The grumpy thread

[Dick Cheeseburger]

16 hours ago, sierraman said:

It’s no good living your life on the off chance you get left something, after all you’ve nothing to work for if it’s handed to you on a plate? 

This. It's surprising how many people seem to think this way. 

[Metal Guru]

56 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Water. Our rates are one of the highest in the country allegedly.  Are we unique in Cornwall in that we still have a hosepipe ban? Could really do with giving the fleet a decent deep clean.

I never been to Cornwall when it hasn’t been raining!

[wuvvum]

6 hours ago, cort1977 said:

My BiL is like that.  Father was a partner at one of the big law firms, boarding schools, etc. etc.  Since becoming an adult been gifted sufficient cash and property to not have to work but it's left him (and them, wife's sister also hasn't worked in years) completely directionless and not very happy.  They've now put their own kids in boarding school (at grandfather's expense) and sit about doing nothing not even looking after their own kids. 

It's sad, but they're also insufferable twats so I don't feel that bad.

I remember reading an interview years ago with some bazillionaire or other (I don't remember who it was) who said that they intended to leave their kids "enough money that they can do anything, but not enough that they can do nothing".  I thought that was a pretty good approach.

[RoverFolkUs]

12 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

If there's footage you have a legal right to a copy of any that may include you.

Unfortunately it's murky waters because they cannot share it if there are other people in the footage who cannot be edited out or obfuscated. 

Therefore the offender's identity would have to be obfuscated, or the footage withheld if they cannot be easily blurred out. 

Would also be difficult to obtain the number plate, it falls under GDPR so you'd have to prove it's to persue criminal activity (leaving the scene of an accident, yes) but that's difficult to say so if you're a private individual. 

I know my local Tesco flat out will not give out CCTV

[somewhatfoolish]

A number plate is not relevant to GDPR, you cannot identify an individual from it. Report them to the information commissioner and lodge a formal request to see the footage, unless the carpark was like a saturday at a football match It's bullshit they cannot comply with the rules in 2023.

[Volksy]

Speeding ticket received today. 

72mph on the A64 dual carriageway from a mobile camera between Leeds and York.

Turns out the works van (Ford Connect) oddly falls into the commercial vehicle category, so 60mph limit rather than 70mph. .  Asshats.  (A Connect Tourneo - MPV can do 70mph though!!)

I can do an awareness course....

 

When I spoke to North Yorkshire Police, they said "had you been doing 70mph, we wouldn't have picked it up, as the camera doesn't differentiate commercial vehicles". Double Asshats.... 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

The XJ failing to proceed.. briefly, due to a jammed  choke cable  and  flooded carbs as result .  First ever FTP in 3 and a half years.

 

 

 Re the kitchen/ inheritance:  Yep. My late wife's  uncle passed  9 odd years ago and left a tidy sum to her. She decided on a new kitchen  which went from a reasonable 5k IKEA  makeover  to a 5 figure sum in no time. I think I'm the end  the  countertops cost almost as much as  "we" had intended to spend on a whole kitchen in the first place .  Wasn't my money  so I had no say, was a lovely kitchen tho

[DavieW]

20 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I remember reading an interview years ago with some bazillionaire or other (I don't remember who it was) who said that they intended to leave their kids "enough money that they can do anything, but not enough that they can do nothing".  I thought that was a pretty good approach.

You're thinking of Sir Tom Hunter.

[RoverFolkUs]

6 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

A number plate is not relevant to GDPR, you cannot identify an individual from it. Report them to the information commissioner and lodge a formal request to see the footage, unless the carpark was like a saturday at a football match It's bullshit they cannot comply with the rules in 2023.

Not trying to split hairs, but the criteria is "directly or indirectly identifiable* 

A number plate can be used to identify the registered keeper of a vehicle. 

Indirectly

It could be considered a legitimate interest, because the offending vehicle driver has commited an offence by damaging the victim's vehicle and leaving the scene. 

As I said, it's a grey area, and a VRM does technically fall under GDPR

[somewhatfoolish]

Not by joe soap they can't; the identity of RKs is jealously guarded by doovla "because GDPR", unless they own a carpark or are employed to provide revenue protection for a carpark, then they'll hand the ID over with alacrity in exchange for a pittance, even if they've misused the service and been complained about repeatedly.

[horriblemercedes]

6 hours ago, Volksy said:

Speeding ticket received today. 

72mph on the A64 dual carriageway from a mobile camera between Leeds and York.

Turns out the works van (Ford Connect) oddly falls into the commercial vehicle category, so 60mph limit rather than 70mph. .  Asshats.  (A Connect Tourneo - MPV can do 70mph though!!)

I can do an awareness course....

 

When I spoke to North Yorkshire Police, they said "had you been doing 70mph, we wouldn't have picked it up, as the camera doesn't differentiate commercial vehicles". Double Asshats.... 

Mobile camera operator can tell the difference. If your limit was 70, I guarantee you wouldn't have been done for 72

[New POD]

42 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Not trying to split hairs, but the criteria is "directly or indirectly identifiable* 

A number plate can be used to identify the registered keeper of a vehicle. 

Indirectly

It could be considered a legitimate interest, because the offending vehicle driver has commited an offence by damaging the victim's vehicle and leaving the scene. 

As I said, it's a grey area, and a VRM does technically fall under GDPR

Having a number plate gets the possibility of getting the keepers details, if you ask the DVLA, and they agree you reason is valid. 

[RoverFolkUs]

2 minutes ago, New POD said:

Having a number plate gets the possibility of getting the keepers details, if you ask the DVLA, and they agree you reason is valid. 

That's what I'm getting at, yes

It's not sensitive data, because it's public, but it's potentially identifiable, so it's protected by GDPR

I'm not saying it can't be shared due to GDPR, only it has to be shared in compliance with it because it does come under it 

[RoverFolkUs]

On 1/20/2023 at 12:02 PM, horriblemercedes said:

Aren't the Lucas ones just refurbished?

I fitted a Lucas alternator from ECP and it was just a refurb Valeo

 

I've also done well with Lucas bulbs, but I don't fit enough bulbs or alternators to make my data reliable. I also know that Lucas is not the Lucas that we all know and love. I just chose those parts because they were cheap

Only just seen this, yes they're all recon. God knows by whom and to what extent. Could be just a new regulator and sprayed over with silver paint for all I know 🤷

On 1/18/2023 at 10:29 PM, RoverFolkUs said:

On the subject of Lucas, I fitted one of their Alternators recently, dead out of the box

Was a Disco 2 TD5 so not a particularly straightforward job to have to do twice either

Had me second guessing my diagnosis but after spending another hour going over everything (again) I tried a Denso one and it was obviously ok 

Obviously Starline and RTX are no good either so don't bother with ECP unless they list a Denso one. Bit more expensive, but it should last, or more importantly, actually fucking work out of the box!!

 

Back on this subject of Lucas parts

We've had another alternator fail under warranty today

Fitted about 6 weeks ago, covered 500 miles if that, and the bearings are shot. Really  noisy and rough even when rotating by hand. Absolutely horrifically noisy when the engine was running

Another one a couple of weeks ago failed due to noisy bearings after approx 18 months / 5k miles 

And the Disco one I mentioned dead out the box. 

Clearly it's just rebadged Chinese shite 

ECP must be spending out a fortune on labour claims if they keep selling this shit...

[dozeydustman]

Went to  Bournemouth this morning to pick up the luggage cover missing from my dad’s new car. Seller left it at their valeter. Sloppy.

Got stuck behind some fag-ash Lil in a 10 plate Corsa doing 55 in the middle lane, lorries in the left and Audiwanker doing 9 billion in the outside. Everytime outside lane is free to overtake fag ash Lil, she boots it and matches my speed. Why do people do that? Especially when leftmost lane becomes clear.

Then when I reached Fareham on the M27 washer jets decided to pack up. Pump motor isn’t going so I’m hoping it’s just a bad connection or pump needing replacement, as if it’s wiring that’ll be a ballache to sort.

[RoverFolkUs]

Euro wrong parts struck again today! 

Further to my recent post about a faulty 6 week old alternator 

Unfortunately they were the only company that had one in stock for that day in the first place, and since its a warranty job, got to wait for a replacement from them

Anyway, ordered a replacement, all goes tickety boo. Got the faulty one out, opened the box, and it is literally twice the size of the old one!? 

I phoned up, explained the situation, he asked for the part number on the box, which actually matched the faulty one. Then we realised it was the wrong alternator in the correct box. They duly sent another replacement. 

3rd times a charm, surely?

No. Guess what turned up? 

Another of exactly the same fucking mahoosive alternator wrongly boxed. AGAIN

Phoned up again. Sending yet another one. I'm sure you'll all* wait in anticipation to see what turns up this time. Unfortunately the next available one is in another branch half way across the country

How fucking hard is it to do a quality control before sending it out and ensuring the part number in the (opened, unsealed) box matches the part number on the sticker?? 

So unbelievably infuriating. Not to mention timewasting

Unfortunately we don't have a great deal of choice, there's the local factors who have gone all modern, and can be expensive and quite unhelpful at times. Then there's GSF who seem to do about 2 deliveries a day

[wuvvum]

FFS.

[RoverFolkUs]

18 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

FFS.

Probably the best tyre on the car as well isn't it? By sod's law!

[wuvvum]

Yep.  Nearly new* Goodyear Eagle. 

[Lankytim]

32 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

FFS.

Shatting hell! Has it done the tyre?

[wuvvum]

Just now, Lankytim said:

Shatting hell! Has it done the tyre?

Yep, gouged a fucking great chunk out of it down to the cords.  MOT is due in a couple of weeks too.

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Euro wrong parts struck again today! 

Further to my recent post about a faulty 6 week old alternator 

Unfortunately they were the only company that had one in stock for that day in the first place, and since its a warranty job, got to wait for a replacement from them

Anyway, ordered a replacement, all goes tickety boo. Got the faulty one out, opened the box, and it is literally twice the size of the old one!? 

I phoned up, explained the situation, he asked for the part number on the box, which actually matched the faulty one. Then we realised it was the wrong alternator in the correct box. They duly sent another replacement. 

3rd times a charm, surely?

No. Guess what turned up? 

Another of exactly the same fucking mahoosive alternator wrongly boxed. AGAIN

Phoned up again. Sending yet another one. I'm sure you'll all* wait in anticipation to see what turns up this time. Unfortunately the next available one is in another branch half way across the country

How fucking hard is it to do a quality control before sending it out and ensuring the part number in the (opened, unsealed) box matches the part number on the sticker?? 

So unbelievably infuriating. Not to mention timewasting

Unfortunately we don't have a great deal of choice, there's the local factors who have gone all modern, and can be expensive and quite unhelpful at times. Then there's GSF who seem to do about 2 deliveries a day

Count yourself lucky.

They gave me someone else's secondhand fuel pump in a pristine, taped shut box a few years ago.

Never did get them to admit it was in any way possible that it was their fault or get a penny of money back.  Apparently it was my responsibility to check all goods before leaving the store.  £200+ VAT mistake that was.

Swore I'd never use them again.  Though as you say, there's an ever dwindling number of choices these days.  GSF took me over a fortnight to get a bloody oil filter in, and the independent I've been using for the last couple of years have utterly gone down the pan in the last couple of years.  

[RoverFolkUs]

2 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Count yourself lucky.

They gave me someone else's secondhand fuel pump in a pristine, taped shut box a few years ago.

Never did get them to admit it was in any way possible that it was their fault or get a penny of money back.  Apparently it was my responsibility to check all goods before leaving the store.  £200+ VAT mistake that was.

Swore I'd never use them again.  Though as you say, there's an ever dwindling number of choices these days.  GSF took me over a fortnight to get a bloody oil filter in, and the independent I've been using for the last couple of years have utterly gone down the pan in the last couple of years.  

That's a real pisser, I'd hate to deal with them from a public perspective as they are a true nightmare at times

Luckily through trade there is generally no issue returning parts, even after being fitted, as long as they're still as new and saleable. 

This could be where the problem lies, but I don't think they then resell them to the public. They then get sold to other traders and we're generally pretty accomodating because it helps everyone out

I also got a pair of Pagid discs the other week, they came in separate boxes as the larger ones tend to. In the second Pagid box (after I'd fitted the first, typically) was an uncoated Eicher one 🤦

Would they sell just one and refund one? No. 

They had to sell a new pair, and return the old pair. 

Fuck that, just ordered the new pair and sent the odd one back with the spare replacement I didn't need. 

Timewasting twats. 

Having said that, don't know what I/we'd do without them 😂

My local independent one can be frustrating at times, they'll supply a defective or otherwise crap part, e.g one with a manufacturing defect or not made within correct tolerances so it doesn't fit, then they get all arsey when you send it back with some inevitable wear to the packaging. 

I can understand their frustration of a part being returned for no reason, but that's not the case. They need to take it up with their supplier and stop ordering/selling shit parts

It's come to a point where we have to order the same part from all 3 suppliers in the hope that one turns up a) correctly and b) in good time!! 

[horriblemercedes]

3 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Euro wrong parts struck again today! 

Further to my recent post about a faulty 6 week old alternator 

Unfortunately they were the only company that had one in stock for that day in the first place, and since its a warranty job, got to wait for a replacement from them

Anyway, ordered a replacement, all goes tickety boo. Got the faulty one out, opened the box, and it is literally twice the size of the old one!? 

I phoned up, explained the situation, he asked for the part number on the box, which actually matched the faulty one. Then we realised it was the wrong alternator in the correct box. They duly sent another replacement. 

3rd times a charm, surely?

No. Guess what turned up? 

Another of exactly the same fucking mahoosive alternator wrongly boxed. AGAIN

Phoned up again. Sending yet another one. I'm sure you'll all* wait in anticipation to see what turns up this time. Unfortunately the next available one is in another branch half way across the country

How fucking hard is it to do a quality control before sending it out and ensuring the part number in the (opened, unsealed) box matches the part number on the sticker?? 

So unbelievably infuriating. Not to mention timewasting

Unfortunately we don't have a great deal of choice, there's the local factors who have gone all modern, and can be expensive and quite unhelpful at times. Then there's GSF who seem to do about 2 deliveries a day

Obviously you buy and change a lot more parts than me! Euro is my last choice but I end up going there out of necessity. I've only ever had one wrong part and it was wrong brake pad wear sensors for my Boxster 

 

As I say, I only go there when I need the part that day. Last thing was a 'Lucas' alternator in October that has been fine for the 15k or so since then 

[RoverFolkUs]

7 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

Obviously you buy and change a lot more parts than me! Euro is my last choice but I end up going there out of necessity. I've only ever had one wrong part and it was wrong brake pad wear sensors for my Boxster 

 

As I say, I only go there when I need the part that day. Last thing was a 'Lucas' alternator in October that has been fine for the 15k or so since then 

Yep, daily basis obviously in a workshop. I'd say about 15-20% of parts per week are wrong. And then you have to phone up personally, mid job, to explain what's wrong and what it should be

I can understand sometimes databases are wrong and changeover years can complicate things but when it's the wrong part in the correctly stickered box, that really boils my piss. Especially when you get sent the same wrong part twice! Where's the quality control?!

Unfortunately for us, they're the only place that will deliver something within the hour. Half hour if you ask very nicely (Stock depending , of course) which is crucial on some jobs.  

We don't have a lot of choice any more

They have an online parts ordering system for trade, omnipart, which is great but theres even more wrong parts on there

[horriblemercedes]

1 minute ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Yep, daily basis obviously in a workshop. I'd say about 15-20% of parts per week are wrong. And then you have to phone up personally, mid job, to explain what's wrong and what it should be

I can understand sometimes databases are wrong and changeover years can complicate things but when it's the wrong part in the correctly stickered box, that really boils my piss. Especially when you get sent the same wrong part twice! 

Unfortunately for us, they're the only place that will deliver something within the hour. Half hour if you ask very nicely (Stock depending , of course) which is crucial on some jobs.  

We don't have a lot of choice any more

They have an online parts ordering system for trade, omnipart, which is great but theres even more wrong parts on there

I'm starting to get why my garage guy encourages me to supply my own parts! He trusts me more than he trusts the other option 🤣

[RoverFolkUs]

10 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I'm starting to get why my garage guy encourages me to supply my own parts! He trusts me more than he trusts the other option 🤣

I can sympathize, if someone wants to source genuine or otherwise decent quality parts in advance, that we'd have to otherwise wait for or have difficulty returning if needed, then be my guest! 

[horriblemercedes]

8 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

I can sympathize, if someone wants to source genuine or otherwise decent quality parts in advance, that we'd have to otherwise wait for or have difficulty returning if needed, then be my guest! 

I'm a long way from your garage, but I'd be happy to take my car there if it was closer. My garage owner friend knows I'll choose good parts every time and I guess he'd rather take that than parts roulette with someone unknown 

[RoverFolkUs]

8 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I'm a long way from your garage, but I'd be happy to take my car there if it was closer. My garage owner friend knows I'll choose good parts every time and I guess he'd rather take that than parts roulette with someone unknown 

Have to say we're probably a minority, we dont turn away the old shit that no-one else can be bothered with. 

An example - series land rover? Bring it on

We look after loads of old defenders. Plenty of other interesting things from the 70's, Fiat's, Triumphs etc. Even earlier, think there's a Morris Minor having a few bits done at some point 

We do curse the people running around in 25 year old shitters that are long past their useful lifespan and full of broken unobtainium parts though 😂

[horriblemercedes]

4 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Have to say we're probably a minority, we dont turn away the old shit that no-one else can be bothered with. 

An example - series land rover? Bring it on

We do curse the people running around in 25 year old shitters that are long past their useful lifespan and full of broken unobtainium parts though 😂

My stuff is not new but it is well maintained and I hope you wouldn't turn it away! 

 

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