Why London is one of the worlds biggest armpits... (RANT)
Discussion
I have worked in many of Europes mojor cities but whenever I am in London it never surprises me how bad it really is... .. untill today!
Had to go to the city for a meeting and as I was yards from S Works office, popped in to say "hi". I had parked on Queen Victoria street and went back to pick up my baby. Put the ticket in the machine and it asks for £7.50. Happy with that, I stick in a ten quid note.... nothing... no ticket, no change, I cancelled the transaction and it spat my ticket at me, not validated, no change and no tenner.
No more than 10 ft away was the payment office so I went in. A small indian guy came out opened the front of the machine and said he could not access the money boxes to get my money back. No problem I said, give me my £2.50 change and validate my ticket and I will go. Oh no, we cant do that, you will have to pay the full ticket! I was a little pissed off at this, why should I pay twice? I said fine, get my tenner back and I will. Apparently he couldnt do that untill monday!!! I was getting really pissed off with this farce. He presented some document for me to fill out in order to get my money back. Still a little pissed off that he couldnt give my money back, I asked to speak to his manager who was obviously watching on cctv as he called just then to find out what was wrong. I explained and asked for my money back, he told me he couldnt and wouldnt and I would have to fill out some form.
I filled out the form untill it got to the point where it says "I the undersigned agree to owe the corporation of london X amount" Hold on- they owe me! Bottomholes! They were conning me out of more money!!!
Really angry now - I demanded the manager who at that second phoned!!! I demanded to know what his game was and pointed out that unless I had this issue sorted now I would start charging my consultancy rates to him and the corporation he represents. I would also get onto the phone to the police and demand that he and his staff be charged with theft.
He assured me the form was "legitimate" but there was no way I would sign it. I wrote out on the back that they owed me money and my rates for sorting this problem, signed it and got one of the staff to sign as witness. He then proceeded to demand that the rest of the form was filled out including a box that says proof of id, all I had was my credit card which he proceeded to take down all the details - all of them including the security number!!! I hit the roof. I demanded his bank account numbers which unsurprisingly he wouldnt give me, he then would not give me back my form. Manager once again. Funnily enough he wouldnt give me his credit card details, I got the form back and scribbled out the numbers. I was beyond "seriously unamused". This was a fekkin joke, I was expecting Jeremy Beadle to pop out and I was going to seriously bust him in the nose.
I had had these jokers up to here so I told them to give me an exit ticket right here right now, within the next 10 secs or I would call the police with a charge of theft, attempted extortion and blackmail for not releasing my car. Suddenly the phone rang and it was the manager telling them to allow me to go.
I will send them an invoice on monday.
Had to go to the city for a meeting and as I was yards from S Works office, popped in to say "hi". I had parked on Queen Victoria street and went back to pick up my baby. Put the ticket in the machine and it asks for £7.50. Happy with that, I stick in a ten quid note.... nothing... no ticket, no change, I cancelled the transaction and it spat my ticket at me, not validated, no change and no tenner.
No more than 10 ft away was the payment office so I went in. A small indian guy came out opened the front of the machine and said he could not access the money boxes to get my money back. No problem I said, give me my £2.50 change and validate my ticket and I will go. Oh no, we cant do that, you will have to pay the full ticket! I was a little pissed off at this, why should I pay twice? I said fine, get my tenner back and I will. Apparently he couldnt do that untill monday!!! I was getting really pissed off with this farce. He presented some document for me to fill out in order to get my money back. Still a little pissed off that he couldnt give my money back, I asked to speak to his manager who was obviously watching on cctv as he called just then to find out what was wrong. I explained and asked for my money back, he told me he couldnt and wouldnt and I would have to fill out some form.
I filled out the form untill it got to the point where it says "I the undersigned agree to owe the corporation of london X amount" Hold on- they owe me! Bottomholes! They were conning me out of more money!!!
Really angry now - I demanded the manager who at that second phoned!!! I demanded to know what his game was and pointed out that unless I had this issue sorted now I would start charging my consultancy rates to him and the corporation he represents. I would also get onto the phone to the police and demand that he and his staff be charged with theft.
He assured me the form was "legitimate" but there was no way I would sign it. I wrote out on the back that they owed me money and my rates for sorting this problem, signed it and got one of the staff to sign as witness. He then proceeded to demand that the rest of the form was filled out including a box that says proof of id, all I had was my credit card which he proceeded to take down all the details - all of them including the security number!!! I hit the roof. I demanded his bank account numbers which unsurprisingly he wouldnt give me, he then would not give me back my form. Manager once again. Funnily enough he wouldnt give me his credit card details, I got the form back and scribbled out the numbers. I was beyond "seriously unamused". This was a fekkin joke, I was expecting Jeremy Beadle to pop out and I was going to seriously bust him in the nose.
I had had these jokers up to here so I told them to give me an exit ticket right here right now, within the next 10 secs or I would call the police with a charge of theft, attempted extortion and blackmail for not releasing my car. Suddenly the phone rang and it was the manager telling them to allow me to go.
I will send them an invoice on monday.
This sort of jobsworthism gets in my nerves. Its not only in London though Gooby. Everywhere seems to have people prepared to take money but not prepared to take responsibility if things go wrong.
A couple of years ago Mrs T wanted a new washing machine as ours bust just before a bank holiday weekend. We end up buying a Dyson and hand over nearly £1k on the Saturday on condition they'll get it to us by that evening (with a baby and a then 2 yr old it was needed!). The machine duly turns up but we can't get it going so I called Dysons help line:- we'd been sold a non-functioning demo model that shouldn't have been let out of the showroom. Back we go on the Sunday to demand a refund (a frigging months delivery is no good). Guess what? The snotty nosed pimply kid that is the duty manager tells me he doesn't have the suthority to give us a refund and nobody will be in that can till Tuesday!
FFS they take my money happily but can't return it. I hit the roof and everyone in the rather large store must have known about it. Anyway, eventually after threats of police action a real manager arrives from her day off and sorts matters. Still can't believe that a large electrical retailer for whom £1k transactions would be nothing unusual can leave a store without proper management over a bank hols.
And London? Left it 13 years ago and wouldn't go back to live there for all the tea in China.
A couple of years ago Mrs T wanted a new washing machine as ours bust just before a bank holiday weekend. We end up buying a Dyson and hand over nearly £1k on the Saturday on condition they'll get it to us by that evening (with a baby and a then 2 yr old it was needed!). The machine duly turns up but we can't get it going so I called Dysons help line:- we'd been sold a non-functioning demo model that shouldn't have been let out of the showroom. Back we go on the Sunday to demand a refund (a frigging months delivery is no good). Guess what? The snotty nosed pimply kid that is the duty manager tells me he doesn't have the suthority to give us a refund and nobody will be in that can till Tuesday!
FFS they take my money happily but can't return it. I hit the roof and everyone in the rather large store must have known about it. Anyway, eventually after threats of police action a real manager arrives from her day off and sorts matters. Still can't believe that a large electrical retailer for whom £1k transactions would be nothing unusual can leave a store without proper management over a bank hols.
And London? Left it 13 years ago and wouldn't go back to live there for all the tea in China.
London is a sh1thole, and I have to work there every day. Just got the 2300hrs 'p1sshead express' home from Liverpool St, I was the only sober person on it. People puking up in the toilet etc...
I love living in the country, if I didn't have to work in London I wouldn't go near the place. Always love it when you hear the counties folk bigging-up London because they think it makes them look cool....
I love living in the country, if I didn't have to work in London I wouldn't go near the place. Always love it when you hear the counties folk bigging-up London because they think it makes them look cool....
You should see it outside the st mary's hospital their like locusts, even if your a few minutes over visiting a ill person they give you a ticket. They got 10 wardens patrolling that single area. Ater getting 4 tickets I wrote to them, told them I was visiting someone who had a heart attack and was only 5 minutes late but they couldn't care less. Even if you just wait outside/near the hospital they come right up to your car and tell you to move, you end up having to drive round and round if your waiting for someone to come out of the hospital.
Edited by RichyBoy on Saturday 18th August 01:25
:Had a happier experiance in a Winchester car park on Thursday, only money in my pocket was a Scottish fiver, put that in the pay machine in the car park and it gave it back. Called the ticket office on the help line, they told me the machine doesn't reconise Scottish currency. I told him I had nothing else, he said he would let me out for free this time. 
As for London, was born and grew up there, worked there until 3 years ago, utterly hate the place, would never work there again despite being told I could earn another £10K a year if I was willing to travel.
As for London, was born and grew up there, worked there until 3 years ago, utterly hate the place, would never work there again despite being told I could earn another £10K a year if I was willing to travel.
cockneydevil said:
I like living in London but it does have it's draw backs. On a side note I put my 50p in a pay and display ticket machine in Forest Gate a few weeks ago which it swallowed so I gave it a "light tap" and £5 in change fell out, which was nice
I 'light tap' yeah right, i'd still be stamping on it now.Hey well how about this, where I work the meter's are just about to be taken away!! There are notices up saying that you have to use your mobile and pay for the parking over the phone using your debit/credit card...
...mmm now this is something I definatly don't trust, esp when the current charge is £1 for every 15 minutes
via the meter!!
...mmm now this is something I definatly don't trust, esp when the current charge is £1 for every 15 minutes
via the meter!!Mark V8 said:
What was it Samuel Johnson said....."Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford"
He'll be gyrating in his grave then....
He obviously wasn't well travelled.He'll be gyrating in his grave then....
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