Giving up your youth for this?

My father is 89. He is frail after suffering a stroke three years ago and is prone to urinary tract infections. He lives with us but receives quite a good care package because my husband and I work erratically – often being based at home but also often being away from home for a few days on end. Dad is pretty with it – he keeps a calendar to record what is going on every day, and if it weren’t for him, we’d always forget to put the dustbins out in time. In fact, the first sign that there’s something wrong is often that he does become confused. He does sleep a lot. But he is continent and with the care package, we can cope with him at home and shall continue to do so unless he deteriorates.
It’s no less than he deserves. He was called up just after his 21st birthday in September 1939 and was then a conscript for seven years. This happened just before he was about to sit his final exams at the Rylands Art School. This would have admitted him to the Royal Academy, given him a degree-equivalent qualification and given him the right to teach art in either a normal school or one of the Art Schools. He just about stayed out of most of the action in the war – his art skills meant he was good at drawing maps, and they preserved him for that. He went over to Normandy three days after D-Day. Most of his work then involved clearing up the debris – including clearing out Bergen Belsen. He never talks about it. But it was clear that it affected him quite badly. He wouldn’t go back to art after he was demobbed. Not for a long time.
He lives a genteel life now. He cannot cook for himself. We cook for him at weekends and holidays and make especial arrangements when we can’t be there. On ordinary days, he gets Meals on Wheels. They’re not bad. They’re better than hospital food and it’s a well-meaning service. It gets quite complex on the days when we’re not there and neither is the Meals on Wheels service. He usually pays by cheque each Monday. His bank still accepts his cheques in his rather scrawly hand-writing. However, he often spoils cheques and sometimes posts them and forgets to put the stamp on the envelop. So, the trigger cheque does not kick in and he does not get a new cheque book.
The local council send him an invoice. It seems to be for a period when he was in hospital. I try to phone to find out. When I do eventually get through, I’m told they can only discuss that bill with him.
“Good luck,” I say.
With a state of the art hearing aid, all cleaned up and with a brand new battery, my father has the quarter of normal hearing in one ear. His eyesight is not too good either. He is bright, but modern systems defeat him. They defeat me and I’m only 56 – and I have three degrees, all of them language related. I’ve taught communication skills for over twenty years. Obviously, my colleagues and I did a bad job.
So, they send him a nasty letter, outlining ways of paying, but also saying in what would be a hoity-toity voice if it were spoken, that the bill will not be considered to be paid until the cheque has cleared. I have to read the thing three or four times before even I understand how to pay. Couldn’t a gentler approach be taken with someone who gave up so much so that we don’t live under a Nazi regime?
I hear you murmur “power of attorney”. Really? Take away that last little bit of independence? I wouldn’t dare.
We went to Barclays Bank today, the Hedge End branch. They know him and me there. And cheers to Gemma who managed to assure him that a new cheque book was on the way. They also made it possible for me to be a third party who can deal with his affairs if need be. That is a good arrangement. This tends to be the exception rather than the rule, though.
But please, can we treat out World War II veterans with a little more dignity?

Bring Back the Branches

A colleague of mine has her main home in London. Having an Oyster card is the most sensible option for dealing with her transport needs at home. The most efficient way of making sure that there is always credit on that card is to have it renew automatically against a credit or debit card. All is fine and dandy until the day the card fails to renew because there is something wrong with the card. No problems – this is just a glitch – a phone call to the card company should sort it out. Except that you can’t get through to the card company, your own bank or indeed Oyster. And if you to get to speak to a human being, you have inevitably picked the wrong option. So, the waiting continues whilst they keep ypou on hold, trying to put you through to the right department. All very annoying when you only have a few minutes to make that call.
I’ve had comparable problems, with a bank “having technical problems”, and not being able to process my card – a card in fact, which is not recognised by my pin sentry or even my own bank, but which normally works in ATMs and for phone transactions.
The problem is, the branches are so far away and so busy also, because there are now so few of them.
Bring back the branches. Bring back the human beings.

Can we actually win ecologically spkeaing?

We seek to combat global warming by cutting down the number of methane-producing animals. That means planting and growing more grain. In order to do that, we have to cut down the trees.

Can we really sustain all these repossessions?

I have been offered a property below market value. The current owner has defaulted on the mortgage, and was threatened with repossession. There are now many repossessions in effect. However, December is a really bad time to do this. The property market always slumps a little at this time. So, how will these building societies be able to sell these houses? To whom will they sell them? Who wants to engage with mortgages with interest rates being so high?
I had this conversation with a building society at length on Friday. They were going to evict the vendor on Monday. Fortunately, the judge showed some common sense. He said it was ludicrous as the vendor has found a buyer.
What a waste of everybody’s time and money. I can’t believe that particular building society. They operate in my birth town and there is every possibility that someone I know made this decision. I can’t believe that anyone with the same background as me can think so unclearly.

Direct debit madness

I had a phone call form a credit card company. In fact, they called me three times on my mobile phone. One of the first things they asked me when I eventually spoke to them was could they have a mobile phone number in case they needed to contact me in future. They would not believe that they must already have my number because they had already used it three times … but I digress. However, that mistake is not too dissimilar from the one I’m really writing about.
For some reason – and I’m completely non-plussed as to why – my direct debit did not go through. That is going to mean some meaningless conversations with my bank, I guess. But again, I digress.
So, I paid by another debit card. Would I like to pay next month’s payment as well? Well, not really. But apparently, their computer is set to take a double payment from the day after the payment is missed. Well, I know all about the direct debit guarantee and that we shall be informed of all payments etc. But much of that is just back-covering activity anyway. If the computer is programmed correctly, customers can be informed in a fairer way.
“All credit card companies do this,” was the defence. No, they don’t. Many do have unfair practices, but they are not all the same by any means.
And as usual, the junior employee at the call centre can neither give you satisfactory advice nor point you in the direction of someone who can really deal with the matter.

Critical Illness Cover

There’s a lot of talk about critical illness plans at the moment. Many of them are said to be worthless. They don’t pay out – they’ll find every reason not to pay out. I have had an even more interesting experience.
I phoned out to see if there was a payment on death. After all, I am paying £170.00 a month and it would be nice to have some return on it. Of course, there is no pay out on death – too predictable – although isn’t death the most critical of illnesses? However, more alarmingly, when they took me though security, we found that they had my date of birth down wrongly.
“Not a problem,” said the clerk. “But you will have to write in and confirm this. It’s not your fault.”
Well, I suppose, actually it is. I should have checked the policy more carefully. It seems my independent financial advisor had put down my husband’s date of birth instead.
I wrote the letter and assumed all would be fine.
But oh no. I get a letter saying I now owe over £3,000. I try to phone, but the number they have given is for one of those call centres where first of all you queue forever and when you do speak to someone they don’t have a clue because the script only deals with the usual. You’re phoning because you have an unusual situation.
Now, I’ve had a letter saying that if I don’t pay up, the policy will be null and void. I’ve been paying into it since 2003. Immoral, isn’t it?

Bank Loses Money

I bank with one of the major High Street banks and have done so for over thirty years. They’re not brilliant, but they’re not terrible either. And I do have good overdraft facilities with them. But are they in the dark ages?
I needed to make a CHAPS payment recently. I had to go to a branch to do this. I then had to fill in a form in handwriting – not the best idea in my case. Well, the £1500 has gone from my bank account, but has not arrived in the American one into which I am paying. I went back to the branch to chase it up.
“Oh, I’m afraid we can’t deal with it. You’ll have to phone the International Group. I was allowed to do that from a free phone in the branch. However, I still had to go through a switch board as the option for International Payments was not listed. And of course, it was engaged.
So, I could have phoned form the comfort of my own home. Which I have tried to do ever since. I’ve not managed to get through.
The people to whom I’m paying are now chasing it. I wish them luck. The copy of the receipt that I have is very faint and the clerk’s writing is just as bad – if not worse – than mine. Apparently, this is pretty common with this bank – which is probably why one can’t get through on the phone.
Pity I didn’t use my Alliance and Leicester bank account. I can make CHAPS payments directly from that. But honestly, why does a respected High Street bank still rely on personal presence and handwriting in the 21st Century.

Leaders, Southsea, receive 21st Century Sanity Bouquet

Leaders, Southsea, receive the first “21st Century Sanity” bouquet from this blog.
They have been the Letting Agent for flats I own in Southsea since August 2005. They have found me good tenants and there have been few weeks of void. They have even helped me when making decisions about new flats I’m buying.
The team who work there are all young and energetic and seem to have a good deal of common sense.
They react quickly to any problems either I or the tenants flag up. They understand that I’m not always at the end of the phone and don’t panic. They leave a message which I answer as soon as I can, often leaving a message on their out-of-hours number.
The whole of this Letting Agency works efficiently and fairly. I’m glad to do business with them

Getting a Phone Line

21st Century Madness
Getting a Phone Line
“Watchdog” recently did something on this. But this is my saga of trying to get a phone line. Now, in line with my own etiquette for this blog, I am not going to name the company. But they are big, and it’s difficult to do anything without them. So you can probbaly guess.
I deliberately found my new flat early so that I could get all the services sorted out, move in, go on holiday, and be up and running to start my new job on 24th September.
I found the flat on 10th August, and made arrangements to move in on 24th. I immediately contacted said phone company. There was no line in the flat already, so I would have to pay to have one put on. Fine, there was plenty of time. After two hours on the phone – thank goodness a free phone number – they agreed to come and put it on between 8. a.m and 1. p.m on Thursday 30th August. That would work. I was going on holiday form 31st August to 23rd September.
By 1. 00 p.m on 30th August, no one had come. I spent two hours on the phone until someone answered.
“Oh, didn’t anyone tell you? They should have phoned to say that they were coming tomorrow instead.
“Tomorrow? But I arranged to be here today. I’m going to be driving to France tomorrow.”
“Oh!”
Now, it so happens, the wiring is all there for the phone. They really only have to go and do something to a junction box within the building. We have a concierge on site and a manager. In theory, they don’t really need me to be here. Wouldn’t you have thought they would have known that as they have such a monopoly? (Careful, I may be giving something away here.) The rather friendly person on the other end of the phone made notes.
Whilst abroad, I set my phone so that I will only get calls from family. I then pick up voice messages as and when and only reply to the important ones, roaming charges being what they are.
We were almost at Tours when I picked up the call form the engineer informing me that I had “Missed your call-out”. The next appointment couldn’t be until the 10th of September.
Good luck, I thought. I made a mental note to talk to the management and concierge a little nearer the time.
Two days later, I had a call form the same company, telling me they would be putting my phone line on the 12th September. I later spoke to the concierge and the management people. They agreed to look out for the phone engineer.
I did get a call on the 12th September. Someone did go and do as much as they could. Stupidly, despite the fact that everything is already there, they do need to get into the flat. Just to put a little machine on to the end of the line and get someone to tell them that it’s working. MY line did work – I tested it from France. I even tried reporting a fault. There was no fault. It was working fine.
They then did the double-act trick again. This time it was going to be 21st September and 24h The 24th might have been okay – but not a.m. It didn’t seem to occur to anyone that it might be an idea to check with me first. At this point, we found that not only was the line live, but it was also listed in the phone book. Just one snag. I couldn’t use it yet.
I spoke to someone sensible eventually. They offered me 1st October a.m. I settled for p.m and recounted the whole sorry saga. Whilst I was speaking to this sensible person, I had four messages left on my mobile phone from cheerful gentlemen in India informing me that the engineer was coming on the morning of 1st October.
Well, someone did come on the afternoon of 1st October. They phoned first, but unfotunately the concierge was off sick and the manager was on lunch. Another hour’s delay, therefore. Once he could get to all the bits he needed to get to, it took him under ten minutes to get me a working line. For that, I have to pay £124.00
But the saga did not end there. I did not choose to have this company provide calls or Broadband. The company I did choose gave me a date ten days later. However, because the line-monoply company has inefficient processes, this was delayed be a further ten days.
Now we get on to the bill. I’ve opted to go paperless, pay monthly and use my debit card to pay – although I’d rather use Direct Debit. Guess what, you can’t get through to the people who set up the Direct Debits. They helpfully tell you to go to the website. I tried that. It wouldn’t let me complete the transaction.
And interestingly, “going on my average calls” I need to pay £76.00 per month. I pay a line rental to them only. My calls go through the other company. Oh, they will pay back. I’ve experienced this before. But how dare they take so much in the first place? They don’t offer to pay interest. Of course, I should phone them and query it … but have I got the two hours to wait?

Etiquette for this blog

Now, I’m a reasonable sort of person and actually tend to think that people are more good than bad. So I am never going to name and shame any company in this blog. I guess occasionally it might not be too difficult to guess who I’m talking about – like when I say one of the leading phone companies in Great Britain, for instance. The idea is to give anyone who recognises themselves the chance to put things right. It’s possible, too, that other companies might recognise some of their own unacceptable behaviour and put it right before someone else complains about it.
I will, on the other hand award cyber bouquets to named companies. These are the ones who show common sense, go beyond the system or are just extremely good at what they do and who put the customer first.
So, if you know any such company who deserves a 21st Century bouquet, do let me know. I’m also interested in anyone who challenges 21st Century madness and gets a positive outcome. That might give the rest of us some ideas about how to handle things.

Changing bank accounts

I have recently remortgaged one of my buy-to-let properties. Before it completed, but after I’d had the mortgage offer, I changed bank accounts. I rang them. They sent me a new Direct Debit mandate which I duly filled out and sent back.
When the mortgage completed, they sent me a summary of what would happen. They still had my old bank details. I phone today to try t find out what has gone wrong.
“Oh, we can’t use that bank,” said the assistant.
“Why not?” I ask. “It’s a normal bank, with a proper sort code and a proper account number. They just don’t make so many charges as the big boys, and they actually pay me a fair bit of interest.”
“Oh. I’ll ask.”
She comes back.
“You have to phone this other number, and they’ll be able to take your new details over the phone. You need option 3.”
Now I know better. Most banks insist on a paper version of the Direct Debit mandate. The problem is not that I haven’t given them information, but rather that they have lost or failed to process the information I have given them.
I phone and chose option 3. I seem to be put through to the department that deals with people in arrears. Come on now, I can’t be in arrears yet. I’ve only had this mortgage a month. They haven’t even taken the first proper payment.
I choose option 3. It rings and rings and rings. They do tell me they’re busy. Well, am I surprised?
I put the phone on speaker, but somehow manage to cut the connection. I redial.
“We are experiencing an unusually high number of calls,” a pre-recorded voice informs me. “Please try later.”
I’m still not surprised.
Has anyone had a straight forward conversation with a mortgage company about a change of bank account? If you have, please let me know your secret. I’ve had eight similar conversations with mortgage providers recenlty. Funnily enough, I own eight buy-to-let properties.