The angry thread

[daffy]

Just for you @newportnobby and @austinbob while you are waiting .......

I love the ending.  So familiar and yet so unexpected.

[Jon898]

Agreed. And why is that the musak is always distorted to inflict maximum discomfort while you're waiting?

I'm surprised that more of them do not use the strategy I was exposed to about 20 years ago on a video game developer's customer service line where the "hold" music was an electronic version of "The Flight Of The Bumblebee", sped up to 50% faster and played at 4x volume...I think I lasted all of 45 seconds.  Even then, my shoulders were already somewhere up around the level of my ears.  I guess it did save them some employment costs 

Jon

[daffy]

Agreed. And why is that the musak is always distorted to inflict maximum discomfort while you're waiting?

I'm surprised that more of them do not use the strategy I was exposed to about 20 years ago on a video game developer's customer service line where the "hold" music was an electronic version of "The Flight Of The Bumblebee", sped up to 50% faster and played at 4x volume...I think I lasted all of 45 seconds.  Even then, my shoulders were already somewhere up around the level of my ears.  I guess it did save them some employment costs 

Jon

I like this idea.
Now, all I have to do is work out how I can have it automatically play on my Ansaphone when unwanted unsolicited calls come in, but keep my nice answer message for friends and family.

[ozzie Bill.]

Probably belongs in a "frustrated/disgusted/furious" thread, but here goes anyway.
One of my daughters has been tracked by a sexual predator who has now got our home address. He rings her at work and asks about what underwear she is wearing and revolting other personal questions.
The police are being fantastic, taking it seriously and doing all they can to trace this  , but it doesn't detract from the fear she is living in and the anger and disgust and hatred that I am feeling.
Not looking for advice, thanks, just really wanted to vent. Thanks for listening. Bill.

[Newportnobby]

I wouldn't know what advice to give anyway, Bill, but that must be awful for your daughter and I hope the authorities do manage to catch the 

[daveg]

Went to tax our 'other' car online this morning after the winter lay-up. It needs a new MoT very soon.

Got to the end of the process and put the payment info in to be advised:

A technical error has occurred
Sorry, there has been a technical problem during the payment process, we are working to resolve it

What will happen next

If your payment was successful and you provided an email address, confirmation will be sent showing your vehicle has been taxed for the period requested. You should check with your bank whether payment has been taken.

You must ensure your vehicle is taxed. If you do not receive an email, or have not provided an email address then you should check if the transaction has been successful on the Vehicle Enquiry Service (VES). Please note the online checking service does not update immediately, continue to check this service over the next 5 days.

So, the planned trip in the car this weekend is cancelled and I can't book an MoT until I know for sure the darned thing is taxed. I have to keep checking for the next 5 days??!!   

Technology! Bah!

Dave G

[Steamie+]

Probably belongs in a "frustrated/disgusted/furious" thread, but here goes anyway.
One of my daughters has been tracked by a sexual predator who has now got our home address. He rings her at work and asks about what underwear she is wearing and revolting other personal questions.
The police are being fantastic, taking it seriously and doing all they can to trace this  , but it doesn't detract from the fear she is living in and the anger and disgust and hatred that I am feeling.
Not looking for advice, thanks, just really wanted to vent. Thanks for listening. Bill.

Hi Bill, there is a unit called CPR V2000 Call Blocker selling over here, it automatically blocks 200 spam callers and if you get a number you don't know you can block it for good, even if it's a caller withheld.     

[austinbob]

BT now have BT call protect which uses a similar but larger database to block nuisance calls. It also has a facility for adding calls to your own personal black list by calling 1572 and going through the menu options to add number to the black list.
Any blocked calls are routed to a junk voicemail so the caller can leave a message - just in case its a real number. So far, out of 60 odd nuisance calls I've had, none have left a message. We used to get nuisance calls two or three times a day, now we rarely get one.
Call protect is free to BT infinity users and I think it costs a small amount for other BT customers.
and - no - I don't work for BT!!

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/phone/call-protect/?s_cid=con_ppc_maxus_vidZ60_T1&vendorid=Z60&gclid=CjwKEAjwtbPGBRDhoLaqn6HknWsSJABR-o5sCDtUSq90IwtC993LnAmAjWUNOa1_Md9Z0ciZMcrrchoC0aHw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=COXDspTT39ICFZAD0wodWZENkw

Hope this helps - 

[Bealman]

Unfortunately all this has happened, and, like Mick, I really don't know what to say here, except that the police here in Australia are usually right on top of situations like this,.

It must be awful.

All the best to you and your daughter, Bill.

George

[Nick]

So, the planned trip in the car this weekend is cancelled and I can't book an MoT until I know for sure the darned thing is taxed. I have to keep checking for the next 5 days??!!   

Hi Dave,

It doesn't help with the weekend trip, but, assuming your "other" car is simply SORN'ed in the usual way, my understanding is that it can be driven to and from a pre-booked MOT appointment without being taxed. It needs to be insured as normal, as far as I know.

This gov.uk page gives the details, down at the bottom of the page.

[Nick]

We used to get nuisance calls two or three times a day, now we rarely get one.
Call protect is free to BT infinity users and I think it costs a small amount for other BT customers.
and - no - I don't work for BT!!

Call Protect is free for all BT customers, and my experience is like yours - it works like a charm. The odd call still gets through, most of which can then be blocked in future, but compared to what we had before, it's bliss.

(Declaration of Interest - I used to work for BT, but it's a long time ago now, so I can admit it...  )

[scottmitchell74]

I'm sick to my stomach. I put off buying Dapol for years, but then thought I was being silly, it's only the rare bad experience that you hear about, not the hundreds of good ones.

Well, I'm a fool. I excitedly bought two: A Class 58 and a Class 52. Running them in per instructions, the 52 is noisy, a bit wobbly, but seems fine. I was willing to deal with the slight wobble as just one of those things.
However...

Less than three minutes into the Class 58 (Which is gorgeous, but the way, which makes this hurt more) it starts sputtering...and smoking! Smoke pouring out. Dozens of Life-Like, Kato, Atlas, even Bachmann with no such problems...but two Dapols, two problems.

I live TOO FAR away for this to happen. Funny that this happened right after the old Dapol announcement bomb and the Dapol Haters Club thread made me nervous. But I tried to be positive and figure these things are rare. Well, I got nailed.

So, anyhow, right when I had just decided to dive head first into British outline...I don't know if I can handle that kind of stress. 

[ChrisWV10]

Sorry to hear that Scott. My experience of Dapol diesels has been mostly good (22, 52 similar to yours but acceptable, 2 x 58s, 2 x67s, 2 x 66s, 2 x HSTs) even 2 older 73s (pre dcc ready) run OKish but they don't need a sound decoder, they make enough noise to pass without one  I have had a DOA 66, a couple of awful M7s and my B17 has put me off the rest of their tender steamers. The pannier tanks are nice tho' 

For good running try Farish 24, 37, 42 and 66. If you're not completely put off, try a Dapol 22 or 67.

C.

[mr bachmann]

Went to tax our 'other' car online this morning after the winter lay-up. It needs a new MoT very soon.
So, the planned trip in the car this weekend is cancelled and I can't book an MoT until I know for sure the darned thing is taxed. I have to keep checking for the next 5 days??!!   
Dave G

heres a link to DVLA check yours (and the neighbors  )

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj72JfG2-DSAhVnCMAKHazOB5IQFggaMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fcheck-vehicle-tax&usg=AFQjCNHfRlD8n1Aw4Babpxnp8nUmrMO_rw&sig2=mzyRiC3BWp_SmjH91TBW9A

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj72JfG2-DSAhVnCMAKHazOB5IQFgghMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fcheck-mot-status&usg=AFQjCNHU11S96F4wHBoFjJ5aCza5TXfyYA&sig2=W36x2P93XCxSxYA5V2JVcw

[Steamie+]

I am having a similar problem Herzel, only i put a bid in and won a H&M controller, paid for it last Thursday, got a email to say it is being posted, got another one yesterday from the guy i paid it to and he said sorry i have not been able to post it yet, COME ON, if you sell on the flipping bay GET the item posted has soon has you get your MONEY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!