salt water {-)
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Which water Co are you with?
Jimmy
Freebooter
Southern Water, Solent water is to far to walk.
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The whole point is, Roger, that they never catch the fly tippers. They just go for the soft option - the people who pay their Business Rates, their Income Tax, their VAT, their Class 4 NICs and, ultimately, their wages.
I repeat that they are jobsworths, anxious only to justify their existence, their wages (now above the average for private industry) and assured pensions.
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Where is the evidence for what you say, Jonty?
Roger in France
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the only peeps making money are speed cameras and health and safety!! The amount of paperwork I now have to do as a warehouse manager just for enviromental waste takes up 10 hrs a week! (I work in print).......Then health and safety come in and say you have to have this do that, more expense, then we have to have iso this and iso that then on top of that we have to have FSC accreditation, that has to kept up to date etc etc......and that is before I even start to get a delivery thru the door!
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I'm with Roger on the fly-tipping question..
On water meters... If we all have them fitted the company income goes down by say 50% won't the rate for a cubic meter of waterever then go up? and we'll be back to square one?
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Oh, we catch the fly tippers alright...all the favourite places they use have recently installed CCTV, and there they are on camera, throwing all their c**p out the back of an old Transit van on film.
The council prosecute them...the courts fine them a paltry sum, slap their wrists and tell them to be solid, upstanding citizens in future. The next night, there they are again, fly tipping in another place. I spend the best part of my time now clearing fly tips so they can go tip another lot.
Still, I look at it in a positive way...if there weren't any fly tippers, I wouldn't have a job.
As for electric bills....yesterday I had 11(yes, eleven)separate electric bills arrive through my letter box. They varied from £36 through to £745. Guess which one I'll be paying...
Rich
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The guy that was dumping Asbestos close to me hardly got a slap on the wrists recently, problem with the whole fly tipping saga is costs. No matter how much extra the councils load on for getting rid of waste, it still ends up dumped BECAUSE of the extra costs.
Have been re-cycling our houshold waste for ages now, NOT cos we're treehuggers, but we CAN. All plastics in one bag, tins in another, glass likewise etc..
Trot down to the council tip locally one day to find "Plastic bottles ONLY" on the plastic skip. Where does the rest of it go??? In with the general waste.
Before the technologists start whining, I worked in design for many many years, so don't start with the different grades of plastic excuse. It's far easier sorting polystyrene from PET or ABS when it's all in one mix rather than inamongst food waste and houshold rubbish.
As most of us have to put our wheelie bins next to the road for the crews to hook onto the back of the wagon and then abandon till WE shift them back, Why do cleansing charges keep going up??
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As most of us have to put our wheelie bins next to the road for the crews to hook onto the back of the wagon and then abandon till WE shift them back, Why do cleansing charges keep going up??
Because the cost to the council of disposing of your rubbish keeps going up....fuel for the RCV's keeps going up....road tax/insurance for the RCV's keeps going up....the cost of an RCV keeps going up...etc etc.
Next question?
Rich
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There are times when the council (or their duly appointed agents) try to increase their own costs. When we were wheelied, we also got a snazzy blue bag for paper. Last month, about a year into the scheme, they were swapped for brown bags, about half the size. I wondered a few things. First, how much did the new bags cost? Second, since the blue ones were perfectly serviceable, what was the carbon footprint of providing brand new, totally un-needed bags? Third, what happened to the blue ones?
When the collectors managed to lose the new one on their first collection, I took the opportunity to ask while reporting it. They replied promptly, advising that a new one would be supplied. They also said that my environmental query had been passed on. I ain't holding my breath waiting for a reply.
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just to show that gas companies can (do) get it all wrong.
We moved into our house, took it over from an elderly lady who lived alone and used very little gas.
Over a period of time, house was modified and central heating installed. Estimated bills started to appear, grossly incorrect by a good margin (way too low). Tried to get them altered, waste of time - talk to yourself was a more useful game.
After about eighteen months of this, I did a reading and calculated what I owed. Oh dear me, sweat breaks out on forehead. In the region of £350, bill comes in - £13.
Tried everything to get them to take the correct amount (including a trip to their head office). No way, we can only take what is on the bill.
Even got my wife to go into office and try (on the basis that she could confuse anyone or any situation) - still no joy. The final straw was to mention to them that they had my address wrong, could that be sorted while we're at it?
'Not interested in your address mate - we only work from your reference number'.
Situation finally resolved when we changed to natural gas, the old meter and it's evidence vanished and was never heard of again.
Breathed a few sighs of relief later, they finally lost out on over £450 of charges. :}
And the address? That only took another twenty years to resolve, but hey, who is perfect?
Signed,
A consumer who almost likes gas companies
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I recently switched to British Gas to get a dual fuel tariff with online management. They have had a lot of problems with their website software but it finally seems to be working now.
Had an email - "View your bill online". I did, it was up to date and I was £279 in debit. Having gone back through all the records it seems that the monthly direct debit has been set too low so since March I have been slowly sliding downhill although nobody has said anything. (must be all the time I spend on Mayhem). They do however have a facility for making one off payments "although you don't need to as you are on direct debit". I have cleared the debit balance now but if I hadn't taken action i just wonder how long it would have been before they woke up to the fact that I owed them a couple of grand or so....
Must go out and buy some of those LED bulbs.
Colin
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Earlier in the year I had a new central heating installed, as part of this I had my water main updated from lead to plastic. Had to have a plan drawn up for the new meter by Thames £200 deposit for that, I would get it back if I decided not have them install the meter, who else will do it? Cost for installation of water meter and inspection £795 minus my 200 deposit. I contacted Thames when the trench reached the depth of a World War 1 trench to have them inspect my nice new blue pipe, slight problem with insulation of pipe in my property, that will be another £81 pound for re-inspection. Men come to install meter two men start to dig hole in wrong place, quick argument sorts that out, install water meter box, two men then turn up to install said water meter first two men then connect water meter to mains pipe, hole filled in. Next day two men turn up dig up around the water meter and reisntate the pavement, next day another two men turn up to dig up the hole where the water is connected and refill hole. Last Friday men come back to cure leak in meter box, and the pavement has sunk where the new mains connection is, councils turn now.
Brian
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Charge by Southern Water to install water meter, nothing.
Time taken, part of one day including making good the pavement.
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Brian, was yours done anywhere around ....April first by any chance...?!?!
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We got a water meter last year.
One phone call to Severn Trent, one bloke, half a day, includes external reading point, very neat job behind sink unit.
Last annual bill before meter = £402
Monthly direct debit with meter = £15.94 (under £200 per year)
Current situation = £41.31 IN CREDIT
I'm an even happier bunny than Dicky :-))
Danny
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Martin
The water meter was installed in June, just found out today that I paid my first water bill from a meter in July I will not get another bill until Jan 2010
Brian
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Hi all,
Had a BT phone line, decided to get orange broadband. Orange connected me up to the net but i had terrible interference on my phoneline & everytime i made or received a call i lost my broadband connection for 20 mins. called Orange
'hello,i seem to have a problem with my connection
'can u speak up, you have a terrible line
' yes , thats what I'm ringing up about
Orange said it was obviously a fault with the BT line & i needed to ring them, so i did
'hello,i seem to have a problem with my connection
'can u speak up, you have a terrible line
' yes , thats what I'm ringing up about
BT said it was obviously a problem with Orange
Rang Orange
'hello,i seem to have a problem with my connection
'can u speak up, you have a terrible line
' yes , thats what I'm ringing up about
Orange said they would run a check on my line, & could i ring them back on another line while they carried it out. i said only got my mobile, can you ring me. was informed ' thats not possible sir. Imagine that a phone company that cant ring out!!! rang orange on my mobile, they said nothing is wrong with your connection AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
over the next 10 months i had the 'speak up please its a bad line' conversation with orange 17 times !!! each time there was no fault found with my line.
Finally I decided to swap my phone line to orange so they couldn't blame BT, Another 7 ' can u speak up its a bad line' coversations, their 'technical department sent me 4 new asdl filters, 6 connecting wires & 2 new modems, all of which had no effect on the problem.
eventually i found a friend, who new a man , who new a man that worked for orange & was able to obtain a number to their engineers department. 1 phone call & my problems disappeared overnight. 3 months now & i never loose my connection & i have a super clear phone line.
I rang Orange to see if i could get any recompense for my trouble. the operator was annoyed that i had got a number to the engineers department as they don't give that number out! so i didn't get far there. As luck would have it, I work for a car body repair shop & we were repairing our companies solicitors car,I mentioned this problem to him & he offered to write them a letter. 2 weeks later i got a very long letter of apology from orange & 3 months free broadband.
Big companies are OK once you find who to talk too
cheers Glenn.
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A few years ago my Grandfather died and my dad was left to clear up his estate
A call to his bank to discuss closing his account put through to someone in an Indian Call centre
"Im sorry sir we cant discuss your Fathers account without his written consent"
"But he's dead"
"Im sorry to hear that sir but we still need his written consent"
This went on for quite some time
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I was taught by my father not to take any "£$% from anyone.
So when my BT line stopped working I harassed them till they fix it. I also got 3 months free line rental.
When Talk Talk stuffed up my Broadband I harassed them till they fixed it. Got 6 months with £5 off.
When my orange contract ran out I harassed them till I got what I considered a fair deal.
When I changed my Dual Fuel to NPower and they stuffed me around I harassed them till they sorted it and got 2 free tickets to lords to watch the cricket.
The moral of the story is fight for a fair deal. As a consumer you do have rights and most of the time the law is on your side. Don't settle for anything less then absolute satisfaction and never be afraid to take it further or higher.
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Too true, Jonny. Remember that its best done by writing, or better yet these days, over the internet. That way you have copies that you can append in case they manage to "lose" anything. Its also a handy move if it obvious that your original query has gone through a "Cant be bothered to read it, just send the stock answer" phase. Your copies also gather a time and date stamp, as well.
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We got a water meter last year.
One phone call to Severn Trent, one bloke, half a day, includes external reading point, very neat job behind sink unit.
Last annual bill before meter = £402
Monthly direct debit with meter = £15.94 (under £200 per year)
Current situation = £41.31 IN CREDIT
I'm an even happier bunny than Dicky :-))
Danny
My original water rates were originally £ 460.00 per year this went down to about £230.00 per year when we had the water meter fitted.
We have just been re assessed and our bill is now £ 5.60 per month / £ 56.00 per year and we are in credit to the tune of £ 99.00.
I'm an even happier bunny than Danny :}
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Just received my combined electricity, phone and internet bill from my supplier at my place of business, the communications side was normal, the electricity charge - £ 559.61 for this month! finally got them to use the meters and not estimate!
As for water rates, my industrial unit was part of a block of three used by one business and was converted back to individuals when I moved in. I insisted that the water main be reconnected to my unit instead of running through from unit 1 - the landlord complied and fitted a new water meter. Unfortunately the water board won't recognise it and refuse to charge me based on those readings, the landlord says it's nothing to do with him, so I haven't paid water rates for seven years.
The water board says they can only start charging when they fit one of their own meters, but they won't pay to fit one....and neither will I !
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Fitted my water meter for nothing. Mind you it is a private dwelling not industrial.
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When We moved into this house 32 years ago we had the gas turned off and the metre removed as we brought gas bottles (2 x 104lbs )and a propane range from our previous dwelling (1 bottle cost £9.50 to refill and lasted approx 11 months, I think the gas metre rental was £15 a quarter ) For 2 and 1/2 years we got an estimated gas bill every quarter and every quarter we phoned the Gas company to say we weren't connected to the mains gas --- after a year of nonpayment by me, we were told they were comming to turn the gas off and that we would be charged for this service...I rang to say that there was nothing to disconnect... a few days later the gas man arrived with an Inspectore and a Bailiff when I ask why the bailiff I was told that I was being treated as a hostile client and they then demanded to see the metre ... I said I can't show you the metre because you took it away a year ago I even showed them the paper work to prove it was the gas board that had removed it--- BUT--- they still demanded to see the metre---- so I agreed to let them look in the cupboard --- the Inspector came back to me and said "YOU DON'T HAVE A METRE AND YOU'VE Allready been disconnected. I said something like Bright boy now sling your hook...Next quarter we got a bill from the gas Co. 9 months later they came around to disconnect us -- 3 months later we got a Gas bill ----3 months after that I took the gas co. to court for harassment and won the case hands down.... But thats another story
Freebooter >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( :-))
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So there I am at home going through the bills and various other bits of junk mail and I come across a letter from Xxxxxx Gas Ltd.
'Dear Sucker,
....we have adjusted you direct debit in accordance to your gas useage over the last year.
Your new rates will increase from £72 per month to..... £285 per month.
Thank you for your custom.
Regards,
Uncaring Conglomerate.
Therein followed a very short but very terse conversation to said company.
I followed up with another, more reasonable phone call a couple of days later and I actually got through to a reasonable person
that didn't need any prompting from me! "Your bill seems to have gone up by..... 300% .... in one month! Hmmm, that doesn't
seem quite right, have you changed anything dramatic recently?"
"No. Don't you think you should ring someone to mention that their bill is going up 400%???"
"Well you would have thought so but we don't.... on the other hand, we would have rang you when you Didn't pay it!
What I'll do is arrange for your meter to be changed on Friday. We very sorry about this. We'll assess your bill based on a weeks
useage on the new meter and we'll backdate you bill up to 24 months when you meter was last replaced.
My name is _____ _____. My personal phone No. is _________. Anything else I can help you with sir?"
"Oh!...... Er.......no. Thank you very much."
Well, we'll see what happens next but needless to say, everyone in the house is wearing thermals this week as the heating is set to 1o above the fridge! We sit around a candle in the evenings and I'll light it if it gets really cold!
What's your tail of woe / joy?
Not suggestting you've done this but, I know one person who put an electric fire in their loft a few years ago when we had another really cold snap to stop the pipes freezing (or so they said).
Some time later they were mystified when the leccie bills were regularly 200 and 300 quid more than they used to be. They complained to the leccie co and had the meter tested etc. Then in the summer they had to go in the loft. Guess what? The leccie fire was still on. They'd forgotten all about it for about 9 months!
Oh and dont start me off on gas and leccie for a business! Had to go into an old unit that is thankfully being moved on in literally 2 weeks. Switched the leccie back on and the light to take a final meter read and the meter was spinning like a whirling dervish. All for one flourescent light! Grrrrrr!
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It's true that some years ago some gas companies were using an illegal bogus legal shortcut to disconnect non-paying customers (often hardship cases where folks had no money). In law they have the 'Rights of Entry Act' which empowers them to force entry to make safe a gas installation to prevent a possible explosion. They failed to explain that these powers could only be used in the circumstances of a reported gas leak on the installation, when they entered to cap supply/confiscate the meter. A hefty fee was also demanded later, for re-installing the meter, in addition to the full payment of arrears. Their action was both illegal and unreasonable and essentially held folk to ransome who often could'nt pay throught no fault of their own - heartless. Publicity finally halted their dodge.
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It's true that some years ago some gas companies were using an illegal bogus legal shortcut to disconnect non-paying customers (often hardship cases where folks had no money). In law they have the 'Rights of Entry Act' which empowers them to force entry to make safe a gas installation to prevent a possible explosion. They failed to explain that these powers could only be used in the circumstances of a reported gas leak on the installation, when they entered to cap supply/confiscate the meter. A hefty fee was also demanded later, for re-installing the meter, in addition to the full payment of arrears. Their action was both illegal and unreasonable and essentially held folk to ransome who often could'nt pay throught no fault of their own - heartless. Publicity finally halted their dodge.
Yep and all sold off for a few pieces of silver \ short term gain! Now, mostly foreign owned and the UK customer base subsidises the customers of those foreign companies in its home market. FACT!
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arrange for your meter to be changed on Friday. We very sorry about this. We'll assess your bill based on a weeks
useage on the new meter and we'll backdate you bill up to 24 months when you meter was last replaced.
What's your tail of woe / joy?
Martin
DO NOT LET THEM TAKE YOUR METER!
honestly, similar thing happened to me about 3 or 4 years ago.. those bafoons British Gas removed my meter and promptly "lost it" and its final meter reading!
but
they owed me over £350 in over payments due to all the estimated bills and no meter readings being taken.....
anyway 18 months and 1000 hours on the phone later... i had no refund and a solicitor writing to them threatening legal action for their incomptence !
i eventually at nearly 2 years later had to settle for a £180 refund and not so much as an apology
trust me! i would rather set fire to my own furniture to keep warm than go back to that incompetent shower of XXXXwits !
db
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My first apprenticeship was with NZ Telecom, a wholly government owned and run monopoly, no competition allowed.We did as pleased and nobody could complain as they had nowhere to go. Worst first job a person could have, taught me to be an inconsiderate so & so.
Later in life, after a stint in the RNZAF and some private corporations I went back to telecommunications, for a private company that was setting up a totally seperate infrastructure at high cost, I was a QC and had to ensure quality of not only the installations but the quality of service in general. Let me just say it was a shock to compare where I started from and what I was now doing.
It is amazing to see how quickly problems can be resolved when a contract installers job is on the line. I personally gave away multiple months of free service with free upgrades to compensate for rude, beligerent installers who could be arsed to do a good job and be polite while doing it. Problem was that as soon as a customer has your business card they think you are their personal customer care rep.
A lot of big businesses seem to feel they don't have to give a damn, but introduce some healthy competition and see what happens. I just hate the service centres based in Calcutta or where ever they are as I have major problems trying to get my point across to someone who barely speaks my language.