Grumble Thread

[french frank]

These are the "reasons" that make me suspicious, since I would be completely unable to argue against compulsory installment if that was given as the justification - even if it was less than "the whole truth" on the part of the company concerned.

I don't personally have the knowledge to understand about a lot of things nowadays, but information is available. Another source is Martin Lewis especially the paragraph Smart meters are NOT mandatory but...

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/smart-meters/

I thought I'd accept one while they were free. A bit like changing from Windows to Mac. I expect in some cases disaster ensues because that's life.

[oddoneout]

I don't personally have the knowledge to understand about a lot of things nowadays, but information is available. Another source is Martin Lewis especially the paragraph Smart meters are NOT mandatory but...

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/smart-meters/

I thought I'd accept one while they were free. A bit like changing from Windows to Mac. I expect in some cases disaster ensues because that's life.

I've just found some interesting details about my meter, by a slightly circuitous route. Neither of the government documents that list meters and their certification periods list the one I have, although the manufacturer name does appear - just not the model number. So I tried just searching the maker and model number, which tells me that it is a

simple but highly accurate device

and is

perfect for consumers looking to generate their own power.

Which is good to know but wasn't part of any pre-installation discussion, and I suspect is irrelevant now as any new feed-in arrangements would be via smart meter by default I assume. More to the point is that it has been given a 20 year certification by OFGEM, which takes it to 2033.

[smittims]

I hope no-one who has seen Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea will try fiddling with a gas meter!

I've had another e-mail from Scottish Power, again completely ignoring the real subject of my complaint (their frankly bullying coercive attitude ) and again bombarding me with smart-meter propaganda as if the subject hasn't previously been mentioned. I know they've been bullied in their turn by OFGEM who expect all suppliers to install smart meters in all their customers' premises and who also ignore the simple fact that they can't force people to have them (yet).

In ten years' time when we all have them and they've been hacked by cyber-criminals,there'll be a Channel 4 documentary asking 'how did we allow this to happen?'

[LMcD]

I hope no-one who has seen Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea will try fiddling with a gas meter!

I've had another e-mail from Scottish Power, again completely ignoring the real subject of my complaint (their frankly bullying coercive attitude ) and again bombarding me with smart-meter propaganda as if the subject hasn't previously been mentioned. I know they've been bullied in their turn by OFGEM who expect all suppliers to install smart meters in all their customers' premises and who also ignore the simple fact that they can't force people to have them (yet).

In ten years' time when we all have them and they've been hacked by cyber-criminals,there'll be a Channel 4 documentary asking 'how did we allow this to happen?'

I believe that suppliers are 'obliged' to replace faulty meters. Given that there are nearly 3 million of the latter in the UK, one can only assume that an ambitious recruitment and training programme is under way!

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't personally have the knowledge to understand about a lot of things nowadays, but information is available. Another source is Martin Lewis especially the paragraph Smart meters are NOT mandatory but...

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/smart-meters/

I thought I'd accept one while they were free. A bit like changing from Windows to Mac. I expect in some cases disaster ensues because that's life.

I thought you were in a similar situation to me, in not being in circumstances making it possible for you to have a smart meter. Maybe I'm confusing myself with a different issue?

[oddoneout]

I believe that suppliers are 'obliged' to replace faulty meters. Given that there are nearly 3 million of the latter in the UK, one can only assume that an ambitious recruitment and training programme is under way!

Yes, and of course the replacement will be a smart meter which, coincidentally, helps to increase numbers for their installation targets. There must be some, erm, conflict of interest if meters are are close to/beyond their certification date, even if there is no evidence of the readings being inaccurate.

[french frank]

I thought you were in a similar situation to me, in not being in circumstances making it possible for you to have a smart meter. Maybe I'm confusing myself with a different issue?

No. But I had to have a digital phone with fttp because BT said they would be discontinuing my landline service. I don't find that an improvement.

Just now I did wonder how I was going to broach with my energy supplier that my electricity smart meter had gone berserk and was registering twice what it should at this time of day. Then I went upstairs and realised I'd left the heater on in my bedroom which I usually switch off after I've got dressed.

[eighthobstruction]

....there's not enough in this ; plot-wise, even as a kitchen-sink drama....probably needs a revamp with Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat writing it....Dr Who and the Smart Meters From China....( you are driving home but a chinese chip turns off your motor....on arriving home your smart meter denies you access, and an expanded central heating system stops you going around the back to get the spare key.... then Dr Who's sonic screw-driver fails too; due to the poor quality of rechargeable battery life)

[Serial_Apologist]

....there's not enough in this ; plot-wise, even as a kitchen-sink drama....probably needs a revamp with Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat writing it....Dr Who and the Smart Meters From China....( you are driving home but a chinese chip turns off your motor....on arriving home your smart meter denies you access, and an expanded central heating system stops you going around the back to get the spare key.... then Dr Who's sonic screw-driver fails too; due to the poor quality of rechargeable battery life)

By the time someone gets around to writing it, kitchen sinks and all they meant will themselves have become de-mythologised as false memory syndromes, taken over by anthropomorphized dish washing machines in which the dish running away with the spoon will finally become immortalised and domestic scene mongers will also, like supermarket shoppers of today, have forgotten that sink confinement to history had once been supposed to herald a new age of labour (party) saving, ID-concocted devices before we all happily made our final journeys as Yorkshire-speaking cartoon characters auditioning for a Pure Cremation commercial.

[oddoneout]

....there's not enough in this ; plot-wise, even as a kitchen-sink drama....probably needs a revamp with Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat writing it....Dr Who and the Smart Meters From China....( you are driving home but a chinese chip turns off your motor....on arriving home your smart meter denies you access, and an expanded central heating system stops you going around the back to get the spare key.... then Dr Who's sonic screw-driver fails too; due to the poor quality of rechargeable battery life)

Sounds like a documentary about modern day life...

[Pulcinella]

Fake stamps.

How on earth is the RECIPIENT deemed to be at fault and have to say where the stamp was bought?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/22/counterfeit-barcode-stamps-furore-carries-echoes-of-horizon-scandal

[LMcD]

Fake stamps.

How on earth is the RECIPIENT deemed to be at fault and have to say where the stamp was bought?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...orizon-scandal

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Mr Bates was right when he suggested that the postal service should be sold to Amazon for £1.

[french frank]

Fake stamps.

How on earth is the RECIPIENT deemed to be at fault and have to say where the stamp was bought?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...orizon-scandal

Why can't you just refuse delivery? How can they force you to pay? It's absurd.

[Pulcinella]

Why can't you just refuse delivery? How can they force you to pay? It's absurd.

I guess you can always refuse to accept delivery and pay, but then there would always be the nagging feeling that someone sent you a letter that you didn't get to see.

[Petrushka]

I won't go into our local post office as they have twice tried to diddle me in the past. A few years ago, when I was working, I weighed a small parcel on the office scales to check the cost. We weren't allowed to send personal post from work so armed with the knowledge of the cost I took it to our post office.

The staff weighed it and quoted a figure way in excess of what I'd found. When I queried it they went on about next day first class signed for recorded delivery or whatever as if I would have just stumped up without question.

The second time they tried to charge me for more stamps than I'd actually bought.

I wondered if they were deliberately trying these tricks in order to maximise revenue on instructions from above.