Seemingly trivial things that annoy you

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Comments

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,806
    A good advert for decluttering software though, no? 🤣
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    just use Firefox, even without addins its completely ad free, its about the most decluttered my life is at the moment :)
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,374
    I use Opera.
    I also have a decluttering ad on.
    I also use a VPN Dunno of \Firefox has that option.

    Between the 3, i'm as decluttered as a minimalist with an obsessive compulsive disorder. Very, very little spam too.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    pretty much everything today - glad it is Friday
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    pblakeney said:

    A good advert for decluttering software though, no? 🤣

    Indeed. The ad has prompted me to add Adblock to Google Chrome. Browsing is a much nicer experience now.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    Longshot said:

    pblakeney said:

    A good advert for decluttering software though, no? 🤣

    Indeed. The ad has prompted me to add Adblock to Google Chrome. Browsing is a much nicer experience now.
    Your post prompted me to look up Adblock and I think I’ve managed to install it all on my own.
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    webboo said:

    Longshot said:

    pblakeney said:

    A good advert for decluttering software though, no? 🤣

    Indeed. The ad has prompted me to add Adblock to Google Chrome. Browsing is a much nicer experience now.
    Your post prompted me to look up Adblock and I think I’ve managed to install it all on my own.
    I had no idea about extension or add-ons to Chrome before yesterday! If I can find it and install it, anyone can!

    There are a couple of sites that won't let me browse with it turned on. No great loss.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,806
    I can't remember why (possibly blocked sites) but I switched from Adblock to Wipr.
    I forget it is there until I am asked if I want it updated.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    I use an iPad which always asks me for a password when I try to install something. However I do this so infrequently I can never remember it.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,602
    Working from home and for some reason I can't access the internet on my laptop. I'm connected via WiFi and other devices on the same connection are fine. I'm also connected to the office through my WiFi via a VPN and I'm having no problem accessing documents but if I open Chrome or IE they just freeze. I've tried restarting the laptop and switching the WiFi connection off and back on but nothing is sorting it out so I have to browse all my design guidance etc. on my phone. Very odd and very annoying!
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    More Than car insurance, send my parents a letter telling them their car insurance is due for renewal, no problem with that part, but the letter then says to log on line to verify all the details and costs...if its an online only account why send a letter not an email (tbf I think legally they have to send a letter) but if theyve sent a letter why not just print the details or even a summary of those details, the letter is just literally 2 lines saying logon to that account youve probably forgotten you had 11 months ago to confirm stuff and btw it auto renews if you do nothing.

    when my car insurance renewed which has an online account, I got the full printout offer of everything including the certificate twice, once on the offer, once on the confirmation
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,939
    pblakeney said:

    I can't remember why (possibly blocked sites) but I switched from Adblock to Wipr.
    I forget it is there until I am asked if I want it updated.

    "Adblock" used to be treated as a swear word here, I seem to remember, and got replaced with some text telling one how mean one was being...
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,806
    I remember. The new site apparently has a few consolation benefits.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,374
    "You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people."

    Like.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    awavey said:

    More Than car insurance, send my parents a letter telling them their car insurance is due for renewal, no problem with that part, but the letter then says to log on line to verify all the details and costs...if its an online only account why send a letter not an email (tbf I think legally they have to send a letter) but if theyve sent a letter why not just print the details or even a summary of those details, the letter is just literally 2 lines saying logon to that account youve probably forgotten you had 11 months ago to confirm stuff and btw it auto renews if you do nothing.

    when my car insurance renewed which has an online account, I got the full printout offer of everything including the certificate twice, once on the offer, once on the confirmation

    having worked in marketing for a company that provided car insurance the answer is relatively boring.

    legally you have to tell someone their insurance is coming to an end as the premium will likely auto renew unless they cancel and the premium will more often than not change (and 99% of the time increase).

    the terms and conditions for insurance are huge, the pack that would be needed to be sent is also huge, the cost of posting these is therefore very high compared to sending a letter saying they can view it all online.
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Surely the cost would easily be covered by the inevitable 20% + plus increase in the premium... :/
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,602
    Does anyone ever renew with the same provider? I haven't for years and when I cancel inevitably I get the 'let's see what we can do for you' and my response of 'you should have done that in the first place'. I guess there are plenty of lazy people who stay blindly with the same insurance, utility providers, banks at any cost though.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,806
    Always shop around. Lazy people who auto renew are getting ripped off to fund attracting new customers.
    Be a new customer.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    usually if you shop around then ring your current provider they'll match whatever you have been offered elsewhere and if not then move.

    same with phone contracts
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,602
    chris_bass said:

    usually if you shop around then ring your current provider they'll match whatever you have been offered elsewhere and if not then move.

    same with phone contracts

    I won't do that. They need to give me the best price first time or lose my custom. I assume they make more from the lazy lot that auto renew than they lose from stroppy people like me though so customer retain is a low priority in their initial quote.
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,939
    chris_bass said:

    usually if you shop around then ring your current provider they'll match whatever you have been offered elsewhere and if not then move.

    same with phone contracts

    O2 wouldn't budge... instead they offered me a more expensive package, despite my telling them I'd move to Giffgaff (which, ironically, piggybacks off the O2 network) as it roughly halved the cost. So I did.
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    Pross said:

    chris_bass said:

    usually if you shop around then ring your current provider they'll match whatever you have been offered elsewhere and if not then move.

    same with phone contracts

    I won't do that. They need to give me the best price first time or lose my custom. I assume they make more from the lazy lot that auto renew than they lose from stroppy people like me though so customer retain is a low priority in their initial quote.
    from my point of view going on a comparison site getting the best price and ringing my current provider, telling them what i could get elsewhere (maybe minus a few pounds!!) and them matching it is less hassle than actually changing provider.

    It isn't that customer retention is a low priority it is more that they cost a customer based on their average lifetime value - yes, there will be a lot of people who stay for one year and leave but a lot don't. So the company actually lose money on the first year and then make it back in subsequent years.

    so in order to give everyone their best price would just mean everyone would pay more in the first year.

    same with energy, the fewer people who remain on standard the higher the non standard tariff prices will become.
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,939
    Pedants who tell you that saying you're "bored of" something is wrong, because someone once told them it was wrong, and it should be "bored with" or "bored by".
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,702
    briantrumpet said:

    Pedants who tell you that saying you're "bored of" something is wrong, because someone once told them it was wrong, and it should be "bored with" or "bored by".

    Yours,

    Disgusted with East Devon
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,939
    rjsterry said:

    briantrumpet said:

    Pedants who tell you that saying you're "bored of" something is wrong, because someone once told them it was wrong, and it should be "bored with" or "bored by".

    Yours,

    Disgusted with East Devon
    Where's my green ink?
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,374
    chris_bass said:

    So the company actually lose money on the first year and then make it back in subsequent years.

    [Touch wood*] I have never made an insurance claim on anything. Although I have had 2 'bumps' and I elected t pay for the damage myself. It worked out cheaper than the rise in premiums on all the vehicles I own and... therein lies a rub: although I have always taken out protected NCD's, you still have to declare that you have had an claims in the last 5 years when doing a price comparison/taking out a policy.
    I wonder what the sum total of all the premiums I have paid on all the policies i've held since 1989.
    So, if you don't claim, how did those insurance companies not make any money (out of me)?

    *Bar 1 x broken windscreen; £75 excess. Policy was iro £550.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    chris_bass said:



    having worked in marketing for a company that provided car insurance the answer is relatively boring.

    legally you have to tell someone their insurance is coming to an end as the premium will likely auto renew unless they cancel and the premium will more often than not change (and 99% of the time increase).

    the terms and conditions for insurance are huge, the pack that would be needed to be sent is also huge, the cost of posting these is therefore very high compared to sending a letter saying they can view it all online.

    tbf I acknowlegded they needed to send a letter for legal reasons :) my annoyance is its literally just a letter that says well logon to find out what we are offering you, why cant that letter just provide a headline figure, as else its literally just a why dont you logon to find out what we are charging you letter which makes no sense!!!

    and as I said my car insurer, Direct Line fwiw, sends me the complete paperwork on the renewal, and on the acceptance
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,374
    I had to prove to Direct Line that when i had chemo, it was outwith 6 months of when Ii was taking out the policy. I had but couldn't be bothered so took out another policy with another company.
    And since then, Direct Line have never, ever come up with a competitive quote. In fact, for 5 years after that point (in the days you used to go to a broker), they would not offer insurance.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    pinno said:

    chris_bass said:

    So the company actually lose money on the first year and then make it back in subsequent years.

    [Touch wood*] I have never made an insurance claim on anything. Although I have had 2 'bumps' and I elected t pay for the damage myself. It worked out cheaper than the rise in premiums on all the vehicles I own and... therein lies a rub: although I have always taken out protected NCD's, you still have to declare that you have had an claims in the last 5 years when doing a price comparison/taking out a policy.
    I wonder what the sum total of all the premiums I have paid on all the policies i've held since 1989.
    So, if you don't claim, how did those insurance companies not make any money (out of me)?

    *Bar 1 x broken windscreen; £75 excess. Policy was iro £550.
    i meant on average they lose money on the first year - you are subsidising those who do claim.

    on a similar but different theme i used to work for an energy company and a new customer had to be with them for 3 years before they broke even (assuming they rolled onto the standard tariff at the end of their initial fixed term deal) on them due to the low price of non standard tariffs.
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    chris_bass said:


    on a similar but different theme i used to work for an energy company and a new customer had to be with them for 3 years before they broke even (assuming they rolled onto the standard tariff at the end of their initial fixed term deal) on them due to the low price of non standard tariffs.

    dont talk to me about bloody energy companies, grrr, switch to our deal youll save money, okie dokey, 6months later, were upping your direct debits because we estimate we need more of your money to earn interest on so we can make more profit, sorry our computer estimates youll have used twice as much energy as your meter readings are actually telling us, oh and we wont give you a refund unless theres more than 25 pound in credit in your account, unless you leave, but you cant leave unless you pay 50 pound to break your deal.

    yes, will be swapping away from them as soon as I can

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