its quite sad, when hours of work are put into something - anything, and someone tries to trash it for no good reason. over at penny pinchers, we listed a company index for people to use, so our magical hacker got in and deleted the whole board - i can only assume they considered us a threat?
we have had a few subjects suddenly disappear as well, obviously we have touched a nerve?
maybe, its from one of the websites that we have exposed as misleading or stinging customers? perhaps, it is a "rival" website who wanted to protect their own business? or it just be someone who has yet to see the light...
its not really important, in fact they have done us a favour... the site needs sprucing up, you have just given me the nudge to get on with it, thankyou! and as we all know the best outcome of all this has yet to happen, as who ever did this should be aware... what goes around - comes around!
simple requirement: to register our child's birth and get a birth certificate.
first, ring up the local registrar. go to see registrar, told after giving stack loads of completely unrelated personal information (phone numbers, addresses, occupations etc), that it cant be done there and then and must be sent off to the registrar that works in the town where our baby was born.
okays we think, lets pay for it now then its all sorted. errrr cannot do that as they are unable to take payment there as its not "their department" - we are told to wait a couple of days, then inform the registrar where she was born and they will take payment.
so we phone the registrar thats in another town 2 days later - simple request, we want to purchase two full birth certificates, as one will be needed for sending out as identification for various forms, as the government have changed the laws, stating that a standard brief birth certificate is no longer acceptable for identification purposes (bringing in national id cards by the back door by any chance?) the bonus is - when you register a birth and buy two certificates at the time, instead of paying out the full fee later, you can buy two originals at half the price.. ideal for us in case one gets lost in the post in the future.
the registrar happily takes the reduced payment for two certificates and assures me they will be "posted out on thursday evening first class"
saturday morning arrives, and the postman brings the certificates. so whats wrong then?
- they have only taken a reduced payment for one full birth certificate - they have only sent one full birth certificate - they sent them out friday via 2nd class post - we now have to pay full price if we want another full copy of the original birth certificate.
it was a standard easy request..... they couldnt even get that right... and to top it all at the bottom of the full birth certificate it now states... this certificate is NOT evidence of identity!
if a birth certificate isnt proof of id, then what is?
its wrong, its unfair, and it should be stopped!
Denz on 09.23.09 @ 02:32 PM CST [link]
Monday, September 21st
people v business/government
child benefit forms - if we sign up at the hospital for a baby "bounty pack" (which is a few free samples and more marketing bumph) there is a child benefit claim form included in the pack. To get this bag of marketing, you have to surrender all your details, email address, phone number, home address, parent and child details, etc. (proving there is profit in selling people's details on) yet when you ring up the appropriate government office and ask for one, (as they are no longer available to pick up in post offices) they say they will send one out, 6 days so far... still nothing!
consumer issues - you have a problem with a business/service, consumer has to put it in writing and it takes months to be sorted out, you may not win your case, you maybe out of pocket for more than 3 months, and if you win, you may get back what you are seeking, but will you get all your costs back? your stamps, your phone call charges, etc. not a chance!
best medical advice - you are advised to breast feed, you apply for maternity leave, but allocated just 6 weeks, and this is at 90% of your pay. you can stay on maternity leave for longer, but the bare minimum is then paid, around £120 per week. so some of the difference will be sorted out by the taxpayer to help out... this was put in 3 weeks ago, still waiting for notification of what is happening, this time next week it will have been a months waiting.
with this in mind - when you have to pay a business or a tax - will those taking the money from you allow you an indefinate length of time to pay it? do you have to pay it straight away or up front?
of course not, this needs to change as soon as possible!
Denz on 09.21.09 @ 09:10 AM CST [link]
Sunday, September 13th
product placement is already with us
the story of the day on the BBC boards and various websites is about product placement, being allowed on UK television, in soaps, serials and the like.
the truth is that product placement is already alive and kicking in every media we have! only now its official, the government can tax it!
on television: for the past couple of weeks, sky news have been advertising a campaign to get people to sign up to a leaders debate, when the general election comes, which they can show on their channel, and no doubt raise money from extra advertising around it. on adam boulton's morning news show, it appeared again in the adverts, then he reported on a story about the german election campaigns. cut to a reporter in germany who gave us an over view of it all, and then proceeded to rabbit on about their leadership debate that occurs every election and how "the people" look forward to it, how they take an interest in it. then back to the studio for two "experts" (more placement for their relative newspapers) to talk for another 10 minutes about the importance of a leaders debate both in germany and then the UK, which ended with a blatant plug for sky's own survey and another plea to the viewers to sign their petition! 15 minutes of an hour long show, nothing to do with actual news and everything to do with "placement"
in the news: how many times have you seen a news item, based solely on a survey? what about those news stories that are generated from an opinion pole? these make up the majority of our "news" - they are nothing to do with news, and everything to do with placement! at penny pinchers, we watched a news story on BBC breakfast "news" run every hour for 3 hours, about grannynet - they had done a survey of their members about an issue concerning grand parents who provide childcare whilst their children go out to work, etc. the viewers were informed that grannynet was a discussion forum for grand parents and a place to voice concerns, grannynet were standing up for grandparents... on closer inspection, grannynet is nothing more than a business, using news channels to do their placement. the website owner even thanks a private company on line for their help "in setting up my business"
in government: sorry willum, i know you hate this stuff... but when quangos that take funding and work for the government, put out surveys and opinions as facts, without declaring their links to the government of the day, this is misleading and blatant placement. never has this been more apparent than the recent placement reports about the recession.
everything about the recession is aimed at confidence, so for months now, various quangos and government owned in banking industries have been talking up their markets. "most house enquiries for a year" "mortgage applications are increasing" "XXX amount of people being helped by government scheme"
all well and good, but this is placement and very very dangerous! promoting goods is one thing, but openly misleading people who may be considering buying a house or car, to dive in quicker and buy, when it may not be the best time to buy could cost them their home or a lot more money in the long run. with a general election in less than a year, the government are desperate to find some good news and give themselves some positives to point at when confronted about issues on the door step and in press releases. One glimmer of light to protect the public is the odd report that sneaks out (its not widely reported and people have to go looking for it)
after the bank of england decided to keep interest rates at the same level again for the month, one of those who decide stated, "despite all the reports of confidence and increasing green shoots, the facts showed the complete opposite - the argument for keeping interest rates at the same level will always be based on accurate figures, not reports. unemployment, actual mortgage completions, businesses closing, the public borrowing deficit, etc, are all vital factors that do not reflect the constant stream of favourable reports and surveys being reported in the news everyday."
product advertising placement is fine to a degree, providing its not misleading, but when the same methods are used to influence a major purchase or non supporter of the government, it becomes avery different issue and should not be allowed. this leads me to believe that the product placement change of heart (the government told us not 6 months ago that this should not be allowed *andy burnham MP) by the government, is more to do with helping them win an election than anything to do with helping commercial television channels with funding.
businesses are being allowed to sting more and more customers, by selling them a product, then putting the prices up at a later date.... WHY?
Banks will soon be losing their final appeal against the office of fair trading being able to rule on their unenforceable penalty charges they slap on customers, which are a penalty charge they make profits from rather than just recovering the actual cost they incur, based on the customer's action, rather than the state of the industry as a whole - i know this because taxpayer owned Rbs and Natwest suddenly dropped their charges for a bounced cheque to just £5 from more than £30 (this is how this labour government work, backroom deals and tipping off businesses - why else would the bank charges case have dragged on for so long?)
with this case in mind, why now are companies being allowed to sell a product and increase the price afterwards?
we have already started a campaign to stop pre payment customers being charged more after they have already purchased their gas/electricity - which is resulting in unexpected bills and a blatant breach of customer's statutory rights and a breach of the Sale of Goods Act. MPs are currently "asking questions" but doing precisely NOTHING about it! OFGEM are not even monitoring the 6 big energy companies who carry out this practice, to prevent them from increasing the cost of our energy even more, to claw back the money they say we owe them!
REMEMBER: a bank charge can only be priced at the actual cost incurred between the individual and their bank, if it is anything more than this it becomes a penalty charge and unenforceable under common law in England and Wales. This means that if the bank average out all their credit write-offs for a year and divide this by the number of anticipated charges they will issue over that year, and price their "charges" to cover this cost, the price of the bank charge DOES NOT reflect actual loss caused by the individual customer, and therefore becomes a penalty charge and is unenforceable.
so why then are insurance companies allowed to now get away with the same unenforceable business practice?
Quote from a legal and General life policy document today (dated 10th Sept 2009):
How we reach a decision at your review: - general industry claims experience; - expected impact of future medical expences; - number of claims we have had; - number of claims we expect to have and when we expect them to be made.
exactly how is this down to the individual customer who took out a policy in good faith?
it gets worse... it then lists "policy options if there is an increased premium" OPTION 1 - accept the increased premium OPTION 2 - keep premium the same but with less cover OPTION 3 - cancel your plan
DISGRACEFUL! option 1 - pay more for the product you have already bought option 2 - this cannot be legal, what if your life cover no longer covers the cost of paying off your mortgage? is this not a breach of your obligations to your mortgage provider? (which would leave you the customer with no choice but to take on increased premiums or your mortgage provider can reposess your home?) option 3 - cancel the product you have purchased in good faith and pay higher premiums as a new customer with another company (who will conveniently be the same as all the other insurance companies selling price, as the industry seems to be a convenient monopoly and is not being regulated correctly!)
customers, ie, US, are being forced into taking on increased premiums (and paying more tax to the government) and the industry are putting homes at risk - its immoral, disgraceful, and the regulator should act now, WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT! - but as per usual... i wouldnt hold your breathe!
its like being in a timewarp here at hoover towers. on friday little Tammy is due, in work im waiting to hear about a part time job, as each day goes by the chances of that call become more remote and i dont think ill get a chance for even an interview. odd jobs around the house (like moving a wardrobe for the third time in 3 weeks) are all thats left to do, etc.
so this afternoon, with Tammy showing no signs of wanting to come out of her comfy status inside her mum, i decided to drift off out for the afternoon, in the pouring rain, for a walk out somewhere. we drove up to Dunnockshaw and Clowbridge for a walk around... not a soul about, very very wet (thanks fred the weatherman!) and windy, but for an hour and a half we strolled around the huge reservoir up there, i suppose its lovely in the summer, but this is north west england in spetember... not a sign of any sun
wellies and big coats were in order, as we splashed a combination of mud, sheep muck and water everywhere... it was ace as there were no people about, we just larked around and laughed, who needs to spend big money to enjoy stuff... we had a blast, before driving home thoroughly soaked through to the skin and not caring one jot.
and here i am floating around the house, headphones on listening to tunes, no work to go to as yet, no one around, in limbo waiting for little tammy to appear... have to say, its the most peaceful time ive known all summer
Denz on 09.09.09 @ 01:04 AM CST [link]
Tuesday, September 8th
getting older...
everything changes... again how many times have you had this happen in your life? starts out at infant school, you get settled make your way up.. then in the peak of your popularity, as quick as it came, its gone forever! you start all over again in junior school.... get to the top and bham! its gone senior school.. small kid in oversized uniform, you develop then leave...
you find work, start building again... until you move on and start again etc etc etc, and so it goes on.
the same process applies to you as you age.
early 20s the worlds gunna last for ever, you are indestructable why save for a pension? late 20s you still feel like your 22, but now the nights out start to take longer to recover from, youre not dominant at sports anymore, as you scrape another win over younger peeps and convince yourself that you are just having a bad day.. early 30s, everyone around you starts to question your motives for doing everything, from the colour of your hair to what car you drive... its fine, over 30 but still feel 20 odd, you cant see what all the fuss is about?
then at sometime in your mid 30s, it suddenly dawns on you that no one is remotely interested in what you think do or say. you are expendable, you are worthless, your experience counts for nothing and your qualifications become out of date! despite scrapping at your place of work, you take on more and more tasks and hours, more training, just to try and keep afloat...
then on the horizon... appears your 40th year. "all downhill" "your past it" "nothing to offer" all those kind of things are heard on a daily basis in some guise or other.
this is where i found myself, everything i do is judged by others to be me just trying to find my lost youth, etc. i could have gone one of two ways, in my mid 30s i could have struggled on doing the same things (but a few less times) or take stock, stick two fingers up at the world, and do my own thing.
i chose the latter: i no longer need to be in a job where promotion is of vital importance, i have evolved beyond that, watching all the sprogs get paid the same money as i do, when i have bags of experience and they often have little or none. now i am in the driving seat of life, yes i can rev it up and zoom off, but now i choose to take life slower. family life is more important, money is needed but not a golden goose to chase.
where had i been for 20 years? i missed out on what was around me, i spent days in bed etc, which ill never get back, i missed out on learning new skills as i ploughed my furrow of working life, confident in the belief that one day i would be rewarded for all my years of hard graft, training, more graft and loyalty.... i was sadly mistaken!
it turned out that my work was just that, work, the leaders in my place of work, couldnt give a monkeys, no one is indispensible. all that i strive for now is a happy life, with as little stress as possible. i love going in and out of work watching others grind their days away believing (as i used to) that their time at the top would come.... but sadly never does. i love it that i can do jobs now, when i want to. i cannot remember the last time i sat in rush hour traffic just to get to work on time, wasting petrol and my life sat gawping at the back of a car or wagon. i grow stuff, i eat all kinds of seasonal stuff, i appreciate it when people stop and help me out - and they do often, as i return favours by helping them. when i come home, its not after a hard days work, its after a couple of hours work, and walk into my own domain, my home, the one place where i matter!
throw at me what the world/system wants, in my home, once that front door closes, its locked and not much of the world enters in unless i allow it to. my family are my only concern... any friends are a bonus quality of life is paramount and the true pot of gold that all people should be striding to achieve.
when people scoff, i scoff right back... you waste away your days chasing a work/life status that rarely happens, and one day you will be exactly like i am now.... i wonder will you be just 40 or much older before you realise this???
Denz on 09.08.09 @ 01:26 AM CST [link]
Wednesday, September 2nd
prices - companies are fooling no one!
Just seen an update of sales figures for the DSG group (Dixons, pc world, mastercare, etc) their sales have fallen almost 15% across all the companies in the group.
prices of goods set by companies across all markets, have risen sharply over the past year, more so than normal. I can never understand why any company would want to mislead customers with their pricing and fake sales, as in a depression/recession, customers are wise to their tricks.
surely it would make more sense to offer real deals on prices and get the customers in?
we saw it when the administrators took over the now defunct woolworths - "woolworths closing down sale" signs were in every town, but most of the products were artificially high as they couldn't buy new stock being in receivership, so the goods were all old stock. "final two weeks of sale" was splashed all over the media and television, still the prices remained artificially high, then we had "fixtures and fittings are being sold for [insert rediculous prices here]" - but when i turned up on the last day of trading at my local woolworths store, they were selling dvd box sets at more than £25 with a final day sale sticker of £23 - less than £2 off the marked price!
two months earlier, when they announced that they were closing down, the same dvd box set was £25... where was the sale? a lady interviewed on the news, who had queued all night for "bargains" said, "it was a complete waste of time, most of the things i wanted were exactly the same price as two weeks ago, a con trick this was!"
to be fair, this is typical of how all businesses are operating on our high streets, most people are not stupid, the message is clear, if a business wants to get people to spend money, then offer value for money and reflect this in your pricing and marketing!
Good value is NOT: - pricing goods in line with other companies - putting the price up by £50 then a month later dropping it to £20 above what it used to be and advertising it as a "sale" price - increasing prices for loyal customers who come to the end of a 12 month contract (energy, mobile phones, insurances, etc) for a renewal, whilst offering new customers a lower price if they sign up - footfall generators (deals that get people into your store, such as spend £50 and get 5p off per litre of petrol) are all well and good, but its only good value if you avoid gimmicks!
good value is only good value when prices are related to the actual cost of goods to the business this is fast becoming a rarity for the UK customer - which is reflected in actual sales falls across the high street!
