The grumpy thread

[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.

[Jazoli]

4 hours 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. 

@reductiongear

You also don’t have to let them in at all unless it’s for essential maintenance and even then you are entitled to “quiet enjoyment”

if they are using their own keys change the locks, and don’t take any shit off them, if they knock on the door say it’s not convenient, you have a lot of rights as a tenant.

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

if I turned up with some bits from Autodoc

The good thing about Autodoc is it lets you choose the make of parts. For clutches there are only 5 makes worth having.

The bad thing is you've got to wait a week.

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, wuvvum said:

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.

All the unmanned pumps in Ireland usually allow you to choose a pre authorisation, usually starting from €10, and I've noticed that the correct amount comes up in my banking app almost straight away.

 

[horriblemercedes]

Sounds like you've been a bit silly here, @wuvvum. You should've simply gone to Ireland for some petrol

[sierraman]

29 minutes ago, artdjones said:

The good thing about Autodoc is it lets you choose the make of parts. For clutches there are only 5 makes worth having.

The bad thing is you've got to wait a week.

Good but good for who? Good for you in that it’s cheaper but no good for the garage when it arrives and it’s wrong and the cars in bits. I’d probably be correct in thinking you’d pick decent parts but I’ll give an example, an acquaintance paid me to fit an EGR to his Corsa. Strongly advised him to buy the Pierburg one, day comes and it’s arrived and it’s a Ridex one which looks and feels like it’s made from redundant Quality Street wrappers. Needless to say it leaks, it saved him £20 but wasted my time, if I was running a garage you can bet your bottom dollar many people would be straight on Facebook or whatever the fuck it is and complaining bitterly that they spent £120 and it leaked and that I’d ripped them off. 
 

Man in the street thinks all clutches are the same and the Transmech one will be just as good* as the LuK one. It’s the same in any trade, plumbers get people wanting absolute dog shit off Amazon installing. Then people cannot understand why people won’t work for them afterwards. 

[primeradoner]

33 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

@reductiongear

You also don’t have to let them in at all unless it’s for essential maintenance and even then you are entitled to “quiet enjoyment”

if they are using their own keys change the locks, and don’t take any shit off them, if they knock on the door say it’s not convenient, you have a lot of rights as a tenant.

Sorry @Jazoli but thats not correct. Most shorthold tenancy agreements do not allow  the tenant to change the locks without permission from the landlord. In  addition regular inspections are allowed (with reasonable notice) to check that the property is being maintained and kept in accordance with the tenancy agreement.  Agree with you on randomly knocking on door for access though.

[artdjones]

2 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Good but good for who? Good for you in that it’s cheaper but no good for the garage when it arrives and it’s wrong and the cars in bits. I’d probably be correct in thinking you’d pick decent parts but I’ll give an example, an acquaintance paid me to fit an EGR to his Corsa. Strongly advised him to buy the Pierburg one, day comes and it’s arrived and it’s a Ridex one which looks and feels like it’s made from redundant Quality Street wrappers. Needless to say it leaks, it saved him £20 but wasted my time, if I was running a garage you can bet your bottom dollar many people would be straight on Facebook or whatever the fuck it is and complaining bitterly that they spent £120 and it leaked and that I’d ripped them off. 
 

Man in the street thinks all clutches are the same and the Transmech one will be just as good* as the LuK one. It’s the same in any trade, plumbers get people wanting absolute dog shit off Amazon installing. Then people cannot understand why people won’t work for them afterwards. 

I admit I was once a parts man, so I'm good at reading catalogues and getting the right stuff. If you can do that the Autodoc listings provide all the info you need. In any case, I'm certainly not paying a garage €1k for the identical LuK clutch I can get for €300.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

I admit I was once a parts man, so I'm good at reading catalogues and getting the right stuff. If you can do that the Autodoc listings provide all the info you need. In any case, I'm certainly not paying a garage €1k for the identical LuK clutch I can get for €300.

Nobody is obliged to go there, plenty of places will do them at practically similar rates to retail customers. They keep the discount and rightfully so it’s a bonus to cover all the bits that eat into profit. There will be places that will allow you to supply if you provide OE quality bits if they think you are reliable enough to get it right. 

[wuvvum]

7 hours ago, sierraman said:

crap like Ridex etc

I fitted a Ridex tensioner pulley to the Merc - it's been OK so far.  They were actually the most reputable make which would sell me just the pulley - all the "expensive" makes wanted to flog me the whole tensioner assembly, which I didn't need and which isn't exactly cheap.

All the other pulleys (and the aux belt) I replaced with INA though, which I believe are OEM on Mercs.

[wuvvum]

7 hours ago, wuvvum said:

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.

The cunts still haven't returned my money.  The bank couldn't do anything as the transaction is still showing as pending - they said that if it's still on there tomorrow morning I need to call the Mastercard helpline and raise a dispute.  Which I could have done without.

[EyesWeldedShut]

3 hours ago, Remspoor said:

Why no warning light on the dash?

Maybe somebody has not installed the wear sensors (or cut the wires to same?) (or fitted pads with no sensors?)
This may* have happened to a friend* on a car bought from a reputable* dealer. Clue is when the steel backing plate gets spat out of the caliper, piston hits disc, wife rings up and shouts at friend*.
Friend learned a lesson.

[Lord Sterling]

7 hours ago, wuvvum said:

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.

Same thing happened to me last year. As I was often low of money (story of my life) when they took the £120 pre-authorisation it left me without so I couldn't get electricity etc... 

I phoned my bank and explained the situation, they asked me to send them a receipt which thankfully I had got. They returned what hadn't been taken in petrol cost which was about £90/£100.

I'll never do pay at pump ever again, even if I have the money to cover.

4 hours ago, nev_jr said:

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. 

Sorry to hear this. Although I must admit, I'm not that surprised tonhear how management are treating you.

We seem to have gone from the days of when you could at least half-expect some sort of encouragement from management/upstairs to management  playing stupid little mind games with their employees and putting them under stress.

Companies seem to base themselves on that early 70s drama 'Upstairs Downstairs'. I am aware that this is something that has always happened but for whatever reason (usually financial and/or power), it seems far more prevalent than it ever has been.