Grumble Thread

[oddoneout]

Thanks OOO ….. seems to have been a disaster for years and yet the silver bullet of the new system doesn’t seem to work yet …. but like our Horizon discussions…. was this system tested properly???? I think I know the answer …

It's a government IT project - that says it all... Destined to fail, except for those charging the public purse.

[antongould]

It's a government IT project - that says it all... Destined to fail, except for those charging the public purse.

indeed

[Dave2002]

Now this seems like another instance of déjà vu ! I recently tried to use my Santander credit card, and was asked to put in a PIN number. Unfortunately I had recently also been given another quite similar number to unlock a key safe. The inevitable happened and my card was locked. However I just happened to be looking for a bank recently in a town I didn't know, and there was a Santander branch, so I went in and did a few transactions, and asked about my card. I opted to have a new PIN number sent to me.

The letter with the new PIN arrived today, but this time I read it very carefully. It specifically says that I have to authorise the new number by using the care in a Santander Cash Machine.

[expletive deleted ....]

Last time I had a similar situation I tried to use a replacement card/pin in a relatively local ATM, and that seemed to result in a second card being blocked. Took weeks to sort out.

So - where are all these Santander [i.e. bank specific] ATMs?

You guessed - at the branches.

I checked and the nearest one is around 19 miles away, the next nearest one is 41+ miles, while the next nearest is 46 miles away.

It's not a complete pain - just a fairly annoying one. I will visit the area in a week or so most probably, but this is hardly the most convenient way to manage affairs.
Everything now done by computer - supposedly easier - and to save time.

Whose time does it save, and whose money?

This only works for me as I have other accounts and other credit and debit cards and I can wait to get this sorted - maybe!

Yet another example of EFTA - Easier for Them!

[Dave2002]

Thanks OOO ….. seems to have been a disaster for years and yet the silver bullet of the new system doesn’t seem to work yet …. but like our Horizon discussions…. was this system tested properly???? I think I know the answer …

I recently went into a Post office and had a receipt - probably a proof of posting - but could have been something else.

When I looked at it the word Horizon leapt out at me.

Shivers down my spine!

[oddoneout]

I recently went into a Post office and had a receipt - probably a proof of posting - but could have been something else.

When I looked at it the word Horizon leapt out at me.

Shivers down my spine!

I've not seen it on the receipts I get, but I must say this gives me more than shivers...

10 Feb 2024 — A committee of MPs has published new data showing that HMRC holds eight active contracts with Fujitsu with a combined value of £1.4bn

, .
The article does give an indication of (same old story) the level to which lack of intelligent management WRT staffing etc has poor outcomes and prevents improvement in government technology projects.

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/accounting-software/mps-flag-hmrcs-ps14bn-active-contracts-with-fujitsu

[Serial_Apologist]

I've not seen it on the receipts I get, but I must say this gives me more than shivers...
, .
The article does give an indication of (same old story) the level to which lack of intelligent management WRT staffing etc has poor outcomes and prevents improvement in government technology projects.
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech...s-with-fujitsu

This should be headed "How to outsource your ideological shortcomings profitably without people noticing".

[Dave2002]

Banks again .... Grrrrr....

"We’re moving some of your accounts to paper-free."

Tha'ts precisely what I don't want.

Having to go into a branch yet again to explain why I don't want that, or otherwise try to get my accounts to functioin ..... Grrr!

I am sure that the saving in paper and hence "the planet" is going to be insignificant compared to the amount of junk mail which I get sent.

What I like about paper statements is that they are printed on official paper, and it's generally easier to just scan down, and also I just don't get on that well with the apps and online service of the bank in question. The only one I find works for me is the one with the name of a well known Yorkshire town, though I still have some paper documents from that as well.

[Jonathan]

Currently sitting in a traffic jam on the M62. Four HGVs have just driven past in the lane that's closed ((and has been for a long time) and are now trying to cut in. A Megabus has just done it too

[Pulcinella]

My partner is scheduled to have an operation next Thursday (done privately). Apart from the insurance company now querying the choice of hospital in Leeds (despite the fact that it's the one they sent him to!) we have a further set of problems as a result of a phone call from the hospital just now, despite the fact that the date has been known for a while, and we were at the hospital on Wednesday for a meeting with the surgeon.
He needs bloods taken (apparently only in Leeds, not here in York) and is supposed to have five days of using a particular shower gel, also, because it is a prescribed gel, only available by going to Leeds. No, they couldn't send the prescription through to our local branch of Boots: swabs need to be done to make sure there's no allergic reaction, and their pharmacy is now closed until Monday, anyway.
So this means two further appointments that they're not sure they can coordinate.
Just as well he's fit enough to travel.
Why on earth this wasn't all sorted out when he was there last Wednesday utterly escapes us.

[Serial_Apologist]

My partner is scheduled to have an operation next Thursday (done privately). Apart from the insurance company now querying the choice of hospital in Leeds (despite the fact that it's the one they sent him to!) we have a further set of problems as a result of a phone call from the hospital just now, despite the fact that the date has been known for a while, and we were at the hospital on Wednesday for a meeting with the surgeon.
He needs bloods taken (apparently only in Leeds, not here in York) and is supposed to have five days of using a particular shower gel, also, because it is a prescribed gel, only available by going to Leeds. No, they couldn't send the prescription through to our local branch of Boots: swabs need to be done to make sure there's no allergic reaction, and their pharmacy is now closed until Monday, anyway.
So this means two further appointments that they're not sure they can coordinate.
Just as well he's fit enough to travel.
Why on earth this wasn't all sorted out when he was there last Wednesday utterly escapes us.

Awful! Really sorry and disturbed to hear this - hope it all gets sorted soon.

[teamsaint]

My partner is scheduled to have an operation next Thursday (done privately). Apart from the insurance company now querying the choice of hospital in Leeds (despite the fact that it's the one they sent him to!) we have a further set of problems as a result of a phone call from the hospital just now, despite the fact that the date has been known for a while, and we were at the hospital on Wednesday for a meeting with the surgeon.
He needs bloods taken (apparently only in Leeds, not here in York) and is supposed to have five days of using a particular shower gel, also, because it is a prescribed gel, only available by going to Leeds. No, they couldn't send the prescription through to our local branch of Boots: swabs need to be done to make sure there's no allergic reaction, and their pharmacy is now closed until Monday, anyway.
So this means two further appointments that they're not sure they can coordinate.
Just as well he's fit enough to travel.
Why on earth this wasn't all sorted out when he was there last Wednesday utterly escapes us.

Inexcusable . Hope things go much more smoothly next week.

this kind of administrative shambles is surely at the root of so much that is sub- optimal in the NHS, ( and it seems the private sector) and that wastes valuable resources.
But who actually cares enough, and has the expertise to even begin to try to tackle the problems .

[Pulcinella]

Thanks for the good wishes!

[Serial_Apologist]

Yesterday I decided to make the most of the last real summer's day by taking a bike ride up to the South Bank. What a change from the last time (possibly two years ago), and what a disappointment.

They have pretty much destroyed our beloved Royal Festival Hall by switching the cafeteria and the bar on Level 1 around. The first thing one notices is the total absence of all the tables and chairs on the raised open air balcony area facing the river; now it is just an empty space, which was being used yesterday for a paid "event", some kind of Indian music and dance act. Richter-scale bass beats were being used to test the equipment. Next, where the snackery was has now been made a gastro bar, which was noticeably empty of punters on a warm and sunny afternoon while the usual throngs made their way along the Thames Path, stopping off at the few snack huts that used to line the river wall all the way along from the Eye to Tate Modern: those are now mostly restricted crammed kasbar-fashion in the canyon along the south side of the RFH, the tradesman's entrance. What was the bar is now the cafeteria, austerely bedecked in fashionable de-personalised black, white and grey - catering for anyone prepared to have to wait ten minutes for a simple cup of tea served by someone scrupulously avoiding eye contact, and to indulge in the choice of five or so cakes and pastries on offer, if you overlook the pre-wrapped flake 'n' nut packets. The usual accessories autonomously placed to one side were restricted to canderel and black pepper in those ridiculous tiny packets that spill the contents when you tear off the end - is black pepper the latest flavouring addition to tea? - and the broad sweep of the concourse is dotted with a small number of chairs and tables when you can sit as far away from others as you don't necessarily want to be and consume your high-priced grub in splendid isolation. Where once families gathered in the sun alongside pensioners in happy bustling profusion is now a human desert awaiting the next "event", which will be (and was) fenced off so you had to go to another level to reach any conveniences. I spent quarter of an hour in the bookshop below without managing to find anything worth even perusing: the stocks have been generically filletted and mixed up making it near-impossible to find anything of more than general interest - the whole section displaying London-themed guides and history is now gone, and so tourists and natives alike have nothing like the attractive books on subjects such as "London's Most Famous Pubs" or "Favourite London walks" that used to be there. I was able to find only one book on music . And the whole of the Hall was stifling on what was not a particularly hot day.

In the end the only place worth visiting turned out to be the open bookshop area under Waterloo Bridge, where I was lucky enough to pick up a good quality second-hand copy of John Summerson's "Georgian London" for a fiver, which I had seen at our local Goose Green street market back in May, part of the Dulwich Festival. The cycle ride was enjoyable - it usually is in good conditions, notwithstanding the London traffic - but it will be a long time before I decide to re-visit the South Bank, if ever I do.

[cria]

Nicely written; enjoyed that SA (essay?)

[teamsaint]

Nicely written; enjoyed that SA (essay?)

Yep, should be sent to the relevant authorities. The comments, not S-A.