The grumpy thread

[High Jetter]

29 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Just remembered the 3dr I mocked my friend's father over was a GT. Funny if it was one of yours. I think it was the GT badging which marked it as sporty in my mind, so therefore not suitable to be driven by a middle aged gent.

3dr Cortina?

[sheffcortinacentre]

Cars a generally  2 or 4 door hatch backs or r door hatchback  you get in & out through door ,things go through hatches.

Should be in the other thread drives me crazy when people say this.

[High Jetter]

Today's grump: Member of staff texted at 7:30 to say she wouldn't be in this morning. Guess who is the only person availabe to cover? Yup, muggins here. The joys of running your own business.

[artdjones]

7 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Cars a generally  2 or 4 door hatch backs or r door hatchback  you get in & out through door ,things go through hatches.

Should be in the other thread drives me crazy when people say this.

Sorry, I meant 2 Dr, I was very tired yesterday.

[robt100]

Been a series of grumps really. 3 weeks ago the dishwasher packed up, thankfully in warranty. Had to spend a week without a dishwasher but warranty guy was very good, got it all fixed, gave ETAs the day before etc etc.
Last week the washer-dryer packs in, no spin. Motor runs up but drum doesn't, can feel its disconnected by hand, probably just a belt but also still in warranty so ring them up.  who then direct me to the manafacturer, who then books me in with a 3rd party company, who has then subcontracted it out. Told by a text about 5 days ago that they are coming today, no eta, no working window, just "on 12/2" and given the engineers mobile. Text him yesterday afternoon asking very nicely for a rough ETA window, even if it was 'after/before 1pm ish' as I need to go to work, as my job is self-employed and weather dependant, and Ive managed a total of 8 days so far this YEAR. 

So do I get an ETA?

no

Does he answer his phone?

No, straight to answer machine

Can the company get hold of him or tell me anything about the route?

No, they get answer machine and no response

Have I lost a day of work and over £200?

Yes, like I didn't need to add that to the £3k of lost work I already have since christmas.

Will he turn up before his 6pm cutoff?

will he heck! Thats my bet.

Can't take another day off, so if he isn't here by 6 I shall be putting my (weak and damaged) back out taking apart the washing machine and having a go myself.

[barefoot]

Camper van is back-firing like a bastard. My man with the Volkswagen spanners tells me that it's carburettor icing.

[comfortablynumb]

Swombos and my friend Nick Pope , the UFO investigator, has announced that he has stage 4 oesophageal cancer.

Bollocks 😕

[robt100]

6 hours ago, robt100 said:

Been a series of grumps really. 3 weeks ago the dishwasher packed up, thankfully in warranty. Had to spend a week without a dishwasher but warranty guy was very good, got it all fixed, gave ETAs the day before etc etc.
Last week the washer-dryer packs in, no spin. Motor runs up but drum doesn't, can feel its disconnected by hand, probably just a belt but also still in warranty so ring them up.  who then direct me to the manafacturer, who then books me in with a 3rd party company, who has then subcontracted it out. Told by a text about 5 days ago that they are coming today, no eta, no working window, just "on 12/2" and given the engineers mobile. Text him yesterday afternoon asking very nicely for a rough ETA window, even if it was 'after/before 1pm ish' as I need to go to work, as my job is self-employed and weather dependant, and Ive managed a total of 8 days so far this YEAR. 

So do I get an ETA?

no

Does he answer his phone?

No, straight to answer machine

Can the company get hold of him or tell me anything about the route?

No, they get answer machine and no response

Have I lost a day of work and over £200?

Yes, like I didn't need to add that to the £3k of lost work I already have since christmas.

Will he turn up before his 6pm cutoff?

will he heck! Thats my bet.

Can't take another day off, so if he isn't here by 6 I shall be putting my (weak and damaged) back out taking apart the washing machine and having a go myself.

An update on this..

Decided to have a look myself rather than wait for the invisible repair man. The bolt that held the gear on the back of the drum had come loose and fallen off, so the gear and belt were thrown into the bottom of the machine. Put it back on, tightened the bolt as much as I could (looks like the threadlock paste had given up) and put it back together, working fine.

5:45pm, a message from repair man!

"im on my way"

So, 15mins till cut-off time, with no ETA still, could be on his way from anywhere. By this point im already out the house to a medical appointment, Mrs is home but suffering with fybromyalgia flare-up. So sent him a message to let him know that whilst he was busy not answering my texts or sending ETAs, and I was sat at home loosing £250+ waiting for him to turn up, that I had a look, found the fault, and made an attempted repair but would need him to check if anything was amiss or the cause of the bolt departing.....  Yes I was pretty narked by this point so sent a pissy text message 😅

The result?

No reply, and he still hasn't arrived at 9:45pm, so I assume he is on his way from Australia, by rowing boat..


EDIT:

I think what makes me most grumpy about all this is that I could have just had a bit of self confidence and taken a quick look without worrying about possible voiding of the warranty etc and fixed it in 5mins over a week ago. But I was too stressed with many things going wrong and not getting money in for work etc that I felt it best to just go through the "proper" channels. Need to change my attitude in future!

Edited February 12 by robt100
Personal self musings added.

[ruffgeezer]

I'm laid up and off work as alluded to elsewhere one here.  All that is going round in my head is all the jobs I need to do - the cloakroom downstairs still needs the new loo and sink fitting ready to be decorated and tiled and I still haven't got my prefab garage put up.

If anyone here fairly local has experience in putting the walls of one up, and fancies helping a long term and somewhat hobbled shiter put some walls up, I'd greatly appreciate the assistance. 

[High Jetter]

On 12/02/2026 at 21:42, robt100 said:

An update on this..

Decided to have a look myself rather than wait for the invisible repair man. The bolt that held the gear on the back of the drum had come loose and fallen off, so the gear and belt were thrown into the bottom of the machine. Put it back on, tightened the bolt as much as I could (looks like the threadlock paste had given up) and put it back together, working fine.

5:45pm, a message from repair man!

"im on my way"

So, 15mins till cut-off time, with no ETA still, could be on his way from anywhere. By this point im already out the house to a medical appointment, Mrs is home but suffering with fybromyalgia flare-up. So sent him a message to let him know that whilst he was busy not answering my texts or sending ETAs, and I was sat at home loosing £250+ waiting for him to turn up, that I had a look, found the fault, and made an attempted repair but would need him to check if anything was amiss or the cause of the bolt departing.....  Yes I was pretty narked by this point so sent a pissy text message 😅

The result?

No reply, and he still hasn't arrived at 9:45pm, so I assume he is on his way from Australia, by rowing boat..


EDIT:

I think what makes me most grumpy about all this is that I could have just had a bit of self confidence and taken a quick look without worrying about possible voiding of the warranty etc and fixed it in 5mins over a week ago. But I was too stressed with many things going wrong and not getting money in for work etc that I felt it best to just go through the "proper" channels. Need to change my attitude in future!

If under warranty, you shouldn't have to. Shoddy service, taking so long to book a date. Hope you've left a good* review.

[robt100]

1 minute ago, High Jetter said:

If under warranty, you shouldn't have to. Shoddy service, taking so long to book a date. Hope you've left a good* review.

Well I just recieved an email from the manufacturer to leave a review/feedback on how my repair went... So I know what im writing this weekend 😈

[artdjones]

On 12/02/2026 at 15:50, robt100 said:

Been a series of grumps really. 3 weeks ago the dishwasher packed up, thankfully in warranty. Had to spend a week without a dishwasher but warranty guy was very good, got it all fixed, gave ETAs the day before etc etc.
Last week the washer-dryer packs in, no spin. Motor runs up but drum doesn't, can feel its disconnected by hand, probably just a belt but also still in warranty so ring them up.  who then direct me to the manafacturer, who then books me in with a 3rd party company, who has then subcontracted it out. Told by a text about 5 days ago that they are coming today, no eta, no working window, just "on 12/2" and given the engineers mobile. Text him yesterday afternoon asking very nicely for a rough ETA window, even if it was 'after/before 1pm ish' as I need to go to work, as my job is self-employed and weather dependant, and Ive managed a total of 8 days so far this YEAR. 

So do I get an ETA?

no

Does he answer his phone?

No, straight to answer machine

Can the company get hold of him or tell me anything about the route?

No, they get answer machine and no response

Have I lost a day of work and over £200?

Yes, like I didn't need to add that to the £3k of lost work I already have since christmas.

Will he turn up before his 6pm cutoff?

will he heck! Thats my bet.

Can't take another day off, so if he isn't here by 6 I shall be putting my (weak and damaged) back out taking apart the washing machine and having a go myself.

This has been the worst January/Feb for window cleaning since I started 37 years ago. It doesn't matter for me, as you know I just retired, but if you have bills it's awful. But at least half the regular work I'm keeping on didn't get done this year yet.

[robt100]

18 minutes ago, artdjones said:

This has been the worst January/Feb for window cleaning since I started 37 years ago. It doesn't matter for me, as you know I just retired, but if you have bills it's awful. But at least half the regular work I'm keeping on didn't get done this year yet.

Yup, 9 days since 24th December for me now. I had saved up a decent buffer for this winter thankfully, but its now all gone. So no holidays for me this year! 
Had one person comment "must have been nice to have all those days off", no, not really, I spent them chomping at the bit trying to get out and earn some money 😩

[artdjones]

1 minute ago, robt100 said:

Yup, 9 days since 24th December for me now. I had saved up a decent buffer for this winter thankfully, but its now all gone. So no holidays for me this year! 
Had one person comment "must have been nice to have all those days off", no, not really, I spent them chomping at the bit trying to get out and earn some money 😩

I often found rainy days when I had lots of work I couldn't do more tiring than days actually working. Staring tensely at a grey weeping sky willing it to clear is exhausting. Especially sat in a steamed up vehicle ten miles from home.

[Datsuncog]

On 11/02/2026 at 15:13, Datsuncog said:

I'll get it fully inflated later and then spray a bit of soap solution around the bead, and see if I can see anything untoward.

Well, that's pretty unequivocal.

Seems that it's the valve hole in the rim that's letting the air out - not the part that the tyre bead seats against. 

Which begs the question - is the rim rusted out, or is the valve damaged? 

More investigation required, I think.. 

[High Jetter]

11 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Well, that's pretty unequivocal.

Seems that it's the valve hole in the rim that's letting the air out - not the part that the tyre bead seats against. 

Which begs the question - is the rim rusted out, or is the valve damaged? 

More investigation required, I think.. 

Either. How old is the valve? It's more likely, and cheaper to fix.

[Datsuncog]

3 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Either. How old is the valve? It's more likely, and cheaper to fix.

Valve is six months old. Tyre place told me the rim was rotten and wouldn't seal against the tyre, therefore new rim needed. But it was apparently fine until Tuesday... 

[High Jetter]

Maybe just a clean?

[comfortablynumb]

I bought one of these a while ago, used it a couple of times, works really well.

Not much use if you need it fixed now tho 

[DavieW]

This is snipped from a post on a local FB page. I'm so tempted to suggest she learns basic English and punctuation before working with children. One of the replies tells her to "reach out " to the school. 🤬

[Mr Livered]

5 hours ago, DavieW said:

"reach out "

🤢

[MikeR]

22 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Well, that's pretty unequivocal.

Seems that it's the valve hole in the rim that's letting the air out - not the part that the tyre bead seats against. 

Which begs the question - is the rim rusted out, or is the valve damaged? 

More investigation required, I think.. 

tyre and valve off , file the back of the rim flat across the valve seating area ....   refit valve and tyre ..

fight next leak due to removing tyre 

[DavieW]

My wife got this handed in to her work by a client. 

Very nice it is, but who would pay £7.50 for a tiny pot of jam?  But, of course, it's "artisan jam"  so that's OK then. 

[Remspoor]

9 hours ago, DavieW said:

My wife got this handed in to her work by a client. 

Very nice it is, but who would pay £7.50 for a tiny pot of jam?  But, of course, it's "artisan jam"  so that's OK then. 

selling food without all of the allergen warnings and calorific values is illegal, no?

[artdjones]

10 hours ago, DavieW said:

My wife got this handed in to her work by a client. 

Very nice it is, but who would pay £7.50 for a tiny pot of jam?  But, of course, it's "artisan jam"  so that's OK then. 

Contains up to 5 strawberries.

[chadders]

58 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

selling food without all of the allergen warnings and calorific values is illegal, no?

Not as far as I'm aware if it isn't a business otherwise most of the stalls at our local village fetes, car boot sales etc. would have Trading Standards or whoever around.

[New POD]

10 hours ago, DavieW said:

My wife got this handed in to her work by a client. 

Very nice it is, but who would pay £7.50 for a tiny pot of jam?  But, of course, it's "artisan jam"  so that's OK then. 

Make money by buying in bulk at Costco and decanting into random jars you've  collected over the past decade. 

[Bren]

For the second time I have been let down in relation to having  a spare key cut for my BMW.

The second guy was recommended and should have been coming tomorrow but forgot to make a note despite telling me he would order the key when I booked him.

Both advertised on facebook.

Is everyone incompetent? I wonder if a lot of these businesses that advertise on social media are a front for something else?

[High Jetter]

21 minutes ago, Bren said:

For the second time I have been let down in relation to having  a spare key cut for my BMW.

The second guy was recommended and should have been coming tomorrow but forgot to make a note despite telling me he would order the key when I booked him.

Both advertised on facebook.

Is everyone incompetent? I wonder if a lot of these businesses that advertise on social media are a front for something else?

Have you tried @Dave_Q? I think he's our resident key man.

[Bren]

4 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Have you tried @Dave_Q? I think he's our resident key man.

I don't think he's local.