The grumpy thread

[Richard]

It's gross misconduct if a customer service person is caught answering the question they were asked.

[Urko]

From: Urko

To :    Camelot

 

1) This doesn't answer my first question which was why don't you publish the times of the live draw?  I understand a recent one was on BBC2 - surely the timing of it wasn't a secret or a surprise to you?

 

2) You asked me to fill in a survey after your previous response - pressing the submit button after I'd dutifully filled it in  resulted in this -

 

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /Community/se.ashx on this server.

[vulgalour]

Rover towed over to the specialist garage to get the fob repair sorted.  As soon as I get home there's a phone call asking me to come and get my car.  Not because it's fixed, but because they've found it has a 3 pin rather than a 12 pin connector which their one of is broken and is going to take a week to sort out.  So can I come and get my car?  They won't store it even overnight as they haven't the space.

 

I am not thrilled at all about this.  No money given to them but cost incurred as I did have to buy a towing pole specifically for this and now I'm being fannied about having to collect my non-functioning car and possibly redeliver it.

 

This is my first experience of booking a car into a garage and it is not a good one.

[castros_bro]

Provided they leave the country once every six months it's totally legal. So maybe they drive home to see the family?

 

Not of course that any records are made to prove if they have left or not...

 

If it is a private vehicle then Not True as that only applies if you are on holiday.  If they are resident in UK as shown by any of........ have a job or pay rent on a not-a-holiday place or kids go to school or....goes on and on.......then it is not legal

 

Your government  says 

 

6. Temporary imports

You can usually use a vehicle with foreign number plates without registering or taxing it in the UK if all of the following apply:

you’re visiting and don’t plan to live here

the vehicle is registered and taxed in its home country

you only use the vehicle for up to 6 months in total - this can be a single visit, or several shorter visits over 12 months

If you become a resident or stay for longer than 6 months you must register and tax your vehicle in the UK

[Tamworthbay]

If it is a private vehicle then Not True as that only applies if you are on holiday. If they are resident in UK as shown by any of........ have a job or pay rent on a not-a-holiday place or kids go to school or....goes on and on.......then it is not legal

 

Your government says

 

6. Temporary imports

You can usually use a vehicle with foreign number plates without registering or taxing it in the UK if all of the following apply:

you’re visiting and don’t plan to live here

the vehicle is registered and taxed in its home country

you only use the vehicle for up to 6 months in total - this can be a single visit, or several shorter visits over 12 months

If you become a resident or stay for longer than 6 months you must register and tax your vehicle in the UK

it's a bit silly though, I have worked on the continent but always short term contracts. why would I reregister a car when I know I am only there six months? Simple answer is that I wouldn't and didn't, nor would I expect anyone else to. It's just another stupid rule that no one bothers with and the dodgy ones slip through as the police don't really care.

[cort1977]

This reminds me of a grump I used to have when I was an agency worker and you only worked with a particular company for a couple of months. You'd always get people coming round saying we're having a collection for Bob's birthday, we know you're agency so you don't have to chip in if you don't want to, which really meant give us some money or we'll think you're cheap.

 

I'm quite comfortable with being thought of as cheap because when it comes to buying crap for some nonentity who happens to work in the same office as me I am very cheap.  I just politely say 'I don't know them' and then let them stand in uncomfortable silence until they leave me alone.

[vulgalour]

Rover towed from first garage to another garage who seem optimistic they can fix it and offered vastly superior customer interface.  They even said if they couldn't do it they knew someone who probably could.  They asked we leave the car with them and they'll call sometime tomorrow to tell us what the score is.  They also showed some positive interest in the car itself which was nice.  Not a grump, but an update to the previous grump which is why it's here.

[loserone]

Rover towed over to the specialist garage to get the fob repair sorted.  

 

Surprised by this, they did have a good reputation (but, I haven't yet owned a rover for more than a few hours)

 

Wonder if this is still going:

 

[vulgalour]

I was surprised by it too, I'd not heard anything bad, even Chompy took his MG ZT to them and had no bother.  Guess I just got stung by having an awkward car or something.  They did seem genuinely surprised it was on an early version of the security system and it's not the first time this car has caused issues like that.  It's almost like it's a series 1 car that Rover held back for a long time, but it isn't.

 

Here's hoping the more personable BMW and Land Rover specialist the Rover is now with are more successful.  They get brownie points just for showing a positive interest in the car and being remarkably accommodating about trying to sort it out.  I don't have a quote yet, they'll provide that when they've actually found out if they can do it or if they have to get their key-and-fob guy to come in and do it but I can't see it being more than garage one wanted to charge.

[Eddie Honda]

it's a bit silly though, I have worked on the continent but always short term contracts. why would I reregister a car when I know I am only there six months? Simple answer is that I wouldn't and didn't, nor would I expect anyone else to. It's just another stupid rule that no one bothers with and the dodgy ones slip through as the police don't really care.

Fixed term contracts don't make you resident where you're working though, nor does being a student.

 

Anyway, the plod do care occasionally. e.g.

 

https://twitter.com/hashtag/opjessica

 

but they do have muggers and rapist to catch as well y'know.

[dugong]

People are horrid and they can't spell.

[Eddie Honda]

Shooting fish in a barrel this one

 

Barnet MPS â€@MPSBarnet  3 Sep 2015

 

UK resident driving a foreign registered vehicle. No UK insurance or Road Tax. Vehicle #Seized #OpJessica #OpCronus

 

[sporty-shite]

Bet this fucker's never even seen Bulgaria. RHD with a BCC dealer sticker? Proper piss-take.

 

[Tamworthbay]

Fixed term contracts don't make you resident where you're working though, nor does being a student.Anyway, the plod do care occasionally. e.g.https://twitter.com/hashtag/opjessicabut they do have muggers and rapist to catch as well y'know.

that's why we have the traffic womble division, but they are too busy nicking people for doing 80mph on an empty motorway in the middle of the night. I spent two years in the Netherlands in total, that would put me over the six months limit so what happens then?

[Eddie Honda]

It depends on residency status, which depends on economic and social ties.

 

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/income-taxes-abroad/index_en.htm#!lightbox-uid-0

 

Traffic wombles = HATO, Highways Agency Traffic Officer, they're called Wombles as they clear up the rubbish that everyday folk leave behind.

 

Traffic plod = Black rats.

[HH-R]

Rover towed over to the specialist garage to get the fob repair sorted.  As soon as I get home there's a phone call asking me to come and get my car.  Not because it's fixed, but because they've found it has a 3 pin rather than a 12 pin connector which their one of is broken and is going to take a week to sort out.  So can I come and get my car?  They won't store it even overnight as they haven't the space.

 

I am not thrilled at all about this.  No money given to them but cost incurred as I did have to buy a towing pole specifically for this and now I'm being fannied about having to collect my non-functioning car and possibly redeliver it.

 

This is my first experience of booking a car into a garage and it is not a good one.

 

That's pretty shitty for a specialist, a 3 pin connector is what I'd expect on one of these and I'm far from an expert.

[vulgalour]

I reckon nobody bothered to check.  Most of the stuff they had in was much newer and I know when this problem rears most owners just scrap the car.  I can understand why too, it's been a proper ball ache getting this sorted out.  Getting info about people and companies is great, but not of any use if messages aren't replied to and phones not answered, which is why I ended up using garage one in the first place; pure desperation.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Have to ask, why are you buying tow poles and dragging the car from A to B to C? Half-arsed googling throws up several companies who will test/repair/reprogramme fobs and Lucas 5AS boxes via mail order while you slurp tea and read a book.

[dugong]

I reckon nobody bothered to check.  Most of the stuff they had in was much newer and I know when this problem rears most owners just scrap the car.  I can understand why too, it's been a proper ball ache getting this sorted out.  Getting info about people and companies is great, but not of any use if messages aren't replied to and phones not answered, which is why I ended up using garage one in the first place; pure desperation.

Immobiliser faults (and Steven Seagal) scrapped a lot of Ford Probes.

[vulgalour]

Half-arsed googling throws up several companies who will test/repair/reprogramme fobs and Lucas 5AS boxes via mail order.

 

I've sent e-mails, telephoned and left messages and tried to get in touch with quite a few companies and people to absolutely no avail.  Nobody seems to want to take this particular car on.  That's why it ended up heading off to garage one in the first place.  That was supposed to be the easy solution what with them being local and a Rover specialist but no, that's not gonna work either.  Finding another garage today around the corner from garage one and dragging it there instead of home was the best option available at the time.

 

If I continue to get nowhere I'll give James Brown a call, see if he's got any suggestions.

[jakebullet]

Ebay bastards turned up to eleven again.

 

First some git who's bought a gear knob for a golf, n it doesn't fit his T5. His logic being he thought it would fit 'cos they're both pineapple cars.

 

Then a jizzmopper who buys 2 sets of dice valve caps. They're free 2nd class post. You also get 10% off if you buy 2. He waits till I post them and then goes off on one that he wants a refund of the postage cos I'm ripping him off. I get three hours solid of abuse from this arsehole. On an order that's under 5 quid.

 

Will to live is rapidly eroding. I wish I wasn't such a spacker n could have a normal job with a normal life.

[Bren]

I've sent e-mails, telephoned and left messages and tried to get in touch with quite a few companies and people to absolutely no avail.  Nobody seems to want to take this particular car on.  That's why it ended up heading off to garage one in the first place.  That was supposed to be the easy solution what with them being local and a Rover specialist but no, that's not gonna work either.  Finding another garage today around the corner from garage one and dragging it there instead of home was the best option available at the time.

 

If I continue to get nowhere I'll give James Brown a call, see if he's got any suggestions.

If the car is getting on a bit, or not a piece of piss to sort out, a lot of garages are not interested.

I have found this out - they do it on the basis that it will cost you more than the car is worth, the real truth being it takes up space in the workshop that could be used for better paying jobs.

[FakeConcern]

I should have known something like this would happen. After my C4 VTS was written off, I spent some time looking for another one, but couldn't find anything I liked so I commissioned someone to fix it for me. Likely to cost at least £2000. The last two weeks someone on the C4 Bookface page has  been trying to sell a 2009 C4 Loeb THP 150. That's the one with the Cooper S turbo engine so pretty quick economical and rare. He started at £3000 which was cheap and it's just sold to a trader for £1700!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-CITROEN-C4-BY-LOEB-1-6-THP-TURBO-BLACK-/262369569027?nma=true&si=xUcc6t1t9WeniALHE7%252BvQ0FYPv4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[cort1977]

If the car is getting on a bit, or not a piece of piss to sort out, a lot of garages are not interested.

I have found this out - they do it on the basis that it will cost you more than the car is worth, the real truth being it takes up space in the workshop that could be used for better paying jobs.

This seems to be the case increasingly.   A 'European car specialist' garage recently decided they wouldn't work on the power steering and self leveling system on my 2001 Mercedes.   It' a rusted pipe that needs replacing.   I know it's likely a fiddly job and there are no parts to mark up but I was quite happy to pay their labour charges for the work.   Can't understand how businesses can turn away work especially here where labour is available and cheap.

[scaryoldcortina]

I've sent e-mails, telephoned and left messages and tried to get in touch with quite a few companies and people to absolutely no avail.  Nobody seems to want to take this particular car on.  That's why it ended up heading off to garage one in the first place.  That was supposed to be the easy solution what with them being local and a Rover specialist but no, that's not gonna work either.  Finding another garage today around the corner from garage one and dragging it there instead of home was the best option available at the time.

 

If I continue to get nowhere I'll give James Brown a call, see if he's got any suggestions.

Sorry to hear about all the bother - if you can't get it fixed any other way get it dragged to me (JohnK would be the guy for that I think) and I'll have a crack at it. I could be called a "rover specialist" mainly because thats the only work other local garages bother to pass to me. I'm good at it too.

[BavarianRetro]

I've a pair of genuine BMW roof bars for an E39/46 saloon in good condition - as far as roof bars can be - advertised on Facebook for £35. Most appear to be £50+ and I think I paid £60 for these a few months ago.

 

"Can you send some photos?"

"Of course. I'll send them tomorrow."

"Cheers."

 

Tomorrow (today)

"Any joy with the photos, Bud?"

 

2 mins later

"Hi. Photos attached."

 

30 seconds later:-

"What's the lowest you'll take?"

 

Followed a few seconds later by,

"What's the highest you'll offer?"

 

12 hours later and no response.

[Jazoli]

I don't know why you expect any different, Facebook groups are worse than Gumtree and full of thick twats who know the price of everything and the value of nothing

[BavarianRetro]

Who said I expected different? It was just a bit of humour for the entertainment of the punters of Autoshite. Sorry it upset you.

 

I'm no fan of Facebook. I only use it for business, but I think that sort of pompous, ignorant, prejudged generalisation says more about you than it does about Facebook groups.

 

There's no doubt that there are some thick twats who know the price of everything and value of nothing on there, but there are some decent, polite, respectful people too. A bit like any large group of relative strangers.

 

There's some twats on here too, you know?

[purplebargeken]

Must say that I have never met one face to face as of yet. Hope it stays that way. 

[BavarianRetro]

To be fair, I do think the twat ratio on here appears to be extremely low and I can't actually think of one, but, for illustrative purposes, there must be some. Or even one.