GMG: The state of oil engineers/plumbers in this country.
I’ve been trying since midday Friday to get a plumber out pronto to fix my oil boiler. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve called now, with probably 90% of calls going unanswered. Those that do answer have no availability at all this week.
I’ve just about managed by using the log burner and forking out for a small electric heater, but my Raynaud’s has been playing up like no-one’s business through this particular cold snap. I’m bored of the pain these episodes are now causing.
I don’t blame the individual engineers; for so many to be unavailable clearly points to a systemic problem. But when you’re talking about a week’s wait with a medical condition exacerbated by the cold, then you’re expected to pay a minimum of £100 for the fix, it really takes the proverbial urine.
Oh yes!!! We share you pain… Well, not the Raynaud’s, but the rest of it!
We’re on LPG. Which requires a specific ticket for gas engineers to touch. It’s a course no longer delivered as part of apprenticeships or a broader plumbing college course. So the number of plumbers willing/able to take on LPG work is reducing - so demand is going up, their availability is going down and, incredibly, their now “niche” skillset commands a higher premium.
GMG: Driver’s attitudes to illuminating their vehicles.
so many seem to rely on “auto” mode that they seem to not consider that it fails in foggy conditions, either expecting DLR to be sufficient (except so many makes only make DRL forward facing, so the car is not illuminated behind) or see the illuminated dials in front of them, believing illuminated dials = lights are on and assume all is well with the world.
i am sure the % of drivers with no or poor lighting this morning was up at 60-70% on my commute in this morning
Same has been increasingly occurring with oil too. A lot of the newer businesses don’t want to know and leaving it up to the “old boys”. I’ve come up against it a couple of times trying to find a subbie.
Nothing like a casual 27% increase in the cost of travel insurance, after a lovely email about their “loyalty discount guarantee” ensuring the lowest possible price.
This is the renewal quote before I’ve even spoken to them about my new Raynaud’s, so is based upon no changes since last year.
I was lucky with my 5% uplift,1yr NCD, thought I would be in for a nice saving as I got rid of second car and went to use my extra NCD I had on that policy, 4 yrs, and the price went up 35%
I guess now they are factoring more NCD as increased risk and not safer driver
The lunacy of a system by which the private sector plays a game of only selling a mandatory product to the people they think won’t actually need the product.
Insurance is probably the most capitalist thing ever.
read it again - @MajorDisaster is talking about the insurance companies.
it is they who think you don’t need the cover - that is their business model, selling you a product they hope you don’t claim on (as that costs them money)
Insurance companies sell a product that they themselves do not expect the customer to need (other than to tick a legal requirement)
And looking at it from the other way. Have come across people who never thought they needed travel insurance or declare items on it, particularly medical conditions until it all went wrong.
The bulk of my legal practice was RTA litigation. Seeing the damages awarded after a crash, it can often be ruinously expensive here. On more than one occasion I’ve acted for insurers making people bankrupt when they wanted to recover costs they had to pay out to a third party when the insured wasn’t driving in accordance with the policy.
