Richard Hawley

As its the place for a rant here goes,sometimes i wonder about this country,look at the cost of stuff,i recently had to lash out best part of £200 at the dentist (am in hospital scheme but even so ),millions of folk now don't go to dentist,,£5 for a gallon of petrol,yes £5 and rising,i went round the house last year putting in them new energy efficient bulbs in everywhere,(its bloody dark but i thought we were doing our bit and mebbe saving some brass),not to be i got my latest ransom demand today from our energy supplier (sorry i mean bill ) all done for nowt ,they now want another £34 more per month,robdogs,and yes i did try switching but the t**ts tell you one thing then when you go over its more than they tell you,and i now read in the paper prescriptions are going up to over £7 soon,a friend of mine is emigrating soon to Australia ,never considered it myself but if i was 30 years younger i would have to consider it ,as much as i love this place we call England i despair at things nowadays

i sympathise with you mate were all in the same shitty boat.
while on the subject of rip offs wasn't I-TUNES (uk) told by some regulators to drop the prices down in line with the rest of europe some time ago, taking there f@ckin time about that an all....

They are due to drop them but I can't remember the date they set for it, they couldn't possibly do it there and then of course!!

_________________
There's a raven in the distance, his inscription's all around you, you can't hide

https://www.facebook.com/LiamMcKaheyandtheBodies
https://cousteaux.com/music

Sadly from its inception the NHS has never received the funding it needed ... and younger dentists are moving into the lucrative private sector - supposedly for all that cosmetic stuff people want (if got prevention right in the first place probably wouldn't be necessary). Unfortunately, people will never agree to the huge hike in taxes that would be required to fund it so that it was a completely free service.

Gas recently tried increasing my direct debit by £80 a month but it was based on completely idiot estimates and they got confused because I was actually using so little (I'm getting well hardy up here) ... was quite funny talking to call centre trying to work out how I could possibly have run up £30,000 in three months because they thought I must have gone round the clock ... so still paying about £5.60 a month ... I have an extensive range of woolly tights, big cardies and duvets

_________________
The way your face could light the bitter dark of every street
In every town I'll ever go

I'm the same with EDF over my gas, they wanted to almost double my payments yet they owed me money! Cashmere sweaters are my antidote to the cold. But I few up in a cold house and have never really liked my home to be over-heated.

_________________
There's a raven in the distance, his inscription's all around you, you can't hide

https://www.facebook.com/LiamMcKaheyandtheBodies
https://cousteaux.com/music

Have calmed down a bit since original post but still think we are being ripped off,i mean i can afford to pay these things, but i think its disgusting a Labour government allowing all these companies to make obscene profits,in the case of petrol its something like 90% tax,not to mention car tax,the railways are a complete rip off,luckily in West Yorkshire its subsidised,so its quite reasonable to get about,but outside the area it costs a fortune.

Re iTunes price - it is due to drop within the next six months and the price will drop from 79p to











75p

_________________
There's a raven in the distance, his inscription's all around you, you can't hide

https://www.facebook.com/LiamMcKaheyandtheBodies
https://cousteaux.com/music

THE REACTION OF APPLE/I-TUNES C.E.O. ON HEARING THIS NEWS!!

It's not the price of things that gets me, well it does a little. Thing that fucks me right off is the lack of interest in providing good quick service. In the last 2 years, I have tried to order musical equipment from the U.S through the 'official' UK importers four times. Not cheap either - well worth their effort. Four times i've received fuck all despite Emails and phone calls. From now on, i'll just go straight to the U.S source myself. Fuck em.

I bought a 3 year old VW Golf from a VW dealer a couple of years ago - within the 1 year warranty it started jumping out of 5th gear. The dealers refused to touch it. Only after an official letter with the authority and help of Trading Standards did they reluctantly take it back and check out the problem. The gearbox oil level was stupidly low and it had been overheating. Some dozy fucker had forgotten to refill it. They then have the nerve to send me letters about new car offers. Dane Wirral VW agents are utter twats and I would recommend anyone in that neck of the woods to ignore them.


This country........

_________________
Twang is, as Twang does.

http://www.myspace.com/stevebillybuckley

http://www.myspace.com/thewagontrain

oooh don't get me started on getting fleeced in this country...


Example 1- Cars and maintainence
few weeks ago I took my car into the main dealer for its 'big service', in itself costing a rip of £360. I told them that i was having some starting issues so could they look at that too. They called me with a list of ADDITIONAL work that needed doing on the car including a new starter motor, plus fitting, 4 new tyres, brake discs and pads all round- totalling just shy of £2500

Bit of a fucking shock that was. Anyways- I shopped around a bit and got further advice- the starter motor was fine, it was the plugs that needed doing and they were in the service (-£500 off the bill), the brakes DID need doing, but I got top spec racing brakes £400 cheaper than their estimate, and only 2 tyres needed, got them at about £80 cheaper PER TYRE than their quote.

So... the garage estimate, about £2500.... actual spend, for better quality, less than £1000.

You think you are doing the right thing by taking your car back to the main dealer as they should know your car pretty well, Apparently the mechanics at main dealers can get commission for any additional work they sell. rip off bastards.


Example 2- software
I just bought some new computers (yes they in themselves would have been cheaper in the US) and need a new copy of Quarkxpress, cost in the UK, minimum of £799. Cost, delivered from the US for the exact same software... £250. (and woot there is no import tax on software). bastards.

Example 3- dentists
I went for a filling at my dentists (£136!), and she 'recommends' that I 'may' need about 5 teeth crowns. As she says it looks like this is because I must grind my teeth she 'recommends' that I get gold crowns. Apart from looking like a midget white rapper, these would set me back £450 EACH... over £2250.

Apparently I can fly anywhere else in the world and get these cheaper. A quick bit of research showed I could fly to Milan, get these done by a top consultant dentist*, and get a free holiday out of it for less than £1500.

*my wifes dentist, who flies from milan to do consultancy over here for 4 days a month because it rakes in the cash for him. She just spent £1200 with him over here, and he said (when asked), that she'd pay about a third of that for the same treatment if he did it in Italy.

meh....

I never, ever, ever take my car to a main dealership or large chain garage.

They have large overheads and try to fleece you out of everything. I'm lucky to have found a fantastic back street garage - known them for years.

Years ago, I remember having an oil + filter change on an old mkII Fiesta at Kwik Fit. It was literally the week before my MOT. They offered to do a brake check - I went away for an hour and then came back. They basically said that everything was knackered, including (possibly) the hydraulic system that operates the brake pressure. The potential bill came to £400 and then there was the hydraulic system......

At the time my car was only worth £300 tops

Anyhow, come the MOT, took it to my local garage.

£20 for new brake pads...........


I've got a recent Golf now - apart from the gearbox debacle with DANE 'BASTARD' WIRRAL VW, it's running fine and is tweaked by my local garage.

_________________
Twang is, as Twang does.

http://www.myspace.com/stevebillybuckley

http://www.myspace.com/thewagontrain

Its not just the prices in this country but the level of service! i live in tied accomodation (goes with the job) owned by the council i work for low wages to have the benifit of seeing kids grow up. was a service engineer, so downgraded for family sake. rip off 1 council tax! £160 a month, 300K houses that over look us dont pay that much coz of post code! well we are without heating since oil boiler blew up 5 weeks ago. council want to change for gas, but still no sign of any work starting. said boiler hadn't been serviced in 3 years, and we are left with £360 worth of oil in the tank we still paying for. could get a gas bill to go along side that.
have to play guitar and use computer constantly to keep circulation in fingers

I honestly don't know how most people cope but it's a fact that England's become very difficult to manage if you're on a normal wage. And I'm not talking about London which is even more mental.

This is an article on the subject that appears today on Birmingham-site Hagley Road to Ladywood.

I'm more pissed off with my French partner..who is continuously complaining about being ripped off in the UK....................as if it's my fault!

Fook yeah....we're all pissed at being ripped off. Fact, very few of us do anything about it, get to know your local tradesmen, shops etc you'll soon find that you can get a good deal by using / buying from local independent outlets.
Council Tax still fooks me off I remember bieng arrested on the streets of liverpool during those Dictatorship Thatcherite years for front line protesting my views against the Poll Tax, I got grilled by the Police for my membership of the SWP......Since then I've always been involved with Trade Unionism and fighting for peoples rights.
I have a sister with MS you wouldn't believe the shit she has to put up with from Care workers to piss poor medical care.. the whole shootin match is a piss take.
You have to battle for good service these days from Builders to Banks, the more we put up with it the more they'll get away with it... rip off britain.....it sure can be. A wee bit of civil unrest is required.

_________________
''Rocka-Jazza-Blues-A-Billy''
http://www.myspace.com/dcthecustomatix