Things that piss you off that shouldn't

[a m ole]

4 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Hate how customers are punished for loyalty in this country, and everyone acts as if it's normal and no big deal, to the point that there are people out there coaching customers how to get deals out of suppliers.

Is it genuinely like this everywhere? Feels like 'rip off Britain' to me, but maybe I'm just naive.

It pisses me off because I absolutely HATE haggling and asking for a deal. In the past I’ve got phone contracts online knowing I could probably get loads off by calling up and doing the whole threaten to quit routine.

I’d outlaw it if I was supreme leader of the UK.

[chrisp65]

Yep, I’m leaving it a couple of days, give them a chance to pop around with a chicken and a fishing rod and a much better quote, then after that I’ll most likely try Green Flag, which appears to be £80 for comparable cover.

It’s just there for psychological back up, it’s been ridiculous the level of cover we had anyway. My car is a lease that’s not yet 12 months old, hers has done under 4,000 miles in 18 months.

It’s just that nagging doubt that we could have the perfect storm of me away in some far flung corner of Norfolk and she can’t start the car in Tesco car park. I’ll pay £80 for that cover but I’m **** if I’m paying the £200 the AA want, when they’d charge anyone else half that. I’m gone on principle now. Took me long enough.

 

 

 

 

[Genie]

4 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Yep, I’m leaving it a couple of days, give them a chance to pop around with a chicken and a fishing rod and a much better quote, then after that I’ll most likely try Green Flag, which appears to be £80 for comparable cover.

It’s just there for psychological back up, it’s been ridiculous the level of cover we had anyway. My car is a lease that’s not yet 12 months old, hers has done under 4,000 miles in 18 months.

It’s just that nagging doubt that we could have the perfect storm of me away in some far flung corner of Norfolk and she can’t start the car in Tesco car park. I’ll pay £80 for that cover but I’m **** if I’m paying the £200 the AA want, when they’d charge anyone else half that. I’m gone on principle now. Took me long enough.

 

 

 

 

If you buy another policy online make sure you go through a cashback site (like Quidco for example)

 

[chrisp65]

I think the level of cash back tells its own story!

 

[Paddywhack]

Similarly, car insurance renewals.

I've been paying £40 a month to Hastings for 12 months and they've just quoted me my renewal at £45. I've been on gocompare and Hastings are coming up the cheapest at £25 a month.

So now I have to go through the annual rigmarole of calling up and having a half an hour conversation to get the lower quote.

They just hope people aren't going to bother so they can charge whatever they like.

When you're in charge @a m ole, can you ban this too? 

[Davkaus]

I've been with AutoAid for my breakdown cover for years. No cashback, no discounts, no surprises. Just the same flat rate every year, much cheaper than the AA/RAC for the same services. It's the kind of company I like doing business with

Edited April 8, 2021 by Davkaus

[a m ole]

2 minutes ago, Paddywhack said:

Similarly, car insurance renewals.

I've been paying £40 a month to Hastings for 12 months and they've just quoted me my renewal at £45. I've been on gocompare and Hastings are coming up the cheapest at £25 a month.

So now I have to go through the annual rigmarole of calling up and having a half an hour conversation to get the lower quote.

They just hope people aren't going to bother so they can charge whatever they like.

When you're in charge @a m ole, can you ban this too? 

Absolutely. I imagine one unexpected but positive consequence will be The Apprentice will no longer exist.

[bickster]

I recently had to take a trip to London in a car I was convinced the clutch was on the way out. I joined the RAC but a Taxi Policy (yes that's much more expensive)

Got to that there London and the obvious happens, clutch fubarred. Managed to get to the Motorway, kicking the clutch up every time I changed gear. stuck it in 6th gear and did not stop until I got to the end of the M57.  Now in the territory of the garage that owns the car. I rang them for a replacement and used my right to cancel in 28 days for a full refund 

[Xela]

7 hours ago, Genie said:

Had to pay through the nose for a UK holiday in August.

I’m quite looking forward to it, but also feels a bit like I’ve had my pants pulled down. 

One of those breaks eh? 

[Xela]

11 hours ago, Seat68 said:

Dawley and to a lesser extent Broseley (depends on where you are from in Telford) has always been the punchline to any joke referring to the slightly slack jawed inhabitants of Telford. My wife says as I am from Donnington I have no room to talk. 

My Dad is still discovering new places. He said Ketley is a bit rough around the edges as well? 

Mind you, he's not fazed, he grew up in Lozzells and Kingstanding! 

[Xela]

6 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Broseley is a funny one, I’ve heard the occasional dubious thing about it but I think it’s quite nice in places. Really good park and open space for the kids anyway.

I googled Broseley and found out they have a festival there, in normal times. This picture of said festival made me laugh more than it should. 

"Flamingo outfit? Check. Flamingo feet? ****!"

 

[Xela]

7 hours ago, brommy said:

Has anyone asked why it’s not your ‘Bromsgrove office’ in Bromsgrove? I’m curious if it’s relevant your customers know it’s your ‘middle of England’ office as using ‘Birmingham’ would obviously indicate to more people than using the true ‘Bromsgrove office’.

One of my Manchester based clients told me they were opening a Birmingham depot. In Lichfield.  

[Xela]

3 hours ago, ender4 said:

I do this with “the” all the time.   

I always write “teh” and then have to go back and correct it.

I end all my emails with Bets Regrads

[Mark Albrighton]

9 minutes ago, Xela said:

My Dad is still discovering new places. He said Ketley is a bit rough around the edges as well? 

Mind you, he's not fazed, he grew up in Lozzells and Kingstanding! 

Pretty much sandwiched between Oakengates and Wellington, to make it sound even more glamorous. Although in fairness the Bucks Head ground is in the neighbourhood so I have had some enjoyable memories from that way. 

[Xela]

2 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

We’ve had AA recovery for years. Originally because we had ropey cars, then because we did loads of miles, more recently peace of mind. I’m away a fair bit so if the other car gets a puncture or fails to start whilst I’m away, we had cover. 

But the cost has been escalating something silly and every year I think, I must do something about this. So I’ve phoned them and been very civil, and pointed out that our cover is getting expensive and I’d seen on their website the same level of cover was basically half the price.

As expected, the nice lady told me that was an introductory offer, so I wasn’t eligible as I’ve been with them for 20 years. I (genuinely) politely pointed out that was a little off and counter intuitive as it meant I’d be forced to leave on principle. She said she could see what I was getting at, but there was nothing she could do... and did I want to pay to renew! I’ve said no, close it. 

I don’t know if I’m more annoyed that they couldn’t offer a deal for an existing customer, or that it’s taken me so long to get around to closing it when I haven’t called them out in a decade.

I guess they’ve worked out that most of their customer base either just pay up without a thought, or huff n puff for a few days, and then pay up.

I used to have AA years ago, but you're right, they just got so expensive. I'm lucky now that I get cover through the works corporate scheme and it costs me about £2 a month. I've used them twice in the last 5 years or so and they've been out in less than an hour each time -once when my radiator decided it didn't like working anymore and secondly, when my tyre blew out. Its not available to the general public so thats probably why they are so quick! 

On the second incident above, my Dad rang the RAC first and they quoted 6 hours. He soon cancelled that policy and think he uses Autoaid now, the one @Davkaus mentioned. 

[theunderstudy]

44 minutes ago, Xela said:

One of my Manchester based clients told me they were opening a Birmingham depot. In Lichfield.  

I do the same with Salford and Stockport off-hand to most people when referring to visiting my sister as "going to Manchester" even though Salford it it's own city and Stockport is in Cheshire 

[theunderstudy]

Interestingly the company I work for has an office in Chatsworth (Los Angeles) which is consistently referred to as Chatsworth rather than "the LA office"

[bickster]

1 hour ago, Xela said:

I end all my emails with Bets Regrads

I put Kind regards, in my signature in Outlook to resolve my issue with this

[Xela]

2 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Pretty much sandwiched between Oakengates and Wellington, to make it sound even more glamorous. Although in fairness the Bucks Head ground is in the neighbourhood so I have had some enjoyable memories from that way. 

I've been to the Telford ground, its nice for a non league ground. Decent pie from memory. 

[Xela]

The Kardashians. 

Or more explicitly, the 'press machine' around them. The family who have built a huge fortune on living their fake filtered/photoshopped lives on social media are now in meltdown trying to get a picture removed from the internet of one of the sisters. The reason? It is unedited. Twitter and Reddit have removed the photo. The sad thing is, the photo is fine. She looks natural for once. 

The negative effect of this on young women around the world must be huge as they try and live up to impossible standards set by these reality 'stars', when in truth they look nothing like the pictures they upload.