The grumpy thread

[AlabamaShrimp]

Twat! Sodding fiesta has been to the shop this morning no problem. Get in it an hour later and big click then no power.

 

No lights on the dash now and makes no sounds. I hate electrics. It's done it before then fixed itself. Soon after though it made the wiring to the radio which was then taken out so no idea what's wrong now.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Twat! Sodding fiesta has been to the shop this morning no problem. Get in it an hour later and big click then no power.

 

No lights on the dash now and makes no sounds. I hate electrics. It's done it before then fixed itself. Soon after though it made the wiring to the radio which was then taken out so no idea what's wrong now.

I once had a dead starter motor that killed all power to the dash. Once starter was replaced, dash came alive again. I don't understand car electrics either.

[sporty-shite]

When is the FCA going to do something about the car insurance industry? They're a shower of shite's who rope you in with introductory offers then double your premiums the next year, add in extra products you don't want and charge massive cancellation and vehicle transfer fee's.

 

The rant comes from the fact that last year I moved out of a company car scheme. I'd kept my no claims on a trade policy (10 years). Not one normal insurance company would touch this. What difference does it make? I drove a car for 10 years and didn't crash it why does it matter other than the fact the don't want to honour it. The AA said they'd take my 6 years company car no claims bonus because guess what? I hadn't crashed or claimed in that time.

 

It comes to this year and my insurance cost has doubled with the AA. Weird but I went through the normal hoops and got it with a different company for a good price. I get the letter through from the AA and it has 1 years no claims bonus on it. Weird as I have an email from the AA saying they've taken the 6 years from my company car no claims. I called them back (after waiting 20 minutes on my phone). Oh that 6 years doesn't car into the next year and is non transferable. Fucking what! Absolute wankers it was obviously just a scam to get me in with the hope I'd renew at the higher rate the next year. This means now calling up my new insurance company and explaining what happened and no double being stiffed for an extra load of ££££ for my lack of no claims.

 

I've dealt with one good insurance company in the last 10 years and that was the lot who insured my CL500 as they're a small company and don't try to upsell or shaft you. I should have just tried to insure my Juke with them.

 

I had similar when a broker told me I'd get six years reinstated on renewal after having been on a classic policy. 12 months down the line, they offer me one year. Made a complaint to insurance ombudsman and had six years reinstated by return.

 

Verdict: contact ombudsman.

[anonymous user]

I have the rest of the week off, why is this a grump? Well already I have been roped in to several of the, "while you're off can you give me a hand with....." always asked in such a way that I don't feel I can say no. (Stress, it's when your head is saying no, while your mouth says yes) 

[HH-R]

Been off work for a fortnight, didn't manage to drive for 15 minutes today without someone pissing me off, welcome back eh!

 

Get stopped at a set of traffic lights on a roundabout behind 5 or 6 other cars, the green light for the traffic coming from my left goes to green before the light in front changes. Bloke pulls on to the roundabout (stopping diagonally across two lanes because he had nowhere to go) I start to pull away and he just pushes me out of the way, then stops right in front blocking two lanes off again to point to the traffic light and tell me off, implying that I ran a red (I didn't).

 

My commute is pretty much ruining my life at the moment.

[fordperv]

we popped to do some shopping earlier and this fat, obnoxious, thought he was Muhammad I'm hard Bruce Lee bloke, was swearing loudly in a shop because the till closed sign was already there but he put his stuff on the belt anyway, the staff told him that it was closed so he swore at them, he then went swearing up the shop to find his wife/partner and started having a go at her, by the look of her reaction I wouldnt be surprised if he has given her a slap or 2 in the past, came back to the till and started swearing at the staff again, mrs fp politely pointed out that it wasn't appropriate to be acting like this with children about, he then tried his bully boy tactics saying she needs shut the fuck or he'll shut her up, at this point I felt the need to step in, he tried to intimidate me by coming up to me with his fist clenched, so I stepped right into his personal space, glared into his eyes and calmly informed him that it doesn't work with me and I have no problem with putting an end to the situation as I deal with scarier more violent people every day in my job, it is not the place to be shouting, threatening and screaming, he backed off and was giving it all the verbal that mouth breathers give as he went out of the door. I wanted to teach this guy a valuable lesson, i hate people.

[cort16]

I sometimes wonder if the compare the market type websites are partly to blame for the grabbing ways of the insurance companies. It used to be you insured your car with the Co-op or AXA or one of the big insurance companies some of which had local offices and agents. When I was growing up when my Dad changed his car he drove to the office or someone from the office would nip out and see him.

With the advent of the automated compare sites the costs have came down but with that so have the margins, which has made them more desperate to tag on extra unwanted products and fee's to try to make more money. This also goes for quoting low first year premiums I guess in the hope you might just let it roll over? A lot of the companies quoting on these sites (such as the AA) aren't insurance companies they're just brokers so half the time you don't actually know who's insuring you.

 

I'm sure they'd be getting one over on us in some other way if the compare sites weren't there. No doubt ramping up the cost of a policy because there'd be no open transparency in the market  but I wonder if this is what's pushed them in this direction?

[fairkens]

Yep. Nowhere else in life are you legally obliged to buy a product from a private company.

They are a law unto themselves and just blatantly make shit up as they go along.

There are shady business practices in pretty much all industries, but insurance seem to be one of the worst and yet they appear to be given carte blanche to just do as they please.

If a shop dicked around with prices and payment plans like insurance companies did, Trading Standards would be all over them.

Employers Liability Insurance is compulsory if you're an employer

 

There's no excuse for poor service or hidden charges but insurance companies make precisely fuck all from car insurance and in most cases considerably less than fuck all.

 

The worst companies for charges/extras are often the ones that charge the least for premium. If you've not been told - ombudsman all the way. That's what its there for (insurance companies pay for it as part of their [hefty] regulatory obligations)

 

ETA I think Cort has a point about the race to be top of the GoCuntpare ranking on the headline premium, which fails to take account of other costs

[Timewaster]

That picture of desk up ending rage takes me back to 1994.

As a reasonably affluent 21 year old I decided to live out my teenage dream and buy myself a newish 205Gti.

I knew the insurance would be horrendous, that's why I could afford to buy one.

I spent days and days getting quotes of thousands when our local insurance office came up trumps at £800 which I was daft enough to pay.

That weekend I went out car hunting, rejected my first choice but put a deposit on a different one.

Monday I went to the insurance office to sort out cover and they wanted £1000 because the quote was for an F reg and I had bought one on a G.

I had spent my last penny on the car and now it seemed all over. I had to get up and leave before I turned the blokes desk over.

 

I eventually got another £800 quote but it took another 2 anxious days searching.

 

Bastards.

[Pillock]

I always get the hard sell on insurance extras. Especially courtesy cars.... "How would you cope if you car was written off?" They ask. "I've got two more cars at home" I say. "Won't that inconvenience the drivers of those cars?" .... They don't seem to grasp the whole more-cars-than-adults thing.

 

I'd rather buy some cheap snotter off the Co-Op advert board and sell it on once settled. At least they won't force me into a 1000cc supermini that way.

[HH-R]

While we're moaning about insurance, mine was due a month or so ago, got loads of e-mails about £250 quote. Great! I thought, forgetting that confused et all thought I still had the Panda. Renewal comes through for £370 so I sack that off, but best I could get was £340, for that mega powerful 1.4 dream machine.

 

I wish I had stuck with the last company and taken the £30 hit. When buying it, there's a tick box to say that you accept the terms and conditions, one of which is to take out a continuous payment authority, or bad luck son, no insurance for you. First thing I did was tell them in no uncertain terms that I don't authorise that.

 

Looked at the policy and just about everything was wrong, after putting it all in right, car listed as having an alarm, named driver lost NCB, parked on road, loads of stupid little things that would make little or no difference to price but I let them know because I wanted it to be right in case of a claim.

 

They changed it all but were funny about it being parked off road (I have a driveway but it's not attached to the house), as anyone could park on it... they could, but anyone can park on anyone's driveway?! They were going to make me prove that the named driver hadn't lost NCB (they did have a claim, but didn't lose NCB, an insurance company should know it's not one and the same) so I was going to reply and send it through but thought sod it, I've told them, if they don't believe me then that's their issue.

[AlabamaShrimp]

I once had a dead starter motor that killed all power to the dash. Once starter was replaced, dash came alive again. I don't understand car electrics either.

There's power though as the clock is working. I went to try it again and nothing happened. As in no lights on the dash and no noises. The clock went off and reset.

 

Will take the battery off and charge it though I don't know why as it was fine this morning.

 

If nothing then I'll have to get an auto electrician in

[The Moog]

There's power though as the clock is working. I went to try it again and nothing happened. As in no lights on the dash and no noises. The clock went off and reset.

 

Will take the battery off and charge it though I don't know why as it was fine this morning.

 

If nothing then I'll have to get an auto electrician in

I have had batteries die for no reason pretty quickly. Also will show 12v but are knackered.

[Taff]

a torn trapezius muscle in my left shoulder is making me grumpy. I might be so grumpy tomorrow I might not even go to work

[beko1987]

You thought selling cars was a faff, i get the odd one when selling refurbed dysons but try selling childrens clothes om facebook, dont fucking bother!

 

Anyone want any 6mths to 2 years girls clothes? Will post...

[scaryoldcortina]

Just got some sad news from my dad - a woman I went to school with (and had a massive crush on when we were about 14) has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour which is likely to kill her within a year. FFS, she's only 44!

[Timewaster]

You thought selling cars was a faff, i get the odd one when selling refurbed dysons but try selling childrens clothes om facebook, dont fucking bother!

Anyone want any 6mths to 2 years girls clothes? Will post...

Sort into big bundles according to size. Sell them cheap at a baby sale.

 

Or just bin them. It's the only choice.

[meshking]

Sort into big bundles according to size. Sell them cheap at a baby sale.

 

Or just bin them. It's the only choice.

We found that nearly new, such as nct sales, were quite painful and only brand new with tags sold. You used to be able to sell bundles by weight but I think the market dropped. But absolutely don't put a damp items in the pile before you head to the weigh shop, if you can find one.

[chaseracer]

Two raffles yesterday and I won neither of them.

 

This site just isn't what it used to be guys.

 

He has no pride, this man.  Ah no, hang on...

 

[dave21478]

Went to the zoo yesterday. Fuck zoos. More on that in a minute.

Dotted around the place are wee snack shops to buy overpriced tins of juice and Cornettos. They all had cheapo plastic garden tables and chairs set outside to sit at. Some woman was changing her babies shitty nappy on one of them and just left the manky nappy and pile of shitty wet wipes on the table. Fuck that woman in particular. You should be allowed to throw people like that into the lions cage.

 

The zoo itself? I dunno, man. I appreciate that many do good conservation work, but I am not sure I agree with them on principal. This one though? its brand new...only opened a couple of years ago and is advertised far and wide and people reckon its excellent. 100+ hectares of animals, they claim. Well, they must be pretty fucking small hectares because we walked round the whole fucking place taking our sweet time about it and saw everything in well under two hours.

It started out badly at 75 euros entry for 4 adults and one kid. It got worse when we were left waiting in scorching midday sun and 30+ degrees temperatures to wait for the road-train thing. All aboard the ricketiest train, to find it like a fucking greenhouse as the originally open sides have been sheeted over with perspex. We chugged slowly down the valley on a broken, bumpy track through a part of the zoo you cant walk through and is probably where they get their "100+ hectares" bullshit from. It contained a sorry selection of camels, alpaca, the occasional sheep or goat and some weird deer things. Couldnt really tell for sure though as the perspex was so fucking dusty and covered in greasy handprints you could barely see through it.

Arrival at the zoo proper and you are given the worst map ever printed and left to wander round the enclosures. At two years old they had struck a surprising balance of "unfinished" vs "run-down." Broken hand rails, rutted tracks, piles of construction equipment and general buildingsite tat.

 

To their credit the animals were in apparently good condition, but the enclosures were a hell of a lot smaller than I expected for a custom built state of the art blah blah blah....

 

Also - nineteen euros for a round of ice creams and a bottle of water.

[beko1987]

Sort into big bundles according to size. Sell them cheap at a baby sale.

 

Or just bin them. It's the only choice.

A few of swmbos friends have come out of the woodwork and want a rummage. This will happen whilst im at work! So its turned into a grin!

[xtriple]

I hate zoos with a passion. When my wife used to take the girls, I always refused to go. I took my son to  Paignton zoo when he was about 5 and I left the place nearly in tears.

 

The bear rocking backwards and forwards as captivity had driven it insane was truly a sight to see. Not in a good way

[fred]

I hate zoos with a passion. When my wife used to take the girls, I always refused to go. I took my son to  Paignton zoo when he was about 5 and I left the place nearly in tears.

 

The bear rocking backwards and forwards as captivity had driven it insane was truly a sight to see. Not in a good way

No not a great lover of Zoos - went to Dudley Zoo years ago, and a Polar bear was doing the same. I was but a kid but knew he was mentally fucked up being stuck in a concrete box with a pool

[vulgalour]

Just got some sad news from my dad - a woman I went to school with (and had a massive crush on when we were about 14) has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour which is likely to kill her within a year. FFS, she's only 44!

That's miserable news.

[RobT]

I'll join in with the insurance grumps. Been looking at replacing the 75 with an HH-R, so a smaller car with similar giffer tendencies. Elephant want another £103 to swap it over. WTF? Their cancellation admin fee is £40 or something so I may just do that and sod off back to pre-96 land where classic insurance is a lot more straightforward, and cheaper. Shame really as the car in question is a T-series 420 being sold locally.

[tooSavvy]

..But absolutely don't put a damp items in the pile before you head to the weigh shop, if you can find one.

We have a 'weigh in' shop, just down Wallsend high street.

 

Hmmm.. A factor in my car insurance premium rating, I wonder?

 

TS

[Aston Martin]

I forgot to tell you about part of my medical. I was honest and for the first time declared that I need glasses for driving. I brought my glasses and prescription... Pointless, I assumed he'd ask me to read the usual chart at a distance. I assumed wrong, because I was honest I had to go to specsavers for a stamp.

 

My prescription was from December 22nd, "that's over 6 months, we'll have to do checks and the stamp is £10."

 

20 minutes later, I do some weird pupil squiggly line, clicker test. I try and pay and the card machine uses the phone line, all the phones are being used, so it won't go through. 5 minutes later. I'm all sorted.

 

 

I don't know who organised this racket, but I'd like to get in on it.

[UltraWomble]

TBH There is so much I am grumpy with right now I wish that I could fuck right off and live in the middle of nowhere with no one else for miles around.

 

Trouble is unless I move to deepest Wales I cant afford to do that.

[chaseracer]

I don't know who organised this racket, but I'd like to get in on it.

Everything's a feckin racket, and most people are sheep.

 

[Station]

There's power though as the clock is working. I went to try it again and nothing happened. As in no lights on the dash and no noises. The clock went off and reset.

 

Will take the battery off and charge it though I don't know why as it was fine this morning.

 

If nothing then I'll have to get an auto electrician in

Power to accessories is on a different circuit to dashboard and alternator and starter. The battery bulb goes straight to the alt.