The grumpy thread

[Skut]

I fucking hate dealing with scrapyards. Every time you call them they seem to be teetering between psychosis and full blown depression. They resent the call, they resent your visit. 

[Cavcraft]

Oh, you've been to Car Transplants then?

[Skut]

  On 10/05/2019 at 11:54, Cavcraft said:

Oh, you've been to Car Transplants then?

Expand  

Some outfit called Mossbank near Brechin. 

[Saabnut]

  On 10/05/2019 at 12:44, Skut said:

Some outfit called Mossbank near Brechin. 

Expand  

I could tell many tales about Mossbank - they have been arseholes for over 20 years, before the change in attitude they were great, and my late brother worked there for a while. Spending an average of 4k a year there for many years did not stop them ripping me off once and trying a second time. I would rather bridge a perfectly good car if the alternative was to use Mossbank. Shame as they are my local yard, but I look forward to the closure signs going up!

[Saabnut]

Before contributing my grump about Mossbank, I was going to have a grump about how my Jag is refusing to start despite running perfectly when parked up (admittedly 2 years ago!) and how I was going to have to visit a scrapyard for the first time in 20 years to see if I can obtain an electrical connector to make up a test lead (will be going to Perseley) but my laptop died! It was working fine last night, but refused to boot up this morning. Took it to my friend who does computers, and he has kindly loaned me a laptop to enable me to have my grump!

[bramz7]

I think the Tempra seller on eBay is flaking on me. 

They wanted super fast collection, which (with help) I can do. Yet I've had no response to two messages so far. 

 

Typical!

[Datsuncog]

  On 10/05/2019 at 10:02, Skut said:

I fucking hate dealing with scrapyards. Every time you call them they seem to be teetering between psychosis and full blown depression. They resent the call, they resent your visit. 

Expand  

What I find surprising is their utter incredulity, no matter how common the car or part you're asking about...

"Hi there, wondering if you're breaking any Polos at the minute - "

"A WHAT?!"

"Erm… a Volkswagen Polo..."

"A Polo? Nah mate, haven't seen one of them for years. Years. Nah."

- Hangs up on me - 

This was, of course, a place that advertised itself as a specialist Volkswagen breaker. I genuinely think I'd have had a better response ringing the Moghul Kebab House...

Same thing happened trying to find Yaris bits too. No breaker within a fifty mile radius had ever even seen one of these exotic rarities, seemingly...

I honestly wonder whether some of the yards are effectively a front for more nefarious activities, as they seem to have fuck-all inclination to actually sell car parts.

 

That said, I was in a branch of Tim Hortons an hour ago and they showed fuck-all inclination to sell me a cup of coffee and a doughnut, so maybe the world's just full of cockfootling jizztrumpets.

[Cavcraft]

Oh aye, specialist breakers. The Vauxhall one not far from here were appalling to deal with. Bought a second hand sump for a Corsa years ago, got home and found they were cheaper new. My own fault for not checking first, but their attitude and pricing were unbelievable. Car Transplants (who used to be good many years ago) seem to only employ the most miserable possible people and tell them to make it act like they're doing you a favour just by answering the phone.

 

A1 in Ellesmere Port though have been brilliant. No 'attitudes' they're always very helpful and the prices are good too.

[wuvvum]

There's a breaker in Norwich who has always been like that.  I used to go to him fairly regularly as he had a surprising stock of obscure BL tat (he once found me a rear lamp cluster for a Princess off the shelf) - one day you'd go and he'd greet you like you were his long lost brother, the next time he would refuse to even acknowledge your presence.  Very odd.

[MikeR]

Petrol.   ... I can buy shell near work for same price as the tesco shite near home .....  

How do they come up with regonial prices ?

[hairnet]

  On 10/05/2019 at 07:45, wuvvum said:

I thought you'd retired??

Expand  

not from shit cars

[Kiltox]

“Distress buying” tyres is such bullshit. They always try to rape you because you need to get moving again  

i10 had a puncture, went to National who I often use for tyres, oil changes etc. 

£65 for a 14” ditch finder?? Fuck off. Dropped to £49 quite quickly when I said to put the spare on so I could go elsewhere. Still overpriced. 

 

[Wack]

  On 10/05/2019 at 17:01, MikeR said:

Petrol.   ... I can buy shell near work for same price as the tesco shite near home .....  

How do they come up with regonial prices ?

Expand  

They say it's to do with distribution costs but if that's true how can costco sell 40 500ml bottles of water for £3.22 , if they filled a truck with it I bet it'd weigh 50T

[anonymous user]

Petrol prices will vary also depending on the quantity that you buy. When my father was selling it years ago the refinery was less than three miles away, but because we had small tanks never bought that big a load. It used to cost us as much per gallon as the supermarket in town was selling it for. This meant that even though our price was slightly higher we probably made pennies in profit, if that, especially when you consider the additional insurance premiums for having the petrol on the premises. We did have customers, mostly who had monthly accounts, they were also the ones who expected a 24 hour service and would come and knock the door of the house if we were shut at night or on a Sunday.  My brother no longer sells fuel, but does have his own diesel tank for his own vehicles.

[Cavcraft]

  On 10/05/2019 at 17:48, Kiltox said:

“Distress buying” tyres is such bullshit. They always try to rape you because you need to get moving again  

i10 had a puncture, went to National who I often use for tyres, oil changes etc. 

£65 for a 14” ditch finder?? Fuck off. Dropped to £49 quite quickly when I said to put the spare on so I could go elsewhere. Still overpriced. 

 

Expand  

Honestly don't know how National are still going. The prices they quoted a year or so ago for a Mini (tyres and manifold, iirc) were just eye watering. Assume they've 'done a BP' and just left places where there isn't much opposition so can sort of charge what they like.

[Angrydicky]

Old giffer opposite my parents has scrapped his immaculate, 50k from new and the most perfect mot history I've ever seen, Mk2 Mondeo GLX estate. Yeah, I know its not the most exciting car ever but that's annoyed me as it seems like such a waste. I knew he didn't use it anymore, just noticed it missing from the driveway and DVLA say no record. RIP

[Zelandeth]

Where the heck have they hidden filters etc in YouTube these days?!?

There used to be an obvious way to apply anti shake filters and the like to uploaded videos... I'm absolutely at a loss as to where they are now.  Have they gone?  Or am I just blind...

 

[New POD]

  On 10/05/2019 at 17:01, MikeR said:

Petrol.   ... I can buy shell near work for same price as the tesco shite near home .....  

How do they come up with regonial prices ?

Expand  

Tesco in Litherland, Bootle. Is 3p cheaper than Tesco in Formby. Which is 4p cheaper than M&S\BP in Formby.  

Bootle ? Average house price £90k 

Formby ? £400k 

Is petrol price and affluence linked at all ? 

[Kiltox]

  On 10/05/2019 at 21:07, Cavcraft said:

Honestly don't know how National are still going. The prices they quoted a year or so ago for a Mini (tyres and manifold, iirc) were just eye watering. Assume they've 'done a BP' and just left places where there isn't much opposition so can sort of charge what they like.

Expand  

 

For tyres they can be very competitive if you order online. 2 day lead time of course. 

 

[clayts450]

WIth local banks closing left right and centre, why do they make it so damned hard to pay money in ? As I noted yday, I received a rather comically large cheque coz PPI.

TSB boast you can pay in at the Post Office but to do so the Post Office advise you need a pre-printed paying-in slip. Which of course, I don't have.

This hilarious Tweet by someone else rather neatly sums it up...

So I had to drag my sorry arse into Nottingham. On a Saturday afternoon. Where I had one car park entry fail due to stupidity on my part, then ended up miles away in the Victoria Centre which is currently being renovated and is almost impossible to escape from if you miss one turning. Which of course, I did.

The actual transaction in the branch itself was painless. Whilst in Nottingham, I thought I'd hit Primark, as I needed some short sleeved shirts for work. Jeez, that place is like a fucking jumble sale, and the people who frequent it are the rudest gannet-like sheep I have ever witnessed. Could I find short-sleeved shirts ? Nope. Ah well, nice pair of jeans for a tenner. They'll do. Where do I pay ? Fuck that, queue about a mile long round the store. I know, I'll go to Fopp and have an hour in there. Except the last time I went there it was in Queen Street. Long closed. Gave up and went home, and returned to my normality with a brake bleeding sesh on the 420.

TL:DR Town centres are for suckers - stay away. And banks that don't make it easy to pay money in can fuck off as well.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Feckin' alternator dead on CX, and new battery flatter than Flat Earth Society's credibility. Waiting now for AA Relay to truck the car home to London from this layby on eastbound A40 between Longford and Innsworth. Still, grand day out at CX Technical Day in Forest of Dean. At least 10 CXs turned up; never seen that many together before!

[myglaren]

  On 11/05/2019 at 16:18, clayts450 said:

WIth local banks closing left right and centre, why do they make it so damned hard to pay money in ? As I noted yday, I received a rather comically large cheque coz PPI.

TSB boast you can pay in at the Post Office but to do so the Post Office advise you need a pre-printed paying-in slip. Which of course, I don't have.

This hilarious Tweet by someone else rather neatly sums it up...

So I had to drag my sorry arse into Nottingham. On a Saturday afternoon. Where I had one car park entry fail due to stupidity on my part, then ended up miles away in the Victoria Centre which is currently being renovated and is almost impossible to escape from if you miss one turning. Which of course, I did.

The actual transaction in the branch itself was painless. Whilst in Nottingham, I thought I'd hit Primark, as I needed some short sleeved shirts for work. Jeez, that place is like a fucking jumble sale, and the people who frequent it are the rudest gannet-like sheep I have ever witnessed. Could I find short-sleeved shirts ? Nope. Ah well, nice pair of jeans for a tenner. They'll do. Where do I pay ? Fuck that, queue about a mile long round the store. I know, I'll go to Fopp and have an hour in there. Except the last time I went there it was in Queen Street. Long closed. Gave up and went home, and returned to my normality with a brake bleeding sesh on the 420.

TL:DR Town centres are for suckers - stay away. And banks that don't make it easy to pay money in can fuck off as well.

Expand  

I'm astounded that they didn't just pay the money into your account directly.

[myglaren]

  On 11/05/2019 at 18:26, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Feckin' alternator dead on CX, and new battery flatter than Flat Earth Society's credibility. Waiting now for AA Relay to truck the car home to London from this layby on eastbound A40 between Longford and Innsworth. Still, grand day out at CX Technical Day in Forest of Dean. At least 10 CXs turned up; never seen that many together before!

Expand  

Liked for the CX's, not the breakdown.

I wish I dared buy one!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

  On 11/05/2019 at 19:30, myglaren said:

Liked for the CX's, not the breakdown.

I wish I dared buy one!

Expand  

Go on and do it. One thing is certain: sure ye'll never be short of entertainment.…...

[Kiltox]

  On 11/05/2019 at 16:18, clayts450 said:

WIth local banks closing left right and centre, why do they make it so damned hard to pay money in ? As I noted yday, I received a rather comically large cheque coz PPI.

TSB boast you can pay in at the Post Office but to do so the Post Office advise you need a pre-printed paying-in slip. Which of course, I don't have.

This hilarious Tweet by someone else rather neatly sums it up...

So I had to drag my sorry arse into Nottingham. On a Saturday afternoon. Where I had one car park entry fail due to stupidity on my part, then ended up miles away in the Victoria Centre which is currently being renovated and is almost impossible to escape from if you miss one turning. Which of course, I did.

The actual transaction in the branch itself was painless. Whilst in Nottingham, I thought I'd hit Primark, as I needed some short sleeved shirts for work. Jeez, that place is like a fucking jumble sale, and the people who frequent it are the rudest gannet-like sheep I have ever witnessed. Could I find short-sleeved shirts ? Nope. Ah well, nice pair of jeans for a tenner. They'll do. Where do I pay ? Fuck that, queue about a mile long round the store. I know, I'll go to Fopp and have an hour in there. Except the last time I went there it was in Queen Street. Long closed. Gave up and went home, and returned to my normality with a brake bleeding sesh on the 420.

TL:DR Town centres are for suckers - stay away. And banks that don't make it easy to pay money in can fuck off as well.

Expand  

Halifax (and probably also the other LBG brands) do online cheque deposits - it has amount limits though. 

[clayts450]

  On 11/05/2019 at 19:53, Kiltox said:

Halifax (and probably also the other LBG brands) do online cheque deposits - it has amount limits though. 

Expand  

Think it's a £500 limit so wouldn't have worked for me (he boasted)

[Kiltox]

  On 11/05/2019 at 21:09, clayts450 said:

Think it's a £500 limit so wouldn't have worked for me (he boasted)

Expand  

Aye nae bother billy big bollocks

(congrats though, fuck PPI)

[stonedagain]

  On 11/05/2019 at 19:29, myglaren said:

I'm astounded that they didn't just pay the money into your account directly.

Expand  

My ppi claim was paid to me by cheque. Mrs Stoned cashed an isa in a month ago, that was also paid by cheque.

[Inspector Morose]

  On 11/05/2019 at 19:20, Nyphur said:

Is there a single thread left on here where I don't have to read about a fucking Invacar?

Expand  

Meh, its just a fad this forum goes through and has ever been thus since the beginning. It was BXs once then 405s then Corsas etc etc etc. One day it’ll be Upton Snodsbury Basingstoke mk3s eventually when they become the “in” thing.

yeah, I don’t get it either but I’ll just hang around until the next in thing comes along to see if I get those. It will, eventually.

[brownnova]

  On 11/05/2019 at 22:51, FPB7 said:

Meh, its just a fad this forum goes through and has ever been thus since the beginning. It was BXs once then 405s then Corsas etc etc etc. One day it’ll be Upton Snodsbury Basingstoke mk3s eventually when they become the “in” thing.

yeah, I don’t get it either but I’ll just hang around until the next in thing comes along to see if I get those. It will, eventually.

Expand  

Remember when it was Laguna IIs... 

This is better than then, but it could be better than it is!