Royal mail strike

John is absolutely right
This has long been a bug bear to me
We used to be able to go into a bank and cash a cheque over the counter
NOW they tell us it MUST be lodged to our acount and it will not be cleared for payment for 3/5/7 days (depending on the clearing bank)
Meantime the bank are making money on the amount INSTANTLY it is entered into their system
Recently Banks and Building Societies have started charging �£50 and upwards for 'sealing a vacate' when we repay our mortgages
Effectively this is a charge for giving us a receipt for the money we have paid to them
Quite ridiculous and MUST be totally unlawful
I have also just noticed that British Telecom are charging almost a fiver for 'processing our payment'
WHAT???
They are charging us for taking our money in payment of what we owe?
SURELY totally unlawful
Today's greed for profits most certainly outweighs any concerns for customer (or indeed human) rights
Long gone are the days of a 'gold watch' for employer loyalty .......
OK ...OK ... at least I have got that off my chest

 

Do we seem to have gone off subject?? -lol.

I only started this thread here because - well see my first post. We are now just letting off steam over wrong situations. If webmaster or daisees moves it to non-gardening discussion, I promise not to sue.

I don't want to get party political, but some years ago Mrs. Thatcher got praise for cutting down on the power of the trades unions to hold ordinary people to ransom. Looks like she just moved that power from greedy trades unions to greedy big business. Even My ISP (Internet Service Provider) has made a complete mess of my account so I asked them for a migration code to move elsewhere. They phoned me and said there was a charge for this - which is totally illegal. I contacted the regulator who got onto them. Today I have received 3 bills off them (from 3 different departments) in final settlement. One said I owe them about �£200, one said I owe them about �£80 and one said they owe me �£49 (which my accountant says is right). The one for �£200 was trying to charge me over �£100, cancellation fee, despite the fact that my contract is finished.

So I'm joining you whis4ey in just letting off steam. If I go off line for a while then 'I'll be back' but the dept sending the �£200 bill gave me 6 days to pay or my internet services will be removed. I emailed them saying that unless I received the �£49 in 6 days then I would commence county court action. No reply yet. But WHY SHOULD WE HAVE TO?

 

Thanks Shiney. I used to quite enjoy this sort of thing myself but, when I took early retirement, I thought I might have the odd tussle with the nanny state. I didn't expect to have to deal with a load of nanny businesses as well. I too had a fight with Npower some years ago when they sent me a bill for �£1,300 for the final month when I tried switching to Atlantic, I pay less than that for a year. It took me 2 years to get the matter sorted through Energywatch, during which time they firstly insisted that my house was somebody called Bell's Stores Ltd (even a meter reader arrived and said that we didn't look like a store - lol) and then transferred my account to Yorkshire Energy, their own sister company. 3 years after I finally got my switch to Atlantic (who seem very good by the way) I am still getting people wanting to read the meter for Npower. I always have to check who the guy is reading on behalf of, and if they can't tell me they don't get in. And I was looking forward to a peaceful retirement!

 

You have made my day. It couldn't happen to a 'nicer' company. I made the mistake of leaving it to Energywatch who got me �£75 compensation, and again of course, no apology. I'm not even sure if the amount we eventually settled on was correct. At one point I got 7 different bills in a month (March 2004) one of which said they owed me over �£300. When I wrote to them saying I accepted that one (of course, in those halcyon days 1st class mail was overnight) they immediately issued a new one, equally ridiculous but in their favour. Beware the dreaded Npower GCers.

 

Thanks for the reply about clearing cheques, it got me thinking a little.

 

hi
have had the same sort of problem.
how come, like you say, they are quick to demand payment of their bills but never quick to respond to your query?
an outside auditor would have a field day with these companies. is there one?
cheers

 

Regarding cheque clearing, I have 2 accounts in the same bank. If I pay a cheque into the savings account it takes 5 days to clear, if I pay one into the current account it takes 3 days. Truly remarkable. David.

 

Sorry to bring this thread back to the original topic but I posted seeds and seedlings to 8 people on the 15th October, 1st class. Until today only Intermiplants had acknowledged receipt. His seeds had arrived whilst he was on holiday so we are not sure how long they took. Today I have received a second PM saying that some seedlings (two packets) had arrived yesterday (the 27th - 12 days) first class remember and that one of the packets had been twisted and the tap root was broken.

Unfortunately the Royal Mail is the only, so called, carrier that is available to me, otherwise I would be on my bike so quickly they wouldn't see me for dust. Perhaps if I got on my bike and delivered personally round the country it would be quicker and safer.

Would anyone that was expecting seeds or seedlings that has, or has not received them give me feed back please by PM. Thnx.

 

I recieved mine last week john,I PMd you ive three already in pots, fingers crossed

 

sorry john mix up seeds were from eric but it took 30 days to recieve plant from cheng :eek:

 

Well I can't complain got some plants last week posted in germany on monday delivered on thursday second half the journey by royal mail.

 

You were very lucky Walnut. I ordered some seeds from Thailand (previously about 10 days) on 1st October. Proof of posting was emailed to me on the 2nd. Still haven't arrived. Fortunately, as I said, seeds not plants. Daren't order plants but someone sent me a magnolia last week that only took 3 days by second class. :confused: Oh and the seeds you kindly sent me arrived next day! So that is even more confusing.

 

I ordered Sarah Bernhardt Paeonys and Vintage Wine Echinacea some time ago from JParkers.

I emailed saying still had not arrived this was before any RM strikes.

Got mail back sayign be sent out end of the month.

They a had strict instructions if out to leave in greenhouse.

RM cant read I was out on Friday all day arrived back around 4pm to find a postcard RM could not deliver packet come back sat morning to post office to collect.

Which I duly did to find it was not a packet but a small box with corms with on from of box stated if out leave in greenhouse.

RM did not read this message slapped a sticker on part of the message.

Happy I have my order but dissapointed that RM does not adhear to messages.