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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 3, 2022 21:36:19 GMT
Gas is on the way out (I hope). But it is not simple for many people.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 4, 2022 8:06:43 GMT
Another subcontractor came this morning and checked the boiler. The mesh cuff Jeff put on the exhaust is fine according to him, but as it's been reported to BG and technically doesn't comply he will fit a new exhaust tomorrow (which we are covered for).
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 4, 2022 8:08:34 GMT
That’s a relief!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 4, 2022 8:26:34 GMT
I have my asthma review next week by a telephone call. I realised that I haven't had a face-to-face appointment with a medical professional since 2019. Telephone appointments only...'the doctor/nurse will call between 0800 and 1700'
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 4, 2022 14:04:54 GMT
Despite my deep distrust of doctors, I'm appalled by this long-distance doctoring.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 4, 2022 16:28:53 GMT
Despite my deep distrust of doctors, I'm appalled by this long-distance doctoring. I am at a stage that says to me "you need a doctor urgently- sort of, but have no money to pay the hefty bill they charge. So, you do the next best thing and go along with a very new offer here in my neck of the woods, and that is to phone a doctor for advice. Seems to be more advertised than ever. I decided just to find a new doctor. There is nothing like a face to face.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2022 16:49:01 GMT
I confess that if I could get my 90-day prescriptions renewed online, I would almost certainly do it. At the same time, I am very much aware that it is useful to see my doctor in person every three months since I have come up with some other (minor) afflictions that need to be attended to.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 4, 2022 16:50:45 GMT
tod2, the reason I'm so horrified by the idea is based on an experience I had. My husband had a lower back operation in the nearest large city to where we lived, which was an hour & a half away. After he got out of the hospital & was home for a few days, he got a call from the surgeon's receptionist, who asked how he was. He replied that he was fine, as one does. He did not mention the increasingly bad headaches he'd been having. Afterward, he asked me to look under the dressing and I was horrified to see a very neat horizontal swelling in exactly the size & shape of a Kotex. So we called back to the Dr's office & were told to come in. By the time we got there, he was in so much pain in the head that he just sat on the side of the examination table and cried. It turned out that the arachnoid mater had been nicked during surgery & the swelling was where it had leaked down & pooled. Apparently, part of it's function is to act as a sort of supportive cushion for the brain & the lack of it was causing the headaches. The only answer was to go back in & repair it. But then the *^&%$#@/!+ doctor conversationally says, "I'm going on a two-week vacation tomorrow. Can you wait until I get back?" As you can imagine, I expressed very forcefully that he was going to do it NOW. What if we'd stuck with the ************'s blithe handing off of a consultation to a phone call by the receptionist?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2022 17:52:24 GMT
This morning I went to see Bullet Train which the French reviews have said is total trash but great fun. After about 13% of the movie, the projector stopped and the emergency lighting came on. We sat there about 10 minutes and an employee came to announce that there was a power outage in the entire shopping mall. About ten minutes later he returned and said we needed to evacuate. A lot of people just waited in front of the entrance, but those of us with unlimited cards who don't have to pay for tickets mostly just left. There had only been 17 killings at the beginning of the movie (they were numbered) and probably far more to come. Brad Pitt had not killed a single person yet. I'll probably go back to see it tomorrow, but it will annoy me to have to watch the beginning again, which did not appeal to me.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 4, 2022 17:56:13 GMT
I've been sorting out all the stuff on my computer and weeding out what I don't need/use any more. I've come across an email I sent to the car rental company, Sixt some time ago, don't remember when. I'd rented a car from them in Germany then had it signed off as ok when I returned it. About at least a week but maybe longer afterwards they sent me an email saying they'd found damage and I'd done it and I needed to pay some hundreds of Euros. They said I'd made some previous damage worse.
I sent them this, and they didn't pursue me any further. By the way, Hertz in Germany tried that same thing after I'd had a car signed off plus at times a few in Spain. My main defence is that too long a period has elapsed between my rental and them contacting me and it would be highly likely others have rented that car after me and they are just chasing everyone to see who pays.
"Dear Sixt, I categorically deny that I or a third party has caused this damage during my hire period. If you persist I request the following questions be answered and copies of documentation be provided. Note: if any or part of the documentation is not in German or English then it shall be translated into one of those two languages by an official translator and authorised as true and accurate by an Apostille.
1) Rental contract. 2) General Terms and Conditions. 3) Any extra terms and conditions specific to this rental. 4) Specific vehicle or fleet Insurance (Versicherung). 5) Registration certificate for this vehicle (Zulassungsbescheinigung). 6) HU/AU certificates if applicable. 7) Date, time and location of the damage being found. 8) Has the vehicle been moved between the end of my rental period and the damage being found? If so, how many times, from where to where and length/time of journeys. 9) Has the vehicle been rented out to another between the end of my rental period and the damage being found? 10) If rented out, how many times. 11) How many other people have you contacted as regards this damage in addition to myself? 12) A detailed breakdown of the repair costs including parts, labour, and miscellaneous costs. 13) Who/which firm or garage determined these costs? 14) Date, time and location of the examination regarding the repair costs. 15) Was the examiner/mechanic informed of the previous damage in the same location? 16) Does the estimate for repair include repairing the previous damage or is solely to repair the “new damage” and return the vehicle to the state it was in at the time of the rental starting? 17) Have claims been made to and paid by other renters as regards the previous existing damage? 18) Who has said this is not just a degradation and effect of the existing previous damage but separate? 19) (See question 8)) Was the vehicle driven or moved in some way to the place of the examination to estimate the cost of the damage? 20) Details of a contact in your legal department.
I reserve the right to ask further clarifications dependent upon your replies. Failure to provide copies of the documentation or answers may prejudice your claim.
Yours faithfully, ......."
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 4, 2022 18:20:00 GMT
Sixt and Hertz are both notorious in Europe for claiming damage or missing fuel.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 4, 2022 19:22:32 GMT
As a retired insurance person I like that Mark.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 4, 2022 20:55:57 GMT
K2, yes, I believe so and after problems with a lot of the major ones I hold my breath each time I rent from them. Actually those in Malaga, the local ones, are notorious. Mick, I thought I'd give them back a little of their types of demands.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 4, 2022 21:20:21 GMT
It’s so windy today we can’t do anything but sit inside. It’s too windy to bike or sit outside. Our outside seating area has a wind deflector but it’s too windy to set it up. It’s even too windy to sail, at least without going for an unintentional swim. Bugger!
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Post by questa on Aug 5, 2022 6:25:07 GMT
Mark, that is pure poetry! You have a very skilful pen...or keyboard. Just hope I never get in your crosshairs.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 5, 2022 11:02:34 GMT
I just don't want to make life easy for them. The hope is they'd move on to easier prey.
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Post by casimira on Aug 5, 2022 13:09:29 GMT
Flawlessly documented Mark. They should definitely back off when they read that.
If they think you are easy prey, they will soon find out otherwise and pursue some other poor vulnerable soul who might fall for their scam.
I'm with Questa on this; I would never want to be in your crosshairs.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 5, 2022 16:26:51 GMT
I have a question for Mark. Or anyone else for that matter. These hire companies have an imprint or some knowledge of ones credit/debit card. After alerting you to the sad news about damage why don't they then debit your account. As this has not happened which would involve them in lawyers etc., it must be a ruse and scam hoping people will just pay up.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 5, 2022 16:54:49 GMT
There's no serious danger of that Casi for anyone on here. It takes time an effort which I can't usually be bothered with anyway nowadays. I'm all mouth and trousers anyway and I've probably lost as many battles as I've won. ("This strange expression comes from the north of England and is used, mainly by women in my experience, as a sharp-tongued and effective putdown of a certain kind of pushy, over-confident male." - www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2010/aug/26/all-mouth-and-trousers-mind-your-language#:~:text=Usingenglish.com%20backs%20up%20the,a%20corruption%20of%20the%20original.%22 Tod, it's obviously all computerised nowadays but what I can say is that if you've had a speeding ticket, parking ticket etc then they will automatically debit your card with that fee and an admin fee. If there is damage to the car when you bring it back, they will keep all or part of your deposit. If you have a full insurance with no deposit/no excess then usually all damage is covered anyway so it is a moot point. If you don't have their full insurance (with no deposit or excess) and they find damage later, in my case they've always contacted me to tell me and to see if I do anything about it in the way of challenging it before taking the money. I suppose they could do but then open themselves up to maybe legal action as the situation isn't cut and dried like when you bring it back at the time with the wheels falling off. I had Hertz in Frankfurt try the same trick and I'd got a signed copy of the return paperwork signed off by their employee as ok. I told them they didn't have a leg to stand on because any responsibility I had for the car ended the second the return sheet was signed. I said that sheet gave me proof the car was fine so I advised them not to pursue me for payment any further. I told them you cannot have an employee tell me verbally - and in writing - the car is ok and then some days later some other employee say it isn't. Their argument that I caused the damage would never stand up anywhere. So piss off. (I didn't write the last three words to them). The ruse and scam no doubt will originate in the situation where some damage has been found they can't attribute to anyone, so they go back half a dozen renters and send them all the same letter demanding payment. I had a car in Malaga without full insurance. When I brought it back the employee immediately walked to a point by the boot and under the boot lid pointed out damage she said I'd caused. She all of a sudden didn't speak English (even though it was the same lady who gave me the car a week before and as perfect in it) when I told her you've not even made the pretence of walking round looking for damage. You've immediately gone to a hidden part of the car because you have prior knowledge, before I even rented it, that the damage was there and you knew. You are now either scamming everyone who rents this particular car or trying to find someone who will pay up without argument. I suggest if you don't find any new damage you sign it off and unblock my deposit within what you've said as five days..... and by the way, I'm in no rush to fly home. I live not far away and will come and see if you my deposit isn't sorted. She signed it off after refusing to speak to me and nothing was taken in the way of money. I rent cars a lot. I have lots of stories. Every third one seems to involve a problem. I must just have a gullible face.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 5, 2022 17:13:17 GMT
Actually, when you sign a rental contract you authorise them to debit you for any problems. It is because they are not total monsters (most of them anyway) that they give you a chance to contest what they say. The fact that the people who service and verify the cars are often on the very low IQ spectrum and make a lot of mistakes, I'm sure that the companies prefer to generally err on the side of caution.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 5, 2022 17:27:46 GMT
Should I ever need a lawyer I shall hire you Mark.
Actually I did have a problem with Aldi once that I didn’t get any satisfaction...
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 5, 2022 17:32:03 GMT
Not pro bono though. My fees are extortionate. Not because I'm worth it, it's just market forces. It'd look bad to do it cheap. Aldi?
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 5, 2022 17:35:07 GMT
Meat products con.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 5, 2022 22:38:57 GMT
Well written response Mark.
We almost always rent from Hertz when in Europe and fortunately have never had issues. We make a point when returning it to take pictures of the vehicle in their presence when signing off on the return and always make a point of getting back in and taking a photo of the mileage and fuel gauge. We had a little damage one time in Switzerland but we had contacted VISA insurance before returning so they were advised of the report we filed when we arrived to drop it off.
Our next holiday is all bus and train travel.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 6, 2022 4:51:32 GMT
I always take loads of photos on pick up and drop off, especially the wheels. I have a separate file on my computer for all of them.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 11, 2022 15:08:50 GMT
For the second time in a week, the power went off at the cinema. Different cinema from the last time, and at least the power came back again within 10 minutes. It would have been super annoying to have to leave, because we were within 10 minutes of the end of the movie, and I never would have returned to see the whole thing again just to see the end. I'm thinking that the current heat wave might be the cause. With all of the big commercial places running the air conditioning at full blast in a city that is rarely this hot, it is probably a bit too much for the system.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 11, 2022 16:21:47 GMT
It would have been super annoying to have to leave, because we were within 10 minutes of the end of the movie, and I never would have returned to see the whole thing again just to see the end. If this happens in future, with your cinema pass, could you step into the theatre to catch the last bit of a movie and then stay to watch something else? Not a practical solution if this film was at a once screen cinema, just a thought. We have had more power outages this summer than I can remember. Some, for hours at a time, thankful for our generator when that happens. We are at a loss for why it is happening, some due to downed trees but other shorter outages are a mystery. We certainly are not having the heat waves that your area has been experiencing.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 11, 2022 17:00:52 GMT
If this happens in future, with your cinema pass, could you step into the theatre to catch the last bit of a movie and then stay to watch something else? I had already made that contingency plan, especially since the cinema to which I go the most has 27 screens.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 13, 2022 0:57:24 GMT
WOW!! 27 screens! I think ours has 8. We went to our first film in over 2 years about a month ago, they now sell alcohol! Wine or beer. I just wanted my popcorn and water so I found the shorter line that does not sell alcohol.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 13, 2022 9:10:22 GMT
Kerouac, I wonder if you have an answer to why the cinema is still going strong in Paris? I am almost certain there are no cinemas left in most cities in South Africa. There certainly is no cinema in my town.
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