British Gas's Zero Bills

On the 27th October, I sent a post out putting a shot across the bows of British Gas, so tired am I of them.

Today however, my post bore fruit, for after paying everything, sorting everything and being assured their systems are in order, I've not only received an email bill, but a red reminder to pay...

You want to see the bill?....

You Ready?...

Wait for it.....

Yes, its a bill for zero... And a demand for zero... and after giving them a call and explaining the operator, a lady whom I could hardly hear because of the background chatter, said... "Well you have to pay the bill"...

Right, okay, an envelope of absolute vacuum will be winging it's way to you now.  Fucking ass clowns.

We move next week, so I'm excepting to give them the tennant of the other house's final reading and then just dump them like hot shit.

Road Rage - Company To Be Named

I'm going to put this out there, because it bugged me to all hell, I'm currently enquiring with several companies whom all shared similar names to find out who operated the vehicle in question, because, I was a victim of road rage.  Not once, but twice, to this moronic driver who in a company vehicle a) could not read the road markings and b) was utterly in the wrong, and then blocked the road to have a good shout at me.

So, what happened, well coming through Long Eaton and the main Nottingham road spans two traffic islands, both have two lanes approaching and then two lanes leaving, both lanes go straight on AND turn...

But on the second island so many people simply do not read the road markings they assume the right hand lane is straight on, and the left land just goes left.

THEY ARE WRONG, and even assuming this is incorrect as by default on islands the left lane is left & straight on whilst the right lane used to be right or straight on and you indicate appropriately...

Anyway, here we have two lanes, to two lanes to two lanes, it is very simple, after the second island in the chain traffic then merges... Lets look at what the highway code has to say about merging and Lane discipline...

Section 7 - 133

If you need to change lane, first use your mirrors and if necessary take a quick sideways glance to make sure you will not force another road user to change course or speed. When it is safe to do so, signal to indicate your intentions to other road users and when clear, move over.

Okay, so if YOU need to change lane... all this applies, did this guy who pissed me off need do this?... No, he was behind me... he was merging into my lane, I was on the left he was on the right, his lane ended and traffic was merging in turn.

Why merging in turn?.... Well the highway code says it...

Section 7 - 134

You should follow the signs and road markings and get into the lane as directed. In congested road conditions do not change lanes unnecessarily. Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed, e.g. when approaching road works or a road traffic incident. It is not recommended at high speed.

So it is recommended but only if safe and appropriate... Well it was safe, traffic was slow, a head of us everyone was merging into the left and all was flowing well....

However, then this moron comes down the right hand lane, and he wants to be in front of me, or perhaps he thinks we drive on the right in the UK and that everyone was merging with the right?... or just perhaps he was such a cock-bite that he believed the world revolves around him and his kid in the passenger seat and the traffic should flow around him?

Either way, he's neither indicating, nor merging, he's just beeping, flashing his lights and screaming at me.  I can see this in my right mirror, becuase unlike him I'm using my mirror.

Everyone was looking at this fool, and he beeps and he's causing the hazard but there's nowhere for this idiot to go, a head are pedestrians and cars in a chevron turning area going right down the next road.

So he's come down the right, pushed a head of everyone and then wants to just push in, and its suddenly me at fault, he's no indicating, he's not glanced left at the vehicle which was behind me... And he's ranting, so he gets my middle finger.

Yes, I'm sorry to say, I rose to the bait and he got my finger, but I'm so sick of cock-bites doing this...

And what wound me up more... This is a company liveried vehicle he's in, he's in a company vehicle, he's currently at that moment an ambassador for his company....

I've made this point to other companies before, if my staff were in vehicles with my company logo plastered all over them then I want a level of decorum from them, even if joe public was in his way he should bite his fucking tongue because he's not in his own vehicle he's in his bosses, he's representing the livelihood of not just himself but his co-workers and the whole supply chain around that company.

And to be frank, if this moron can't drive, I don't want him or his company doing business with me or any company I work for, and once I've made certain the identity of the company in question I will be blacklisting them based on this moron's instability and lack of humanity.

Not only for his clear anger issues and lack of skill behind the wheel, but because he was driving around in this company vehicle and ranting like this with a child in the passenger seat.

I don't know, it maybe perfectly acceptible to drive aroundin a company vehicle with your child, it maybe find for him to drive this vehicle on a Saturday on what looked like a personal errand, it maybe his company, who knows... But personally, I'm done.

I have the registration plate and I'll be updating this post as soon as I have any official reply from the three possible companies (as they all have similar names and livery colours).

But in the mean time, lets take a look at the road....

This is the approach into Long Eaton, from Nottingham, onto the first traffic island, as you can see two lanes, both straight on or turning left & right accordingly...

This is the gap between the islands, again two lanes and we can clearly see both are straight on lanes or turning alternatively...

We can see the lane delimitation even on the island, there are two lanes onto and off of this island.

And then the merging in turn happens here...

Looking from overhead, here is where this moron decided to start ranting and raving.

And once the traffic moved on, he then thought it approproate to stop once again at the turning to Bennett Street, where I was going, he pulled up along side me and continued to scream...

This is the reason he's going to be listed on here for all eternity and the world let know, because it's not acceptable, not in your own car certainly, but definiately not in a company car where you're representing the prestige of your employer... That company now has zero prestige, and I'm going to inform my family, friends and employer (who between them own five different businesses and my employer turns over several hundred billion euro's a year - and would possibly be interested in the type of business this moron works for) not to consider this company.

Black-listed, black-balled, moron'ed into obscurity because he was not an ambassador for his brand, he was wrong and instead of thinking "Hey, why is everyone looking at me?" no he thought it appropriate to scream not once, but twice at me, in front of his own child too.... zero work ethic, zero self awareness, just a zero in life!

British Gas - Poor Systems

I have to just release this, because if I don't vent, I'm going to blow... The payment and billing systems at British Gas must be so archaic it's untrue, they seem to have different systems doing separate different parts of the same job, and these separate different systems don't share information, so they're out of sync or slow or just so fucking annoying.

I've commented to them directly about this several times and they've simply ignored me, but now I figure its beyond a joke.

Last night, I had a reminder to submit my meter readings, so I popped onto their website to put them in, as I logged in I noted last months bill was still not paid, so I checked and made payment in full.  Submitted the new readings and had an instant bill...

Here's my first beef, if my bill was a reading last time and a reading this time then the values are consecutive and they calculate a bill instantly, and I paid it instantly....

However, the previous bill went unpaid for a month because the bill prior to that was estimated, and they waaaaaaay over estimated, so the readings went in and they were lower than even the estimates that had been put in.

The system immediately has a brain fart and doesn't give a bill, so after waiting all weekend for it I clearly gave up and didn't pay all month, because their system is just so shit, I figure a human had to intervene somewhere and reconcile their stupid estimate bullshit and issue the bill, and I can say this happens because more than once I've had to call them and correct a bill, to have to manually intervene and call an Indian call centre just to get a bill is wholly unacceptable in my book, it's the online equivalent of standing up and waving for the waiter in a restaurant and him giving you the finger.

So what did the website do last night?... Well, luckily this time it generated a new bill, and so I paid the first, submitted and paid the second... right done?... All cool...

NO!!!!!!

Because fucking hours later another system at British Gas decides to e-mail me and tell me I need to submit my readings....

Time runs upwards here, earlier messages are lower...

I'm tempted to go give them a reading which is like 1kw/h different and watch their system's brain drop out... Or even, I might start submitting individual readings each time the gas and electricity meter changes value... You know proper spam that sucker, I've read their billing small print there's nothing which says how few readings one has to make, just that one has to submit a reading or allow access to the meters by reading taking staff at intervals...

So, I use say 301Kw/h of electricity per month, lets submit 301 readings, their system asked me to submit a reading 5 hours after I'd done just that for the month!