direct debits are promoted by the government, the banks and by businesses as a "quick and convenient way to pay your bills" - but in reality they do nothing but add inconvenience and cause damage to people's finances.
direct debits exist to make things easier for business and to switch the onus on to the customer!
- the direct debit guarantee is in place to help customers - exactly how does it help? "a business/company must give a minimum of 28 days notice, before a payment can be taken from your account. all well and good, when this is a regular bill, say 12 monthly payments etc. When anything changes, the direct debit guarantee, is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard!
how about a mobile phone contract? * direct debit payment is set up * apart from the odd extra text or call charge, the bill stays the same each month * only 14 days notice is given every month before the money is taken from your account, but as it is regular and doesnt vary by much, this failing of the direct debit guarantee when your fixed term contract ends, you are given 14 days notice that this months bill more than doubles (as your negotiated discounts are removed from your contract) and you are promised that the bill will be adjusted downwards to rectify the matter "before it comes out of your bank" - this doesnt happen, so what happens then?
* you ring the phone company (costing you) to demand your money back as you havent been given the 28 days notice of payment as the direct debit guarantee states - you are refused your money back as "its the bank you have to go via to obtain a refund" * you ring the bank (costing you) they state that its the phone company that have issued the charge and broken the direct debit guarantee - you are sent back to the company and so it continues, you have to keep explaining and are sent back and fourth, with no party taking responsibility... its YOU that is out of pocket! YOU have to pay any charges for going overdrawn, YOU have to pay the extra to the phone company that they said "would be adjusted" but wasnt, YOU have to give up your time and money chasing around to try and get it back... where is the direct debit guarantee?
if you are lucky enough to get a refund from the company or the bank.. it takes weeks to come through.... automated systems dont wait whilst one party gets its act together and abides by the law!
"paying bills by direct debit allows you to easily manage your money, arranging for bills to come out of your account when you want" utter tosh this is. * 6 of my bills are set for the 1st banking day of every month * of the 6, only 1 comes out on the first banking day
once again, you contact the bank to ask why they are not coming out on the first, but coming out on the 5th, 6th and one of them comes out on the 8th! once again "its the company calling for the payment" that is blamed. you call the company to sort it out, they are not interested! "its the system that only lets us take the money out on certain days of the month, we cannot take the money out on the 1st"
when its pointed out that this was what was arranged.. they deny it saying it wouldnt have been the case (calling the customer a liar!) or state that its not possible. YOU are inconvenienced and must move money around to cover this and other bills.
exactly when does a direct debit help YOU? it puts YOU at risk of unenforceable penalty charges it means YOU have to move money around your account to cover odd dates that the company calls for the money the direct debit guarantee isnt worth the paper it is written on! the sooner a government gets in to put the onus back onto business and removes the possibility of charges for the customer, the better!
Recession in UK seems 'at an end' claims disgraceful!
Recession in UK seems 'at an end' is topping the headlines on the BBC website this morning Read the full report here in a report from "The Institute of Chartered Accountants "
all this is based on "confidence" of 1000 of their members - talking themselves up again?
ludicrous statement to make as unemployment reaches levels not seen for more than 20 years with more to come, interest rates are at rock bottom, and people's cost of living is going through the roof, so bad is it out there, that even working people are going under!
why dont the government have a report commissioned (via the back door) as this one has been, which looks at the value of people's wages? id wager good money that the outcomes of this report would show a very different story!
what the clueless idiots in charge of running this country dont understand, is that if wages real value against the cost of living falls, then more and more people fall into benefits of some kind... which takes more taxation to support, which makes wages even less competitive, which means the next year yet more taxation is needed to support the country... its a viscious circle and an extremely damaging and difficult cycle to get out of!
instead of maintaining a steady slow growth course for the UK, where real growth in the economy and wages is apparent, they have pushed mini booms all over the place, in credit, in internet business, in housing, etc. as people scratch around desperately standing on each other to try and get "the best deal" whilst the goalposts move, the government have cleaned up in taxation on extra fees and charges.
all appears well, but the real value of a wage (outside of the public sector) is collapsing, leading to more claimants on the taxpayer purse!
a few years ago, the wife had, in wages terms, a very good job. it took her more than a decade training, she travelled the world and the UK working and was rewarded with good overtime payments for her trouble. now half the jobs have gone - the overtime is rarer than hens teeth - and the wages (in real terms) have consistantly failed to get even close to the cost of living rising.
when her wages last provided any real spending money after the bills had been paid, costs were roughly as follows:
tv licence was £9 per month car insurance was £120 cheaper petrol was 85p a litre (essential for travelling to work) car MOT was £35 (now £50) a loaf of bread was 90p (now £1.29)
on their own, not much i agree, but theres a list as long as your arm of charges, fees, extra taxation, rising taxation, now added to them. in 5 years her yearly wage rises have been 0%, 1%, 1.5%, 2% and 1% each year bills and cost of living has increased by more than 10% (in one year alone we put our bills into a calculator and the real cost of living came up as 23%!) its got so bad that she almost qualifies for tax credits!
then we have the other side of the issue... those that have not been lucky enough to have a decent paying job, these are now being paid by the taxpayer to bring their wages upto just below the level she has had to work and train to get to. in the space of 5 years, her real value of wages has fallen to a level which makes her advanced training and loyalty to the company she works for, a waste of time!
the point being, not that she deserves more wages than others, but how does it look to her, when she has trained and grafted for more than a decade for a company which is a world leader in its field, on the basis that its in her interests as she will be rewarded for her efforts and loyalty, when she can now stack shelves in a supermarket and claim tax credits and only be a few hundred pounds worse off a year?
not only is it demoralising, but very soon its going to start costing the taxpayer more money in taxes to sustain it, as the state gets bigger and the cost of living rises, more people are being sucked into the same scenario and its damaging the country. how much longer must this nonsense go on?
its not "confidence" that needs a backdoor report/study done, its a factual report of whats actually happening in the real world, that needs to show people just what a financial mess the UK is in!
Denz on 08.24.09 @ 02:43 AM CST [link]
Saturday, August 22nd
marketing for dummies
over at penny pinchers we try to highlight the links between:
what you are told/advertised - whats fact/fiction - how things are made as difficult as possible - all to get you to part with your money
those in the know don't see it as ripping you off, they call it "marketing"
there are those businesses, who openly advertise that they are a BUSINESS: we know they target us with sales, where the price is increased for a month, then suddenly drops to a "sale" price which offers "big savings" etc, but almost always goes back to just above what it used to be priced at. we have no problem with this, we just point out that they are doing it
then there are those in BUSINESS, who pretend to be something they are not: - the website/forum owners who pretend to share an interest in a topic/place, to drive traffic through their website/forum, but then dont tell you that they are BUSINESS, often making good money from it. its not the fact that they are making money from you thats the issue, its the way they deceive the individual and make money off the back of people. website/forum advertising is fine - its open, people can see links for what they are. where the deception comes in, is in all the other stuff that you cannot see or are not told about.
* your clicks/traffic are sold on or pushed through another website they own, without you knowing * your email is collected with others and sold on (whys you think you get so much spam in your inbox?) * subjects appear on the forum, that has absolutely nothing to do with any genuine enquiry by the forum owner whatsoever, the sole purpose of the owner raising a topic, is to generate traffic through a link to a company who is PAYING THEM to promote it, or they have just put up a website about that very subject, and want you to visit it and then they can sell your clicks and farm your emails all over again. (the more traffic they get, the higher in the search engine rankings they get, the more traffic they get, the more they can farm emails via banners and get commission from companies they advertise) * they use the old excuse... "use our links to pay for the upkeep of the website" - the website/forum you use every other day, because you share the owners interest in a subject/area * they only recommend other websites that give them large commissions, or they also own (but conveniently dont tell you about)
and so on, the warning signs are all over the place - the easiest way to spot this BUSINESS, is to look at the owner of the website/forum.
one example i know of, is an online forum for people to discuss all things about the area they live in - the forum owner has added a section for discounts and bargains (thats original... NOT), using this to "help" the forum members and constantly refer to the forum links to other businesses. the members of the forum regularly use the section to look for "bargains" or "discounts" - so why doesnt the forum owner tell the members of the forum that he runs a discount voucher website and has done for more than 2 years? - this could save his forum members lots of money as it is constantly updated and carries many vouchers and codes for companies selling goods, yet he hides this from the people he "regards as friends" so he can make more money!
a design flaw in humans, who feel the need to rip people off and mislead other individuals to make money, is by what they say! they let slip about their apparent wealth and perks
moving house or home improvements (paying people to do stuff or moving house or thinking about it) their new car (changing vehicles regularly) holidays and weekend breaks (how many of us can afford to spend £300-£400 for a long weekend in european or english cities? most people i know are lucky to get one holiday a year - these rip off merchants are going abroad 2,3 even 4 times a year) gadgets (dead giveaway this one, they have all the latest kit and have an opinion on it as they "have got one")
the signs are there, you just have to spot them and change the way you think. they dont give a monkeys about your interest in visiting their website/forum, they are only concerned with making money. they are misleading, greedy people with no scruples about real people, they are out to make money. they dont see any problem with hiding links, profits, email phishing, selling your traffic.
TV program marketing: everyone's an expert? - news story run by tv channel, they bring in an "expert" who are just a person who owns/works for, a website/forum, and they are on the show to PROMOTE their website/forum and nothing else - the "live" tv show... like saturday kitchen, where they can have a person sitting between 5 others, then the camera cuts to a potato or fish being cut in the studio, then for the next 10 minutes there is just 1 single person being interviewed whilst the same food is cooked! ever heard a tv chef not liking something? nope me neither... marketing waffle it is, talking themselves up like an estate agent talks up a house to extort more money from you. - the X factor - where the public are lured in (under the guise of "entertainment") they may or may not have genuine talent, only to find that they are not greeted by simon cowell and cheryl cole (who made them talent gurus?) but some "researcher" who wouldnt know a c minor from an f sharp! the researchers then decide what would make entertainment, people who have talent are refused. the public, like me, watch and laugh every weekend, as the "stars" judge and speak to the public, then witness the audience who hold up placards that they have taken in to show their support for an artist or judge, cheering, booing, etc. then comes the hard sell..... adverts, the premium rate phone voting, etc. the money making aspect
how much money is made? well i dont think the show uses premium rate phone voting to simply cover their working costs do you! the "judges" make millions from contracts etc.
why dont they publish the actual voting results?
and how does it all come together? can a member of the public just turn up to an audition then get through to the tv scenes and the public vote them as winners? errrrrr no! what happens at an x factor audition? puts it all in perspective.
its not just the x factor.... its "everything about maria" "a new joseph" "oliver" 99% of reality tv is the same, money making profit machines... where the public is duped into paying to vote, at premium rates, to make profits. funny how not a single one of them publish the actual numbers of votes made by the public.... why not?
always, always, ask questions of anyone or anything where money is involved!
A lot of negative posts on here, I'm told (chers Sir Willum) - which in my little world comes as a result of wave after wave of problems, hassles, bills, more hassles, arguments with companies, more problems, etc. I cannot remember the last day when someone didn't need my help or to bounce something off me. If its not picking something up and dropping it somewhere else, its a company who wont stop hassling one of their customers, or they are charging unenforceable charges and ignoring their requests to refund it. You get the picture...
anyways, one problem I do have, is of those people who take the easy way out and get others to their donkey work.
whilst working at halfords, i often served two types of customer: customer 1: the BMW driver, who came in for his wiper blade, threw the £2.50 on the counter and demanded that they were fitted by a member of staff. customer 2: the old age pecker, who had wrestled with fitting their own wiper blades for 30 minutes or so in the rain, and then came back into the store, to ask politely if there was anyone who could help.
the problem with this scenario, is that, whilst it can be applied to all walks of life and every situation you can think of, it also causes more problems than it solves. halfords started charging customers for fitting wiper blades, instead of fitting them for free at our discretion, as we had been doing for years nobody won. the customer lost out by paying money. the staff then HAD to do the fitting instead of opting to do it. all because the BMW driver regularly couldnt be arsed!
this is what urks me on a daily basis... if everyone applied themselves, or at least TRIED to resolve something themselves, then we would all benefit! more people would get back their own bank charges, less companies would be inclined to skin them for more money for their insurance etc.
so today i come across problems at home, that need sorting out urgently. all day i have been waiting for the answer to one question, i dont care how its sorted i dont care what individuals have to do, i dont care how they manage it, i just want a simple answer to a simple question and i want it as soon as possible.
for the love of god.... just once, try and sort something out by yourself, instead of having to give me another job to do!
Denz on 08.20.09 @ 06:41 PM CST [link]
Tuesday, August 18th
Afghanistan - why are we there?
exactly why are we in afghanistan?
the government have changed their reasoning 3 times now, "we are stopping terror attacks on us eminating from training there" "we are cracking down on drugs supplies on our streets" blah blah blah.
the fact is, we are unique in the UK, in that we are an island, so therefore we can protect our borders far more rigorously than those countries with land borders. the current government have brought in policies that have decreased border controls (wether it be to save money or offered in return for winning support for other causes in the european parliament) which has opened the UK up to receive vast numbers of both legal and illegal immigrants.
it was widely known back in the late 90s/early 2000s, that other euro countries were openly allowing people from outside the EU to take residency in their country for 6 months, which then qualified them for an EU passport, which in turn allows them to go anywhere in the euro zone to work and live under the free movement laws. of course a majority headed for the UK, to take advantage of free health care, housing, schooling, benefits, etc. so to give up the veto on allowing people into the UK was foolish at best and a dereliction of governence, that they were elected to protect. "we need immigration to do the jobs that UK people will not do" is a farsical way to justify allowing vast numbers of people into the UK, which even today, they cannot count nor can they keep track of.
had we not done this, then the government would be able to protect the people against terror attacks far more effectively. indirectly, the government have been the cause of terror attacks in the UK. foreign policies such as Iraq, have been a joke.
our troops are out in afghanistan, policing, not fighting a war. i dont believe they can win. they are dying and risking their lives, for a government objective that is being changed constantly, even army senior officers state this, afghanistan has never had a democratic government that i can remember? why are we trying to impose a system of government on a country, that UK people are witnessing being eroded in the UK?
if you want to control the supply of illegal drugs in your country - CONTROL YOUR BORDERS if you want to protect the people who elected you into government, from terrorist attacks - CONTROL YOUR BORDERS our armed forces are not the police with guns, they are not simply mine sweepers and patrollers who are there to be shot at and booby trapped - our armed forces deserve better!
bring the troops home immediately, deploy the armed forces to our own UK borders to control people coming in, reverse EU laws that are damaging and dangerous to the UK.
do what we elect you for labour, OR GET OUT!
Denz on 08.18.09 @ 01:41 PM CST [link]
Monday, August 17th
now its Ham Ham Ham
it has long been known that ever human carries and lives with cancer. it lies dormant until a "trigger" sparks it off. this could be a sudden shock or a fall, it could be after taking medication, it could be triggered by a chemical used in cigarettes, but the most obvious one for me, is the food chain.
a couple of months ago, a university study found that physical exercise had little or no bearing on obesity, as the nation's people take more exercise now than previous generations. obesity numbers continue to grow. other cases of disease are also increasing. the university concluded that it is the food chain that is to blame and that more work needs to be done.
it is not how often we eat or the quantities, but the chemicals and things being used in the food chain.
the BBC/channel 4/channel 5 and sky news are all running with the story regarding the charity advice to take "processed" ham off the menu for kids eating packed lunches. this cannot come soon enough its about time the problem of our food is dealt with IMMEDIATELY!
how can a product called and labelled HAM, be even compared with the meat when it contains little or none of the product? anything that is processed, by definition, is a collection of waste from the animal, with chemicals added to it to disguise the taste. so how do the public eat ham that is safe? easily - simply goto your local butchers, by a piece of ham bang it in the oven, then slice from it and eat sandwiches, have with veg and gravy, etc. it is real meat.
processed meat is a contradiction in terms - as a product, processed meat (ears, skin, fat, guts, etc) mashed to a pulp would be disgusting and tasteless and no one would buy it. why else do you think chemicals are added? the chemicals are not added for the consumers benefit, they are added to disguise the taste and make it taste good. why do you think that kentucky fried chicken is covered in batter and sold with sauces? why are macdonalds burgers covered in onions, gherkins, mustard and tomato sauce? why are pizzas ladened with processed meats, cooked with processed cheese and tomato pulp?
if the manufacturers need to disguise the flavour and appearance of food, then this would suggest its not fit for human consumption does it not? fruit and veg from your supermarkets, is sprayed with chemicals and gas waxes to prolong its shelf life and increase profits - wheres the care for the customer? why do we have strict food regulations in the UK, whilst allowing all food businesses to import the food we buy, from countries where there is little or no regulation over the production of food?
cigarette companies have been successfully prosecuted around the world for selling a product that sparks certain cancers off in humans - when is it time to hold those providing food for the UK to account for the damage they are doing?
paying money to a charity to do a study is a start, but not the right way to go. we need those providing food for us all to eat to be held accountable for the vast numbers of illnesses and sheer costs of treating these related diseases, under the NHS.
these quotes and many more are what we are sold but the actual broadband service we all get is very poor at best. is it just the UK thats suffering in this way?
we are paying the highest price for the weakest service and not one single official body (that is in place to stop us being ripped off - all funded out of taxpayer's money) is doing a damned thing about it... the government then cannot understand why the people are so angry! perhaps the government know full well whats going on but are inept to sort the problems out?
forget for a minute the familiar scene of the individual paying vast amounts of money to pay for the internet service to their home, being promised one download speed, but receiving considerably less - forget also the actual requirement to have the internet, just to view a bill or check a bank balance and whats been taken from your account, etc instead consider the basic level of service being received.
most people are on an "unlimited" service at home. yet on a sunday afternoon, watching a program on BBCi or ITV or channel 5.com's website, is like pulling teeth. media streaming is a waste of space and often slower than it was during the days of dial up speeds, when the internet connection cost the customer considerably less than so called high speed broadband!
there are thousands of customers facing the same issues, the little circle that appears when the screen freezes as it tries to get information from the website, then it starts again, then it stops again. despite having a connection that should allow the user to download the entire 30 minute program to their computer and watch it un interrupted, in a time of around 8 minutes, the user is left sat watching a blank screen as their download box shows they are receiving the data at a speed less than half the speed of the old dial up service from years ago.
the same old excuses are trotted out by the broadband providers and the aso called regulators...... problems at the exchange - the service is busy - lots of users downloading at the same time - there maybe a fault with your equipment - its your computer hardware thats at fault - the website servers are at fault - try again later, etc, weve all heard them and more... we are all sick to death of hearing them.
when will it be time to say enough is enough? when will people simply stop paying for any broadband service and give it up? so much of my anger (and it is genuine anger) at the companies who are supposed to be our future technology bearers, who charge us way over the odds for " a service" that fails whenever we try to use it, who never waits for us to pay our bills (without charging us extra) but when we have to wait for their service to work, its always hours and days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months, and in a few cases years, before anything is ever done about it.
how much time money and effort is wasted by people on a technology that simply doesnt work and cannot be provided at anything like the speeds and quality being promised to us when we are sold it?
enough is enough.... we pay for the lack of service, we pay for the regulators who are supposed to sort it out, we pay for the tax placed upon the service by the government, and what do we get in return?
I was reading the BBC news website this morning, and they asked the question are we walking into a surveillance society? the answer from the majority is that we are already there.
the explanation for this is given by MPs, councils, banks and businesses, is that its all need to "protect us" - whilst at the same time, crime continues to rise regardless.
i dont object to my details being needed to stop crime, but the facts are that my details are not being used to stop crime, instead my details are being used against me to justify taking more money from me!
its the lollipop man/pelican crossing scenario EVERYTIME! (employ a lollipop man to help kids across the road - then invest money in a pelican crossing, stating it will save money in the long run, as there will be no pension/holiday pay/sick pay/wages to pay out for the lollipop man, to do the job - yet the price of providing the service to the taxpayer never goes down - the lollipop man is re employed at more expense to operate the pelican crossing! - this in turn creates more traffic hold ups - which all increases revenue for the government, more taxes from wages of lollipop man, more petrol needed by drivers passing by his crossing at busy times, indirectly increasing the vat collected from the petrol pump, and should anyone park illegally, then a ticket is issued bringing in yet more revenue)
answer the following questions: - why do they need your job title when you want car insurance? could it be because they are charging more money for manual workers than they are for company directors? ie using your details against you to increase their profits? - why are supermarkets being allowed to monitor people who pay by credit/debit card for their groceries? why are "clubcards" and "loyalty cards" promoted so heavily? because they are using your information to increase their profits! why do you think that all the things that people start buying in a recession, suddenly go up 40-50% in price, just as times start getting harder for customers? why is the only business thats overstaffed and showing increased profits in hard times for everyone, is the supermarkets? why are the supermarkets the only business that can afford to increase their advertising on television and other forms of media? - why are congestion levels at record levels? why are petrol/diesel prices at record levels? its no coincidence that in the name of "safety" we have more traffic lights in the UK than at anytime in our history. traffic calming methods are designed to make us drive our cars in lower gears, increasing the amount of petrol/diesel we use, increasing the amount of tax the government raise in VAT - why are telephone companies allowed to charge us for blocking cold calls? why do these blocking services never work? when a phone line is installed in your home, the phone company sell your number on to these companies, increasing their profits, then charge YOU a fee each month to stop the cold calls that THEY sold your number up for! This increases their profits even more! I have proof of this - our second line was wired up and activated to help diagnose a fault - i did not know the number - within 20 minutes of it being activated by an engineer i received a cold call offering me double glazing! the phone companies deny all knowledge of this happening, they are telling us lies!
our information is OUR information - not any government or company's!
when was your information last used to SAVE you money?
all the "security" reasons given are pure fabrication!
lloyds bank are a great example. they were part of the banking industry that told us that chip and pin security system would protect us all. the costs involved of setting up the scheme were huge - customers paid for it all, id wager good money that customers paid more than the actual cost to set it up, and the charges the banks make to pay for this system, are still in place and being charged today. only now they use this extra money for profits, bonuses or lending out. banks also limit the money you can pay over the counter or withdraw in a single day, even loose change is subject to a 5 or 10 bag maximum in the name of security. you have to give days notice to withdraw over £1000 of YOUR OWN MONEY from our bank, as the branch "doesnt keep that sort of money on the premises because its a security risk!"
so why then are banks such as nat west now running mobile banks to villages and towns once a week? how unsecure is that?
limiting the amount you can withdraw without days of notice is not for security at all, its to deter you from withdrawing money from your account, the longer the bank hold it, the more profit they make!
the instances of YOUR INFORMATION being used against you to extract more money from you are unlimited in the UK today. the government of today can have all the "public consultations" they like, we elect a government to govern, if we dont like their way of doing things, we can vote them out of office and elect another party that are willing to actually DO SOMETHING for us the people of britain!
the sooner the people stop giving out their information the better. whenever a company or official body demand that they are given your own personal information, question why it is neccessary if they refuse to provide a service because you wont give them your information, then go elsewhere or do without their service.
everyone's approach should be to say - "mind your own business!"
sat, half awake this morning, in a dozy state (as per usual) and it dawned on me... this is the first summer off ive had since the summer of 1985! For the last 24 years, ive grafted ever summer, mostly all summer, officially for a company.
Sure this year ive got lots more work on, but its work getting things ready for the baby coming.
its been two weeks since our school closed, yet i dont seem to have stopped, not a day out for me, not a night out, working out in the rain and then back indoors when it the rain gets heavy. how different it is, from the days i remember when every summer used to be an adventure.
hanging with mates, hay bailing, sunburn, chillin on the beach, disappearing all day doing nothing in particular, chasing after gerls (yes i used to!), parties, etc. nothing mattered at all, nothing was in the way, sure money wasnt abundant, but it was fun, it built memories, it was mine! after two years or so.... will you remember this summer?
i ask because once its gone, its gone forever, you cant have your time over again...
Denz on 08.05.09 @ 07:49 AM CST [link]
