As it’s the season of goodwill I thought I’d offer some advice to all those poor people who get taken in on a daily basis by unscrupulous salespersons.
Beware salesmen they often come in sheep’s clothing!
Eleven years ago my insurance company rep from Royal Sun Alliance knocked on my door and invited me to take out a 10-year savings plan. “Of course I can’t give you precise information but at the current rate of interest your money should almost double”. I can see the chap now and I remember thinking “I wonder where you will be in 10 years time”. On a beach in Lanzarote perhaps!
Last Christmas my plan matured and you might think it was a nice little earner as the previous 10 years had been a time of boom bang a bang bang – alas nooooooo. My final figure was far less than I had paid in and when I had the audacity to question this I was told “admin fees”.
While I am on the subject of RSA (now called More Than I think) I’d like to warn people at this stage that they are probably the most customer-unfriendly insurance company in Britain.
I have had my motor insurance and home insurance with them for most of the 30 years I have lived at my current abode and have never yet made a claim on either – however – I had the misfortune to be banned for speeding after speed cameras were placed on the road I live on and in total ignorance I sped through them at 38, 39 and 39mph on the first day they were implemented in February 2001. Three months later, in May, the summons’ arrived on my doorstep all at once and in September I was banned for four months on the totting-up procedure as the magistrate thought it wise to give me three points for the first offence, four for the second and five points for the third, although they were all awarded for a 24-hour period. Incidentally, I subsequently found out this year that I should never have been taken to court in the first place as there were three months between offence and summons!! Anyway my insurance company RSA took it upon themselves to write to me to the effect that I was now persona non grata and that was that. A little irked but undeterred I have continued to pay them my home insurance premium and in September put in a claim for structural damage to my hall wall as a gaping crack suddenly appeared. I sent the builder’s estimate in (£660) as they asked me to but eventually was told this was cosmetic and they would not be honouring my claim. Be warned everyone
Now back to investment issues. This Christmas I had been looking forward to a Capital Bond maturing. I opened a bank account with NatWest five years ago and immediately a personal investment banker called me into his office to tell me that my money would be best served by taking out a Capital Bond. He told me there were three types of Bond, High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk but all of them would DEFINITELY serve me better than the interest earned in the account I had opened. Yes, I fell for it again I’m afraid (but remember I didn’t know about my savings plan at this time) and the letter duly arrived on my doorstep last week congratulating me on my bond maturing and relaying to me how pleased they were to inform me that all I needed to do was sign the letter and send it back to the bank. I smelt a rat immediately when no figure was mentioned so I rang the bank and was eventually told that my bond was worth considerably less than five years ago. So much for the words of the investment banker who wasted several hours of my time five years ago and completely unsolicited I might add. Be warned everyone
It seems Christmas is not always the time for good cheer. On 28 December 2004 I purchased a laptop from PC World in Crawley. It never held a charge and had to be plugged in constantly.
I was busy getting my sports book out so didn’t have a chance to take it back initially but rang them up several times during the course of the year to inform them of the situation and they told me to bring it along when I am next in town. Unfortunately for me this was 29 December 2005 and the chap in the store seemed to take great relish in informing me that my warranty expired the day before. My explanation stood for nothing and another lesson was learnt. I bought another laptop this Christmas – from Currys : )
With me it is usually the principle and so the worst crime of all is when you know someone is taking advantage of you but you are helpless to do anything about it. I bought an ear cleaner from a mail order catalogue called Healthy Living in September – it cost me £15.99 i.e. £9.99 +p&p. It was advertised as having a ‘gentle suction action’ but laughably it was just a whirring noise with a light. My GP told me it was useless so I duly sent it back as the company asked me to. I checked my bank account in November to see that £9.99 had been credited and when I rang them last week was told they do not refund postage. Now come on guys I would have expected my original postage back plus the carriage in on the return. More than that I asked for an investigation as I felt this was a con and far from believing this was a faulty machine I rather fear that there could not possibly be a ‘gentle suction action’ on any of the stock as it has a solid head with no compartment for residue wax!
Be warned everyone Healthy Living could ruin your health.
The lessons learnt are twofold. Never be swayed by smooth-talking men in grey suits and if something seems to good to be true then it usually is.
A very happy new year to everyone
Saturday 27 December 2008
Wednesday 17 December 2008
Politics - Oh What a Carry On!
After many years of helping the Labour Party cause I decided almost on a whim to resign from the Party today.
I say resign but in actual fact what I mean is that I shall let my membership lapse.
Last Tuesday evening (9 December) I received a seemingly innocent email sent to me and other local members informing us of a BNP Christmas Party to be held in Crawley and a request to meet at the local B & Q to form a spoiling squad.
The actual email was sent via a completely separate organisation called Unite Against Fascism, which seems to have a large body of Labour Party supporters, but is clearly distinct from the Party.
I questioned why I was copied into the email as I am not a member of UAF or any other militant body, however noble their cause might be.
All I know of the BNP is what I gleaned from surfing the web a few weeks ago when their member's list was published to such a media frenzy one would almost believe they were the Ku Klux Klan.
Their website is bound to be biased but their Wikipedia entry is moderated universally so only fact allowed to be published. This makes me draw a conclusion that although I could never join such a party for my fundamental belief that repatriation is wrong, neither could I join a pro Capital Punishment group or for that matter the Tory Party as I have a fundamental belief it is wrong to take a life and I could never live happily with an unequal distribution of wealth whatever the other policies might be.
This doesn't mean I condone any militant action against someone who is not breaking the law and as far as I can see is merely a part of an organisation of like-minded individuals trying to lobby support for their misguided ideals. I seem to remember the founding father of the Labour Party having all sorts of problems with the militant tendency within and without his party and Mr Keir Hardie being publicly harangued by all and sundry, particularly for his radical support of women's suffrage - God forbid!
What possible political threat are the BNP? Apparently they have up to 100 local council seats across the UK, so if democracy demands they have a voice then so be it. Would we be incensed if they began to turn up to disrupt our Labour Party meetings?
But I hear you say - their manifesto is abhorrent to any right-minded citizen's sensitivities - but why?
There is much I disagree with within the Labour Party but on balance I agree with enough to want to help win an election and I agree with far more than I do with the other parties as I feel Labour Party members tend to have good hearts - on the whole.
As a Christian there is also a lot I disagree with within the Christian Church but enough I agree with to want to wear that badge and again, fellow Christians tend to have good hearts - on the whole.
Having a cursory glance at the BNP website and its Wikipedia entry I can quite understand a band of human beings signing up to it, perhaps hankering for nostalgia or having real fears about our country's identity as a sovereign nation. Although I believe it to be at best a misguided sense of patriotism founded on a fallacy, surely we have not become so corrupt that we can no longer allow free speech.
The philosopher Voltaire has had quite an influence on my life one way or another and ironically it is an apocryphal quote of his that springs to mind here. “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (Voltaire said something similar but these actual words were written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre in her 1906 biographical book The Friends of Voltaire).
Voltaire’s sentiment is right in my opinion and democracy lives and dies by the ability or otherwise to stand firm against militancy but not be drawn into a Sysyphean cat-fight.
Subsequent to my reply I received several considered responses mainly informing me of how the BNP have “encouraged” members to make obscene phone calls to our Labour Party councillors night and day and also that certain members were on their ‘red watch’ whatever that might mean. My immediate thoughts on this are that I would doubt a political party would act in such a manner (it is more likely individual member’s responses) but then again I was surprised to see the Labour Party taking such an ill-considered approach to a rival organisation! The point here is that if we looked after our own business and did not engage the BNP then we would not have to fight this pointless war.
I also received a response from a homosexual member accusing me of being homophobic. This was in fact the straw that broke the camel’s back as I pre-empted this response in my closing remarks.
For the record, I do not believe that homosexuality should be celebrated but that is merely a Christian viewpoint and nothing to do with this present argument. I also believe that homosexuals are human beings and I have the same love for them as I do any human being and so I certainly do not consider myself homophobic.
As it happens as the days have gone by I have received several more emails in support of my sentiments about “bully boy” tactics and how I should not be afraid to speak up for something I believe in. This heartened me considerably as if the truth be known I was very upset that I had upset this homosexual respondent as this was not my intention at all and it was on reading his reply did I feel I must withdraw firstly from the forum and after some thought, from the Party, as I do not want to make the same mistakes I have made in the past in my personal life by being insensitive to other people’s points of view.
I am not a political animal and I am certainly not PC, in fact I think the world is going mad, slowly but surely. I can no longer take my bicycle into places I have done for 30 years and when I ask why I am quoted health and safety laws. “What if someone was to fall over your bike or it fell on them”. Do we live in enlightened times – wasn’t this always a possibility. Have we had a glut of bicycle misfortunes lately that I have missed reading about?
Where will it all end – in disaster I’m afraid
I say resign but in actual fact what I mean is that I shall let my membership lapse.
Last Tuesday evening (9 December) I received a seemingly innocent email sent to me and other local members informing us of a BNP Christmas Party to be held in Crawley and a request to meet at the local B & Q to form a spoiling squad.
The actual email was sent via a completely separate organisation called Unite Against Fascism, which seems to have a large body of Labour Party supporters, but is clearly distinct from the Party.
I questioned why I was copied into the email as I am not a member of UAF or any other militant body, however noble their cause might be.
All I know of the BNP is what I gleaned from surfing the web a few weeks ago when their member's list was published to such a media frenzy one would almost believe they were the Ku Klux Klan.
Their website is bound to be biased but their Wikipedia entry is moderated universally so only fact allowed to be published. This makes me draw a conclusion that although I could never join such a party for my fundamental belief that repatriation is wrong, neither could I join a pro Capital Punishment group or for that matter the Tory Party as I have a fundamental belief it is wrong to take a life and I could never live happily with an unequal distribution of wealth whatever the other policies might be.
This doesn't mean I condone any militant action against someone who is not breaking the law and as far as I can see is merely a part of an organisation of like-minded individuals trying to lobby support for their misguided ideals. I seem to remember the founding father of the Labour Party having all sorts of problems with the militant tendency within and without his party and Mr Keir Hardie being publicly harangued by all and sundry, particularly for his radical support of women's suffrage - God forbid!
What possible political threat are the BNP? Apparently they have up to 100 local council seats across the UK, so if democracy demands they have a voice then so be it. Would we be incensed if they began to turn up to disrupt our Labour Party meetings?
But I hear you say - their manifesto is abhorrent to any right-minded citizen's sensitivities - but why?
There is much I disagree with within the Labour Party but on balance I agree with enough to want to help win an election and I agree with far more than I do with the other parties as I feel Labour Party members tend to have good hearts - on the whole.
As a Christian there is also a lot I disagree with within the Christian Church but enough I agree with to want to wear that badge and again, fellow Christians tend to have good hearts - on the whole.
Having a cursory glance at the BNP website and its Wikipedia entry I can quite understand a band of human beings signing up to it, perhaps hankering for nostalgia or having real fears about our country's identity as a sovereign nation. Although I believe it to be at best a misguided sense of patriotism founded on a fallacy, surely we have not become so corrupt that we can no longer allow free speech.
The philosopher Voltaire has had quite an influence on my life one way or another and ironically it is an apocryphal quote of his that springs to mind here. “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (Voltaire said something similar but these actual words were written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre in her 1906 biographical book The Friends of Voltaire).
Voltaire’s sentiment is right in my opinion and democracy lives and dies by the ability or otherwise to stand firm against militancy but not be drawn into a Sysyphean cat-fight.
Subsequent to my reply I received several considered responses mainly informing me of how the BNP have “encouraged” members to make obscene phone calls to our Labour Party councillors night and day and also that certain members were on their ‘red watch’ whatever that might mean. My immediate thoughts on this are that I would doubt a political party would act in such a manner (it is more likely individual member’s responses) but then again I was surprised to see the Labour Party taking such an ill-considered approach to a rival organisation! The point here is that if we looked after our own business and did not engage the BNP then we would not have to fight this pointless war.
I also received a response from a homosexual member accusing me of being homophobic. This was in fact the straw that broke the camel’s back as I pre-empted this response in my closing remarks.
For the record, I do not believe that homosexuality should be celebrated but that is merely a Christian viewpoint and nothing to do with this present argument. I also believe that homosexuals are human beings and I have the same love for them as I do any human being and so I certainly do not consider myself homophobic.
As it happens as the days have gone by I have received several more emails in support of my sentiments about “bully boy” tactics and how I should not be afraid to speak up for something I believe in. This heartened me considerably as if the truth be known I was very upset that I had upset this homosexual respondent as this was not my intention at all and it was on reading his reply did I feel I must withdraw firstly from the forum and after some thought, from the Party, as I do not want to make the same mistakes I have made in the past in my personal life by being insensitive to other people’s points of view.
I am not a political animal and I am certainly not PC, in fact I think the world is going mad, slowly but surely. I can no longer take my bicycle into places I have done for 30 years and when I ask why I am quoted health and safety laws. “What if someone was to fall over your bike or it fell on them”. Do we live in enlightened times – wasn’t this always a possibility. Have we had a glut of bicycle misfortunes lately that I have missed reading about?
Where will it all end – in disaster I’m afraid
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