WAMT....what annoyed me today!

[woof woof]

Another annoyance for me.

I took one of my cars to a main dealer and I got very good service. The guy on the desk told me I'd be getting a customer service questionnaire email and I did indeed get one a few days later and as I was impressed with the service I filled it in.

Since then I've been deluged with junk emails. I'm sick of this happening. There should be a law against passing customers details on to third parties without consent. Booking flights seems to be another thing that starts the junk email deluge.

 

[LCPete]

Another annoyance for me.

I took one of my cars to a main dealer and I got very good service. The guy on the desk told me I'd be getting a customer service questionnaire email and I did indeed get one a few days later and as I was impressed with the service I filled it in.

Since then I've been deluged with junk emails. I'm sick of this happening. There should be a law against passing customers details on to third parties without consent. Booking flights seems to be another thing that starts the junk email deluge.

yes that’s very frustrating as well as when you fill in something online that includes your email and tick the box not to get offers etc from them they seem to spam you anyway

 

[woof woof]

yes that’s very frustrating as well as when you fill in something online that includes your email and tick the box not to get offers etc from them they seem to spam you anyway

I always tick those boxes but sometimes it just doesn't work...

I know I can't blame the car dealership as this will be something that comes from HQ or some partner organisation. It is irritating and annoying and I do think it should be illegal. But... a percentage of people will no doubt bite and as they will there's money to be made in all this.

 

[Pixbarmy]

Another email this morning. The engineer is coming tomorrow. I've been online to cancel it and you can change it but not cancel it. Efficiency???? I'll just let them arrive. I just lost the will to ...................................................

Guess who never turned up? I have never had such a performance, to get an upgrade on something that I could probably have managed without in the first place. If it hadn't meant having to change all my email addys and mobiles, I would have just told them to stick it where the sun don't shine. Maybe next year, I'll prepare in advance!

 

[Boots]

Tried to pay a tradesman from my Barclays account. Nothing dodgy, he's completed the work and it's all good.

Entered all the details for a payment, ticked all the boxes that absolved Barclays of any responsibility or liability, then ticked some more boxes to demonstrate that I was not the victim of fraud. Finally clicked Pay.

Barclays respond with "We're going to do some additional checks, they should be complete within four hours". It's now 21 hours and counting.

No payment has been made. Nothing has been heard from Barclays. Any attempt to contact them fails.

Grrr!

 

[Cobra]

I'd be getting a customer service questionnaire email and I did indeed get one a few days later and as I was impressed with the service I filled it in.

I never fill those in, you gain nothing and its purely a phishing exercise.
I occasionally buy stuff from Halfords, "We'll email you your receipt"
No you f*****g won't!

 

[Dale.]

I insured one of the cars through the week, I changed companies. Within half an hour, there was a survey sitting in my inbox.

Delete.

 

[luthy]

Tried to pay a tradesman from my Barclays account. Nothing dodgy, he's completed the work and it's all good.

Entered all the details for a payment, ticked all the boxes that absolved Barclays of any responsibility or liability, then ticked some more boxes to demonstrate that I was not the victim of fraud. Finally clicked Pay.

Barclays respond with "We're going to do some additional checks, they should be complete within four hours". It's now 21 hours and counting.

No payment has been made. Nothing has been heard from Barclays. Any attempt to contact them fails.

Grrr!

I had a similar problem with Halifax a few years ago. I got a loan for some home improvements and told them this. Got the roof slates replaced then tried to pay via bank transfere it was refused had to ring and explain the problem still no joy. I had to go to the branch and speak to someone they wanted photo id I had none at the time my driving license was the old green one, no passport etc. The only lucky thing was the lady I saw was similar age and understood the problem she got onto the sercurity team and sorted it out. Just a pain to pay a legit bill and the banks "computer says no"

 

[Box Brownie]

Tried to pay a tradesman from my Barclays account. Nothing dodgy, he's completed the work and it's all good.

Entered all the details for a payment, ticked all the boxes that absolved Barclays of any responsibility or liability, then ticked some more boxes to demonstrate that I was not the victim of fraud. Finally clicked Pay.

Barclays respond with "We're going to do some additional checks, they should be complete within four hours". It's now 21 hours and counting.

No payment has been made. Nothing has been heard from Barclays. Any attempt to contact them fails.

Grrr!

I had a similar problem with Halifax a few years ago. I got a loan for some home improvements and told them this. Got the roof slates replaced then tried to pay via bank transfere it was refused had to ring and explain the problem still no joy. I had to go to the branch and speak to someone they wanted photo id I had none at the time my driving license was the old green one, no passport etc. The only lucky thing was the lady I saw was similar age and understood the problem she got onto the sercurity team and sorted it out. Just a pain to pay a legit bill and the banks "computer says no"

FWIW my Bank uses a PIN sentry device (no app for me....only PC online banking) and new payees require use of the pin sentry to authorise the payment.

Fingers crossed, to date, I have not experienced what you describe above .

 

[woof woof]

I never fill those in, you gain nothing and its purely a phishing exercise.
I occasionally buy stuff from Halfords, "We'll email you your receipt"
No you f*****g won't!

I insured one of the cars through the week, I changed companies. Within half an hour, there was a survey sitting in my inbox.

Delete.

I think I've learned my leason.

I had read pretty poor things about this dealership but they seem to be making an effort and honestly I couldn't fault them, even the price was reasonable. So I thought I'd fill it in and give good feedback.

 

[Boots]

FWIW my Bank uses a PIN sentry device (no app for me....only PC online banking) and new payees require use of the pin sentry to authorise the payment.

Fingers crossed, to date, I have not experienced what you describe above .

I missed that step out of my tale - but no, I had to do PIN sentry as well.

Oh, should have said - the bill was paid about half an hour ago. Took 20 hours. Not a word from Barclays at any point.

 

[ancient_mariner]

Just got back from waiting to photograph the Cathedrals Express steam loco. It was early, and I missed it by a couple of minutes (we had guests and I couldn't leave sooner) so stood in the cold and rain for 25min before a passer-by was kind enough to tell me.

 

[Mozthecat]

We had a similar situation with a house purchase a while back. Made a chaps payment in branch due to value, having taken all the purchase paperwork in case they wanted to make any enquires etc. As we walked away from the counter the assistant said “oh by the way you might a text later”…
3 hours later and after the part time branch had closed for the next two days wife gets a text from a 5 digit short code phone number saying “This is Barclays, was the chaps payment to xxx solicitor genuine, please reply yes or no” .
Problem was we use a cheap phone network (Plusnet) that don’t support sending texts to those shortcode numbers.
Phoned telephone banking and they didn’t recognise the short code number they had sent the text from so it went through the security team and took over an hour for them to find someone who knew how to solve it. Luckily we had a few days in hand as it went the following day instead of within 4 hours as it should have done.

 

[JohnC6]

This morning I was looking online for quality bird seed. I used to buy 20Kgs for about £14. I read that many birds won't eat wheat. The seed I want is wheat-free. I don't think seed at 2kgs for £14 can be decent quality. I've also just gone over to fat balls from "Peckish" which have niger seed and other healthy bits in them.They are £15 for 50. At Range they are £6 for 50.

What's annoyed me is the pricing for free delivery re the seed which is free on any order £25 and over. I want the 25.1kg size and it comes in two 12.55 kg bags and costs...£24.99 Standard delivery for under £25 is from £3.99.Saturday Delivery available from £7.99.

I just think it's sharp practice but is often they way online retailers sell. It doesn't stop there. There's an offer of 10% for signing up to a newsletter but to qualify you have to spend £30 or more. So.. I'll get the 25.1Kg of seed plus a bag of suet/mealworm pellets for £10.99..see ? ...99p. That comes to £35.98. I'll get 10% off that so that's £3.59. Total £32.39.

I'll have the garage door ready to open from the outside when I see the delivery arrive because they say .."Our boxes are shipped in weights of up to 30kg. If you are unable to carry this much, please ask a neighbour or family member for help or consider opening the box and taking the items out one at a time to move"

This is interesting. They say .." If you need more time to get to the door for you delivery, DPD have launched a feature called 'More Time Needed' in their app. Simply download the app and when the delivery shows up in it, select the relevant option. You can also specify the exact location for your parcel to be left via the DPD app using what3words"


Re the fat balls, the Peckish" Extra Goodness Balls" are 50 for £15 from Amazon and there's another company I came across that does 60 for £16...oh and 99p.. My wife has Amazon Prime so it's "free" delivery but re that £16.99 company this is what's written in very small,faint writing barely visible ..a copy/paste so it's is normal print. "Order under £50? Your delivery charge may be £4.50 (Check here)"

You really have to be..no pun intended but.."on the ball."

 

[JohnC6]

I never fill those in, you gain nothing and its purely a phishing exercise.
I occasionally buy stuff from Halfords, "We'll email you your receipt"
No you f*****g won't!

A few years ago I had that at Halfords,too. Some retailers just ask for the Email adderess as though it's part of the procedure. They must get training on how to appear nonchalent..Lol.

Anyway, the first time re Halfords I just smiled and said, "Nice try" and the chap laughed and wished me a good day. I think he meant it,too. I've done that a couple of times and it always gets a smile. Another option for me is to give my old extinct Email address. When I was on a weather forum one of the lads was getting Emails from people asking him why he wanted money..something like that. Someone had hacked into his Email. What,I thought, was a rather stupid thing to do was to answer one person telling them he hadn't Emailed anyone and he'd been hacked and copy in everyone else's Email address. I saw about 20 Email addresses including mine so I ditched it. I had to Email another member who relished sending out what I call "funnies" and unusual 'things' and such-like. As I recall, one was a man in Vietnam on a bicycle well over-loaded..another four people on a motorbike in India..somewhere like that.. etc. He copied-in all his contacts so we all saw eachother's Email address. I told him it was a goldmine for those engaged in phishing activities. At least he stopped after I told him.

When I give that cancelled Email address the retailer or whoever will just get a message..invalid Email address or "Unable to deliver ..whatever.

 

[Cobra]

I just smiled and said, "Nice try"

I've done that.

Another option for me is to give my old extinct Email address.

I've done that too.

But then I'm probably not quite so polite as you, preferring option A

 

[Pixbarmy]

We had a similar situation with a house purchase a while back. Made a chaps payment in branch due to value, having taken all the purchase paperwork in case they wanted to make any enquires etc. As we walked away from the counter the assistant said “oh by the way you might a text later”…
3 hours later and after the part time branch had closed for the next two days wife gets a text from a 5 digit short code phone number saying “This is Barclays, was the chaps payment to xxx solicitor genuine, please reply yes or no” .
Problem was we use a cheap phone network (Plusnet) that don’t support sending texts to those shortcode numbers.
Phoned telephone banking and they didn’t recognise the short code number they had sent the text from so it went through the security team and took over an hour for them to find someone who knew how to solve it. Luckily we had a few days in hand as it went the following day instead of within 4 hours as it should have done.

Most of these problems for customers seem to stem from poor internal communications. I know that several of the folks that I have had to speak to recently have been working from home. Whether that impacts the amount of technology at their fingertips, I don't know. I couldn't have run my business from home. I wouldn't have had my "wall" with all my contacts written on it! That took years to build up!

 

[mj4456]

Had the kitchen refit done last year, as it was being completed-tidying up etc- I tried to pay, so many hoops to jump through I got the wife to make coffee for the guys and nipped down to the bank for cash, when the lass asked why I wanted cash I told her my dealer and the hookers are a cash only services, my sister in law appeared-she works in the branch-and said it was ok nobody gets cash from me easily, she then told the teller that I probably wasn’t kidding about my need for cash, I get funny looks anytime I’m in the bank now.

 

[Gremlin]

My home is all electric, heating is night storage with economy7.
Last Wednesday I woke up to a cold house and water heater hadn't come on either.
I had heard that the type of meter I have is not going to work for E7 sometime this year but have heard nothing from my supplier.
Phoned them to be told it was nothing to do with them, even though it's their meter and I needed to get an electrician to come and confirm it, Yes they are turning off the meter for E7 as it works on a longwave radio signal (RTS) supplied by the BBC which is is stopping on 31st March, only solution is to have a smart meter, which for the past 3 years they have said I can't have.
Whilst I was talking to the electrician, who agreed it was their problem they left a voicemail for me to phone them back,
and are sending out an engineer to check as no one has ever been just appts cancelled almost as so as they are made, so fingers crossed
It seems a few of my neighbours still have the old RTS meters, some in the 80s and have had no word from the suppliers about it, so in a month's time will have cold houses

For anyone interested

Radio Teleswitch electricity meters: consumer guidance

Changes to electricity meters using Radio Teleswitch (RTS) technology and how they affect households.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

 

[Suvv]

It seems a few of my neighbours still have the old RTS meters, some in the 80s and have had no word from the suppliers about it, so in a month's time will have cold houses

For anyone interested

Radio Teleswitch electricity meters: consumer guidance

Changes to electricity meters using Radio Teleswitch (RTS) technology and how they affect households.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

Your link says that it will change in 2025?

A different page on the ofgem site says 2024 !!

Economy 7 consumer guide

Guide to the Economy 7 electricity tariff which offers cheaper rates for off-peak hours and more expensive rates during peak hours.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

and that has a link to your article which says 2025!!!!

 

[Box Brownie]

My home is all electric, heating is night storage with economy7.
Last Wednesday I woke up to a cold house and water heater hadn't come on either.
I had heard that the type of meter I have is not going to work for E7 sometime this year but have heard nothing from my supplier.
Phoned them to be told it was nothing to do with them, even though it's their meter and I needed to get an electrician to come and confirm it, Yes they are turning off the meter for E7 as it works on a longwave radio signal (RTS) supplied by the BBC which is is stopping on 31st March, only solution is to have a smart meter, which for the past 3 years they have said I can't have.
Whilst I was talking to the electrician, who agreed it was their problem they left a voicemail for me to phone them back,
and are sending out an engineer to check as no one has ever been just appts cancelled almost as so as they are made, so fingers crossed
It seems a few of my neighbours still have the old RTS meters, some in the 80s and have had no word from the suppliers about it, so in a month's time will have cold houses

For anyone interested

Radio Teleswitch electricity meters: consumer guidance

Changes to electricity meters using Radio Teleswitch (RTS) technology and how they affect households.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

How b***dy annoying. Yonks ago when I had E7 it was all/based on the meter having 'child' meter as well and a timer that would switch between the meters after midnight..... IIRC

I note from the ofgem website that RTS switch off is due on 31st March 2025

So, as your electrician confirmed the loss of your overnight E7 is supply side/meter related and nothing that you have control over.....whoever your supplier is needs to get their proverbial finger out!

Care to name & shame them?

Best of luck getting it resolved

PS I was still typing and didn't refresh before @Suvv post.

 

[Mozthecat]

Your link says that it will change in 2025?

A different page on the ofgem site says 2024 !!

Economy 7 consumer guide

Guide to the Economy 7 electricity tariff which offers cheaper rates for off-peak hours and more expensive rates during peak hours.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

and that has a link to your article which says 2025!!!!

Your link says that it will change in 2025?

A different page on the ofgem site says 2024 !!

Economy 7 consumer guide

Guide to the Economy 7 electricity tariff which offers cheaper rates for off-peak hours and more expensive rates during peak hours.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

and that has a link to your article which says 2025!!!!

.

The problem they have is that the signal piggybacks off a BBC transmitter that the BBC wants switch off, as it still works on obsolete valves last made in the 70's and they apparently only have two spares left(apparently they are around 100cm in height).

The energy industry is on borrowed time with it but the botched smart meter roll out is not helping them. Smart meters can easily handle the timing issues but too many people are resistant to them.
They would also need to triple the numbers installed per day and only do RTS meters to hit the 2025 date...

 

[Gremlin]

Your link says that it will change in 2025?

A different page on the ofgem site says 2024 !!

Just found that it was extended in January to 2025

The problem they have is that the signal piggybacks off a BBC transmitter that the BBC wants switch off, as it still works on obsolete valves last made in the 70's and they apparently only have two spares left(apparently they are around 100cm in height).

The energy industry is on borrowed time with it but the botched smart meter roll out is not helping them. Smart meters can easily handle the timing issues but too many people are resistant to them.
They would also need to triple the numbers installed per day and only do RTS meters to hit the 2025 date...

Could explain why they said I couldn't have one and now that my present system is playing up are hopefully going to fix one now.
I actually thinks it is the timing bit that is playing up, it's fired up and different times a couple of days, should be 12 midnight to 7am, first time it turned on,was 2am to 9am, today it was 9am to 4pm. Peak and off Peak have different readings so not a big problem and at least I have some heat.
Can't really see the problem with Smart Meters, my daughter has one and gets cheap times during the day
People with only one rate aren't affected by it yet

 

[JohnC6]

Just got back from waiting to photograph the Cathedrals Express steam loco. It was early, and I missed it by a couple of minutes (we had guests and I couldn't leave sooner) so stood in the cold and rain for 25min before a passer-by was kind enough to tell me.

Toni..do you know how to see if a steam train has left Paddington or been cancelled and if it has left where it is and at what time..so either on time, ahead or late ?

 

[ancient_mariner]

Toni..do you know how to see if a steam train has left Paddington or been cancelled and if it has left where it is and at what time..so either on time, ahead or late ?

No - timing information was provided by a friend who is no longer local. I've no idea, sorry.

 

[Mozthecat]

Toni..do you know how to see if a steam train has left Paddington or been cancelled and if it has left where it is and at what time..so either on time, ahead or late ?

I know a lot of enthusiasts use realtimetrains.co.uk for their tracking, but not sure how they get the head code in the first place. You could probably find out on the wnxx forum or similar.

 

[JohnC6]

No - timing information was provided by a friend who is no longer local. I've no idea, sorry.

There's a website called Railway Herald and it lists all the tours. I've just gone to it and no locations are in yellow as they used to be. You could click on that location. ie in your case ,Paddington as the departure location, and you'd get the schedule but there are no locations in yellow so I'll contact my friend in Bath (by Email )and ask him what's happened. He knows all about these things. There is another way using 'Realtimetrains' as mentioned by Mozthecat but it's complicated and I never got the hang of it. It's a box-filling exercise. I'll get back to you.

 

[JohnC6]

I know a lot of enthusiasts use realtimetrains.co.uk for their tracking, but not sure how they get the head code in the first place. You could probably find out on the wnxx forum or similar.

Yes, you're right re getting the right codes on realtimetrains. It was quite exasperating and my friend would just do it and send me the resulting schedule. It was a case of "don't give me fish,teach me how to fish"..Lol .One day I just clicked on the yellow lettering of a tour listing to see why it was in yellow and RTT came up with the schedule page. Be interesting to see what my friend has to say about it.

 

[wilki]

RailAdvent also lists steam specials and their timings

 

[Dale.]

Daughter didn't get off the school bus today.

PANIC!

Apparently, there was a new drama group after school. Apparently, I was told.............. OK.


*PLOTS REVENGE*.

 

[Cobra]

*PLOTS REVENGE*.

Plenty of drama to be had in the Powell household then

But yeah I bet your heart skipped a beat or two!

 

[Dale.]

Plenty of drama to be had in the Powell household the

But yeah I bet your heart skipped a beat or two!

There was certainly drama, but not where it was supposed to be.

Several ignored phonecalls didn't help but allegedly, it was on silent. *digs superglue out to prevent silent switch being switched to off*

At least she had the foresight to get on the service bus 15 minutes later............. and finally sent me a text.

We have a tracker app on her phone, we rarely use it out of respect but it's invaluable for things like this. I didn't though know what to make of it when I could she was travelling by vehicle, 3 villages away but at least in our direction. I hadn't got the text by then.

Wifey's in a meeting too, so I couldn't contact her. We'll laugh about it later, after the point has been made.

Kids, I've never known worry like it.

 

[Cobra]

There was certainly drama, but not where it was supposed to be.

I'm glad that it was a case of all's well that ends well
Even if it was an anxious 15 mins.

 

[Nod]

Daughter didn't get off the school bus today.

PANIC!

Apparently, there was a new drama group after school. Apparently, I was told.............. OK.


*PLOTS REVENGE*.

 

[Nod]

Oops! There should (fairly obviously!!!) be a suitable emoji after that!

 

[mj4456]

Slipped/stumbled on Sunday night on my way home from snooker(sober btw) and hit the ground up right away from embarrassment, but had to visit hospital yesterday and got this arm accessory, for 8 weeks! Broken my right hand thumb joint in two places and may yet need surgery. Off on holiday in two weeks so will the end up up tan on one arm only. Tried to attach pic but forum says too big, stookie from 4 knuckles to almost elbow and thumb enclosed to tip, and sticking out at 60°, not handy to gat inside sleeves, shaving left handed was ‘fun’ this morning.

 

[Cobra]

Broken my right hand thumb joint in two places and may yet need surgery.

OUCH!

Tried to attach pic but forum says too big

Not really a WAMT but an observation on so many posts.
People that have been here years and still don't know the rules for posting or attaching images.

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/help/images/

 

[Nod]

Now's the time to see if a beard suits you! Heal well.

 

[JohnC6]

Slipped/stumbled on Sunday night on my way home from snooker(sober btw) and hit the ground up right away from embarrassment, but had to visit hospital yesterday and got this arm accessory, for 8 weeks! Broken my right hand thumb joint in two places and may yet need surgery. Off on holiday in two weeks so will the end up up tan on one arm only. Tried to attach pic but forum says too big, stookie from 4 knuckles to almost elbow and thumb enclosed to tip, and sticking out at 60°, not handy to gat inside sleeves, shaving left handed was ‘fun’ this morning.

On one of our visits to London, as I got onto the underground train, I tripped on the step and fell onto the floor and did exactly what you did..ie..got up straight away. A couple of passengers around me..as ever, the carriage was full, asked if I was alright. "Yes..fine thanks".. in my best stoic voice...nothing to see here... My wife was concerned but I insisted I was ok which I was and I then spent time looking at the map of the underground above the seating. The only injury I suffered was to my pride. It must be a British thing.I was going to say English but I'm assuming..never a good thing to do, that you are Scottish hence, I said UK thing.

That's quite a nasty injury.Hopefully, it won't cause too much trouble on your holiday.

 

[JohnC6]

No - timing information was provided by a friend who is no longer local. I've no idea, sorry.

Wilki (Ian) mentioned RailAdvent and I did look at that but the text is so small I missed seeing "times". My friend mentioned it so I went back in and took a closer look and it's there. He thinks the times (realtime trains listing) on Railway Herald is a temporary blip. It's a much easier page..ie the tour listiungs, to see than RailAdvent. I'll PM you later..have to pick up my wife from the station..so you'll have no problem missing any in the future on both websites. No tours for a while,though.