The angry thread

[Trainfish]

No diesel at all in Devizes and very little petrol apparently. 'Luckily' I queued up for an hour on Thursday to fill my tank ready for a 3-day trip to Tavistock tomorrow 

[guest311]

should at least keep you away from that dodgy old geezer by the A23 

[Trainfish]

I'm not sure Tavistock is far enough away to be honest

[chrism]

  Ebay have changed their categories - so now I've got to refine my filters again to avoid all the Orribly Overscale, grossly overscale and underscale stuff 
At least when they had an N Gauge category all we had to contend with was muppets listing in the wrong category, now we have to rely on sellers including the gauge/scale in a listing.

[Hiawatha]

Yes, I just noticed the same on ebay.de.   So, now you can't simply browse the new items which have been listed in, say, N scale locomotives since yesterday. What were these at ebay thinking? 

[daffy]

Yes, this is nuts! I regularly check out ebay.de with its simpler categories like 'Modellbau' and then 'Modelleisenbahn', but now they've taken away the latter's 'Spur N' option it's a real pain.

I have found prefixing a search within these categories with 'spur N' is reasonably successful. Not tried a similar approach on the UK site yet.

[chrism]

Yes, this is nuts! I regularly check out ebay.de with its simpler categories like 'Modellbau' and then 'Modelleisenbahn', but now they've taken away the latter's 'Spur N' option it's a real pain.

I have found prefixing a search within these categories with 'spur N' is reasonably successful. Not tried a similar approach on the UK site yet.

Starting the search with "n -OO -00 -ho" seems to work reasonably well - at least where sellers do put the gauge in the description.

[daffy]

Thanks Chris, I often use such search tactics, but eBay has now made it an essential tactic.

Your "n -OO -00 -ho" now has me replaying the scene where Luke is told Darth Vader is his father - but now finds it funny at the end.

[guest311]

wasn't really sure whether to post this here, or in today's groaner 

Hi alan,

Thank you for contacting Yodel. Please find the details of your webchat conversation below.

Jitendra Pal 16:27:47: Good afternoon, Alan. How are you doing today?

alan 16:29:15: hi, wondering what, if anything, is happening with my parcel. according to your tracking it was picked up 18:00 monday, but still has not even reached the depot

Jitendra Pal 16:31:30: I understand that you want to confirm the status of your parcel. I'll be happy to help you with the status of your parcel delivery, let me look into this and assist you further.

alan 16:31:47: have you got the number

Jitendra Pal 16:32:30: Thank you for your patience. I have gone through the parcel details and found that we've only received the booking details from your sender. Your parcel may be still in transit to us. Once the physical parcel is received, the tracking and expected delivery date will be updated on our website. Alternatively, you can contact the sender for further information.

alan 16:33:29: then why does your tracking say to picked it up on monday

Jitendra Pal 16:34:03: The parcel might be in transit to us with a third-party courier. Be assured that we will deliver your parcel as soon as we receive it from the seller's end.

alan 16:34:06: • 11/10/21 18:00 We have collected your parcel

Jitendra Pal 16:34:14: Once the driver leaves the depot to start deliveries, you'll receive a text message that will contain a 2 hour time window.

Jitendra Pal 16:34:37: You can track the parcel delivery updates at https://www.yodel.co.uk/tracking/JD0002248701957950/RH159JH

alan 16:34:41: is that likely to be this week

alan 16:36:29: thanks for nothing. your tracking, or lack of it, is as usual the problem. Yodel tracking says exactly what I just sent you, not that somebody with a van has it somewhere and sometime will actually pass it to Yodel.

Jitendra Pal 16:36:48: It's up to the seller, as the seller has not provided the parcel yet.

alan 16:37:37: then why does yodel tracking say • 11/10/21 18:00 We have collected your parcel

Jitendra Pal 16:39:06: It says that we have collected the details only not the physical parcel. The details will be updated once we get the parcel. You can manage your parcel delivery online, as address update, delivery at a safe place, parcel collection from the depot, etc. you'll be able to pass the instructions to the depot. The preference you make online will be visible to the driver when they make your delivery. You can make your preferences at https://www.yodel.co.uk/manage_your_parcel/JD0002248701957950/RH159JH

alan 16:39:46: it says :My Parcel's Journey • 11/10/21 18:00 We have collected your parcel • 11/10/21 00:00 Your parcel will be with us soon

alan 16:40:07: and in my world 18:00 is later than 00:00

Jitendra Pal 16:40:37: Alan, it says - Your parcel will be with us soon

alan 16:41:37: at 00:00, it then says at 18:00 we have collected your parcel. both messages 11/10/21

Jitendra Pal 16:41:48: The best I'd request you to wait or alternatively you can get in touch with the seller.

Kind regards,
Yodel

actually, I thought that,for me I was quite restrained 

[dannyboy]

On a similar, but different, ( ), theme, I have noticed in a lot of cases when items are bought through ebay, within a day or two, ebay notify me that the item has been posted. Yet, when you track the courier website, it says something to the effect that the details have been provided to the courier - the courier quite often does not get the item for another 1 or 2 days - that does annoy me!

[stevewalker]

A couple of months ago we went through the difficulties of getting our oldest son vaccinated in time for going to university, when he only turned 18 in mid-August.

Last week, our youngest son received a letter from school about Covid 19 vaccination, but our middle son didn't. We had been waiting for them to get vaccinated, as my wife is considered vulnerable and has been advised to avoid mixing with unvaccinated people - plus we are in Trafford, with the highest rates of infection in the country and two of our children have to go to school, with an hour's journey each way, by bus ... so the risks are high.

It turns out that 90% of year 11 will be vaccinated at school, but as he turned 16 on 28th September, he is now too old for the school vaccination programme!

Go to the NHS website and it says he is eligible now and offers a button to make a booking; press the button and he is asked for name, age and date of birth, then whether he is a hospital worker, works in a care home or is a carer and promptly dumps him out as ineligible!

Phone 119 and they can't deal with anyone under 17 years and 9 months and advise phoning our GP - who should have sent an invitation months ago, considering my wife's known risk and that children 12 or over, with a vulnerable household member, have been eligible since July!

Phone the GP and they are still only dealing with those who missed their second jab and are taking no other bookings!

The system is a complete mess!

We have found that the only way to get him vaccinated is for him to take an afternoon off school and me to take an afternoon off work (unpaid) and go to a drop-in centre. Why on earth are 16 to 17-3/4 year olds the only ones that can't get a vaccination in school and can't make an independent booking for a time that suits them either?

[crewearpley40]

Steve.hope you made a complaint !

[Newportnobby]

@stevewalker That's just disgraceful, Steve. Seems everyone has Teflon shoulders these days

[stevewalker]

Who to? The school/PHE are following rules by vaccinating 12 to 15 year olds in school. The website has no link for complaints about Covid booking problems and 119 staff can only deal with bookings. There is a complaint number for the more general Covid questions and the GPs - but that number just rings out, goes to answerphone and reports that it can't take any more messages!

[guest311]

@stevewalker That's just disgraceful, Steve. Seems everyone has Teflon shoulders these days

years, ok decades ago, when I was on the AA we used to have customer care courses, and they used to empathise three points...

1. own the problem

2. do not say what you cannot do

3. say what you can do, and then do it

nowadays, when you speak to a lot, though not all, so called customer care departments, they just seem to want to pass the buck to someone else.

but that, I guess, is 'progress' in business.