Grumpy Old Git

[Paul]

And before anybody gets to thinking that I'm about to name and shame somebody, the title of this thread is eponymous, i.e. it refers to me. I've had a "sort things out day" today, and have come up against a number of things that really annoy me, and I wondered is it me, or does anyone else feel the same. 

Firstly the TV. Broadband etc. Our contract is up next week and I've had a lovely email from those nice people at Talk Talk explaining why my package is going up by over 50% on what I am paying now, so much so that it is now cheaper to go back to Sky, who I left about five years ago who can offer the same package with more benefits, such as an app to watch the package on the go, extra channels not offered by talk talk, discounted netflix etc but, these are all introductory offers that last the 18 months of this contract. So no doubt when i come to renew in 18 months I will be shopping around again. Why don't companies just fix a fair price and stick to it ... 

Secondly, passwords. Why don't companies when they ask you to create an online password tell you what it must / must not include. I've had to register something today and entered a password only to get "your password must be at least 8 characters long and include at least one uppercase, one lowercase, one digit and one special character. So i change it and guess what .. the character "\" is not permitted ... special characters can be * + - _ ?, so why not blooming say that, as not only do I have to type and retype the new password every time I also have to go back and fill in half the page which banks out each time and accept all the ts and c's again and try and decipher that illegible capture thingy. 

And finally pop ups when you land on a web page, "do you want to web chat" ..... "can we send you our latest offers" .... "we would like to know your location" .... No, I don't want to web chat, if I did i would click the little link in the corner that says, "webchat". If I want you to know where I am I will tell you and I certainly don't want to be bombarded by yours and everyone else you can think of's special offers. I just want to read the bleeping web page i came too

Arrrggghhhh!

Is it me, have I really become a grumpy old git?

 

 

[ExSurveyor]

I have had a similar day, it can't be us, it must be them.

[Ray]

I feel your pain!

[SwanR]

All very good points that probably drive a lot of us mad. Incidentally did you try contacting Talk Talk? So often when you contact these companies to say you are leaving then they pull the metaphorical rabbit out of the hat and find a way to charge you less than quoted. Why don’t they offer you that in the first place?!

[ZimbiIV]

Welcome to my world.

paul

[Paul]

1 hour ago, SwanR said:

All very good points that probably drive a lot of us mad. Incidentally did you try contacting Talk Talk? So often when you contact these companies to say you are leaving then they pull the metaphorical rabbit out of the hat and find a way to charge you less than quoted. Why don’t they offer you that in the first place?!

Not this time no, although I have in the past and have got that proverbial rabbit, I think this time I was glad of an excuse to switch. One reason Talk Talk has been such good value for me over the past few years is the Sky Sports add on was really cheap, I contracted when there was an offer of £8 a month and have managed to negotiate to keep it each time we have renewed. That boost has ended so it's back to £36 a month now. Talk Talk have slipped behind Sky in recent years, their mobile app is rubbish and doesn't let you watch much in the way of programming, just control your box and view program guides. With the SkyGo app we can watch any of our contracted content anywhere on an android device, including the Android TVs in the bedroom and caravan meaning no multi room subscriptions or additional kit needed. Add to that the TV boxes they supply which are dreadful, we are on our third this year and this one is faulty. They tend to freeze up when using the hard disk either to record or playback meaning a reset every time and this latest one seems to be suffering their latest glitch which is a faulty dolby decoder so every time the audio switched from surround to non surround content, like at ad breaks you get a crackle on the sound. I have switched the surround off for now. 

Interestingly whenever you email them it takes about three days to get a response, but I had an email in my inbox within 30 seconds of completing the Sky sign up process saying how sad they were to see us go. 

[vanessan]

Sounds like you are well out of it Paul! Talktalk’s reputation is not the best and always comes bottom of the pack when Which? do a survey. 

[MaceSwinger]

9 hours ago, Paul said:

Why don't companies just fix a fair price and stick to it ... 

 

 

I got supremely cheesed off a couple of weeks ago when I got my car insurance renewal through. I drive a fairly mundane 2012 BMW 320 diesel estate. I'm 35, have had my licence over 15 years and in that time I've never once claimed or even had so much as one speeding fine. They wanted over £800 for the year and seemed genuinely surprised that I wouldn't be accepting! All this from an insurer with, I've since seen, just about the lowest score of any insurer! I ended up with Hastings For £300 for the year.

So no, it's not just you. I get properly annoyed with companies ramping up prices in the hope that you won't notice and just let it roll over

[ranworthbreeze]

10 hours ago, Paul said:

And before anybody gets to thinking that I'm about to name and shame somebody, the title of this thread is eponymous, i.e. it refers to me. I've had a "sort things out day" today, and have come up against a number of things that really annoy me, and I wondered is it me, or does anyone else feel the same. 

Firstly the TV. Broadband etc. Our contract is up next week and I've had a lovely email from those nice people at Talk Talk explaining why my package is going up by over 50% on what I am paying now, so much so that it is now cheaper to go back to Sky, who I left about five years ago who can offer the same package with more benefits, such as an app to watch the package on the go, extra channels not offered by talk talk, discounted netflix etc but, these are all introductory offers that last the 18 months of this contract. So no doubt when i come to renew in 18 months I will be shopping around again. Why don't companies just fix a fair price and stick to it ... 

Secondly, passwords. Why don't companies when they ask you to create an online password tell you what it must / must not include. I've had to register something today and entered a password only to get "your password must be at least 8 characters long and include at least one uppercase, one lowercase, one digit and one special character. So i change it and guess what .. the character "\" is not permitted ... special characters can be * + - _ ?, so why not blooming say that, as not only do I have to type and retype the new password every time I also have to go back and fill in half the page which banks out each time and accept all the ts and c's again and try and decipher that illegible capture thingy. 

And finally pop ups when you land on a web page, "do you want to web chat" ..... "can we send you our latest offers" .... "we would like to know your location" .... No, I don't want to web chat, if I did i would click the little link in the corner that says, "webchat". If I want you to know where I am I will tell you and I certainly don't want to be bombarded by yours and everyone else you can think of's special offers. I just want to read the bleeping web page i came too

Arrrggghhhh!

Is it me, have I really become a grumpy old git?

 

 

Hello Paul,

That sounds like a normal day apart from not including any idiot call thrown in there. As we all get older our tolerance  levels get strained somewhat, maybe its dealing with prats for most of the day.

Regards

Alan

[Meantime]

23 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

As we all get older our tolerance  levels get strained somewhat, maybe its dealing with prats for most of the day.

Regards

Alan

Is that you speaking with your moderators hat on? 

[ranworthbreeze]

7 minutes ago, EastCoastIPA said:

Is that you speaking with your moderators hat on? 

Speaking as myself, I had a late start this morning so my moderators hat has not been surgically fitted yet and unlike Grendel I do not have a moderators cat for help

Regards

Alan 

[Paul]

1 hour ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Speaking as myself, I had a late start this morning so my moderators hat has not been surgically fitted yet and unlike Grendel I do not have a moderators cat for help

Regards

Alan 

I'm just considering the implications of possibly been having moderated by a cat .......

[MotorBoater]

I nominate Puccy Galore, no-one will argue with her.   

(Spelling necessary to get around auto-edit)