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Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted -  25/06/2010  :  09:59
I just love banks, don't you? They go out of their way to make life exciting and to make sure we are always wondering if our account will have been emptied by tomorrow morning. They spend a fortune launching `Chip & Pin' and trying to convince us that it is infallible and that any fraud on our card in future will be due to our failings, not theirs. They do us great favours like deciding, unilaterally, to get rid of cheques. They are so good to us I thought we should reward them with a thread devoted to their marvellous escapades. Let me start with this offering but please add your own experiences and comments...

We have received a letter from Santander (Abbey Nat to you and me) beginning "We are deligted to inform you..." which always sets alarm bells ringing, and ends "As Santander we will continue to offer innovative, great value products and are committed to delivering excellent service to our customers" which sets the sirens blaring.  What they are delighted to inform me is that they have upgraded (without consulting me) my Cheque Guarantee Card to a Visa Debit Card. But I don't want a Visa debit card, I don't need another card, it's just another thing to get stolen, lost or defrauded.

But there's a sting in the tail. They then tell me to destroy my cheque guarantee card by cutting it in half. OK, I think, the new card will be used for this instead. But no, lower down in the letter it says the new card cannot be used to guarantee cheques. I know that cheques are set to be phased out (unilaterally once again, by June 2011) but it looks like the banks have devised a great scam to deprive us of cheque guarantee cards so they can say that cheques are not much use. I use cheques a lot and I would prefer that they were not phased out, but then, hey, the banks are not there just for you and me, are they?

I notice that although the letter tells me to destroy the cheque card, nowhere does it say that I cannot continue to use it. So I'm going to use it for as long as possible. I advise everyone to do the same. The banks are just hoping we will all fall in line with their demands and destroy the cards immediately.


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catgate
Senior Member


1764 Posts
Posted - 27/07/2010 : 10:34


quote:
Tizer wrote:


One of my neighbours, in his 80s and living on state pension, says that if/when the banks stop us using cheques he is going to ditch his bank account and just use cash. Have nothing to do with banks. I wonder if he will be able to do that? Or have they cornered us by making it essential to have bank account for so many things now? It would be wonderful if everyone took their money out of the banks and boycotted them!

 
It is a wonderful idea and one wih which I have enormous sympathy  However, if it should be tried, we would find there is not enough "real cash" to go round. For the last 40 years banks have been doing all they can to force a cashless society upon us, and with the help of the avaricious shortsightedness of Big Commerce they are gradually getting there.

 


Every silver lining has a cloud.


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tripps
Senior Member


1404 Posts
Posted - 27/07/2010 : 14:05
Not just the banks!
I just researched a product, in some detail on a website, then a while later opened another site (a blog)  which I look at regularly, and there was an ad panel linking directly to the company, and product I had earlier looked at.
I can't see that this is coincidence. Am I being naive ior over reacting in finding this a bit sinister?  It's all a bit 1984 for me. Also I can't see the point, as i had all the info I wanted from the original site.

PS. Just phoned the blog website - they plead not guilty, but say that as I found the other site through Google, then it is they who are keeping tracks on my  surfing.  - Creepy, but I don't suppose you can expect Google to work for nothing.

Edited by - tripps on 27/07/2010 2:52:08 PM


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pluggy
Geek


1164 Posts
Posted - 27/07/2010 : 15:49
Its not as creepy as you might think,  most websites use cookies (little files stored by your browser on your computer) google is no different.  When you look at something the website instructs your browser to save what you looked at on your computer, when you go to anther site using the same system, it asks the browser what you've looked at before on that systemand makes up the adverts on the fly to suit what you've looked at before.  Its an entirely dumb system and pretty anonymous as internet threats go.

OGFB in common with almost all similar bulletin board type systems use cookies to store your login information so you don't need to login everytime you return.  Buried in the bowels of your browser will be a setting where you can disable cookies, but be aware that large chunks of the internet will stop working if you do so.  

Most modern browsers have a 'privacy' option where cookies work for the session but are deleted afterwards, along with browsing history and other stuff stored during the session.   Colloquially known as 'Porn mode'  so other people sharing the computer don't know what you've been looking at...........

 


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pluggy
Geek


1164 Posts
Posted - 27/07/2010 : 16:15
Porn mode in Internet Explorer 8, The same 'Shift Cntrl P' works in Later versions of Firefox as well :




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Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 27/07/2010 : 16:32
"Buried in the bowels of your browser will be a setting where you can disable cookies"

I give my browser a laxative about once a week by going into Firefox's Preferences | Privacy | Show Cookies | Remove All Cookies. Perhaps I'm just paranoid but I know they are out to get me!


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tripps
Senior Member


1404 Posts
Posted - 27/07/2010 : 23:34
This is getting tiresome.Everywhere i go, I am followed by adverts for prams!  I trhink my surfing record is my "intelectual property", and no one should sell it on without paying me - or at least asking me nicely.Smile.


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Bradders
Senior Member


1880 Posts
Posted - 28/07/2010 : 00:40
Prams ???


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 28/07/2010 : 05:06
Worse things than prams....


Stanley Challenger Graham




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Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 28/07/2010 : 10:13
Tripps, even worse is the way that companies like Experian keep a record of your debts then charge you if you want to see a copy of the record. I think if they keep records of your personal information without asking you they should be obliged to provide a a copy of the record to you free of all charges.


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 28/07/2010 : 16:51
Same applies to any card giving Nectar points.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 14/08/2010 : 12:16
One of the banks with which we have a business account has written to tell us that we will be allowed to make only two transactions at the counter each month. They say this is because the queues are getting too long in the branches. As it is not an internet account this somewhat restricts its value! Are the banks there to help businesses or are we there to support them?


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pluggy
Geek


1164 Posts
Posted - 14/08/2010 : 17:51
A whole two counter transactions a month ? Luxury......

 Santander business accounts don't allow any.  Theres a cost to their free for life business banking.

 Do not under any circumstance get a Santander business account if you run a retail establishment where coins enter the equation, notes only through an ATM  if you please.


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 15/08/2010 : 04:58
I saw yesterday that someone has woken up to the growth in 'pay day loans' and realised that annual rates of 2,500% are possible. Asked if anything could be done about this it was said that on the whole they were better than back-street loan sharks and so would be allowed to continue. The bottom line is that easily available credit is out of fashion and the only way to avoid these high rates is to keep a postive balance. Not the easiest thing to do if you are on the bottom layer with no real income. The converse of this is the minimum rate wich Barlays use instead of charging you the actual interest rate if you have a low balance on a credit card. They charge £1 a month for 1p owing, work that out! That's why I kicked them into touch. HSBC charge the actual amount owing. Guess which card I kept?

As for only two transactions a month, how does a retailer who deposits the takings each day go on?


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
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Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 15/08/2010 : 10:24
He has to pay for the privilege - as Catgate keeps saying, they are pushing us into a cashless society.


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Anni
Regular Member


634 Posts
Posted - 18/08/2010 : 17:05
Well my "situation" with the gas pipes rumbles on.  More phone calls, more arguments about reponsibility.

Seems that I have to pay for any pipe work after the meter.  But as I don't know which part of the pipework is "too close" to "what", I won't be doing anything.

An interesting conversation with a lady in the complaints department at the gas supplier who said "your meter was fitted in 2001,  there is nothing wrong with your meter, doesn't need to be exchanged until it is at least 10 years old, they won't get a warrant - they can only do that if you don't allow entry to read the metre (then why did they threaten me with that), they will be wanting to fit a Smart Meter". 

Alarm bells - so I looked up Smart Meter ont'interwebi.  Great - seems "they" will have complete control over me if one of these is fitted.  

And why is the sub-contracted company so insistent at wanting to change it I asked myself!  Performance targets methinks!  

12 hour time slot indeed.  Do they think everyone has nothing better to do but sit in and help them to meet their targets?  Who is the customer here?

Anyway, they can all go and whistle.  


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