It pays to whinge.... politley... part 3....

Gawd will this whinge fest ever end ???

I'm on virgin media and they are starting to take the Preverbial one... Because the bank returned their [ virgin] direct debit unpaid even though there was enough money in the bank account virgin have now cancelled the DD [even before I had chance to] so on the new bill which arrived today they have charged me £10 for missing the DD payment, another £10 for a late payment fee and because they have cancelled the DD there is a new fee of £5 for a "manual payment handleing fee"

I called them and they wouldn't refund / cancel the charges and said as it was the banks fault I should go there which I will tomorrow but Virgin are taking the P now with their poor broadband service so it's time to change.

I wouldn't care but i'm a loyal customer who pays on time and who has an XL package so it's nearly £80 a month at present but I bet i get it reduced by a good bit after a few days of net research. I'll be getting the lowest price packages and then asking my wife to check the details, she's the brains, I'm the brawn,lol so then I willmaking a pot of tea, sitting on the floor and calling dear old virgin and "having a chat" about their costs and pricing structures. If they want market share then they will have to give me a better deal or i'm off.......

I'll update acordingly.

It pays to whinge.... politley... part 2

Having been bolstered with the whinging below I decided to play the insurance game and got several quotes then went through greasy palms . co.uk

Speaking of Greasy palms, If you join GP using this link you too can save money off just about everything. Also if you use the link to join I get £7 but only after you have enjoyed £15 in commision and then you get to use your own link to make a few bob.

Anyway I done the quotes, then re done them using GP and then i phoned my normal broker who does my car insurance. My best quote through GP was with More than and it was £245 with a £40 cashback brining the total down to £205. My car broker quoted me £206 so I said Oh I can get £40 cashback off GP to which he replied, we can;t match that price but we can knock £20 off for you as you are a customer already.

£20 off was down to £186 and it was a better policy to boot. He never asked what the original price was before the cashback and i never told him.......

If you are looking for anything to buy on the web then I can heartily recomend GP on the premis that you may as well make some money out of the purchase.

also if buying online first look for cash codes for delivery charges and these get free delivery. There are loads floating around so you should never need to pay for delivery from any of the major shops ( even for food etc) if you use the computer properly.......

It pays to whinge.... politley.

I run a car and have always been a main dealer customer for repairs and servicing etc. One reason is I can't do the jobs myself and secondly I want to use dealer parts and not some copy items.

Anyway the car went in for the M.O.T test yesterday and failed on the indicator stalk flashing the headlights occasionally so it needed a new indicator stalk fitting. Got the price of £84 fitted so I said yes.

An hour later I got the call to say the car was ready so I paid the bill and went home. Looking at the bill they charge £35 to fit the stalk now all it needed was to unscrew 2 screws in the cover / cowl round the searing wheel and unplug the stalk and plug in the new one re screwing the cowl back in place. No more than a 10 minute job even for a spacka like me.

I whinged at the service desk by phone and got the fitting charge reduced by £24.00 + vat. I'll have to go back to the garage to get the refund on my card but I need to go to a shop near there anyway.

Also I had a whinge at the Lloyds TSB yesterday about a charge for a "returned D/D" the thing was there was plenty of money in the account to cover the DD but they still returned it and were going to charge me £20 for their mistake....

It will be a cold day in hell when they get to do this to me I'll tell you so on the phone I went, 0870 number, 15 p a minute ...right, got to speak to a human and told then to ring me back. They did and then after about 40 minutes [ just imagine if I'd been paying the bill ] they agreed that it was "an unforeseen banking error on their part" I know it was, stop the charges... They did but they wouldn't refund a charge for a mistake I made but I bet i get it back before the months out or at least get it suspended until the court case about charges finishes.....

Hey up the lads are here to finish the deep beds for me... must dash...

Feed the hungry 2 on £75 for a month.

As an update this will not happen this month,lol.

Towards the end of February I was gearing up for this challenge but then my back gave out again. Well I say again, it just got a lot worse than normal pain so being in agony and bearly being able to lift my arms let alone do anything else my loving wife went shopping for me but being spaced out on pain killers or as I refer to them pain relievers as they never totally kill the pain but being spaced out I never conveyed to my eife in legible tones anyway what i was planning. She "got a few bits to tied us over " and spent £90 quid !!!

I take full blame for this but i'll try the £75 challenge later in the year as April sees holidays and from May our son decends on us from Uni and he is like a plague of locusts all in one go....

... but we love him to bits.....

Feed the hungry 2 on £75 for a month.

As an update I