Insignificant/ Significant things that BYP or just wind you up a little

[MrLongbeard]

Anyone want to chip in for Gremmers next B-Day?

https://musicandbands.co.uk/booking-age ... e-brothers

[the_priest]

Have you contacted the supplier? They sometimes have better access to human contacts (or better tracking) than us poor buyers.

Again, AI bots that don't get you through to a human. Based in Germany, I know a bit of Dutch, but my German is not at conversational levels. Bavarian Motorwerkundestanistan something or another....

The same AI bot may well understand English, worth a try.

I did. Just a loop of waiting for the delivery to be delivered before you can say it has not been delivered. 6-8 days. I'll be bored by then and have bought another car.

[Noggin]

I did a bank transfer from my sterling Revolut account ages ago to NS&I to try and get a bit more in the account

Got an email back to say the transfer had not been accepted ( so they do use modern comms, this is important!)

I've been meaning to mail them back asking exactly when I'll see the money back in my account so I can send it again via someone else's UK account.

Yesterday I got some mail, two letters from the uk.

The first had a cheque for £100 in it and the second a letter explaining that they can't accept a transfer from a bank that doesn't clear funds in the UK

Ok.

1 - I've had payments refused because my card isn't a uk bank card; WTF can't NS&I sort that shit out ??

2 - A cheque?? A sodding sterling CHEQUE that they posted to France, to someone that did a sterling transfer from Revolut. Does that not suggest that I don't have a 'normal' UK clearing bank????

FFS - now I have to find out if it's still possible to sign a cheque on the back so someone else can pay it into their account in the uk and give me the GBP or lose £100





Anyone know of a UK bank a non resident can open so I can do stuff like this!!!!

[Pirahna]

Anyone know of a UK bank a non resident can open so I can do stuff like this!!!!

I use Wise. They're a Belgian bank so you get a euro IBAN, when you change money to sterling you get a UK IBAN so pay in using that.

I do it the other way round, my UK account won't transfer internationally but if happy with the Wise UK IBAN.

Revolut might work the same way but I'm not sure. The exchange rate with Wise is similar to Revolut, do about as good as you'll get.

[Noggin]

Anyone know of a UK bank a non resident can open so I can do stuff like this!!!!

I use Wise. They're a Belgian bank so you get a euro IBAN, when you change money to sterling you get a UK IBAN so pay in using that.

I do it the other way round, my UK account won't transfer internationally but if happy with the Wise UK IBAN.

Revolut might work the same way but I'm not sure. The exchange rate with Wise is similar to Revolut, do about as good as you'll get.

They do work the same way (I used to have a Wise account, but ditched it when I tried to get my statements and they wouldn't let me until I put 20€ into the account - which at the time I couldn't do - I told them they were holding my information to ransom!!

The issue is, I think, that the "clearing" is done in Belgium or similar, so NS&I won't accept transfers as it's not a 'proper' UK bank


I've been sat here trying to work out how to find out if my Tesco Savings account might still be 'active'! Only downside, not sure I have any of the bank account info anymore!!!

[mangocrazy]

The pump in my solar thermal (hot water) setup in the S of F has decided it's going on strike, but won't tell me its demands... It's a 12-24V DC affair, run off a solar panel and for ages it's pumped away happily, but not any more. It won't even pump away grumpily. I've dismantled it as far as I can (the pump/impeller side) and all looks ok, but I suspect the fault lies in the electrical 12/24V side, which I can't access. Bugger.

I still have hot water, but it means switching the immersion heater on and that costs €uros. Solar is free once you've paid for the kit.

So I've been trawling t'Internet trying to find a replacement and all roads, it would appear, lead to China (quelle surprise). A company named 'Topsflo' make a pump that is the absolute spitting image of mine, even down to the exact same specifications. I've enquired about it, and managed to avoid using the word 'plagiarism' in my email...

[Rockburner]

The pump in my solar thermal (hot water) setup in the S of F has decided it's going on strike, but won't tell me its demands... It's a 12-24V DC affair, run off a solar panel and for ages it's pumped away happily, but not any more. It won't even pump away grumpily. I've dismantled it as far as I can (the pump/impeller side) and all looks ok, but I suspect the fault lies in the electrical 12/24V side, which I can't access. Bugger.

I still have hot water, but it means switching the immersion heater on and that costs €uros. Solar is free once you've paid for the kit.

So I've been trawling t'Internet trying to find a replacement and all roads, it would appear, lead to China (quelle surprise). A company named 'Topsflo' make a pump that is the absolute spitting image of mine, even down to the exact same specifications. I've enquired about it, and managed to avoid using the word 'plagiarism' in my email...

The Chinese don't give a stuff about IP. They'll just look at you oddly if you question why they're selling an item under a chinese brand name, that they're also selling to a foreign company for sale for 3 times the price in Europe/USA/Aus etc. I used to work for a company that designed stuff in the UK, but had it built in Shenzen: if we weren't going to accept the fact that the chinese were going to produce 4 times the items we requested and sell the rest out of the back door under their own brand name, we would have had to produce them somewhere else (at 5+ times the price).

[mangocrazy]

Yes, I'm fully aware how it works. It's the blatant-ness of it that still astounds me. They even use the exact same model name and number as the item they've copied. Specifications, quoted performance, exactly the same. However I shall buy two just in case the first one goes pop. The company that made the original are no longer in business.

Undercut by cheap Chinese copies and unable to compete, perhaps?

[Jody]

Many years ago Snap-on Tools decided to have some tool boxes made in China that would be "exactly the same" as the ones made in the USA.

Except when they were delivered, they needed modifying to fit the right type of lock and all the red ones went various shades of pink after about 6 months. Snap-on couldn't understand what went wrong......

We knew, they made one perfect one, showed it to the Snap-on bosses and then cut every corner they could once they'd jumped back on the plain to USA. That, from what I've seen, is the biggest battle when buying/ manufacturing from certain parts of China. What they say they made, what components/raw materials they say they've used, what they say the item specs are. They are subject to large fluctuations !!

[mangocrazy]

They are subject to large fluctuations !!

To which the Chinese would reply 'FluctuIngrish, too'!

[Count Steer]

Not so much BMP, more raises a hollow laugh. The redevelopment of M25 J10 (with the A3) will run 9 months over schedule 'due to adverse weather in 2024'
What? They had 9 months of adverse weather??

Oh, and they proudly announced that a recent closure of the M25 would be the last for the project. So this weekend they close the A3 instead.

Drove through it all last weekend. Talk about a 'boil the ocean' project. It needed sorting but they've gone a bit 'Grand Designs' on it!

[Taipan]

Funky hotels with no tea & coffee in the room.

[Count Steer]

Meter readers that can't read meters.

My estimated water bill for 25/26 just came in (and the DD adjusted accordingly) at 500% of last year. DD adjusted from £26/month to £130/month. Dig around on-line to find this is based on an actual reading. So, out I go to peer into the hole in the pavement.

They said 2497, my eyes say 2417. Just a slight difference of 80,000 litres....

When I was involved in this metering lark we had some pretty spiffing 'anomalous reading' routines that would have set the 'what a load of bollocks' alarms going. Clearly TWat don't apply any such thing to their own readings.

But they certainly did when I submitted my reading on-line. 'This reading doesn't look right'. I eventually hammered it into their system.

I know they have a cash problem but I'd rather they borrowed it from someone else.

Update: They added my reading to the system. Because it's lower than the previous (incorrect) one their system thinks the meter has gone round the clock and we've used...




.....100,000,000 litres.

I have serious doubts about their anomaly procedures.

Hate to think what the DD adjustment will be Been onto their 'chat' thing with an agent (human). They find it hard to believe I can read a meter better than their people....I suspect we're not finished with this one. 'Hello, is that the Water Ombudsman....?'.

[Cousin Jack]

Hate to think what the DD adjustment will be Been onto their 'chat' thing with an agent (human). They find it hard to believe I can read a meter better than their people....I suspect we're not finished with this one. 'Hello, is that the Water Ombudsman....?'.

This is the Water Ombudsman.

We are sorry we cannot accept your complaint. You will need to letter from your water company saying that you have exhausted their internal complaints process or wait for 8 weeks to pass.

When you have done this we will consider your complaint but must warn you that our processing time is currently 3 months before we can look into your issues.

You are strongly advised to add extra fluid to your system to ensure your piss does not boil dry.

[Mr. Dazzle]

You are strongly advised to add extra fluid to your system to ensure your piss does not boil dry.

Does that go on the meter reading too?

[Saga Lout]

Update: They added my reading to the system. Because it's lower than the previous (incorrect) one their system thinks the meter has gone round the clock and we've used...

.....100,000,000 litres.

...

An Olympic swimming pool holds 2,500,000 litres of water. What are you doing with 40 of them?

[Count Steer]

The Ombuds types are a mixed bunch. A friend temporarily rented a place while she found a place to buy. The gas meter didn't work - at all. The shonky, 'cheap' gas company tried to overcharge massively. The gas ombudsman (woman in this case) was very good and whipped the gas Co. into line.

The thing that brasses me off, with my utilities hat on, is the apparent lack of anomaly reporting and 'round the clock' flags. 100,000,000 litres really should have bells going off and so should a sudden distinct rise after steady consumption for 17 years*. It's funny that it never happens in reverse and they send me a credit for 40 Olympic pools worth of water though. That'd be nice.

*I even put in a load of water harvesting for gardening water so I was expecting consumption to drop!

[Rockburner]

Update: They added my reading to the system. Because it's lower than the previous (incorrect) one their system thinks the meter has gone round the clock and we've used...

.....100,000,000 litres.

...

An Olympic swimming pool holds 2,500,000 litres of water. What are you doing with 40 of them?

Open a summer resort?

[Count Steer]

Update: They added my reading to the system. Because it's lower than the previous (incorrect) one their system thinks the meter has gone round the clock and we've used...

.....100,000,000 litres.

...

An Olympic swimming pool holds 2,500,000 litres of water. What are you doing with 40 of them?

Open a summer resort?

All year round. Wait until they read the gas meter!

[Horse]

Update: They added my reading to the system. Because it's lower than the previous (incorrect) one their system thinks the meter has gone round the clock and we've used...

.....100,000,000 litres.

...

With space for ocean liners to dock?

An Olympic swimming pool holds 2,500,000 litres of water. What are you doing with 40 of them?

Open a summer resort?