The grumpy thread

[sierraman]

2 minutes ago, CGSB said:

Every tenancy agreement I have ever had specifically says not to touch anything to do with plumbing. Presumably a condition of the landlords insurance but that is just an assumption.

Results in some stupid call outs for "tap keeps dripping" so they pay £50 for someone to turn up and fit a new £2 cartridge that I could do myself in 5 minutes but thems the rules.

I suppose on the other end of the scale is "I did it myself and now my house is flooded" or "my ceiling has a man shaped hole in it".

A few select people would be capable of doing a good repair but a sizeable majority would make an absolute mess of it. A friend of the wife’s painted the front door pink in her rented property, apart from looking an eyesore it’ll have been done with a four inch brush. Then people wonder why they can’t get the deposit back…

[vulgalour]

In short: Job Centre and Renting.

I want to have a big long rant about it even though I know it won't do any good.  It comes down to shouting for help from the authorities that are supposed to and being met with utter confusion that someone is doing that, rather than actually helping.  As per usual, I'm just going to have to do it myself and magically find a way to get well again without any sort of assistance with the process.  So far I'm not doing too badly, I can do some work now without completely fucking myself over, I just need to make that into more work so I can get earning properly again and get off this ridiculous benefit system.

 

[dean36014]

58 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

In short: Job Centre and Renting.

I want to have a big long rant about it even though I know it won't do any good.  It comes down to shouting for help from the authorities that are supposed to and being met with utter confusion that someone is doing that, rather than actually helping.  As per usual, I'm just going to have to do it myself and magically find a way to get well again without any sort of assistance with the process.  So far I'm not doing too badly, I can do some work now without completely fucking myself over, I just need to make that into more work so I can get earning properly again and get off this ridiculous benefit system.

 

Can relate to all this. I can't work anymore due to disability.  I own my house with a mortgage.  The only help I can get is a loan tied to the property for the monthly interest payments only. Luckily I get pip, but it's still half of what money I get goes to the mortgage company.  So I'm left with 450 every four weeks to pay for everything else. I'd like to cash in a private pension which, after tax, would clear my mortgage. However,  this would be classed as income in the eyes of universal credit and I'd lose my benefits bar the pip payment for a year. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.  I need to find an advisor of some sort to see if there's anyway I could do this.

[Talbot]

It does rather depend on what the plumbing issue is as to whether your LL would want you poking around with it.  A dripping tap is likely better fixed by someone who isn't going to snap the tap off or make a pigs ear of it, and it's not exactly going to cause an issue dripping for a few days.

Conversely, when I walked back into the kitchen last summer to find water pissing through the ceiling, managed to isolate the issue (burst flexible in the top floor loo cystern), vaxxed up all the water through three floors of the house,  then informed the plumber what the issue was, and eventually as the plumber was a bellend ended up sourcing and fitting the burst hose myself, the Landlord (or in this case, the LL agent) was extremely appreciative of my efforts.

Didn't knock any bloody rent off though.  Must have saved them thousands on the potential for an utterly waterlogged house.  Twats.

[Talbot]

2 minutes ago, dean36014 said:

Can relate to all this. I can't work anymore due to disability.  I own my house with a mortgage.  The only help I can get is a loan tied to the property for the monthly interest payments only. Luckily I get pip, but it's still half of what money I get goes to the mortgage company.  So I'm left with 450 every four weeks to pay for everything else. I'd like to cash in a private pension which, after tax, would clear my mortgage. However,  this would be classed as income in the eyes of universal credit and I'd lose my benefits bar the pip payment for a year. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.  I need to find an advisor of some sort to see if there's anyway I could do this.

And yet if you were in a rented house, where the rent was paying a landlord's mortgage, they will cover that as housing benefit.  Makes zero sense.

You'd actually be better off selling the home you live in and renting somewhere, as they'd pay that.

[vulgalour]

That's the reason private rent is so high.  Mortgage payments on the equivalent property is HALF what the rent is.  The government could literally save money by paying people's mortgages, and as a side effect they'd solve a good chunk of the housing crisis... there's probably reasons it doesn't actually work this way and a good reason people on benefits should pay other people's mortgages, I'm just too poor to know what that is.

 

Shit, I started ranting.  Best stop here before I get too into it.

[Inspector Morose]

What benefits? Im not apparently eligible for a penny, even though I’ve paid in through taxes and NI contributions (self employed so apparently it’s not the right NI). I have no savings at all as I’ve had to live on them even though I've been in and out of the doctors with various mental health issues over the years. Doctors either loose interests or flat out ignore my pleas for help. They assume I am capable of helping myself from scratch even though I’ve proven to them I am incapable of doing what they require.

I've been on various housing lists for years without a hint of anything available. We’re talking over 20 years here - oh it makes me so happy to see others flitting from one house/flat to another. 

Yet I’m not supposed to be upset? I’m supposed to be happy for others? Truth is, I’m at the end of my tether. I can’t get assistance, my marriage is over, I can’t seem to get employed, houses are a fever dream at age 52. I think I’ve had enough of all of this. Screw this, I think it’s time to bail out.

[High Jetter]

11 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

Screw this, I think it’s time to bail out.

Sorry you feel it's that bad. Help is available

[Inspector Morose]

22 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Sorry you feel it's that bad. Help is available

It bloody isn’t, and that’s the problem.

[maxxo]

the plumbing issue was very simply a bit of silt inside the valve in the loft tank

it was removed and allowed it to close properly, refills better and doesn't drip now

i would argue the repair i have done is to a much better standard than the ceiling was previously, as in it was quite damaged in that exact area which makes me suspect i'm not the first to have done this

[vulgalour]

@Inspector Morose Sometimes it's just about impossible to get any help, been there a *lot* and it's awful.  For self-employment it's really tough, these days Universal Credit is the only option and it's a top up on what you earn.  UC rolls what used to be Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Unemployment Benefit, and possible some others, all into one.  The maths is weird on how they work out payments.  You should, if you're low income, be able to apply for it, you're still young enough.  As for getting help with the mental health stuff... I hear you on that one.  It's only since moving to Scunthorpe that I've actually started to get any help after a good twenty years of being dismissed for the most part, and pushed into work that just made me worse.  I'd like to say the house move for me is something I want to do, it's not, I'm sick of moving house and having house purchase constantly just out of reach.

Know that as awful an experience as it is you aren't alone, and as hard as it is to get help, there is genuinely help out there.  The challenge is grabbing hold of it, so any chance you get hold on with both hands.

[Inspector Morose]

I’m not allowed it apparently. Stupid as it seems, a wife who earns more than the bare minimum, even though she wants a divorce so wont be a beneficiary.

I want to get out of where I am, I’m a country bit at heart and have lived in cities/built up areas for nearly 30 years. It’s destroyed me so my option is to get out of it for my mental health if nothing else. But how?

because of the unique* nature of my illness, I have to rely on others to such an extent that they think I'm bullshitting/perfectly capable of doing stuff that I really aren’t capable of. Being dismissed as fine is part and parcel for more of my life than tou could ever imagine. It’s a curse and it’s biting me hard right now. I’ve been living on my savings so far but that’s now over. Where do I go? What do I do now? I can’t stay, I can’t move, I cant even stay the same. The only option left to me is to remove myself from society.

I’m drinking pretty hard right now in the hope that I don’t wake up the next morning and yet I see others being fawned over due to their second house/flat that they’ve been given isn’t quite what they want.

Am I losing it? Yup, I’ve got to that line where enough is enough.

[Pieman]

Dude, feel free to DM me if you need help.

[sheffcortinacentre]

I can relate to most of that.

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, Inspector Morose said:

I think I’ve had enough of all of this. Screw this, I think it’s time to bail out.

Hey hey! there! I am not sure what I can do/if I am good for anything in this situation, but please dont exit stage left! if theres anything I can do to help feel free to give me a shout, you are a throughly decent chap, who has an awesome encyclopedic knowledge on buses, who has very kindly answered all my questions and queries about em (even if we do have polar opposite opinions on Routemasters  )  

so please dont feel like people dont care about you, at least in this beige corner of the internet I think its safe to say we all do care about you, and again if theres anything you need or think any of us can help with give us a shout! 

even if its simply just to talk bollocks about any random old thing!  

 

also regarding the issues/problems around benefits etc, these guys where extremely helpful in my case https://www.marywardlegal.org.uk/

hopefully maybe they could help you out?  

[Remspoor]

13 hours ago, artdjones said:

If it's a 406 HDi, a complete  LuK 4 piece kit with DMF is under €300 on the Autodoc app.

No it is a 307SW. Same kit here was  the price I mentioned. The garage will not fit anything other than what they supply. New or second-hand.

[Jazoli]

47 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

No it is a 307SW. Same kit here was  the price I mentioned. The garage will not fit anything other than what they supply. New or second-hand.

That’s fair enough if they have to warranty it.

[Saabnut]

8 hours ago, Inspector Morose said:

I’m not allowed it apparently. Stupid as it seems, a wife who earns more than the bare minimum, even though she wants a divorce so wont be a beneficiary.

I want to get out of where I am, I’m a country bit at heart and have lived in cities/built up areas for nearly 30 years. It’s destroyed me so my option is to get out of it for my mental health if nothing else. But how?

because of the unique* nature of my illness, I have to rely on others to such an extent that they think I'm bullshitting/perfectly capable of doing stuff that I really aren’t capable of. Being dismissed as fine is part and parcel for more of my life than tou could ever imagine. It’s a curse and it’s biting me hard right now. I’ve been living on my savings so far but that’s now over. Where do I go? What do I do now? I can’t stay, I can’t move, I cant even stay the same. The only option left to me is to remove myself from society.

I’m drinking pretty hard right now in the hope that I don’t wake up the next morning and yet I see others being fawned over due to their second house/flat that they’ve been given isn’t quite what they want.

Am I losing it? Yup, I’ve got to that line where enough is enough.

You have a job interview on the 19th. Go and smash that interview then GTF from where you are and start again somewhere new. You know it makes sense.

[artdjones]

22 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

That’s fair enough if they have to warranty it.

No-one minds an extra 25-30% on top, as you say they have to stand over it . But 100%+ on top is taking advantage.

[DavieW]

44 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

That’s fair enough if they have to warranty it.

I thought there wasn't a warranty on customer supplied parts. Could get messy though if there's a problem with the parts. 

[reductiongear]

Landlords poking their arses in at random times of the day and turning up without notice.

[artdjones]

2 minutes ago, DavieW said:

I thought there wasn't a warranty on customer supplied parts. Could get messy though if there's a problem with the parts. 

The problem is, some garages will fit cheap stuff and charge for top brand if they can get away with it. As long as a clutch lasts a year, the warranty is up, with no comeback to them. Also, with a clutch, the only way of checking what's gone in is taking the gearbox off. So with clutches one might definitely want to supply the parts for the job, just to make sure it's not having to be done again in 18 months.

With @Remspoor, the garage is charging €1000 for the identical parts that can be profitably sold online for €300. No-one would mind a garage getting one for €350 from a factor and charging it out for €450. But €1000?

[primeradoner]

44 minutes ago, reductiongear said:

Landlords poking their arses in at random times of the day and turning up without notice.

Dont let them in . You are entitled to a notice period that is stipulated in your tenancy agreement (usually 24hrs). Same applies to trades doing maintenance work including gas safety certificates. 

[wuvvum]

Went to Tesco last night to get a fiver of petrol in a can.  The kiosk had closed so I did pay at pump.  They took the usual £120 pre-authorisation, but they still haven't released it back into the account.  Good job I checked my banking app early this morning - I've had to transfer money into the account otherwise my rent payment would have bounced, for the first time in nearly 17 years in this house, which would have caused all sorts of shit.

Now I need to go to the bank to try and sort it out - thankfully the mobile branch is in town this morning, otherwise I'd be spending ages on the phone to then probably be fobbed off by a disinterested call centre employee.

[loserone]

Just now, wuvvum said:

Now I need to go to the bank to try and sort it out

The idea of not being able to select a transaction and say "I have a problem with this transaction" gives me the sweats.

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, Remspoor said:

No it is a 307SW. Same kit here was  the price I mentioned. The garage will not fit anything other than what they supply. New or second-hand.

A lot of garages will only do this, mainly because they’re going to end up at some point with a car on the ramps with the wrong parts someone’s ordered from Latvia or god knows where. Also people often go for the cheapest option, which reflects badly on the garage when it goes wrong after 3 weeks. The place I use I supply the parts but I supply either genuine or OE bits, if I turned up with some bits from Autodoc or crap like Ridex etc they’d tell me to hit the high road. 

[chadders]

23 minutes ago, loserone said:

The idea of not being able to select a transaction and say "I have a problem with this transaction" gives me the sweats.

AMEX let's you do this and it's excluded from the balance as well.

[reductiongear]

1 hour ago, primeradoner said:

Dont let them in . You are entitled to a notice period that is stipulated in your tenancy agreement (usually 24hrs). Same applies to trades doing maintenance work including gas safety certificates. 

Cheers. Much appreciated will bare that in mind.

[nev_jr]

On 01/09/2024 at 18:52, nev_jr said:

I've been working on parts all fucking summer after being asked to cover it. That slowly but surely snowballed into it now being September and I'm looking at another month of this supposed "cover" at least. Parts was the first role I had in the motor trade and I fucking hated it, I resigned just over a year into it. Now the worst of it is, IT'S THE SAME FUCKING COMPANY that I'm doing it for so they know full well my stance towards it. I feel really let down because of that and because most of the summer I've been trying to and finally managed to get a mortgage so I couldn't leave and balls all that up, so  they have used me as an absolute dogsbody fuckpig, "It's good having you around the office because you're our floater". So I am a shit. Nice. I see through your facade, I cost far less than the amount of people you would need to replace me and you replaced me with me anyway.

 

Sorry for the rant ladies and gents, been on my tits for a while now. What a shit summer, more bad news coming next week probably so stay tuned. 

Update: it is now mid November as you may be aware, and I’m STILL FUCKING “COVERING”! It has now finally been realised by higher ups that I would rather have a nice cold pint of paint than carry on any longer because it’s continually taking the piss. 
 

I was called in to a meeting earlier this week with one of the higher ups and was asked what I wanted to do as it “appeared” that I was unhappy, yes I absolutely am, this has dragged on for far too long. It’s ruined me a bit really, since late September early ish October, I’ve put on 2 stone through stress and what have you, all to do with this shit situation I’ve found myself in. 
 

Anyway, I was given a choice. Stay doing parts and have no change of contract or go back to driving along with no change of contract, which they promised they would take me off of which in fairness they did, just into the one role they know I don’t like and have a patchy relationship. So it’s that, or I’m out the door. Obviously they were banking on me continuing the role as I am no doubt much cheaper to employ than someone of the calibre I am covering. You can probably imagine their faces when I told them that. 
 

Fast forward to today and bare in mind I haven’t handed in my notice, only told them my intention to find other work to reignite my career, I have been getting an unbelievable degree of cold shouldering from management which makes me feel really good about myself. In return, today they are making me clear specific areas of the site so the prospective replacement who’s coming in on Monday gets a good impression, until he finds out he’s working in a mouse infested office. I’m not against him taking my place of course I’m not, he works for a supplier of ours and he’s the bee’s knees. 
 

TLDR: Given a choice of 2 jobs, either shit or dead end, said no, now an outcast. 
 

Hopefully that’s my last work related rant for at least another week. 
 

Oh and they are doing a full respray on my car which coincidentally has completely halted. 

[Remspoor]

4 hours ago, DavieW said:

I thought there wasn't a warranty on customer supplied parts. Could get messy though if there's a problem with the parts. 

Law in Spain maybe different.

Still another bonus. Found it needs new front pads. A WhatsApp image shows it down to almost the metal. Why no warning light on the dash?

Autodoc here in Spain does not do registrations. I tried mine, I got one from a car ad to check. Found a Spanish website which uses the Autodoc search engine the same. Other Spanish websites are just fine with using a reg.