Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by wiseowl, Jan 1, 2025.

  1. Fat Controller

    Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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    My moan for today (well, yesterday if I am being completely honest) is financial institutions, namely banks and insurance companies...

    First up, the bank - I'd accrued work expenses on my credit card (£1300) that I wanted to pay off, for obvious reasons, so yesterday I went onto the credit card app (isn't everything a bloody app nowadays!) and made the payment. They don't take it by debit card now, they transfer you to your bank to take it directly, but not onto the bank app (that would be too easy) where you can log in with fingerprint... oh no, it is online banking on a tiny wee phone screen. Anyway, I log in to be told my account was now locked (why?) and I then had to give them all my details (card number, address, date of birth, inside leg measurement, last toilet movements) to unlock the account... that process killed the payment, so back to the start it was. Did it again, payment successful!

    Except, there was then an email from the credit card saying that the payment was on hold, being held by the bank awaiting their verification for fraud. Checked the bank, money had gone out. It did finally clear, but it took hours and all despite using various codes, giving various bits of information and even paying a credit card that I've paid before!

    To be continued...
     
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    • Spruce

      Spruce Glad to be back .....

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      I know a lot find funny , but just wait till the summer when I wear boxers in the back garden to garden lol
       
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      • Fat Controller

        Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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        Next installment... Insurance!

        The renewal came in for the Jag around a week ago, so I did some shopping about. In fairness the renewal wasn't bad, but out of habit I always try to better it.

        First up, Lancaster - I'd barely viewed their quote on screen for 3 minutes (literally) and the phone was ringing with the pressure sales starting. Plus their quote was 60% more than my renewal...

        Haggerty - referred to underwriters (second year running)... they never got in touch (again)

        Peter Best - cannot quote due to the complex nature of the quote for your specific vehicle (what???)

        Howdens - £35 more than my renewal, came bundled with breakdown cover that I felt I didn't need as I am in the AA to cover both cars, however theirs also covered mis-fueling, dragging you out of the mud if you get stuck at a show, taking you and your car home if it breaks and no garage open, and then coming back a day or two later to take you to a garage, taking you home to get a spare key and taking you back to your car if you lock yourself out and so on.

        Footman James - current insurer.

        So, I was going to go for the renewal, but it couldn't be done online - you've got to phone. I spent an hour (maybe a bit more) on hold to Footman James yesterday morning before I got so hacked off, I gave up and phoned Howdens. They answered within 3-4 mins and within 20 mins it was all sorted.

        What an utter faff.
         
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        • Fat Controller

          Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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          I'd deliberately wear loose-ish ones, just enough so they slip down over the butt cheeks as you kneel down to do some weeding...
           
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          • Ergates

            Ergates Enthusiastic amateur

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            From my perspective, the difference between diet and full sugared fizzy drinks, is whether you’d like your teeth eroded by the acid, or eroded by the acid and rotted as well!
            @shiney, I used to recommend that my child patients were given water rather than squash to drink, to try and reduce their risk of tooth decay. It was interesting that those mothers that did make the effort, would report back to me that the child’s behaviour had noticeably improved as well! Those chemicals had more effect than they had realised.

            Quite a few years ago, we gave up caffeinated drinks, and after doing that for a while, we noticed bad reactions when we did have a proper coffee. Very hangover like symptoms, and churning stomachs. These days, we only drink caffeinated coffee when we go out (maybe four times a week) and have no trouble with it. Apart from the time I had an extra coffee before a routine check up at the GP surgery ( I thought I’d better make sure I was well hydrated, as instructed, before the blood test) My pulse was all over the place, and scared the nurse into immediately doing an ECG! That was fine, but I’m a bit more careful now what I drink before appointments.

            Now we have the added incentive to avoid Coca Cola products while I’m trying to boycott American made goods or companies. In my mind, just because it’s difficult to avoid buying Chinese or American goods and services, doesn’t mean I should just give up. I’ll try my best, and if enough of us did that, it might add up to make a difference, or at least send a message.
            Probably explains my failed shopping trip yesterday, didn’t see much I liked anyway, and the few things that appealed were made in China, and rejected. Annoyingly, I didn’t see any American goods to boycott!
             
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            • Thevictorian

              Thevictorian Gardener

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              I'm not suggesting a boycott of anything, rather that it is nearly impossible to not benefit a US company somewhere down the line. The world is all tied in together, so even if we deliberately try to avoid buying from one place, we will likely still be paying them through a back door.
               
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              • pete

                pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                I tried to log into an insurance company account about a claim.
                Got an e mail saying click here to go to your account, did that then log in,then we have sent a code to your email mail.
                Well the link seems to have opened in the same tab as my e mail, by the time I sorted it all out and finally got the code they had locked my insurance.
                In the end I did it on my PC.
                 
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                • pete

                  pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                  With the drinks thing I think it's all about excessive behaviour, it's the same with food, people just eat and drink too much of these things, one can of coke a day is not going to kill you, drink 5 or 6 and you are overdoing it.
                  When I was a kid we used to have a couple of bottles of corona a week, maybe a can of shandy occasionally as a treat, now it's just all day everyday.
                   
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                  • Thevictorian

                    Thevictorian Gardener

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                    I think we have a bizarre culture. I recently saw this bbc article

                    Snag clothing gets 100 complaints a day that models are too fat, says boss

                    It basically says that being thin is something that many aspire to be and therefore it isn't healthy to promote thin models in adverts but it is fine to promote the other end of the scale. I'll let people make up their own minds about which is more damaging.
                     
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                    • shiney

                      shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                      I don't do any money transactions out of my bank by apps (don't have any) or internet although I do have a bank internet account. I only use the internet account to move money between my own accounts and have put a block on any money going outside the accounts by internet. When I want to do a transfer I phone the bank (can't remember ever having to wait more than three minutes after passing the automated security) and get them to do it. Each payment sets up a mandate to the payee and the mandate has a number.

                      If it's a payment to someone or body that you may need to pay again it makes it easier for the next time because you only need quote the mandate number and verify it.

                      I don't have a problem with trying to avoid buying Chinese or American as I also try never to buy anything :heehee:

                      Signed,
                      Scrooge Shiney :old:
                       
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                      • ViewAhead

                        ViewAhead Total Gardener

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                        True … but sugar is better for you than any artificial sweetener because your body recognises it as a food stuff and deals with it accordingly. And a 150 ml can of Coke to deal with nausea as and when is certainly better for your body than taking daily prescription medications to achieve the same effect. I know this as I was on some for about 5 yrs in my 30s. :)
                         
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                        • Tidemark

                          Tidemark Super Gardener

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                          I saw that photo and my only thought was “how does she wipe her bottom?”
                           
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                          • Obelix-Vendée

                            Obelix-Vendée Total Gardener

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                            @Ergates Possum was the only child in our social group not allowed coca-cola etc at home or for school snacks. We drank water with meals and she had a small carton of unsweetend apple juice for her morning break and home-made muffins or biscuits. She has no fillings to this day but two of her friends had 9 fillings each at 9 and 7. Their mother henceforth banned sugary drinks and sweets and they grew up with healthy adult teeth.

                            @Thevictorian boycotts can work. Tesla sales are way down in the EU but also the USA and I've seen a lovely photo of a mexican sculptor "enhancing" a Tesla by dropping a huge, native sculpture on it. EU investment companies are joining up to divest themselves of Tesla shares and Tesla share prices are going thru the floor.

                            There's also been a campaign to refrain from placing any orders thru Amazon so Bezos will have less money to spend on his space ambitions.

                            Apparently Trump isn't too happy about a Tesla ban but then he's a serial bankrupt with no morals.
                            felon47 and tesla ban.jpg
                             
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                              Last edited: Mar 16, 2025 at 12:16 PM
                            • Jiffy

                              Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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                              If you go for a walk in the countryside, please leave gate's as you find them, ie, if open leave open, if closed leave closed + if they are chained up make sure you chain them back up as you found them :dbgrtmb: thankyou, i keep an eye open on a road side gate going in to fields but i'm finding this week lots of people are not shuting the gate you may think that there isn't an cattle or sheep in the fields but they may be and you can't see them because them may be runing 5-6 fields in this case there are cattle runing 3 feilds and 4 times this week i have had the go and shut the gate to stop cattle from getting onto the road
                               
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                              • Ergates

                                Ergates Enthusiastic amateur

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                                @ViewAhead, certainly worth having the little can of coke rather than medication, much of which lists sucrose on the list of ingredients anyway. The problem with sugars and teeth is not the quantity, it’s the frequency. One spoonful of sugar an hour for 8 hours will do 8 times the damage that 16 spoonfuls eaten at once will do! Saliva will neutralise the acidity in the mouth within an hour. Obviously not the same for the effects of excessive sugar on the rest of the body, when quantity will definitely count.

                                @Obelix-Vendée, we were really strict with our children when they were young. Both now in their 40s, daughter has no fillings and son only has one tiny one. It was certainly an incentive to me to ensure they had a good diet, as I was spending quite a bit of my working hours referring under 8s, even under 3s, to have full clearances under general anaesthetic. Heartbreaking.

                                @shiney, we don’t use any apps for banking either, and only do any financial transactions, including ordering things, on the home computer, not even on our iPads. Recently, when logging into the bank, I’ve had to complete an extra step by having a code sent to my phone. Each time, I am then asked if I would like to make the computer a ‘trusted device’ so I don’t have to go through that additional step in future. I’ve declined that so far, no hassle to me to make it more difficult for anyone else to access the account.
                                 
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