malumbu

Interesting post on car hire. Again an issue where I thin that I am well informed, but have been caught out by hirers not accepting my card, and then bumping up the cost, and the 'comes with a tank of petrol' ruse in Spain, where you get refunded at a shite rate for the fuel that you don't use. Goldcar BTW A cute one was where they actually took out the money for the deposit (rather than just held it) and on refuding it I got the double whammy of charges for Euros in to pound, and a slight worsening of exchage rates.

I worked in consumer protection in the early 00s for a few years. The organisation no longer exists and my work deleted from interweb so I feel I can now speak out. And have a good whinge. I learned about competition law, markets, consumer protecton rights, shopping around, cheap vs value for money. I even did a bit of radio. Two early lessons. Car dealers make so little money out of selling cars they have to make it on servicing and HP. Always look for a good independent. Don't believe the warranty bull, as long as work is done to the manufacture's instructions and equivalent parts are used, all's fine. Of course I understand that many feel more comfortable with dealers. Second, a similar abuse of market power by some of the big chains eg pressure selling, and distress purchases. The first prime example is extended warranties. There is a good independent repair sector out there. And if you buy decent quality (difficult at times as many brands have long since been sold off and everything made in one big Chinese factory) if shouldn't go wrong. And distress purchases - the classic ones being funerals and dentistry. And of course back to cars. As regards to distress storeis I did get scammed by Britsh Gas in the mid 90s during a boiler break down under their home emergency call out - oh its not worth repairing and oh we have a special offer and can bit a new boiler now... The papers idenfied this pressure/distress selling a few years later. So move on a number of years and wtf Mr confident consumer do I still come across pooh service too often? I am not a moaning minnie so I don't write to the papers or slag companies off on the social media. I take action against the retailer - asking nicely to start off with. But I have now met my ulitmate foe, Currys. I bought a calcualator off them in the 70s. It probably cost the equivalent of ?100 in new money. It went wrong early on, they replaced it and 38 years later it still works if a bit battered. Now there is quality (thank you Mr Casio) and decent service. But that was a generation ago and I wouldn't touch them now. Sadly a product did recently sneak into the house, and did go wrong. Me. It has broken can you check it please Them: Oh it is not covered under the warranty as it is software. Me: I am not interested in your warranty, I am covered under the Sale of Goods Act, can you check it please Them: Oh it is not covered under the warranty Me: You will find that the warranty is irrelevant, that is a nice touch by the manufacturer. My contract is with you not the manufacturer. I am covered for defects etc for 6 years. Can you check it please Them: Oh it will need to go back to the manufacturer, and you have to pay ?50 Me: can I speak to someone who understands my contract with you. Surely you have people in store who understand computors and can check it Them: Oh you have obviously downloade a virus, it has to go back to the manufacturer. Me: You can't tell what has happened without checking it. How very dare you acuse me of downloading a virus. So the conversation continues, and eventually they assure me that I will have the ?50 refunded if I don't go for the repair. It duly gets written off by the manufacturer, but my money is not refunded. ?120 to get it repaired on the INDPENDENT computer shop on the New Kent Road, who incidentally built this PC that I am typing on. One exchange of corespondence with 'Knowhow' (some captive Dixons company who do the maintenance where they managed to not answer any of my points) and two letters to Dixons legal department that have been ignored. County Court here I come. The irony is that I don't want any of this nonsense. Anyway dear reader, please do try to avoid the temptation to ridicule me, I am just giving you a warning from my personal experience. They are what they are and when all is well it is fine. But when it isn't it isn't. Do you have any marathon experiences like this? Customer service of the year has been (twice) Eurostar. And BA have also been brilliant a couple of times. I wont start on Apple.

As a scumbag landlord I used it many times in 90s and 00s to try to get money back from my taking the peas students (oh we can't pay the rent as we have to buy designer clothes). It was OK. I have now used the online system to issue summmons. I once used Guildhall magistrates court. My that was posh.

1. I don't live in SE22 so are you going to machine gun me 2. What's that about? 3. There are plenty of good pubs without ankle biters, just not in the environs of East Dulwich. I lie a little, they are good pubs and they do allow children, but not overrun like most of the pubs in the area at certian times, and sadly at times even the wonderful Ivy.

Sadly is took Adam Hills, and a mate who lives in France, a few months ago to realise what a bunch of cants we are, in particularly the head cant David C. Had to turn telly off tonight as he made me feel like puking. Let me check out all my unwanted decent stuff first thing tomorrow, make a nice change from the red cross or St Christophers hospice. Not a do-gooder but a member of the human race. And good on you.

A friend was a driving school instructor, she had to supplement her meagre takings with doing deliveries. Too many driving instructors, with lucrative offers made by schools that they can never deliver. Anyway that was a rant, she has happily retired. Reviews on this lot (all two of them!) look good www.beefree.co.uk/

Nob

Well my burper said that I could kiss his ass. PM me if you find this exciting and I will tell you the pub. Or perhaps he would like to meet the swallow tattoo

I started the yummy Dulwich mummies and daddies for a bit of fun, but got so much abuse from you precious lot wish I hadn't bothered.....

I've been going to pubs for decades and seen a great change, some of which I like, and some I don't. I engage in conversations on good pubs occasionally on this site, and more often on more relevant sites. Some of this is genuine, some playful, and other times just plain grumpy (modern life is rubbish). I like the old school boozer but at times understand that this can come with old school problems. I've been to those where it all goes quiet when you come in, those with shytebeer, been chased out of a pub by locals when on a school field trip, offered drugs, and "don't try and make eye contact". Rude landlords, useless bar staff, and plastic food. But nothing to what I experienced on Friday in a refurbished pub a couple of miles away. I say refurbished but I expect the owners are going through the motions so they can get it changed to residential use. A lovely exterior, but a long featureless interior. My mate was late so I sat down to watch the end of the shyteonthevilla vs Manure match. Some bloke, not much younger and dressed like someone in a sitcom and looking short of a few brain cells comes past me, passes the most enormous belch in my ear before heading to the bogs. I loudly question WTF this was about (not using this language) go to the bar to ask them to intervene, whilst getting some pretty foul abuse from said burper. Bar staff look confused, an old gent who turns out to be the manager gets up to talk to Mr belcher and then tells me to sit down as it is all over. I question what it is all about and get told to sit down. A rather long winded explanation and you had to be there to experience the bizarre incident. I don't want you to dissect all the above but I'd be interested in what your worst experience was. I will name names on the relevant website.

Now tis the season of A level results. But before that it was time to apply to this load of muppets. Problems logging in - complex and then forgots details No e-mail address Do their buisiness by Facebook and twitter (and livecams) Ridiculous requests for info already sent Reqests by post, giving a few days to return info over the flippin holiday period when many people obviously with families are away Is it just us? I work in and support the public sector. Digital by default has made great improvements to the level of service, and on line stuff is constantly improving Perhaps this business model is based on the CSA flop.

Worked in Fair Trading under the Blurr government. New sweet FA about economics and markets but had it drummed into me - competitive markets, high levels of consumer information, fair trading, supply and demand, innovation, easy market entry and exit. Regulation bad. Oh dear, then comes 2008.

Fungal disease. It will reek havoc. Then the survivors will get over it and start all over again. We had it 15 years ago. Sorry.

I had deja vu (London 2012 ticket application) - a nice round zero in my four applications. For matches with lower demand. I've used stronger words today. Mates who applied for two matches had 0, 0, 1 and some lucky bustart 2 successes. Haven't worked out the odds yet, but even 1 application out of 4 would have been OK Have to break it to the boy. Any words of consolation?

People who use Farenheit instead of Centrigrade (or Celsius to be precise). Educatated in the metric system 40 years ago. Happily give up miles as well, but this thread is specific to summer. Please emigrate to isolationist USA and take your Express and Telegraph readers with you.

Funny, I've only ever drunk unpasteurised milk knowlingly at Glastonbury.

Kidkruger, we took two barrels of cider the first time in 84. 72 pints divided by 4. That was supposed to be 6 pints a day, which I assumed was about right. Fed up of the stuff come the Sunday - cleaning our teeth with it! Other years you could buy the stuff for about 40p a pint in gallon containers in a layby near the site. 85 brilliant, but similarly 95 was also brilliant. By 87 the drug dealing gangs had moved in whch was a shame. Oh and Patti Smith makes any festival worth going to.

Thread is some amsuing comments on the BBC commentary. Simple n'est pas? I've got over the "terrible, corporate guff. It's soul" Phase. Even though I fully agree with this! So back to the BBC. The only thing I can add from today's casual listening is the insistence of stating Glastonbury Festival in every sentence. Yes, pretty clear that you have blanket coverage on the radio. So it is obvious what you are talking about. I suppose if you pay a load of dosh you have to get your money's worth, but appears to be a reverse of where the HAVE to recognise the sponsor. Perhaps they should say, the Glastonbury Festival of Perfoming Arts, formerly raising money for CND (for you corporate warmongers out there, with no soul) and now (I haven't checked) for Greenpeace - you corporate polluters out there, with no soul. But I am digressing. Surely someone has something amusing to add. Oh, I do have something to add. I have zero interest in Kanu West,now he has quite football. Obviously BBC have. So half the discussion today seems to have been "he forgot his words at the Glastonbury Festival, and was out of pitch at the Glastonbury Festival". "Wow, what a Glastonbury Festival rock and roller eh? At the Glastonbury Festival" "That is what makes the Glastonbury Festival so special". "Lets ask these Glastonbury Festival goers, what they think of Kanu's great performance as the Glstonbury Festival headliner on Saturday night at the Glastonbury Festival" PS conversely thought Jay Z was a good headliner, so not simply having a pop at the genre.

Still having problems in posting my original intro, so this is abbeviated. This is purely for fun. Please use other threat for proper debate. No 1 hate is 'Glasto' (see other thread that beat me to it). Jo Wiley must have been told, as she isn't using it. No 2 is Chris Evans, who seems to have mutated to a Clarkson type person, and was just totally OTT when broadcsting yesaterday morning. No 3 was a little earlier - saying how amazing Michael Clark was, and that you never saw this sort of thing. Where have you been hiding for the last 30 years? Repeat, this is just a bit of fun.

OK, that worked. Before I have my starter for ten, just thining a little more since I first intended to start this post. Thing that is probably hacking me off is that the BBC can only give praise. Now part of the fun in listening to Alan Green commentating on Five Live is when it is a dire match. Clearly no eqivalent on BBC's festival coverage.

I've put a nice into together but don't seem to be able to post it, perhaps as there are a few words that are close to profanities.

What will stop me going to football. Playing music when the team scores - Tom Hark etc. Fortunately that is for the Championship. Changing kits unecessarily (obviously because they want you to buy the second and third kit, and need the TV coverage). WTF were Scotland wearing against Ireland? Perhaps they had popped into a ski shop selling retro stuff from the 80s. Made even some of Chelskis and Everton's kits look nice, even worse than Coventry's Chocolate brown kit, but Newcastle could give them a run for their money.

When you buy things you are protected by the Sale of Goods Act - items should be properly described, free from defects etc. These statutory rights last for six years If it is not fit for purpose then you can take action. If it is under 6 months old then there is reverse burden of proof, ie the retailer has to prove this it was fit for purpose. Guarantees or warrnaties are neiher here nor there, the contract is with the retailer not the manufacturer. But most retailers haven't a clue. Proving that it isn't fit for purpose can be difficult, and will be informed by costs and expectations. At the end of the day a bloody pain. And, yes, I have taken action through the small claims court.

No. Shallow. Fine on TV. Shallow. Forget her hypocracy/ Simply shallow.

Forest Hill tenant overcharged for a lamp fitting happens to be a lawyer? Light fitting#s becoming lawyers? You'll have pigs running the country next. Oh... we have....