Travelling On

Karmacat · 13 September 2018 at 12:16PM

To be honest, beanie, there's no point worrying. The whole escapade has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. It's never made a profit, cost me a minimum of £3,000 a year. The only good thing is that the management agency renewed the contract when the first 9 years ran out, otherwise I'd have to be renting it out myself now. They send less money, of course, but they *do* send it. Many agencies don't do that, just take the money and run. I **think** that as of the end of this month, when the mortgage is finally paid off, it will be self supporting, and I won't have to send any more money over. Sending more now is kind of a "just in case" thing, in case of a massive bill, a breakdown in the financial system because of a bad Brexit, a hurricane, anything you like.
:eek:

When/if I eventually manage to sell it, it will also be at a huge loss, there's been no capital appreciation either. Capital Gains Tax will *not* concern me.
:eek:

I don't trust that any money at all will ever be repatriated to my account in the UK. I just forget about it as much as I can ...

Karmacat · 13 September 2018 at 3:08PM

Ug, just had another phone conversation with one of my credit card companies - okay, Sainsbury Bank - about unwarranted interest charges
:mad::mad::mad:

Two months of charges, adding up to almost £40 (paid for the holiday for both me and my sister, and a few other things too, she reimbursed me, of course!). Rang up, they explained that the format of their bank statement had changed and that there had been so many complaints they'd changed it back. I said how annoyed I was and that I knew it's not the Customer Service Asst's fault. Phone goes dead. Whaaat???????

Phoned again. Pressed the same buttons, but didn't get through to the same department. Not quite the same security questions, but still as many. Told the CSA I wanted to speak about my credit card statement, and then I wanted to make a complaint about the call I'd just had.

Surprise surprise, I spoke to the same person, who was miraculously available again, and she said the phone had gone dead on her. My lack of belief wasn't overtly stated, but I hope it was plain. Because of the number of complaints, they're refunding all the interest on my statement, but asking me to pay the actual amount that includes the interest. Don't worry, sez I, I shall, I've sort of lost trust in Sainsbury Bank at this point in time. She gave me her name, don't know if its a true identifier or not, but I wrote notes on the statement, and made a note of what time the second phone call finished.

No mention made of the complaint, and I was too eager to get into my current account and pay them off to notice. I rounded up my payment, because, as I told them, I've lost all trust in them, including trust in what I can see with my own eyes. Very, very unhappy with Sainsbury Bank right now, and if they didn't conveniently allocate me Nectar points for all spends, I'd find someone else. They're all as bad as each other, of course ... hey ho. I think I need to go for a walk. Thats an hour of my life I'll never get back!

beanielou · 13 September 2018 at 4:40PM

Sainsburys :mad:.

As you say they are all as bad as each other.

Karmacat · 13 September 2018 at 5:53PM

Yep! The link between the statement, and the interest payment, by the way, is the fact that the statement became so badly laid out for those two months, that people didn't know what to pay - that's what caused it! No apology, and no automatic wipeout of the interest. Imagine if you paid interest regularly on your credit card - most of those people are thousands in debt, it would be a lot more than the £40 or so that I nearly got stung for.

CBC - are you with Sainsbo Bank for a credit card? Definitely check the situation if you are.

Anyway, better now, I'm tidying, packing ID documents for Monday, that sort of thing. Clothes too, obvs

[Deleted User] · 13 September 2018 at 7:16PM

Karmacat wrote: »

CBC - are you with Sainsbo Bank for a credit card? Definitely check the situation if you are.

Anyway, better now, I'm tidying, packing ID documents for Monday, that sort of thing. Clothes too, obvs

Thanks for the heads-up about Sainsbury's bank, KC:T. No, I've never had any sort of account with them. One of my creditors (a now closed CC account) is Tesco bank though. They were always less than helpful but thankfully I'm now in a position to get them paid off and out of my life forever:j.

I think a lot of the supermarkets and other institutions that went on to offer banking services have been pretty dire to be honest:(. I make an exception with M&S who paid me on the 2 PPI policies I had with them donkey's years ago when I had no dates or paperwork to help my claim. They couldn't have been more courteous, helpful and professional in all their dealings with me over the claims and payouts. Good old M&S:beer:

OH has been a lifelong client of TSB. He has a lot of money invested with them across several accounts. Accessing his account information over several weeks has been a total nightmare, especially as he is totally computer-illiterate and I have to manage all his online affairs for him:eek:.

Sorry, I must have missed something in earlier posts, but what's happening on Monday that needs ID and changes of clothes?

Karmacat · 13 September 2018 at 7:53PM

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Thanks for the heads-up about Sainsbury's bank, KC:T.

You're welcome

sorry you've got to cope with OH's stuff as well as yours!

Sorry, I must have missed something in earlier posts, but what's happening on Monday that needs ID and changes of clothes?

Monday - ID needs are for an executors meeting, to show we're not laundering drug money or something. All three of us in the same room, it will be in London, so my bruv needs to come all the way down from Liverpool

I think the clothes thing might be your memory of me wittering on about not having any trousers that fit? :rotfl:Though thinking about it now, I'm certainly going to be taking autumn weight clothing, it's getting fair parky, as we hardly ever said

[Deleted User] · 14 September 2018 at 12:31PM

Karmacat wrote: »

Monday - ID needs are for an executors meeting, to show we're not laundering drug money or something. All three of us in the same room, it will be in London, so my bruv needs to come all the way down from Liverpool

What a palaver. I feel sorry for your brother having to travel all that way. I know you and your sister have quite a journey to make too but not as far as Liverpool to London:eek:

Just had a brilliant result with tracing information about 'my' murders that I've been going on about as background for my book. I contacted the Archive department in the town where it happened and after lots of emails passing to and fro I decided to commission them to do the look-ups for me and send me photocopies. After taking into account the long journey to go there and do the research myself plus it's cost and inconvenience it was cheaper and quicker to let them do the job. I'd have had to pay for the photocopies anyway and as all the information was based on the local newspapers it seemed a relatively easy commission for them which didn't really need any in-depth research by me. The final cost was a pleasant surprise too.

The researcher did it all straight away and emailed to say that I had to pay (over the phone by debit card) before he was allowed to post off the copies. Apparently there's a massive package of them as he also searched other local-ish newspapers that I didn't realise they held:j. When I asked them to undertake the job I only mentioned the 2 newspapers that I was aware of. To be honest, I never knew some of the others even existed and had I done the research myself I would probably have missed out on potentially useful information.

Best of all though, when I rang up to pay I was put through to the archive assistant himself ( a volunteer who has gone to so much trouble on my behalf)and he was absolutely amazing:j. Apparently he was a serving policeman himself at the time of the murders and would have been involved had he not been on leave at the time. He remembers the events well though, is still a close friend of the 2 police officers who were involved and was able to add all sorts of extra details that weren't reported in the press reports. He was happy to talk and said I was welcome to contact him again any time. He said he'll be seeing the other 2 policemen next month for their annual reunion and will pick their brains and get in touch again should anything new emerge. What a lovely man, I can't believe my luck that it was he who was available to take my commission. The female archivist who I started dealing with when I made my initial enquiry has been on leave for the past few weeks and probably wouldn't have had any first-hand memory of the events to add to what was reported at the time.

Kindness from strangers really gives me a warm glow. I'm feeling pretty euphoric at the moment:j. Doesn't take much, does it?:rotfl:.

beanielou · 14 September 2018 at 8:23PM

Wow, just wow.
What an awesome result for you

Karmacat · 15 September 2018 at 10:03AM

CBC, that's amazing! The kindness of strangers indeed, it's a wonderful thing

I'm really pleased for you. And well done for looking at the real costs of a day there, thats very sensible. Let us know if the package holds unexpected goodies for you

I'm in catsittingland, and because my previous stay was so recent, they sort of remember me - the timid one got up on the bed this morning, and it took her 7 days to do that last time

I'm very chuffed. Mind you, an hour later she threw up

I'm off to meet a friend later on, who lives in Brixton, so I'll be checking up very carefully before I do.

Early morning has been the same here as at home - nice strong coffee and faffing about with SB. Very disappointed I can't find The Walking Dead on Netflix UK, grrr, I don't want to buy it, but I do want to watch it. Never satisfied, me

[Deleted User] · 15 September 2018 at 11:04AM

Karmacat wrote: »

CBC, that's amazing! The kindness of strangers indeed, it's a wonderful thing I'm really pleased for you. And well done for looking at the real costs of a day there, thats very sensible. Let us know if the package holds unexpected goodies for you

I'm in catsittingland, and because my previous stay was so recent, they sort of remember me - the timid one got up on the bed this morning, and it took her 7 days to do that last time I'm very chuffed. Mind you, an hour later she threw up I'm off to meet a friend later on, who lives in Brixton, so I'll be checking up very carefully before I do.

Early morning has been the same here as at home - nice strong coffee and faffing about with SB. Very disappointed I can't find The Walking Dead on Netflix UK, grrr, I don't want to buy it, but I do want to watch it. Never satisfied, me

Lovely news about the cat remembering you:j. Not so lovely about the throwing up though:eek:. I miss my lovely cat so much but not the cleaning up of vomit:(

Sorry to hear about the Netflix problem. Can't help, I'm afraid, as it's not a situation we have as we only have free Freeview for our TV watching. I hope you get it sorted out so you can enjoy The Waking Dead.

I was amazed by the researcher at the local archive centre (local to the events I was researching anyway) as I didn't expect to talk to him. I phoned to pay so they could send the copies out and I knew the researcher is on leave next week. I'm impatient to get them so I didn't procrastinate for once:j. That was an event in itself:rotfl:. I asked the lady who took my card details if she could inform the researcher that I'd already paid and she told me he was next door in his office and she'd put me through to him.

After his greeting he told me that he'd been really pleased to do this research because he remembered the events vividly as he was around at the time (1984) and sort of involved. I don't know why but from his previous emails I'd assumed he was a much younger man. It was especially nice to talk to him as he had the local accent of my home area. I expect I have a watered-down version still myself but hearing anyone on TV in a drama or anything speaking that way (when they get it absolutely right) is a lovely blast from the past. The downside of talking to the researcher though was that he sounded uncannily like my late brother. A bit unnerving to be honest:eek:

Have a good time with your Brixton friend:beer:. It's always good to have a catch-up.

Travelling On

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