Seemingly trivial things that annoy you

pblakeney

A creak from my shoe/cleat/pedal/crank for 2 months. Torque checked*, nothing; cleaned and torque double checked, nothing; strip/clean/lub and torque triple checked, nothing.
Found a small piece of compacted earth between my cleat and shoe this morning which was removed and silence.

*On a positive note, the crank bolt did need a nip up.

veronese68

DHL Express shipment confirmation emails. Someone is sending me something, the shipment has been created on the DHL system. It doesn't tell me who has sent it, when it's coming or anything useful. I can click on a link to the DHL help centre, but the email doesn't give me the tracking number so it's no help at all. You can't even reply to the email to tell them how useless it is, well you can but the email box isn't monitored.
Apologies if I've moaned about this before, i think it's one of the ones i mean to moan about but then forget about shortly after thinking it.

pblakeney

veronese68 said:

DHL Express shipment confirmation emails. Someone is sending me something,...

I've similar with Evri.
I'll be asking for a refund next.

First.Aspect

pblakeney said:

veronese68 said:

DHL Express shipment confirmation emails. Someone is sending me something,...

I've similar with Evri.
I'll be asking for a refund next.

You aren't their customer.

pblakeney

First.Aspect said:

pblakeney said:

veronese68 said:

DHL Express shipment confirmation emails. Someone is sending me something,...

I've similar with Evri.
I'll be asking for a refund next.

You aren't their customer.

I'll be asking for a refund from the supplier.
If it's been collected then Evri *should* know where it is to return.

mully79

Moved 5 or 6 tree branches some clown has placed across the path to stop bicycles riding down the path next to my local river.

morstar

mully79 said:

Moved 5 or 6 tree branches some clown has placed across the path to stop bicycles riding down the path next to my local river.

We have several trees across MTB tracks in the woods at the bottom of my road.
They are approved and purpose built tracks. I can’t decide if they are the result of somebody choosing to add ‘features’ or somebody trying to block paths.
I’ve moved several of the silly ones that make elite level features but increasingly large trees are appearing.
I don’t think it’s riders as it’s on the return track to the top. Very few people ride it as it’s long and winding. Most just push straight back up to the top of the downhill section.

pblakeney

Being married to a royalist at this time.

rick_chasey

pblakeney said:

Being married to a royalist at this time.

Haha I feel you. Very much the same here.

pinno

pblakeney said:

First.Aspect said:

pblakeney said:

veronese68 said:

DHL Express shipment confirmation emails. Someone is sending me something,...

I've similar with Evri.
I'll be asking for a refund next.

You aren't their customer.

I'll be asking for a refund from the supplier.
If it's been collected then Evri *should* know where it is to return.

Evri lost a parcel of mine I sent - Campag titanium record brake calipers, sold on fleabay. I claimed the insurance but had to argue with them because the buyer didn't receive them but it was classed as delivered. In the meantime, I refunded the buyer. 3 weeks later, the buyer received them. Thankfully he gave me the money and the insurance was paid out two days after the buyer got the parcel.
They don't know their concave from their convex.

pinno

pblakeney said:

A creak from my shoe/cleat/pedal/crank for 2 months. Torque checked*, nothing; cleaned and torque double checked, nothing; strip/clean/lub and torque triple checked, nothing.
Found a small piece of compacted earth between my cleat and shoe this morning which was removed and silence.

*On a positive note, the crank bolt did need a nip up.

A 46 to 52nm tightening torque loosened!? I presume you ride Power torque or ultra torque.
I have always tightened them to 46nm without any problems.

pblakeney

pinno said:

pblakeney said:

A creak from my shoe/cleat/pedal/crank for 2 months. Torque checked*, nothing; cleaned and torque double checked, nothing; strip/clean/lub and torque triple checked, nothing.
Found a small piece of compacted earth between my cleat and shoe this morning which was removed and silence.

*On a positive note, the crank bolt did need a nip up.

A 46 to 52nm tightening torque loosened!? I presume you ride Power torque or ultra torque.
I have always tightened them to 46nm without any problems.

Confession time. I don't have a torque wrench that goes that high. When I said that I checked the torque I meant I lent on the tool as hard as I could with cyclist arms. 😉

The trivially annoying part was that a small piece of dirt could annoy me for months. 🤣

TheBigBean

The log in wall that is increasingly common on Twitter and Reddit.

rick_chasey

On going saga of the terrible train service continues.

There are such bad repairs needed that for the foreseeable Great Northern have removed all fast trains in the morning to London and have declared that any delay repays are only against the new advertised train time table.

In essence, the scale of the train f@ck up is so bad the significant inconvenience caused cannot be compensated for.

rick_chasey

Anyone know how to complain to the regulator? This is taking the p!ss

surrey_commuter

rick_chasey said:

Anyone know how to complain to the regulator? This is taking the p!ss

you would do better off finding other passengers lacking gruntle and hope that some are lawyers

pangolin

What outcome are you hoping for?

rick_chasey

pangolin said:

What outcome are you hoping for?

Ideally I want them to lose the franchise, but I'd like compensation for the disruption.

They cancelled the trains for 2 weeks which was bad enough but at least I could claim compensation for it.

Now, rather than cancelling the trains they're removed them from the timetable, so no compensation claims are possible.

I've obviously complained to them but what use does that do.

JimD666

Christmas songs being pushed on Spotify.

It's September FFS. Bah Humbug!

surrey_commuter

rick_chasey said:

pangolin said:

What outcome are you hoping for?

Ideally I want them to lose the franchise, but I'd like compensation for the disruption.

They cancelled the trains for 2 weeks which was bad enough but at least I could claim compensation for it.

Now, rather than cancelling the trains they're removed them from the timetable, so no compensation claims are possible.

I've obviously complained to them but what use does that do.

I am not sure they own the track so seems a bit harsh to blame the TOC

rick_chasey

surrey_commuter said:

rick_chasey said:

pangolin said:

What outcome are you hoping for?

Ideally I want them to lose the franchise, but I'd like compensation for the disruption.

They cancelled the trains for 2 weeks which was bad enough but at least I could claim compensation for it.

Now, rather than cancelling the trains they're removed them from the timetable, so no compensation claims are possible.

I've obviously complained to them but what use does that do.

I am not sure they own the track so seems a bit harsh to blame the TOC

It's up to them if I get compensation or not.

Pross

People who debate flexible working but can't get beyond flexible = WFH. I just read something on LinkedIn arguing that flexible working is becoming an expectation rather than a perk and that employers need to offer flexibility in order to attract the best talent. The responses were pretty predictable not everyone wants to / is able to work from home", "I don't know how people can work from home whilst looking after kids" etc.

There's far more to flexibility than home working or 'hybrid' working such as flexible hours, compressed working etc. In some service sectors there might even me business benefits e.g. one person gave the example of dentists not being able to work from home. Whilst this is pretty much true they could be offered flexible hours that enable the surgery to offer appointments outside of work time so they could maybe start work at lunchtime and finish at 8 or 9pm if that suited child care arrangements. Another mentioned supermarket workers, I know someone who chooses to work permanent nights in the supermarket as it suits her life. The fact she is allowed to do that is flexibility.

Pross

I booked into a Premier Inn in Stratford for this weekend while we help move my daughter into her Uni accommodation. I got a garbled message yesterday to say they’ve moved us to their nearest alternative in Spitalfields due to a flood or something. On checking my emails I then saw a confirmation of a booking at Spitalfields Hub which is 5 miles from where I need to be, has no parking, the rooms are described as ‘compact’ and is costing 50% more. It is also showing as full amount to be paid on arrival despite me having already paid the original booking in full.

I’m now going to have to spend ages arguing with someone in a call centre to get it sorted out no doubt.

rjsterry

Easy enough to get a short train ride between the two, but not much use if you want to park a car.

monkimark

If you're going to be 20 minutes on the tube from Stratford, it probably makes more sense to go the other direction. I guess somewhere like Romford would be a similar train journey time but likely cheaper hotel and with parking available.

kingstongraham

Memo to people towards the front of gigs - the rest of us don't really want to watch your phone.

surrey_commuter

Pross said:

I booked into a Premier Inn in Stratford for this weekend while we help move my daughter into her Uni accommodation. I got a garbled message yesterday to say they’ve moved us to their nearest alternative in Spitalfields due to a flood or something. On checking my emails I then saw a confirmation of a booking at Spitalfields Hub which is 5 miles from where I need to be, has no parking, the rooms are described as ‘compact’ and is costing 50% more. It is also showing as full amount to be paid on arrival despite me having already paid the original booking in full.

I’m now going to have to spend ages arguing with someone in a call centre to get it sorted out no doubt.

you have been bounced so they can resell it at inflated rates to a coffin shagger.

Tell them you need the parking because of mobility issues and that if somebody can stand in a queue for 10 hours they can fvck off to Spitalfields.

As the argument progresses never lose sight of the fact that they have your room, they just sold it to somebody else so if you give them enough heat you will get your room back.

Pross

To confuse things more, I've received an email this morning confirming my original booking. I've emailed customer relations to get an explanation and also to confirm they won't be charging more than my original booking with a hint that I should be getting some sort of refund for the additional travel costs / hassle.

Doubt I've been bounced as the Spitalfields hotel should be far more convenient for anyone wanting to stare at a coffin.

I'm going to stand out like a sore thumb in that part of the world though as I have no facial hair, wear socks and my trousers are full length. Should be able to to get a nice smashed avacado frappe around there though (or is that area so 2015 and they've all moved on somewhere more edgy?).

rjsterry

It's not *all* wall to wall hipster. There's a fair few shiny suited city types as well.

Pross

The saga with Premier Inn continues. My email to their customer services produced an automated response that said they take 10 days to reply and calling the hotel’s direct number results in the phone ringing out and going to a message about how they are experiencing higher than usual call volumes and telling me to call back later before cutting me off. No option to hold, no option to leave a message. I did get answered once but then got cut off as I was starting to give my booking reference.

My first stop tomorrow is going to be the hotel I’m booked into where I’ll be kicking up a fuss. The hotel is plainly open so they’ll have to explain why my bought and paid for room is the one that has been moved rather than later bookings who are paying on arrival. There is only one obvious answer to me which is the one SC suggested earlier.