It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

GreyQueen

Good morning all, and after 10 hours shut-eye I am beginning to feel something approaching human again; got so very weary by late afternoon yesterday that I barely knew what to do with myself; ME co-inciding with the sneezes, so cold on its way; joy.

:jCharlies-aunt, congratulations on your new job.

Worrying news on the radio this morning about Europe-wide economic woes but I had to smile wryly at the news that Comet is in trouble. Not in a sense of taking pleasure in the misfortunes of others but in the sense of having a tiny explanation of part of the reason why, from my own experiences yesterday.

I'd mentioned that I'd emailed a repair website for a quote to repair Mr Beko, my fridge, and was pretty surprised to get a response from Comet. It seems what I'd thought was an independant repair organisation was actually a portal filtering enquiries to its affiliates and, in my region, repairs to domestic appliances all go to Comet.

:eek: I was quoted £115.00 for the repair, which includes labour and parts and a 3 month warranty. It's £115.00 whatever you have repaired, even a microwave. Bearing in mind that you can buy a few new microwaves and have change from £115, plus I could replace Mr Beko for £119 from Argos, and I politely declined their business.

Seems to me that a repair business with one, non-negotiable, very high rate is a repair business which doesn't want to do repairs and probably isn't going to be in business much longer.

I'm pretty ticked off but shall shop around for a true independant repair company and see if they can quote me something more reasonable.

Ceridwen, council tax, as it was explained to me by our council's trainer, is the offspring of the rates (a property tax) and the poll tax (a tax for being alive) and is using the principle of half the calculation being on the property and the other half being on 2-adults-in-the-property. This is why the Single Occupancy Discount is 25% not 50%.

It isn't a tax on property ownership or I and a few million other tenants would be laughing all the way to the bank. For example, you could own ten properties; your home and 9 to let out, but you'd only have council tax liabilty at your residence; your tenants would be liable for the tax at the homes they rented from you. Of course, if you chose to leave your theoretical 9 rental properties empty for more than a few months, you'd run out of exemptions and would have to pay most of the council tax anyway.

I have forty fits at the prospect of re-rating homes to do with raising the council tax. If I don't own my home, what it would fetch on the open market is academic; there is no potential benefit for me. Provincial City has had such high property inflation in the past few years that the valuations are less than 50% of the market value, even for titchy council flats like mine.

Bearing in mind that 1 in 4 households here are already so poor that they are on housing and council tax benefits, and that in GQ world, it takes one-twelth of my net income every year to pay a Band A tax bill, and I am seriously worried.:(

Ach well, could be worse, look at those poor souls over in Greece.

On that happy note, I shall hie me off to hunt for repair companies. Real repair companies, this time.

rachbc

GQ - thanks for clarifying that - yes of course you are right as its paid by householders not homeowners its not really a property tax. Its tricky isn't it because there are unavoidable costs to the LA of households in its authority - some of which are linked to the no of people in a house, some to the property so finding the fairest way to charge is a minefield. Relating it to income earners doesn't seem any fairer than any other system - we are 2 earner household in a band d house - across the road is a band f house - they may have 1 earner but 2 adults and 3 grown up children at uni (but living at home), down the road band b with 3 earners (2 adults and a 16 ear old apprentice) - is it right that the household with the largest house and largest no of people pays the least??

I agree the poll tax was equally unfair and certainly don't pretend to have the answer - however I can imagine that whatever it is will be expensive to assess and administer and therefore cost us all more

ceridwen

Thanks GreyQueen for the explanation.

I wondered what the excuse is for charging single people extra - ie compared to what someone who is married/living together pays. It still dont make it right do it?:mad:

I think Local Income Tax would be the fairest way to go and easiest to administer. It wouldnt be based on something readily "provable" and "non-hideable" like a house/flat/etc - as so many people can find ways to hide some of their income. But it has to be fairer than penalising people for improving their home situation and a sight fairer than taking account of their "marital circumstances" and penalising them for being single.

mardatha

Cars were white this morning and I canny feel my feet sitting here. Think I'll get a hot water bottle on them when I settle down to knit. Got to hit the shops today to get cod liver oil for the chickens ! Found a soft smashed egg this morning, and a guilty looking Hinge with yolk and sawdust stuck to her feet....Gave them hot water in their mash for a wee heat.
I don't understand finance or money (just how to spendit) so not sure what might happen with Greece or how it might affect us. But no doubt it will somehow lead to higher prices/lower wages - in some mysterious way most things seem to !

Butterfly_Brain

Grey Queen there are some independant places that do repairs such as the vac centre, and some eurocentre shops that may be able to point you in the right direction to a local repair centre.

Things are not actually made to be repaired these days, and considering that all of our electrical items are manufactured abroad, the parts are expensive because they have to be imported.

paidinchickens

Morning peeps

Watching/listening to the news is like going to a funeral every morning! So sad and depressing. Doom and gloom for everyone with a side dish of cold and hungry

Comet must be one of the worst companies to ever buy anything from. Their customer service is appalling and the policy of NEVER exchanging anything that is broken and will only repair is terrible. I never get anything from the place as I worked for part of the kingfisher group and have heard all the stories, even though they are not kingfisher any more they have not changed.

For years and years I was the grim reaper of washing machines. They always died on me and would be constantly waiting for the repair man. They would take a week to come and then take two weeks to return with the ordered part :mad: even though it cost half the amount of the machine for the warranty/extra cover. I spent most of my time without a washer. I tried different makes, kept them as simple as possible so there was less to go wrong :rotfl::rotfl: yeah right. Then I had enough and bought a Dyson washing machine which cost about £900 with the cover. I have had this washer years and even though it breaks down etc the customer service is fab. The have never taken longer than 48 hours to come and fix it and they always have the parts with them. The engineer is lovely and he is now a friend! This machine has been worth the extra money as it has saved me hundreds in launderette bills over the years.

DH has issues with electric razors, they never last. We always keep receipts and because DH razors have a life span of 6-10 months the Arg*s ladies always quizzes him and said to him last time how convenient it was that he always manages to find his receipt and that he has had two upgrades from the original razor he bought :mad:. He did not want two upgrades, spending hours lined up at customer services, wasting fuel and walking miles to save on parking. He wants a razor that works!!!

Oh dear who's fault was it for mentioning comet :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

PICxxx

rachbc

feeling a bit woobly - just took my dd for her first day at school - she had a wobble which set me off but her best friend started 2 days ago and sat with her. Her teacher is lovely and I sam sure she will have a fab day (well half day). Taken the day off work and now have 2 hours til I have to go and fetch her - would do something OS like bake bread but OH is of too distracting me!

GreyQueen

paidinchickens wrote: »

Morning peeps

Watching/listening to the news is like going to a funeral every morning! So sad and depressing. Doom and gloom for everyone with a side dish of cold and hungry

Comet must be one of the worst companies to ever buy anything from. Their customer service is appalling and the policy of NEVER exchanging anything that is broken and will only repair is terrible. I never get anything from the place as I worked for part of the kingfisher group and have heard all the stories, even though they are not kingfisher any more they have not changed.

For years and years I was the grim reaper of washing machines. They always died on me and would be constantly waiting for the repair man. They would take a week to come and then take two weeks to return with the ordered part :mad: even though it cost half the amount of the machine for the warranty/extra cover. I spent most of my time without a washer. I tried different makes, kept them as simple as possible so there was less to go wrong :rotfl::rotfl: yeah right. Then I had enough and bought a Dyson washing machine which cost about £900 with the cover. I have had this washer years and even though it breaks down etc the customer service is fab. The have never taken longer than 48 hours to come and fix it and they always have the parts with them. The engineer is lovely and he is now a friend! This machine has been worth the extra money as it has saved me hundreds in launderette bills over the years.

DH has issues with electric razors, they never last. We always keep receipts and because DH razors have a life span of 6-10 months the Arg*s ladies always quizzes him and said to him last time how convenient it was that he always manages to find his receipt and that he has had two upgrades from the original razor he bought :mad:. He did not want two upgrades, spending hours lined up at customer services, wasting fuel and walking miles to save on parking. He wants a razor that works!!!

Oh dear who's fault was it for mentioning comet :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

PICxxx

It was me! Seems like MSE Forums could offer sovreign instruction to whomever parents Comet at the mo as to why their business has failed! They are apparently trying to give it away with a multi-million sweetener and still not getting any takers.

Roll on the day when businesses twig to the fact that the customer is what it is all about, not an annoying nuisance to be treated disrespectfully at every opportunity.

HariboJunkie

rachbc wrote: »

feeling a bit woobly - just took my dd for her first day at school - she had a wobble which set me off but her best friend started 2 days ago and sat with her. Her teacher is lovely and I sam sure she will have a fab day (well half day). Taken the day off work and now have 2 hours til I have to go and fetch her - would do something OS like bake bread but OH is of too distracting me!

Aw Rach no wonder you feel wobbly. I'm sure she will settle really well. Having a lovely teacher is half the battle. When you pick her up just concentreate on all the boring things you did while she was at school having so much fun.

I promised the dog a trip to the woods and she is looking at me balefully. Will hopefully get some more chanterelles and oyster mushrooms while I'm there and as it's predicted to be the last day of good weather for a while I will get some spring bulbs planted this afternoon.

jamanda

We bought something from Comet a few years ago, and the young man serving us actually fell asleep with his elbow on the desk and his head on his hand while he was serving us.

Never again!