Boys didn't waken until about 11am - leftover pizza brunch - set off to find a hairdresser that could fit me in today - found one and made appointment for 4pm.
Called in to local DIY shop for door-chain keys cut, but they don't stock my sort.
4pm til 5:30pm haircut - and after that long sat in a crap chair I was hardly able to walk to the car. £25 and minus about 8inches of all-over hair length later I arrived home.
Doubled up on the codeine to get through the rest of the evening and went to bed.
Friday, 22 July 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Summer Hols - Day 1
Today was the first day of my 7 weeks off.
So how did I spend it?
Well, Big Son and Small Son got in the car at 8:45am and I drove to small son's school & dropped him off. Then stuck the magnetic "L"s to the car and Big Son drove round for 25mins until it was time to go back to school for the "Leavers Assembly"
Year Six Owls were great - they each presented a few lines about what they've liked best about being in St John's School. Small son, who only began there at Christmas of Year Three said that he'd enjoyed meeting all his new friends when he arrived. Today was also a leaving day for one of the staff who taught most of the class when they first arrived in school in Reception. There were quite a few tears around.
Personally, I struggled to hide a few tears because I know that had I not taken the decision to move Small son to this school back in Jan 2008, I believe that he would have carried out his threats of suicide because he was so unhappy in his old school. He was being bullied daily by a boy the same age "BB" and BB was a complete thug. After putting up with the thuggery through Reception, and Years One and Two, by the summer of Year Two, small son had missed more school than he'd attended. He'd received a broken cheekbone where BB had smashed him in the face with a metal drinks bottle and the head of the school was refusing to effectitvely deal with the bullying even though my husband and I were having to go in to school or send in letters every day reporting issues.
There is a 100+ year history of my family and that school. My mum used to be the headmistress of the Infants (Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two) School until she retired in July 1992, so taking Small Son away from there was distressing on many, many levels, but I could no longer make my son attend a place where I wasn't sure that his safety was important.
The existing headmaster at that school appeared to have the opinion that if he ignored the bullying, then it didn't exist. I understand that he used to visit other schools to teach them how to be "Good Schools" like his, because his had no bullying. We had been told 'off the record' that the reason his school didn't have any bullying problem was because he wouldn't allow his staff (Teachers, Lunch Welfare Assistants, Classroom Assistants etc) to put entries in the Incident Book when the thug was involved. I don't know, maybe he was shagging BB's mother or something, but it appeared that BB was TeflonTM coated! Small son had made threats, not just to us, about running in to a busy main road or throwing himself from the top of the climbing frame, just so that he didn't have to go to school any more, and I truly believed that he was so unhappy he would have carried out his threats.
Our GP had been no help in the matter, not even listening to my explanation of what he'd been saying, and why. She just dismissed my concerns saying that it was unusual of children his age to do such things. Yes - we KNOW that, this was why we were so concerned!
Anyway - enough about the old school for now. St John's had been superb with Small Son. He had slowly begun to revert back to the boy he used to be, with the confidence to leave his parents' side and go and play with other children. He had gone from being a VERY outgoing small child, who would talk to strange kids on holiday and join in their games to spending his Cub meetings sat across the room from the other kids he'd known through Beavers, watching from a distance. And now we have a son who will again take the lead and help other children with things. He thoroughly enjoys being a Scout and helping out the young Beavers with their games and activities. I was so proud this morning when he was awarded a certificate for Leadership Skills on the school residential holiday. Admittedly, they were doing things he's been brought up doing (Canoeing, archery, rock climbing etc that he does weekly with Scouts) but he was helping and encouraging his peers who were undertaking them for the first time.
So, my policy of never letting anyone see me cry was difficult to adhere to this morning, but I managed it. And by 10:40am Big Son and I were back at home, and I was doing laundry and dishwashering.
Strange vinegary smell lingering in kitchen, but couldn't find source. Bleached down the worktops, put loads of stuff away, fed Big Son leftovers for lunch and was outside school again by 2pm waiting for Small Son to come out. He handed out a couple of his "business cards" that he'd been given for his birthday so that friends who were going to different High Schools could keep in touch if they wanted to.
Then home again. Quotes for Car Insurance for my Renault. RAC, who I'm with now are wanting to increase the monthly premium by £4. I called them, told them that I wanted them to keep it the same and they could keep my business. The wouldn't budge, so I started the treck of getting quotes from other places.... Direct Line are offering to better the RAC annual by £92, and they were the first one that I tried, so it looks like it will be GoodBye RAC - although I do want to check out a price for Churchill (all UK call centres) and Admiral (multicar deals) before I make my decision - although Direct Line's policy of allowing named drivers to build their NCB is appealing - hubby's not had his own car insurance for years, and even then only had it for a few years since he was a named driver on his father's car (possibly some sort of old tax incentive since F-i-L had a company car - but F-i-L is in his 80s now, so I'm going back a LONG time!)
Then, 3:30pm was Electrolysis time - I'm at THAT AGE when my chin, jawline and upper lip are going through some sort of gender identity issue and appear to be trying their best to grow a beard and moustache! So since early Spring I've been having fortnightly electrolysis to get rid of them permanently. I'll be honest, it's horrible - I've been pulling them out with tweezers for 5+ years, and I just want rid of them, and when I was having my legs waxed, I spotted the Electrolysis machine and made enquiries.
Home by 4:30pm and back to the laundry/dishwasher (grill pans, frying pans, baking trays) and Car Insurance quotes - except my eyes made me sleepy and I dozed off mid-quote! Woke up at 6:30pm when hubby arrived home from Birmingham.
Tea, more laundry, and a suspected source for the vinegary smell = dead mouse hiding in the dining room <bleugh> and then more catching up with stuff that's been recorded on the Sky+ box. Torchwood (Miracle Day) Episode Two. Richard Hammond's Journey To The Centre Of The Planet (part one)
Small son's negotiated a holiday bedtime of 10:30pm (not too bad to wake up at 10:30am if he sleeps 12hrs!!!) and at 11pm hubby went to bed. Big son's just been and said "Good Night" and it isn't even midnight yet!
I've decided that I want all my hair cutting off! This is the style that I'm considering
She has a similar colour to mine too, and a round face, so I'm hoping it will suit!
(Found from google images search for "short hairstyles fine hair round face")
And tomorrow? I'd like to take the kids swimming, but I don't know if we'll grt round to it since the reason I'd like all my hair cut off is that it's hard work when we've been swimming - takes AGES to rinse out shampoo/conditioner and then all day for it to dry, or an hour with a hairdrier! So I may just aim to get a haircut and start them off swimming on Monday.
So how did I spend it?
Well, Big Son and Small Son got in the car at 8:45am and I drove to small son's school & dropped him off. Then stuck the magnetic "L"s to the car and Big Son drove round for 25mins until it was time to go back to school for the "Leavers Assembly"
Year Six Owls were great - they each presented a few lines about what they've liked best about being in St John's School. Small son, who only began there at Christmas of Year Three said that he'd enjoyed meeting all his new friends when he arrived. Today was also a leaving day for one of the staff who taught most of the class when they first arrived in school in Reception. There were quite a few tears around.
Personally, I struggled to hide a few tears because I know that had I not taken the decision to move Small son to this school back in Jan 2008, I believe that he would have carried out his threats of suicide because he was so unhappy in his old school. He was being bullied daily by a boy the same age "BB" and BB was a complete thug. After putting up with the thuggery through Reception, and Years One and Two, by the summer of Year Two, small son had missed more school than he'd attended. He'd received a broken cheekbone where BB had smashed him in the face with a metal drinks bottle and the head of the school was refusing to effectitvely deal with the bullying even though my husband and I were having to go in to school or send in letters every day reporting issues.
There is a 100+ year history of my family and that school. My mum used to be the headmistress of the Infants (Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two) School until she retired in July 1992, so taking Small Son away from there was distressing on many, many levels, but I could no longer make my son attend a place where I wasn't sure that his safety was important.
The existing headmaster at that school appeared to have the opinion that if he ignored the bullying, then it didn't exist. I understand that he used to visit other schools to teach them how to be "Good Schools" like his, because his had no bullying. We had been told 'off the record' that the reason his school didn't have any bullying problem was because he wouldn't allow his staff (Teachers, Lunch Welfare Assistants, Classroom Assistants etc) to put entries in the Incident Book when the thug was involved. I don't know, maybe he was shagging BB's mother or something, but it appeared that BB was TeflonTM coated! Small son had made threats, not just to us, about running in to a busy main road or throwing himself from the top of the climbing frame, just so that he didn't have to go to school any more, and I truly believed that he was so unhappy he would have carried out his threats.
Our GP had been no help in the matter, not even listening to my explanation of what he'd been saying, and why. She just dismissed my concerns saying that it was unusual of children his age to do such things. Yes - we KNOW that, this was why we were so concerned!
Anyway - enough about the old school for now. St John's had been superb with Small Son. He had slowly begun to revert back to the boy he used to be, with the confidence to leave his parents' side and go and play with other children. He had gone from being a VERY outgoing small child, who would talk to strange kids on holiday and join in their games to spending his Cub meetings sat across the room from the other kids he'd known through Beavers, watching from a distance. And now we have a son who will again take the lead and help other children with things. He thoroughly enjoys being a Scout and helping out the young Beavers with their games and activities. I was so proud this morning when he was awarded a certificate for Leadership Skills on the school residential holiday. Admittedly, they were doing things he's been brought up doing (Canoeing, archery, rock climbing etc that he does weekly with Scouts) but he was helping and encouraging his peers who were undertaking them for the first time.
So, my policy of never letting anyone see me cry was difficult to adhere to this morning, but I managed it. And by 10:40am Big Son and I were back at home, and I was doing laundry and dishwashering.
Strange vinegary smell lingering in kitchen, but couldn't find source. Bleached down the worktops, put loads of stuff away, fed Big Son leftovers for lunch and was outside school again by 2pm waiting for Small Son to come out. He handed out a couple of his "business cards" that he'd been given for his birthday so that friends who were going to different High Schools could keep in touch if they wanted to.
Then home again. Quotes for Car Insurance for my Renault. RAC, who I'm with now are wanting to increase the monthly premium by £4. I called them, told them that I wanted them to keep it the same and they could keep my business. The wouldn't budge, so I started the treck of getting quotes from other places.... Direct Line are offering to better the RAC annual by £92, and they were the first one that I tried, so it looks like it will be GoodBye RAC - although I do want to check out a price for Churchill (all UK call centres) and Admiral (multicar deals) before I make my decision - although Direct Line's policy of allowing named drivers to build their NCB is appealing - hubby's not had his own car insurance for years, and even then only had it for a few years since he was a named driver on his father's car (possibly some sort of old tax incentive since F-i-L had a company car - but F-i-L is in his 80s now, so I'm going back a LONG time!)
Then, 3:30pm was Electrolysis time - I'm at THAT AGE when my chin, jawline and upper lip are going through some sort of gender identity issue and appear to be trying their best to grow a beard and moustache! So since early Spring I've been having fortnightly electrolysis to get rid of them permanently. I'll be honest, it's horrible - I've been pulling them out with tweezers for 5+ years, and I just want rid of them, and when I was having my legs waxed, I spotted the Electrolysis machine and made enquiries.
Home by 4:30pm and back to the laundry/dishwasher (grill pans, frying pans, baking trays) and Car Insurance quotes - except my eyes made me sleepy and I dozed off mid-quote! Woke up at 6:30pm when hubby arrived home from Birmingham.
Tea, more laundry, and a suspected source for the vinegary smell = dead mouse hiding in the dining room <bleugh> and then more catching up with stuff that's been recorded on the Sky+ box. Torchwood (Miracle Day) Episode Two. Richard Hammond's Journey To The Centre Of The Planet (part one)
Small son's negotiated a holiday bedtime of 10:30pm (not too bad to wake up at 10:30am if he sleeps 12hrs!!!) and at 11pm hubby went to bed. Big son's just been and said "Good Night" and it isn't even midnight yet!
I've decided that I want all my hair cutting off! This is the style that I'm considering
(Found from google images search for "short hairstyles fine hair round face")
And tomorrow? I'd like to take the kids swimming, but I don't know if we'll grt round to it since the reason I'd like all my hair cut off is that it's hard work when we've been swimming - takes AGES to rinse out shampoo/conditioner and then all day for it to dry, or an hour with a hairdrier! So I may just aim to get a haircut and start them off swimming on Monday.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Ggggrrrr @ My Old Opticians
On March 12th 2011, I went to Accrington’s Dolland & Aitchison Optician (Now a Boots Optician) for a routine contact lens check-up. I've been using the same optician for perhaps 10years now, and my husband and sons go there too, and I normally get a new pair of specs every year or so from them.
After looking at my eyes through his gadget thing, the optician changed my lens prescription. He didn't go in to any sort of explanation about what had changed, just that he said he would notify their lens company “Contact Lenses By Post” of the change and the next ones that I get will be for the new prescription.
When the new ones arrived, as normal, I put them in on the 1st of the month, so that would have been 1st April. They weren't comfortable and I couldn't see properly in them. And when I say that I couldn't see properly, I don't mean that things were a little bit blurry, I mean that I really couldn't see!
I tried them a few times, but didn't feel safe to drive in them, since I felt I could see better with no lenses or specs than I could with them in! There was no way that I could wear them for work using a PC all day, since I couldn't even see my laptop screen whilst it was on my lap!
After the second try with them, I called the Contact Lens By Post service and asked them to check they'd sent the correct ones, because they were unusable.
The guy on the phone confirmed that they were definitely what the optician had requested - plano on both eyes (no magnification!!!) and a change in shape on one eye!!??!!
So, again I tried them for a few hours, but then had to drive somewhere. Since I couldn't see to even watch TV in them, there was no way that I felt it would be safe to drive in them.
I took them out and found a spare pair of pre-change ones and used those for a month.
The next month (May) I wore my specs all month, leaving the lenses unopened in their box. And then last month (June) I wore the last pair of old ones that I had left.
When July arrived, I was fed up of paying £30.80 a month for a tiny little cardboard box to drop through my letter box with contents that were of no use to me whatsoever! I gave them one more try. I put them in on the morning of Saturday 9th and couldn't recognize the face of a neighbour when I ran in to her unexpectedly in a restaurant where we'd gone for tea (Because I couldn't see to cook!)
So, last Saturday, the 9th July, I went in to the Optician and explained that I really didn't think they were right since I couldn't see. The receptionist got out my file and took it in to the back room to ask the optician to review his notes. She returned and I was told that I just needed longer to get used to them! She said that I should use them for a couple of weeks and then I would be used to them and they would be fine.
I repeated that I could see better with no specs or contacts than I could with these, and said that they weren't comfortable either.
They insisted that I should persevere with them.
On the morning of Sunday 10th July my youngest son was reading in Church for his Primary School Leavers' Service - I couldn't see him, his classmates nor the hymn sheet in the lenses. The afternoon was to be my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary, and mum had asked me to read a poem and there was no way that I would have been able to do that in the new prescription, so I had to wear my glasses for the rest of the day... and am still wearing them now.
On the morning of Sunday 10th July my youngest son was reading in Church for his Primary School Leavers' Service - I couldn't see him, his classmates nor the hymn sheet in the lenses. The afternoon was to be my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary, and mum had asked me to read a poem and there was no way that I would have been able to do that in the new prescription, so I had to wear my glasses for the rest of the day... and am still wearing them now.
Yesterday (Friday 15th July) I looked at Tesco Online and priced up my lenses with them. £40.50 for 3 months for the same brand of lens that I've been used to. So today I've been to Accrington Tesco Optician and explained. I showed them the old and new prescriptions.
They said that they thought it would be unusual to go from the prescription I had before to the current one. She booked me in for a full (free) contact lens consultation and I'll be going there for that next week.
They explained how the same brand lenses from them in store would cost £43 for 3 months. (£43 ÷ 3 = £14.30 per month = less than half the price I'm paying now!) - They're a little more expensive in-store than they are online. They said the eye test with them would be free - that's the reason my old optician validated having a higher monthly charge, because follow-up and after-care and eye tests were free, and I didn't even get any cleansing solution for that price.
Yeah well, when my "OLD OPTICIAN" insisted that the new lenses were right, without even bothering to come out of the staff-room to speak to me, or look at them in my eye to see how they were sitting, or without even asking me to look at the eye chart, they lost their £30 a month from me. But when I leave, I take my family with me. That's the 3 pairs of specs a year from hubby (who is having problems with the prescription safety glasses he got from the same optician last month) and a pair of specs for each from each of the kids... all because they didn't believe me & treat me with respect when I went back to make use of their "inclusive" after-care and follow-up that they appear to be including £15 a month for!
So, I've cancelled my Direct Debit, and emailed D&A/Boots Opticians through their website so they know exactly why they have lost the custom of a whole family. I've actually saved myself a bit of time and asked them to look here at this blog post (http://tinyurl.com/WhyImSwitchingToTescoContacts) so that they know the full details of what happened. Hubby seems to think that the staff maybe didn't want taking over by Boots so they're deliberately doing things wrong to drive customers away from the practice, but that would be a very self-destructive thing to do since eventually the shop would have to close when word got round that they prescribed wrongly regularly & treated people badly when they questioned their eyewear.
Anyway - will update after I've been to see the Tesco Optician later in the week - and even if he says the "wrong" prescription's right, I'll have saved myself £15 a month by switching to them - but I really can't see how it could be correct since I can't even watch TV in them! Would D&A have been liable if I'd had a car accident due to not seeing a child in the road, or something like that? Ponder, ponder!
Looking back, when I had my last full eye test on 28th October 2010 I was told that my eyes had changed only slightly, and not enough to need a new pair of glasses - unless I particularly wanted a new pair. I decided that I would have a new pair, and got some made up to the new prescription. If the change then was so slight that it didn't need new specs, but I got them anyway, surely that same change would have meant that I couldn't see in my specs for a while until I got used to them? This didn't happen - I just began using the new specs instead of the old ones. And even now, I can switch between the two pairs and hardly tell any difference. So why is there so much difference with the contact lenses?
So, I've cancelled my Direct Debit, and emailed D&A/Boots Opticians through their website so they know exactly why they have lost the custom of a whole family. I've actually saved myself a bit of time and asked them to look here at this blog post (http://tinyurl.com/WhyImSwitchingToTescoContacts) so that they know the full details of what happened. Hubby seems to think that the staff maybe didn't want taking over by Boots so they're deliberately doing things wrong to drive customers away from the practice, but that would be a very self-destructive thing to do since eventually the shop would have to close when word got round that they prescribed wrongly regularly & treated people badly when they questioned their eyewear.
Anyway - will update after I've been to see the Tesco Optician later in the week - and even if he says the "wrong" prescription's right, I'll have saved myself £15 a month by switching to them - but I really can't see how it could be correct since I can't even watch TV in them! Would D&A have been liable if I'd had a car accident due to not seeing a child in the road, or something like that? Ponder, ponder!
Looking back, when I had my last full eye test on 28th October 2010 I was told that my eyes had changed only slightly, and not enough to need a new pair of glasses - unless I particularly wanted a new pair. I decided that I would have a new pair, and got some made up to the new prescription. If the change then was so slight that it didn't need new specs, but I got them anyway, surely that same change would have meant that I couldn't see in my specs for a while until I got used to them? This didn't happen - I just began using the new specs instead of the old ones. And even now, I can switch between the two pairs and hardly tell any difference. So why is there so much difference with the contact lenses?
 |
| The left is an example of what I had, and the right is an example of the new prescription |
Thursday, 14 July 2011
And the day gets worse...
Big son has his Driving Test tomorrow afternoon - if he passes, he wants to go to see Harry Potter as a congratulations celebration. If he fails, he wants to see Harry Potter as commiserations, and so that he doesn't have to speak to anyone for several hours whilst he comes to terms with it, and takes his mind off it.
I told hubby this over a week ago.
Last Saturday, hubby had to spend all day running a Beaver Scouts Fun Day because all the Beaver Leaders decided they weren't available after originally saying that they would be.
So I said that they should cover his Scout group meeting for him, so that he could spend this ONE Friday evening doing something that is important to his firstborn child! He said that he agreed.
So, off I go to the cinema tonight as agreed, and I book - £21.?? for 2 students (me and big son), one child (small son) and one free carer (coz we have the CEA Card ~ http://www.ceacard.co.uk/) and that is the cheapest way to do it. ~ You can't book the carer's ticket online, so I have to go in person. (Don't get me started on discrimination!)
Anyway, we're booked in for 7pm, and we have to be there by 6:30pm as they're expecting it to be very busy. I'm thinking *at least* 6:30pm as we've got to find a parking space too!
As soon as get home & I tell hubby, he starts yelling at me. Yelling so much that small son comes in to lounge to see why daddy's yelling at mummy! He's telling me I'd no business booking in for 7pm, and that I should have booked a later one so that he could still go to Scouts.
So, let me see - Scouts finishes at 7:30pm, but he's never home before 8:15pm - so then he'd have to change out of his uniform and then we could set off, at about 8:30pm at the earliest, so the earliest we'd arrive at the cinema is 9pm and the next 3D showing would be 10pm. And he wants to take an 11yr old to an 10pm show???
Anyway - cutting a long story short - he stops yelling, and texts the other Scout Leader, blaming me, saying that he's ONLY JUST found out that he can't be at Scouts tomorrow because I've booked this without him knowing. And he had to tell a teenage helper that he can't give her a lift because I've JUST done this, and he didn't know about it. Making me out to be the bad-guy in it all!
I'm so sick of it! We have a caravan rusting away on our drive, unused for over 2 years because he's decided that he'd rather do Scouts every Friday night than spend time with his children. Doesn't want any weekends away in it. Money down the drain.
So now I'm saving up the couple of hundred quid needed to get myself on a training course to learn how to tow it, so that I can go away for the weekend in it sometimes, and if he wants to come, he can meet us there after he's done his precious Scouts!
And now he's denying that he was yelling - young son was apparently mistaken, he didn't shout at me at all. And I got it wrong, he didn't yell. And big son? Nah, he's imagined the yelling!
I told hubby this over a week ago.
Last Saturday, hubby had to spend all day running a Beaver Scouts Fun Day because all the Beaver Leaders decided they weren't available after originally saying that they would be.
So I said that they should cover his Scout group meeting for him, so that he could spend this ONE Friday evening doing something that is important to his firstborn child! He said that he agreed.
So, off I go to the cinema tonight as agreed, and I book - £21.?? for 2 students (me and big son), one child (small son) and one free carer (coz we have the CEA Card ~ http://www.ceacard.co.uk/) and that is the cheapest way to do it. ~ You can't book the carer's ticket online, so I have to go in person. (Don't get me started on discrimination!)
Anyway, we're booked in for 7pm, and we have to be there by 6:30pm as they're expecting it to be very busy. I'm thinking *at least* 6:30pm as we've got to find a parking space too!
As soon as get home & I tell hubby, he starts yelling at me. Yelling so much that small son comes in to lounge to see why daddy's yelling at mummy! He's telling me I'd no business booking in for 7pm, and that I should have booked a later one so that he could still go to Scouts.
So, let me see - Scouts finishes at 7:30pm, but he's never home before 8:15pm - so then he'd have to change out of his uniform and then we could set off, at about 8:30pm at the earliest, so the earliest we'd arrive at the cinema is 9pm and the next 3D showing would be 10pm. And he wants to take an 11yr old to an 10pm show???
Anyway - cutting a long story short - he stops yelling, and texts the other Scout Leader, blaming me, saying that he's ONLY JUST found out that he can't be at Scouts tomorrow because I've booked this without him knowing. And he had to tell a teenage helper that he can't give her a lift because I've JUST done this, and he didn't know about it. Making me out to be the bad-guy in it all!
I'm so sick of it! We have a caravan rusting away on our drive, unused for over 2 years because he's decided that he'd rather do Scouts every Friday night than spend time with his children. Doesn't want any weekends away in it. Money down the drain.
So now I'm saving up the couple of hundred quid needed to get myself on a training course to learn how to tow it, so that I can go away for the weekend in it sometimes, and if he wants to come, he can meet us there after he's done his precious Scouts!
And now he's denying that he was yelling - young son was apparently mistaken, he didn't shout at me at all. And I got it wrong, he didn't yell. And big son? Nah, he's imagined the yelling!
Today's rant
If you watched BBC's Panorama from Monday 11th July, at 13mins 45seconds the presenter sets up a crash scene, and then follows one of the cars to a bodyshop (15mins) for its repair work.
We see the red car being unloaded from the truck.
There the presenter interviews the owner of the bodyshop, Nick Gaskell - and the commentary states: "They too may send me to a Claims Management Company. Nick says he does it because they are easier to deal with than insurers, and he'll get paid for the referral."
There the presenter interviews the owner of the bodyshop, Nick Gaskell - and the commentary states: "They too may send me to a Claims Management Company. Nick says he does it because they are easier to deal with than insurers, and he'll get paid for the referral."
Nick: "On this, if we put you in touch with an accident management company we'd probably get a hundred quid"
Presenter: "A hundred quid?"
Nick: "Yeah"
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012s1xj/Panorama_The_Great_Car_Insurance_Swindle/)
After seeing the programme, I tweeted: "Tonight's #BBCpanorama had the garage I had problems with a couple of years ago when they used me a wedge to get more £/hour from ins work" (Note that I didn't name them, or where they were)
And received a reply:
@Lancs , Hi, Noticed ur comment ystrday,. thought ths link wld B worth looking at, its a shame Panorama dnt investigate things further http://bit.ly/orziSC
(The link suggests that the increases in insurance costs aren't necessarily as a direct result of personal injury claims... which isn't really what I was implying - I was implying "hey look, someone and somewhere I know was on the telly!")
But it kinda pissed me off that this guy that I'd trusted with my family car, because my mum said they advertised in my Church's magazine, was quite likely to sell my details should I use the company again in the event of an accident - and I have big feelings when it comes to privacy issues.
Presenter: "A hundred quid?"
Nick: "Yeah"
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012s1xj/Panorama_The_Great_Car_Insurance_Swindle/)
After seeing the programme, I tweeted: "Tonight's #BBCpanorama had the garage I had problems with a couple of years ago when they used me a wedge to get more £/hour from ins work" (Note that I didn't name them, or where they were)
And received a reply:
@Lancs , Hi, Noticed ur comment ystrday,. thought ths link wld B worth looking at, its a shame Panorama dnt investigate things further http://bit.ly/orziSC
(The link suggests that the increases in insurance costs aren't necessarily as a direct result of personal injury claims... which isn't really what I was implying - I was implying "hey look, someone and somewhere I know was on the telly!")
But it kinda pissed me off that this guy that I'd trusted with my family car, because my mum said they advertised in my Church's magazine, was quite likely to sell my details should I use the company again in the event of an accident - and I have big feelings when it comes to privacy issues.
I don't use my surname online, I'm ex-directory, and I'm registered with the mailing and telephone preference service, so I wouldn't ever have agreed to it if I'd been asked permission. I have a teenage son who has autism, and he can't cope with strangers who ring the doorbell or telephone the house. He doesn't even cope well when it's me on the telephone, or Grandma asking him if he wants her to take him out for lunch! We have an intercom so he doesn't need to actually go to the front door, he can talk to a visitor from the safety of the dining room. There is NO WAY ON EARTH that I would encourage people to contact my home without me knowing about it in advance!
So I forced the bodyshop company to unfollow me (I don't want to be associated with a company that would do that) and sent this: "@GaskellMotor but you admit on TV that you fail to respect customers' privacy and sell their details. I would NEVER give permission for that"
And the reply came: "@Lancs Hi Liz we do not pass our customer details on, on any occasions, We did the program because we are fed up with it as well" and 5 more tweets... (including one that he missed my name off, then sent again with my name on)
So I forced the bodyshop company to unfollow me (I don't want to be associated with a company that would do that) and sent this: "@GaskellMotor but you admit on TV that you fail to respect customers' privacy and sell their details. I would NEVER give permission for that"
And the reply came: "@Lancs Hi Liz we do not pass our customer details on, on any occasions, We did the program because we are fed up with it as well" and 5 more tweets... (including one that he missed my name off, then sent again with my name on)
@lancs When using acc mngmt co this is only done with the customer's full knowledge and understanding.
@ I hope this helps clarify our position, and helps confirm that we do not sell customers information to anyone.
@lancs I hope this helps clarify our position, and helps confirm that we do not sell customers information to anyone
@lancs the reason y I did the program is we want it stopping like you and many others, I 2 get un reqstd txt mssg touting 4 injury claims
Uh? Hang on... that isn't what the TV programme said! Then @GaskellMotor followed me again, so again I forced an unfollow.
And they followed AGAIN, and again I forced the unfollow.
And then, at 9:22am, my mobile started buzzing in my pocket. I was at work.
We have a strict "No Mobiles" policy at work, but because of my son's Autism I have negotiated that I can keep mine on (on silent, in my pocket, for emergencies... I check the calling number quickly and recognize it as local, but don't recognize the number's owner, so I do a quick google search to make sure it wasn't anyone in connection with my son. The search comes back as Gaskell Motors.
I pop on to Twitter quickly, from the ladies' loos at the earliest opportunity (10:52am) to tweet:
" '@GaskellMotor please don't call my mobile,do NOT call home either, you'll upset my autistic son.Please delete my nos. from office database" as I'm concerned that if they call home, and son answers, he'll be confused and not really know who is on the phone, or why they're calling. And since I have no "childcare" (He's almost 18!) today, he's home alone and I don't want to have to leave work early to deal with an emotional meltdown because someone's ringing him to harrass me!
And I was right, when I got home, I found that they did in fact call here, 1st at 9:21am and again at 9:30am - luckily, being a teenager, son didn't wake up til noon, so didn't answer.
But where do we stand on the Data Protection Act?
So it was 11th May 2009 that Gaskells had my car.
And I got it back on 6th June 2009.
That's 27(?) days to do a job that they'd quoted as taking 4½ days.
(If you scroll a REALLY long way back in my tweets, you can see where I tweet about the problems I'm having, and @ZurichConnect get in touch to try to help me sort things out!
So, that's over 2 years ago, and they STILL have my details on file, handy enough that they can respond with phone calls?
Maybe a quick referral to the Data Protection Registrar will be in order if it continues?
And yeah, I do consider it harassment when a man who is a relative stranger calls my home and mobile phones out of the blue, presumably to discuss something I've tweeted about.
Although it isn't quite so straight forward, because when I was at High School in the 80s, his wife was in my school year, lived very close to me, and travelled to the same school on the same school bus, but other than whilst the car was being fixed in 2009, we've had no contact since 1986 when I changed high schools, so it isn't like we're what I would class as friends!
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Wednesday 6th July 2011
Sorted - voicemail outgoing message recorded using: http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/TTSText
to say...
"This number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service and as such you are not allowed to call with unsolicited sales calls.
This number does not accept incoming calls from unrecognized numbers.
You should send your message by SMS or email stating clearly who you are and your enquiry. Thank you."
It's a wonderfully unrealistic sounding voice, so people will realise that it isn't really me - I'm sooooo fed up with telling junk callers that I've just bought the phone on eBay, and I've no idea who they're asking for, in an effort to make them stop calling me!
Oh, and yeah, I do have a voicemail pin, so my secrets won't end up in News Of The World from voicemail cracking!
Shame that t-mobile doesn't give me the option of storing a few outgoing messages so that I can make an "On holiday, call back in a fortnight" message, and a "Don't you dare call before 10am!" message etc. and swap between them easily!
Tried the ONvoicemail iPhone app, but wasn't impressed about routing all my calls & contact info through them so deleted it.
Nighters!
to say...
"This number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service and as such you are not allowed to call with unsolicited sales calls.
This number does not accept incoming calls from unrecognized numbers.
You should send your message by SMS or email stating clearly who you are and your enquiry. Thank you."
It's a wonderfully unrealistic sounding voice, so people will realise that it isn't really me - I'm sooooo fed up with telling junk callers that I've just bought the phone on eBay, and I've no idea who they're asking for, in an effort to make them stop calling me!
Oh, and yeah, I do have a voicemail pin, so my secrets won't end up in News Of The World from voicemail cracking!
Shame that t-mobile doesn't give me the option of storing a few outgoing messages so that I can make an "On holiday, call back in a fortnight" message, and a "Don't you dare call before 10am!" message etc. and swap between them easily!
Tried the ONvoicemail iPhone app, but wasn't impressed about routing all my calls & contact info through them so deleted it.
Car has MOT in the morning - small son has a taster day in the High School he'll be starting at in September - and I have more meds to collect - AND, I'm on "dad-duty" too! Mum's having a day out somewhere with her ladies group, so I have to make sure dad's done everything on his list, including collecting Golden Wedding Anniversary cake from the maker, buying mum a bunch of roses, making sure he's bought her a card.
Just sent text to my brother asking him to invite dad to the Carvery for tea - I can't do it, I have a pre-parents' evening at the new High School.
Right - off to shower & bed, it's 2:15am!
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