Are rates negotiable?

PollySouthend

samsmoot wrote: »

Hey renegade.

The remarkable thing is how heated some folk on here get at the very mention of non-instant compliance upon every demand. I sometimes wonder if they're working for the other side.

The general attitude around here is that people should just take what ever the big company do. Its really strange. Worries me if that is an indication of what the population at whole think.

samsmoot

PollySouthend wrote: »

The general attitude around here is that people should just take what ever the big company do. Its really strange. Worries me if that is an indication of what the population at whole think.

It has been suggested to me that because these 'honest' and compliant people pay their bills on time they hate those that don't do the same due to their conception that this is going to somehow hit their pockets. They express horror if you owe a small debt, but remain silent whilst money is unlawfully taken from the poor and the uninformed. Many people have only their own interests at heart and the attitude you describe may possibly be explained as a symptom of this.

These people put words into your mouth and resort to name-calling in order to denigrate you. They moan about your attitude, then publicise it (see above) across the board, and at the same time fail to give any advice designed to save the consumer money or obtain their rights.

Those that aren't antagonistic are apathetic. This is mainly due to poverty and ignorance. The poor who retain some level of 'fight' are usually uneducated or uninformed or have limited means or abilities.

It's pretty easy to make a County Court claim, and I think it's a process which is priceless (alliteration unintended), but how many of us know how to do it? If you had your money unlawfully taken from your benefit to pay water charges, would you know to ask a judge to make it stop? Could you actually do it and win the claim? And what else is the CC good for? Loads!

Unless you know your rights you can't enforce them, and those rights can often be obtained in a County Court, but not everyone knows it. You'd think with all the air time across a myriad of TV channels there'd be some room for a show outlining your basic legal rights as a consumer and citizen, but there isn't. It's all lightweight bumf designed to entertain, as opposed to educate - and as schools don't seem to be big on self-assertion there's not a lot of info on how the individual can tackle state and corporate wrongdoing. It's as if they don't want you to know your rights, I'd say, if I didn't know that they don't.

PollySouthend

Interesting samsmoot, I've noticed alot around here people make stuff up and put words in other peoples mouth. This isnt the kind of people I tend to have any contact with in real life.

Not sure if the TV programs are designed to entertain, I always think of them as a way to dumb down the masses, poison for the brain.

samsmoot

PollySouthend wrote: »

Not sure if the TV programs are designed to entertain, I always think of them as a way to dumb down the masses, poison for the brain.

And that's just BBC Three.