The grumpy thread

[gordonbennet]

I've put out a bunch of CVs around town in recent weeks, at least two of them in response to tipoffs that a driver might be needed.  Has anyone phoned me?  Guess. 

 

Things have gone back in time in driver world, it's back to knocking on doors and letting the dog see the rabbit as it were, i don't think its ever been any different, all my good jobs have been secured by knocking on the door and somehow managing to get two minutes with the man, or by recommendation.

 

Those jobs that are advertised regularly in driver world are almost always badly paid, stands to reason when you think about it.

[Cavcraft]

It's been a while since I bought anything at the car auctions...

 

Picked the MG up today, got hit with £258 in fees on a £500 car. £210+vat indemnity seems very steep but the guy at the counter wouldn't budge, so I had to pay it or lose the car and the £400 I gave them yesterday. Didn't have time to argue, but the more I think about it the more I think there was a mistake...

 

Anyone got any experience with SMA group? Did he get it wrong, or am I never, ever buying a cheap* car there again?

Jesus wept, robbing gets. It seems stupid as there must be a lot of auctions who've shut because of Internet bidding sites etc, so you'd think they'd want to watch what they charge.

[cort16]

They're fucking creaming it off private buyers. I went to shotts auction last year I was looking at a 08 SAAB 95 Diesel. It went through for £2500 but the fee's worked out about £400, which makes buying from the auction pointless when I could go on autotrade and buy it from a private buyer for the same cash but with the ability to test drive it.

 

Central Car auctions here are the same. On a 1200 quid car you've got £100 indemnity, £115 fee + £25 v5 reg transfer (i.e putting a 50p stamp on a envelope) = £240 + VAT  = £248.

There's just no way a 20% fee on purchase price is good value. Even that looks good value compared to what scary paid.

[Cavcraft]

Admittedly I worked there, but I was pulling cars out of DMA for a fiver all in about 10/11 years ago, and I seem to recall fees were about £50 tops.

[dave21478]

I am getting a proper rage on with this at the moment.

20+ calls PER DAY.....if I am out all day my handset only records up to 19 missed calls. I re-set it each morning and come home to at least 19 missed calls. The answering machine will usually have three or four messages, which are just silence or call centre jibberjabber can be heard in the background.
If I am in the house the calls come in waves with 4 or 5 in short succession then nothing for an hour or two, then another wave. This is going from about 8am to 9pm.

Answering them? ha! its pointless.  The vast majority of them just disconnect when I pick up or are silent. Apparently these are autodialler machines that dial hundreds of numbers a second and those that answer get connected to a person, if no person is available as is the case most of the time, the call gets dropped or goes silent.
Others are a robot voice asking me to please hold....same deal as above, waiting for a person to become free.
Then there are the scams..... a recording telling me there is a parcel stuck at "the depot" for me and I need to call a number to organise delivery - obviously this is a high premium rate number. Or various banks that I dont have accounts with, the tax office, and various other companies need me to "verify my identity" by answering various questions.

The few calls that I do answer and get a person are invariably selling solar panels, some kind of grant for loft insulation or some other shite I have no interest in and that no sane person would buy from whomever happened to call them out of the blue. They are all sneaky bastards and quickly mention "EDF partner" or similar phrases to appear legitimate.
"dont call me"
" get fucked"
"its a rented house"
screaming or whistling down the phone
doesnt matter what I say, the calls continue.

These come from various number prefix's and of course the withheld ones. Then there are my pals in Africa with various 0022, 0023 etc numbers all from Nigeria and the like, offering me "interesting, legitimate business opportunities".

Many of the numbers are impossible to call back. If you try you get told the number doesnt exist. If I enter the numbers into google.fr there are dozens of sites with hundreds of complaints about each one from people getting the same shit as me.

Temporary solution - the ringer is switched off and I am ignoring it. I dont really need the landline except for internet access.
In the long term, since I am obliged to have the line for internet is it going to be worth the inevitable hassle and probable expense of changing my number and making sure it is kept out of the phone book?

[nebuchenezer]

To the fella on the train sitting behind me on the 0518 from Canterbury West this morning.

 

I'm very glad you found your stolen bike out the front of the station. It is a shame though that you did not report it stolen and have no way of proving that it is yours.

 

So

 

WHY DID YOU SPEND MOST OF THE JOURNEY LOUDLY ARGUING WITH THE POLICE ON A MOBILE PHONE APPROX 24" BEHIND MY OBVIOUSLY SLEEPING HEAD YOU TWUNT?

 

Actually I couldn't stop giggling at you ever increasing pleas to the police especially when you said you would get your wife and three small children out of bet to go to the station and meet the police to get the bike back.

 

Still grumpy about the lack of sleep though  

[AlabamaShrimp]

I am getting a proper rage on with this at the moment.

20+ calls PER DAY.....if I am out all day my handset only records up to 19 missed calls. I re-set it each morning and come home to at least 19 missed calls. The answering machine will usually have three or four messages, which are just silence or call centre jibberjabber can be heard in the background.

If I am in the house the calls come in waves with 4 or 5 in short succession then nothing for an hour or two, then another wave. This is going from about 8am to 9pm.

 

Answering them? ha! its pointless. The vast majority of them just disconnect when I pick up or are silent. Apparently these are autodialler machines that dial hundreds of numbers a second and those that answer get connected to a person, if no person is available as is the case most of the time, the call gets dropped or goes silent.

Others are a robot voice asking me to please hold....same deal as above, waiting for a person to become free.

Then there are the scams..... a recording telling me there is a parcel stuck at "the depot" for me and I need to call a number to organise delivery - obviously this is a high premium rate number. Or various banks that I dont have accounts with, the tax office, and various other companies need me to "verify my identity" by answering various questions.

 

The few calls that I do answer and get a person are invariably selling solar panels, some kind of grant for loft insulation or some other shite I have no interest in and that no sane person would buy from whomever happened to call them out of the blue. They are all sneaky bastards and quickly mention "EDF partner" or similar phrases to appear legitimate.

"dont call me"

" get fucked"

"its a rented house"

screaming or whistling down the phone

doesnt matter what I say, the calls continue.

 

These come from various number prefix's and of course the withheld ones. Then there are my pals in Africa with various 0022, 0023 etc numbers all from Nigeria and the like, offering me "interesting, legitimate business opportunities".

 

Many of the numbers are impossible to call back. If you try you get told the number doesnt exist. If I enter the numbers into google.fr there are dozens of sites with hundreds of complaints about each one from people getting the same shit as me.

 

Temporary solution - the ringer is switched off and I am ignoring it. I dont really need the landline except for internet access.

In the long term, since I am obliged to have the line for internet is it going to be worth the inevitable hassle and probable expense of changing my number and making sure it is kept out of the phone book?

I'm getting a lot of these at the moment from what I assume by the accent is India.

 

The auto diner only connects if you speak so I tap the phone and if I get an answer I'll spend a few minutes putting on a stupid voice, being a dick then cut them off.

 

While they get on my tits and won't take my number off their list when I've asked I'm of the feeling now that it's costing them money everytime they ring so it's my job to waste it for them

[garbaldy]

Yes I like how they call with the foreign accent and say they are called Paul or some other easy to remember name, funny that after me trying to sell them 4 million Lego blocks and 10 mins later hes changed his name to Andrew.

[daveb47]

I am getting a proper rage on with this at the moment.

20+ calls PER DAY.....if I am out all day my handset only records up to 19 missed calls. I re-set it each morning and come home to at least 19 missed calls. The answering machine will usually have three or four messages, which are just silence or call centre jibberjabber can be heard in the background.

If I am in the house the calls come in waves with 4 or 5 in short succession then nothing for an hour or two, then another wave. This is going from about 8am to 9pm.

 

Answering them? ha! its pointless.  The vast majority of them just disconnect when I pick up or are silent. Apparently these are autodialler machines that dial hundreds of numbers a second and those that answer get connected to a person, if no person is available as is the case most of the time, the call gets dropped or goes silent.

Others are a robot voice asking me to please hold....same deal as above, waiting for a person to become free.

Then there are the scams..... a recording telling me there is a parcel stuck at "the depot" for me and I need to call a number to organise delivery - obviously this is a high premium rate number. Or various banks that I dont have accounts with, the tax office, and various other companies need me to "verify my identity" by answering various questions.

 

The few calls that I do answer and get a person are invariably selling solar panels, some kind of grant for loft insulation or some other shite I have no interest in and that no sane person would buy from whomever happened to call them out of the blue. They are all sneaky bastards and quickly mention "EDF partner" or similar phrases to appear legitimate.

"dont call me"

" get fucked"

"its a rented house"

screaming or whistling down the phone

doesnt matter what I say, the calls continue.

 

These come from various number prefix's and of course the withheld ones. Then there are my pals in Africa with various 0022, 0023 etc numbers all from Nigeria and the like, offering me "interesting, legitimate business opportunities".

 

Many of the numbers are impossible to call back. If you try you get told the number doesnt exist. If I enter the numbers into google.fr there are dozens of sites with hundreds of complaints about each one from people getting the same shit as me.

 

Temporary solution - the ringer is switched off and I am ignoring it. I dont really need the landline except for internet access.

In the long term, since I am obliged to have the line for internet is it going to be worth the inevitable hassle and probable expense of changing my number and making sure it is kept out of the phone book?

I am thinking of getting a £5 a minute premium number phone line & giving it out as ny home number.

That way at least i will be getting paid for spam calls,even be worth keeping them talking.

[stillOrange]

Our lovely DVLA.

 

I bought SORN'd car and it's unfortunately still off road.

With new tax rules and all that fuss with it not being transferable, I was suspecting that SORN isn't either and I will have to do it again.

No worries, when I had the slip in my hand I went to DVLA website to SORN it again. The website told me, no mate it's all done, don't worry, there is nothing you have to do about it. Fine I thought but will check again once V5C is processed.

V5C received so I go to the website again. Same as last time, no mate it's all done, don't worry, there is nothing you have to do about it. I thought brilliant, at least SORNs do transfer, it makes sense.

Today I received a letter titled "Last chance!" telling me that I have not taxed my vehicle nor I declared it off road and I MUST do one of them immediately, no silly 7 days or any other time scales given.

Oh dear, I thought, I better not ignore it and do something about it. I went onto the DVLA website, filled in all info and surprise surprise it tells me, don't worry, your car is SORN'd, there is nothing you have to do about it.

I'd better check that, called a number on the letter and tried to make the declaration again. Automated voice tells me, don't worry, your car is SORN'd, there is nothing you have to do about it. I have heard/read it so many times that I should have just left it there.

Few cogs in my brain moved and I decided that I really need to speak to a human at DVLA to clarify this and to make sure that they won't fine me in few days.

Managed to get through to helpful guy who told me that previous SORN declaration "errored" and while the system thinks and says it's all good and dandy, it is not so really and he advises me to make the declaration in writing using one of their forms.

I said, OK I will do but can he just make some kind of a note on the system that will ensure that I'm not fined. No he can't, system doesn't allow him to do so and anyway he isn't from the "enforcement department" who will decide if I'm liable to pay any fines or tax due.

 

F%^&$^$^ bastards. Liable to what? I was told numerous times that I don't need to do anything and only natural lack of trust towards DVLA made me investigate it further. F%*^%%$^&& bastards, all of them!

[purplebargeken]

^^What an absolute load of DVLA fuckwittery. Great* system they have. 

[scaryoldcortina]

Grump #1 - Scamming Motor Auctions.

 

Yeah, £258 fees on a £500 car is exactly what they charge! It's only £226 on cars up to £499 though. NEVER going again, because there are way cheaper ways to take a total leap in the dark on a car. Gumtree for example.

 

Grump #2 - Parking ticket appeal.

 

I think they are being deliberatly obtuse. The "appeal officer" who is obviously just the warden with the most blisters this week said in the last email that they could cancel it if I could show a receipt for the speakers, despite me already telling them I collected them to repair. I replied to clarify that there was no purchace, no receipt and that if they would like a statement from the shop owner confirming that I collected a repair job that lunchtime it would be easy to arrange.

 

 

Your comments have been noted. I acknowledge that you cannot provide a receipt as you did not purchase the speakers.

 

I must advise that a loading bay should only be used to load, the purchased items, into the vehicle.  You are not permitted to park in a loading bay to shop for the items.  In such instances; you would be expected to park in a permitted parking area until you are ready to load the items.

 

Unfortunately, I can only consider the case if loading activity occurred and as you did not purchase the items, I cannot cancel the Notice.

 

FOUR FORKS ACHE!

[beko1987]

Cant the shopkeep 'sell you' something and write you a receipt?

 

Prob a bit late now though. But you were loading... I hate parking officers

[scaryoldcortina]

Well, if I'd been dishonest I could have got him to write a receipt for it, but that wouldn't have been the truth. I've replied again restating the case and pointing out the obvious problem with their argument (that I needed to buy something to use the bay) and offering again to provide written proof to back up my story.

 

Copies of the emails are already on the way to our MP (who we both know) and the county counsellor whose ward covers the shop (the shop keeper's wife's sister in law). His wife is a town counsellor also. It's a really small town

[sporty-shite]

Scary, if you were collecting the speakers, then surely a delivery note would suffice. The sort of thing with two addresses and a couple of signatures that anyone could knock up on word in around two minutes.

[scaryoldcortina]

Yup. That's pretty much what I was offering them! Problem is the idiot seems to think that no receipt means no speakers.

[Danblez]

What a load of nonsense, you can unload in loading bays too so he is obviously just making this up now in the hope you will quietly go away.

[Station]

Keep at it, go in the shop and get a frigging receipt!!!!

[Station]

Keep at it, go in the shop and get a frigging receipt!!!!

[Jerzy Woking]

I've got the works Lexus GS300 Hybrid for a couple of weeks. Dear god, why is everything so complicated? Buttons, knobs and switches everywhere, and loads on the steering wheel. Oddly though, it does not have electric seats

 

It pains me to say it, but I'll have to admit defeat and spend some time sat in it looking through owners manual, working out what does what. My old LS400 had loads of gadgets, but far fewer buttons. Progress is sometimes a step backwards.

[sporty-shite]

Yup. That's pretty much what I was offering them! Problem is the idiot seems to think that no receipt means no speakers.

An idiot indeed seeing as a delivery note IS a receipt.

[Jazoli]

I am thinking of getting a £5 a minute premium number phone line & giving it out as ny home number.

That way at least i will be getting paid for spam calls,even be worth keeping them talking.

 

I am getting a proper rage on with this at the moment.

20+ calls PER DAY.....if I am out all day my handset only records up to 19 missed calls. I re-set it each morning and come home to at least 19 missed calls. The answering machine will usually have three or four messages, which are just silence or call centre jibberjabber can be heard in the background.

If I am in the house the calls come in waves with 4 or 5 in short succession then nothing for an hour or two, then another wave. This is going from about 8am to 9pm.

 

Answering them? ha! its pointless.  The vast majority of them just disconnect when I pick up or are silent. Apparently these are autodialler machines that dial hundreds of numbers a second and those that answer get connected to a person, if no person is available as is the case most of the time, the call gets dropped or goes silent.

Others are a robot voice asking me to please hold....same deal as above, waiting for a person to become free.

Then there are the scams..... a recording telling me there is a parcel stuck at "the depot" for me and I need to call a number to organise delivery - obviously this is a high premium rate number. Or various banks that I dont have accounts with, the tax office, and various other companies need me to "verify my identity" by answering various questions.

 

The few calls that I do answer and get a person are invariably selling solar panels, some kind of grant for loft insulation or some other shite I have no interest in and that no sane person would buy from whomever happened to call them out of the blue. They are all sneaky bastards and quickly mention "EDF partner" or similar phrases to appear legitimate.

"dont call me"

" get fucked"

"its a rented house"

screaming or whistling down the phone

doesnt matter what I say, the calls continue.

 

These come from various number prefix's and of course the withheld ones. Then there are my pals in Africa with various 0022, 0023 etc numbers all from Nigeria and the like, offering me "interesting, legitimate business opportunities".

 

Many of the numbers are impossible to call back. If you try you get told the number doesnt exist. If I enter the numbers into google.fr there are dozens of sites with hundreds of complaints about each one from people getting the same shit as me.

 

Temporary solution - the ringer is switched off and I am ignoring it. I dont really need the landline except for internet access.

In the long term, since I am obliged to have the line for internet is it going to be worth the inevitable hassle and probable expense of changing my number and making sure it is kept out of the phone book?

 

My landline phone has been unplugged for the last 3 years because of this and it'll never be plugged back in, its a fucking joke.

[HH-R]

I had to resort to that too, though after being unplugged for about a year, I only get the odd spam call. Get one or two occasionally from a confused old woman, but I don't think she's doing it on purpose.

[Philyc]

Ref the above comment, my dad calls his best mate every christmas but always dials the number for his extremely elderly parents first by mistake. Muscle memory from when they were both at school and still living with parents

 

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

[eddyramrod]

Changed the ink cartridge in my printer today so I could print off some more CVs and my holiday documentation.  The colour cartridge is pretty much empty.  When I bought the last one I could only get it as part of a twin-pack with a black one, both listed for this model printer.  So today I put the black one in, thinking monochrome is better than nothing.

"Cartridge not supported"  Oh fucking marvellous!  So I still need a new colour one, which are like unicorn teeth.

[Pillock]

I wonder if I could actually have a premium rate number for my landline and if companies would still accept it.

Anyone who I know and like has my mobile number anyway, the only people to ring my landline are chancers, robot diallers, and the odd company who I've grudgingly given it to because they needed a landline - mostly legit debt collectors I've been dealing with for the past few years. They seem to think they can demand a landline and often refuse to take just a mobile number. Maybe they'd just dial it without even realising, if it's just dialled for them from the big database of harvested numbers.

 

That way I can answer every call, string them along, "Oh yeah, now you mention it I completely forgot about that car accident I had! Must have been the massive bang to the head that made me miss loads of work. Please tell me more about your services" and I'm rewarded for my acting prowess by CASHBACK.

[Largactil]

http://www.truecall.co.uk/default.asp , if you're feeling flush, at £100 incl. 12 months subscription, and £20 PA thereafter.

 

Works a treat.

[fairkens]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23869462

 

Don't know if that link will work, but someone has done alright out of the premium as home phone thing

[meshking]

Well, if I'd been dishonest I could have got him to write a receipt for it, but that wouldn't have been the truth. I've replied again restating the case and pointing out the obvious problem with their argument (that I needed to buy something to use the bay) and offering again to provide written proof to back up my story.

 

Copies of the emails are already on the way to our MP (who we both know) and the county counsellor whose ward covers the shop (the shop keeper's wife's sister in law). His wife is a town counsellor also. It's a really small town

That sounds good. If I was feeling particularly arsey I'd be asking for a reference to the legislation that details and actual purchase must be made. Is it not unloading too?

[bub2006]

Fucking cunting pissflaps. Car just threw it's alternator belt 20 mile from home and it's getting dark