The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[robgul]

Been to Suffolk for a 4 day break with Mrs robgul - good time etc. 

BUT what is it about Suffolk and a cream tea (a feature of short breaks for us .. . .  scones, jam, cream etc) . . . asked for a Cream Tea (one with Earl Grey tea) at the fairly smart country house hotel we were staying at  - two pots of tea duly arrived with a JUG OF CREAM instead of milk.   That's gotta be a first? They just didn't understand what a Cream Tea was 

Each afternoon for the rest of the trip we scoured cafes and tea-rooms for a Cream Tea but were disappointed at every turn.  Now, if it had been the Forest of Dean or deepest Lincolnshire I could understand 


I've been promised home-made scones and jam with cream tomorrow afternoon now were back at home.

Ahh - you were looking for the wrong things.  Creams teas are a southern affectation.  In Suffolk, the traditional dish is fish and chips.

Not sure about that - brother-in-law was in Yorkshire this week and had a Cream Tea on two days? - and I've had a Cream Tea at Balloch, Loch Lomond.

Did have some chips from chip shops: 
1 Lowestoft - probably the second worst bag of chips I have ever had, all bits and cold. Complaining got just a shrug of the shoulders from the shop operative.
2 Dunwich Beach (last time I was there was 2003, on a bike very early in the morning) - top notch chips, exactly as they should be.

[Mrs Pingu]

DFDS: Hello, it looks like you're not going to use that travel credit from last year, would you like a refund instead?
Mrs P: Ooh, good idea, that will come in handy!
DFDS: OK confirmed, you may need to wait up to 45 days to see the munney
Mrs P: <grumbles,  45 days??>

47 days pass, no munney appears

Mrs P: 'ere where's that munney you offered me?

Emailed them. They now say they are taking 60 days to process refunds. 

Oh quelle surprise! >60 days later and still no munney. I don't suppose there's even any legal I can throw at them either.

[Regulator]

DFDS: Hello, it looks like you're not going to use that travel credit from last year, would you like a refund instead?
Mrs P: Ooh, good idea, that will come in handy!
DFDS: OK confirmed, you may need to wait up to 45 days to see the munney
Mrs P: <grumbles,  45 days??>

47 days pass, no munney appears

Mrs P: 'ere where's that munney you offered me?

Emailed them. They now say they are taking 60 days to process refunds. 

Oh quelle surprise! >60 days later and still no munney. I don't suppose there's even any legal I can throw at them either.

If I recall correctly, once a refund is agreed for goods or services, they have 14 days to make the repayment (may be different in Scotlandshire).  Not sure whether this would fall into that category.

Depending on much it is, I'd write/email to them giving them outlining your travails to date and giving them 14 days in which to ensure that the refund hits your account, failing which you will institute proceedings through Small Claims.

Alternatively, if paid for with a credit card (or Visa Debit card) use their facility to make the reclaim.

[Mrs Pingu]

I've just had a look at the CMA page on Covid related refunds and its a bit woolly:
The CMA notes that statutory deadlines for payment also apply in certain situations. gee, helpful.

Anyhoo, I sent DFDS a snippy email right after I wrote the above post telling them that the delay was unacceptable, purely due to their finance policy, and I wanted the refund in the next 5 days. I'll see what sort of response I get from that and then start pointing them at websites if no joy.
I did look up the section 75 credit card claim this morning and got the impression from somewhere that it could take months, but I can't find where I got that from now.

[Beardy]

It’s at grumble phase at the moment because I’ve been told not to upset the wedding.

Basically, we arrived at the hotel and booked in at 2pm and booked a table in the restaurant with the rejoinder that we could change the booking once we knew who was arriving and how many we needed feeding. My daughter was then told when she booked in at 4pm that the restaurant was full booked this evening. When we were ready for dinner, our reservation ‘wasn’t on the system’. There’s a lot of other details,I shall fill in later, but the fact remains that as guests of the hotel we are second to the diners. That we’ve booked the hotel a wedding and have booked a significant number of the rooms over the weekend and some beyond is of no consequence. The restaurant is fully booked this evening and guests will have to take their chances in the garden.

[rafletcher]

Well, thank you Quest TV. In place of stage 1 of the Vuelta (which the EPG still says was on last night) we got a recording of…. Border Force Poland 

[Mrs Pingu]

Well, thank you Quest TV. In place of stage 1 of the Vuelta (which the EPG still says was on last night) we got a recording of…. Border Force Poland 

Oh. Yes. So we did.
Quest really are useless, aren't they?
<digs out discovery plus again..>

[Mrs Pingu]

Also, while I'm here in the salle de grognement, WTF do people keep getting their CH thermostats installed in their halls?
It's a fucking stupid place to put it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Well, thank you Quest TV. In place of stage 1 of the Vuelta (which the EPG still says was on last night) we got a recording of…. Border Force Poland 

Oh, I think I've seen that, about 20 years ago, po polsku. That it's still going and now being shown internationally is disturbing. I recall it as a sort of Piggi Patel fantasy (before she was anyone you'd heard of) played out by Crimewatch re-enactors.

[Diver300]

Also, while I'm here in the salle de grognement, WTF do people keep getting their CH thermostats installed in their halls?
It's a fucking stupid place to put it.

We have a thermostat in the hall.

And one (or more) in each of the ten other rooms.

I agree that having one in the hall only ensures that the temperature will be wrong at all times in any room that people spend time in. The idea that one thermostat is adequate for any house is somewhat bizarre, along with the idea that radiators can be balanced with pre-set valves.

[Canardly]

Well, thank you Quest TV. In place of stage 1 of the Vuelta (which the EPG still says was on last night) we got a recording of…. Border Force Poland 

Oh, I think I've seen that, about 20 years ago, po polsku. That it's still going and now being shown internationally is disturbing. I recall it as a sort of Piggi Patel fantasy (before she was anyone you'd heard of) played out by Crimewatch re-enactors.

It does put paid to the 'UK' is being punished myth together with sausage wars, as the same rules are clearly being applied elsewhere and some time ago.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Well, thank you Quest TV. In place of stage 1 of the Vuelta (which the EPG still says was on last night) we got a recording of…. Border Force Poland 

Oh, I think I've seen that, about 20 years ago, po polsku. That it's still going and now being shown internationally is disturbing. I recall it as a sort of Piggi Patel fantasy (before she was anyone you'd heard of) played out by Crimewatch re-enactors.

It does put paid to the 'UK' is being punished myth together with sausage wars, as the same rules are clearly being applied elsewhere and some time ago.

When I saw it, it would have been before Poland joined the EU. I recall it being mostly about catching refugees from the Middle East creeping over the border from Ukraine or Belarus with the aid of smugglers, as well as vodka, cigarettes and yes even sausages being smuggled in by "ants". I don't recall anything being smuggled out – doubtless that was being shown on Border Force Deutschland.

[robgul]

Also, while I'm here in the salle de grognement, WTF do people keep getting their CH thermostats installed in their halls?
It's a fucking stupid place to put it.

We have a thermostat in the hall.

And one (or more) in each of the ten other rooms.

I agree that having one in the hall only ensures that the temperature will be wrong at all times in any room that people spend time in. The idea that one thermostat is adequate for any house is somewhat bizarre, along with the idea that radiators can be balanced with pre-set valves.

Our "master" thermostat is wireless, thus can be moved around - but what we do have is some radiator valves that have their own timers - so, for example, my wife's "yoga studio" a.k.a. bedroom #3 can have its own timed heating just for the hour or so each day when she uses it - when the rest of the house is heated (you just have to keep the door closed)

[Mrs Pingu]

We have a wireless stat here, mainly cos it was the easiest thing to retrofit, certainly made sense once we got the wood burning stove fitted and it spent most of the time in the bedroom instead..
I suspect the stat in the hall in the new place is wired in, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised...

[Mrs Pingu]

Well, thank you Quest TV. In place of stage 1 of the Vuelta (which the EPG still says was on last night) we got a recording of…. Border Force Poland 

Oh. Yes. So we did.
Quest really are useless, aren't they?
<digs out discovery plus again..>

Dunno who they have commentating instead of Rob Hatch but he's a bit too Alan Partridge for my liking. Just have Maggie Backstedt instead

[rafletcher]

Well, thank you Quest TV. In place of stage 1 of the Vuelta (which the EPG still says was on last night) we got a recording of…. Border Force Poland 

Oh. Yes. So we did.
Quest really are useless, aren't they?
<digs out discovery plus again..>

Dunno who they have commentating instead of Rob Hatch but he's a bit too Alan Partridge for my liking. Just have Maggie Backstedt instead

God, he’s dreadful!

[jsabine]

Also, while I'm here in the salle de grognement, WTF do people keep getting their CH thermostats installed in their halls?
It's a fucking stupid place to put it.

It makes a sort of sense if you don't have a rad in the hall or keep it turned down low, and want the stat to be in the coldest place in three house so it only closes off the heating when it's up to temperature from heat leaking from the warmer rooms.

In conjunction with TRVs in the rooms and judicious use of closed doors, it actually works reasonably well. I'll change it when we update the heating from the 1980s though.

[Kim]

Also, while I'm here in the salle de grognement, WTF do people keep getting their CH thermostats installed in their halls?
It's a fucking stupid place to put it.

I'll raise you the upstairs landing, on the other side of the cardboard wall from the hot water tank.   

At least that was convenient for the installer.

[Canardly]

And lets not forget external compensators, which recently almost became compulsory.

[perpetual dan]

Also, while I'm here in the salle de grognement, WTF do people keep getting their CH thermostats installed in their halls?
It's a fucking stupid place to put it.

It seems like a good place for a radio receiver, nice and central in most houses. It probably makes some sense if all the doors are open and the whole house is heated the same - like my parents’ place in the 70s.

[Mrs Pingu]

No, because in a 2 story house it just means you get hot bedrooms when the hottest place you want is the lounge (or whatever you call the room where you do most of your slobbing but not sleeping).

[Mrs Pingu]

And lets not forget external compensators, which recently almost became compulsory.

Are they not a good thing? Sounded sensible to me.

[Kim]

No, because in a 2 story house it just means you get hot bedrooms when the hottest place you want is the lounge (or whatever you call the room where you do most of your slobbing but not sleeping).

Ultimately, we use our houses upside-down.

[Mrs Pingu]

I'm also waiting with bated breath to find out where the condensate from the boiler has been routed, cos it's nowhere near the kitchen or bathroom drains. (Crossed fingers it's not just disappearing under the floor to, nothing....

[Mrs Pingu]

No, because in a 2 story house it just means you get hot bedrooms when the hottest place you want is the lounge (or whatever you call the room where you do most of your slobbing but not sleeping).

Ultimately, we use our houses upside-down.

Our new house has a downstairs bathroom and the bedrooms upstairs. How long before one of us falls down the stairs (we currently have none) in the middle of the night?