Never trust "the system"

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

developer

MB Enthusiast
SUPPORTER
Joined
Dec 28, 2007
Messages
8,228
Car
Volvo V90 D5 AWD
Only small amounts involved, but the principle remains the same.

A letter arrives telling me I owe £30.52 on house policy I altered from unoccupied to occupied cover.

I query the figure by phone, as I'm sure they are wrong (occupied is much cheaper).

They go away to "speak to Accounts".

I get a call back 1/2hr later telling me that actually they owe me £45.35.

How can this be, I enquire?

Oh, it's they way our system calculated it sir - Accounts didn't give me the detail.

Great, these "systems" :doh:.
 
Recently moved house (approx 250 yards from old address).
Car insurance with Aviva so phoned them with new address. That will be £26.50 (IIRC) extra. Queried this and was told that it would be because someone with the same postcode may have made a claim recently, which would change the "risk" for this postcode.
Later found out that £26.50 is their standard fee for changing policy documents and nothing to do with higher risk postcode!
Pity they can't employ people who actually know their companies business.
 
Admiral told me the same when I moved to a nicer postcode at the end of a cul-de-sac. Three years later I moved back to my old address and they gave me the same bull. Why not just say it's an admin fee instead of rubbish about higher risk etc.
 
The bill I received in 2009 from a main Mercedes Benz dealer for an A service was £60 more than I have been quoted over the phone. When I enquired I was told that the 'computer added the cost of the oil twice by mistake Sir'.
 
The bill I received in 2009 from a main Mercedes Benz dealer for an A service was £60 more than I have been quoted over the phone. When I enquired I was told that the 'computer added the cost of the oil twice by mistake Sir'.

Ha ha - that's one clever computer (or not).
 
Just changed my work car, significantly downgraded.
Insurance cost £120 a year more. Why? I asked, the answer was funny, not £120 funny though.

"You won't be used to driving the new car and could crash it"

Done 2000 miles in the last 10 days, reckon I got the hang of it now.
 
Just changed my work car, significantly downgraded.
Insurance cost £120 a year more. Why? I asked, the answer was funny, not £120 funny though.

"You won't be used to driving the new car and could crash it"

Done 2000 miles in the last 10 days, reckon I got the hang of it now.

Probably time to ring them back - tell them you are used to the car now and ask for a discount:rolleyes:
 
No.1 son went to America on Saturday and asked me to get him some dollars as his workplace is in the middle of nowhere. So off to NatWest on Thursday morn.

"Good morning. I would like $400 please."

"Certainly Sir" ....taps away on keyboard..."That will be £856.76"

"No it won't. That is very obviously wholly wrong."

"Well that is what the system says it will be"

"In which case you have done something wrong or your system is rubbish."

Cut a long story short she had to go and get a "Supervisor" who looked very dim and went on to prove it. Simply could not get past the number on the screen even when I invited them to work it out for themselves.

I left and went to HSBC. In and out in less than 2 minutes.
 
A month or so ago I filled up with diesel at our local BP station. Credit card machine decided to have a little glitch and tried to charge me £2,020,202,020.20. Luckily I spotted this before entering my PIN as two billion pounds would have put a slight dent in my savings.

Seems bizarre that a garage credit card machine would even have the ability to attempt to charge billions. I guess they're accommodating for future hyperinflation.
 
A month or so ago I filled up with diesel at our local BP station. Credit card machine decided to have a little glitch and tried to charge me £2,020,202,020.20. Luckily I spotted this before entering my PIN as two billion pounds would have put a slight dent in my savings.

Seems bizarre that a garage credit card machine would even have the ability to attempt to charge billions. I guess they're accommodating for future hyperinflation.

yeah, just getting ready for next years fuel prices
 
A couple of years ago I got a renewal quote for my contents insurance which was circa £750. I thought that seemed rather alot so I checked the prevoius years cost - which turned out to be just over £100.
Phoned the office and eventually got it back down to just under £100 for exactly the same cover.
That was blamed on "computer error".
I wonder just how much extra income is made by these companies with "computer error" off people who dont check and just pay the bill without thinking or questioning.

BT are devils for that. After 12 months - any discounts you may have negotiated are dropped and your bill revert back to pre-discount levels.
You have to phone them every 12 months to get your discounts reinstated. Itts not a problem and they do it gladly, but you HAVE to ask.
 
Just changed my work car, significantly downgraded.
Insurance cost £120 a year more. Why? I asked, the answer was funny, not £120 funny though.
The opposite for me a year ago when I upgraded from a 197bhp 1999 CLK 230K worth around £2k to a brand spanking 306bhp C350 Sport with a list price of over £45k. They gave me a refund of £85.04. Go figure! :dk:
 
BT are devils for that. After 12 months - any discounts you may have negotiated are dropped and your bill revert back to pre-discount levels.
You have to phone them every 12 months to get your discounts reinstated. Itts not a problem and they do it gladly, but you HAVE to ask.
Not just BT, it's pretty much everyone. But never a problem getting a significant discount again, especially if you say you're going to have to go elsewhere at those prices.
 
No.1 son went to America on Saturday and asked me to get him some dollars as his workplace is in the middle of nowhere. So off to NatWest on Thursday morn.

"Good morning. I would like $400 please."

"Certainly Sir" ....taps away on keyboard..."That will be £856.76"

"No it won't. That is very obviously wholly wrong."

"Well that is what the system says it will be"

"In which case you have done something wrong or your system is rubbish."

Cut a long story short she had to go and get a "Supervisor" who looked very dim and went on to prove it. Simply could not get past the number on the screen even when I invited them to work it out for themselves.

I left and went to HSBC. In and out in less than 2 minutes.
Don't worry, with mathematical skills like that they'll soon be promoted to senior positions in the bank where they'll be able to get paid bonuses in the millions, and not even know it!
 
Favourite saying at work was :
one thing you can assume is that you can't assume anything ;)
 
The opposite for me a year ago when I upgraded from a 197bhp 1999 CLK 230K worth around £2k to a brand spanking 306bhp C350 Sport with a list price of over £45k. They gave me a refund of £85.04. Go figure! :dk:

Similar (in principle) thing happened tto me several years ago. I went from an oldish Saxo to a brand new Clio and got an insurance refund like you.

I queried this and apparently one of the things that affects insurance premiums the most is cost of repair.
More modern cars are designed to be repaired quickly and easily (and therefore more cheaply) after a minor shunt - whereas older cars often aren't. Hence the lower premiums for more modern cars.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom