The grumpy thread

[warren t claim]

Still waiting for my CRB/DBS check to be completed. Been online to check for progress but the site is down for maintenance.

[Brent_Crude]

I'm getting really fed up with the electrics in the old motor now. I just seem to be chasing faults and getting one thing sorted and then something else goes for no apparent reason. Mechanically, she's great but all this electrical B.S. is really starting to spoil my enjoyment and leave me worried to go anywhere in case she throws up some new and unforeseen fault and leaves me stuck. At least with mechanical issues you normally get a heads up by way of a noise/leak/smoking but electrics are sneaky little buggers

[RoadworkUK]

Oil change done on Audi, new temperature sensor AGAIN so coolant gauge can register warmth for a month or two until it breaks again.

 

And now, suspected wheel bearing unpleasantness. 2014 might well be a vintage year for the Mistley Heritage Shite Collection.

[DVee8]

Grrrrrr been on early shift all week so up at 05.20 then 6-12 saturday so up at 04.45.My only day off Sunday mrsV8 heads to the bog at 04.50 im now wide awake.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Tried to tax my new 2-litre beater online today. COMPUTER SAYS NO, because:

 

1) DVLA cannot check your entitlement with The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) database at this time. DWP online services are temporarily unavailable due to enhancements being made to their system. We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

 

2) Unfortunately, because of the tax class of the vehicle or recent changes to the vehicle record, you are currently unable to apply for a tax disc or declare SORN using this service

 

Oh dear, thats 2 completely separate reasons seemingly, ive got no chance have I.

 

Date of Liability 12 07 2013

 

 

Yes looks like a lot of changes have been taking place recently.

[nigel bickle]

Post Office Boll, I guess?

 

I sent SWMB down to  our local main PO  to tax the YELLOW S2000 yesterday morn -as its now effectively roadworthy, albeit it multi-coloured.

She queried, twice that she had the correct paperwork (sigh- like I didn't know), which I confirmed, so was amazed when she stomped back indoors , having been declined.

 

Clutching a £25 wonder, to 'apply' for a V5c, seems the berk behind the counter had decided that the green tear off slip was 'inadequate'.

 

Red mist descended,  and I dragged her back (-kicking & cussing) to confront said louse behind the plexiglass.  Once I had forcibly explained, at a substantive volume, that she was WRONG- and cited all the relevant paragraphs, at length, she sullenly issued a round receipt.

 

I had looked silly (to my wife) who had been severely embarrassed(twice), we had both wasted an extra hour & spent another 5 litres on fuel because said louse 'couldn't be bothered'. Said 'louse' has been there years- so clearly knows the 'rules'. 

 

Perhaps I should  use my local DVLA local Office next time?

 

Oh, no. wait a minute.......

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Its flipping barmy isn't it.

 

I just submitted an FOIA request asking what proportion & number of unlicensed/SORN vehicles are unable to be taxed online for whatever reason. Be interesting to find out, I bet its like 1 in 10 or something.

[Richard]

What does the DWP have to do with it?

[bub2006]

According to gov website my bike tax expired in November. Tax disc is on the bike and valid till march. Love the computers and how they are always right.......

[HillmanImp]

What does the DWP have to do with it?

I thought that. It must have been registered as disabled before.

 

Either that or Boll has not been paying his class 2 conts? They merged Inland Revenue and the Customs, why not NICO and Doooovla?

[cms206]

Went for a pub lunch with MUTHA_CMS. Got beef lasagne. Loaded with mushrooms. Spewed. Ill now. Aaaaargh

[eddyramrod]

Printer.

I searched all over town to find a Lexmark No2 cartridge, and failed; the only way I can buy one these days, it seems, is to buy it in a twinpack at PCWorld, with a No3 which I neither want nor need, for a painful 40+ notes.  So I did that, because I had virtually no ink left and I need to print some documents fairly urgently.  Fitted the new cartridge today, printed off about 10 pages... and now the fecker won't print anything at all!  Seems there's a "print job" in the queue that I can't delete or otherwise cancel, and nothing will happen until that job is deleted or cancelled. 

Fucksticks.

[DVee8]

Eddy are these any good to you?

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lexmark-colour-ink-cartridge-18C0190E/dp/B000N4SAQO/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1391355202&sr=8-15&keywords=Lexmark+No2+cartridge

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remanufactured-18CX190E-18C0190E-Cartridge-Printers/dp/B001TLDWFY/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1391355202&sr=8-13&keywords=Lexmark+No2+cartridge

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Inkjet printers are terrible. General advice to everyone, if you don't need colour, buy a small mono laser. I got a Brother HL-2030 for £45 in the Staples sale a few years ago, it's now done 2,500 pages and is only on its second toner cartridge, a remanufactured one which cost £19. 

 

If you want photos I also have a little Canon Selphy printer for printing 6x4 photos, they work out pricey (they're about 25p each) but it's dye sub so it can sit in the cupboard for months between uses and not have blocked heads/dried out cartridges etc. 

[gordonbennet]

Don't get me started on bloody printer ink.

 

We had a Lexmark once, never again, ink was about £2 cheaper than the soddin machine.

 

Trying to get some ink for one of our two Canon all-in-ones for some time now, seems only genuine replacements available and no doubt they'll gradually vanish.

 

Planned obsolescence.

[purplebargeken]

They only day that bastard sun actually shines and I am riddled with flu. Superb.

[Asimo]

Inkjet printers are terrible. General advice to everyone, if you don't need colour, buy a small mono laser. I got a Brother HL-2030 for £45 in the Staples sale a few years ago, it's now done 2,500 pages and is only on its second toner cartridge, a remanufactured one which cost £19.

 

I have one of these, I have bought a lot of paper but not yet a cartridge. About 4 packs of paper ago the toner out warning came up, no longer responding to shaking the cartridge. I put a bit of black tape over the windows at each end of the cartridge to fool it into thinking there was lots of toner in there and it is still printing perfectly.

[r.welfare]

Inkjet printers are terrible. General advice to everyone, if you don't need colour, buy a small mono laser.

 

This, times one million.

 

About 15 years ago my mate Fat Bob intercepted an HP Laserjet 4 from being put in a skip at the University of Reading and gave it to me.  God knows what the page count is now, but it still works perfectly, and I've only had to sling one new toner cartridge in it about 6 years ago. The only downside is it's sodding massive.

 

I shudder to think what it cost originally but it truly is the Volvo 740 or Merc W123 of printers.

 

On the flipside, my cheap-to-buy HP inkjet and Epson Picturemate need something printing on them at least once a month or the ink dries up in the printhead.  And don't get me started on the replacement cartridge cost as a percentage of the hardware price.

[michael1703]

Grumpy with myself for keep reading the updates to threads by idiots that I'd rather not read

[Spiny Norman]

If you want photos printing don't even consider doing it yourself at home, go to ASDA. Much cheepnis.

[dollywobbler]

If you want photos printing don't even consider doing it yourself at home, go to ASDA. Much cheepnis.

 

Yup. Not necessarily Asda - there are online companies that do it too, giving you much better results and none of the stress of dealing with crap printers. I'm yet to own a printer that actually works. We bought a cheap, second-hand laser colourjet but just found a new world of fail.

[eddyramrod]

DV, thanks, but I've bought one now as mentioned.  As others have said, the price of these things is ruinous, I've spent many more time the cost of the machine just to put ink in it.  Remanufactured?  Recycled?  Refills?  Won't wear them.  Home refills?  Nope, doesn't want to know.  If it prints four pages before it decided not to recognise the cartridge, I'm doing well.  So I have to keep buying OEM and of course they're not making them any more.

Planned obsolescence, yes.  I understand the concept, but do they really have to make you buy a new printer every time the ink runs out?  It's like buying a new car every time you run out of petrol!

[quicksilver]

OMGALLPRINTERSRSHIT. They were the bane of my life when I worked as a helpdesk tech and the only reason the colour laser printer was still there was because it was too heavy to throw out of the window. I remember we also had a HP colour inkjet that didn't get used very often but one of the cartridges eventually ran out so I fitted the new one that had been in stock for months but was still sealed up. Printer said no - apparently the cartridges have an expiry date programmed into the firmware to prevent using old ones that 'may damage the printer'. So we paid eleventy hundred quid for this and now can't use it because it's too old? Fuck you HP. 

[Cavcraft]

Noticing how many thickos on ebay start bidding things up with 30 minutes plus left to go. Why don't they just hang on until the last couple of minutes and let serial mingebags like me have a fair crack at a bargain instead of just pushing the price up, getting into a bidding war then stopping? Bastards. 

[Ghosty]

I'm gonna need a printer for uni, and if at all possible, I'm buying a matrix printer.

[Timewaster]

Noticing how many thickos on ebay start bidding things up with 30 minutes plus left to go. Why don't they just hang on until the last couple of minutes and let serial mingebags like me have a fair crack at a bargain instead of just pushing the price up, getting into a bidding war then stopping? Bastards.

Maybe they have better things to do rather than re arrange their entire life around the end time of an eBay listing they will probably get sniped on anyway?

[Pillock]

Eddy - re the stuck print job, what version of Windows are you on? There's ways of clearing the print job, usually involves stopping the print service from administrator control panel thingie.

 

I'd also recommend not buying a colour printer if possible. I seem to be on a constant cycle of changing black, then the colours, then black etc. You could try 7DayShop for ink though, compatible carts for my HP are £24 delivered for a set of four where HP originals are £18 for black, £15 for each of the colours. I make that £63, for a £69.99 printer.

 

They do sell printers at little profit though and expect to make all the money back on refills, which is why they get funny if you try to use compatible inks. They'll zero your warranty, and some even have little chips in to try to combat what they call "ink fraud".

 

I had a Samsung mono laser ages ago, cracking little printer. £60 new. half price sale, don't think I ever had to put toner in it in three years.

[eddyramrod]

 

some even have little chips in to try to combat what they call "ink fraud".

 

 

Yes, that seems to be what mine is doing, and always has.  I'm about ready to fling it into the alley!  Doesn't matter what I tell it to do, it does what the fuck it wants to, which mostly is, nothing at all.

 

And breathe....

 

I'm on XP if that makes any difference.  I can probably navigate better around Nashville than I can around computers though...

[Cavcraft]

Maybe they have better things to do rather than re arrange their entire life around the end time of an eBay listing they will probably get sniped on anyway?

 

So busy they bid repeatedly for a few minutes reasonably close to the end anyhow?

[Wilko220]

I read that the new series of Top Gear started tonight. Apparently they wrecked some old cars in hilarious* fashion.

I didn't see it because I had something else important to do that I can't remember now.

The BBC: home of original comedy.