I lost it yesterday

[CliveH]

 

I did – I went for it not just once but twice.

 

First my 84 year old mother in law is very ill – admitted a week or so ago with chronic heart failure – blue lighted to hospital stabilised then sent home with a very poor prognosis. Now it seems that her kidneys are packing up which means that she has poisons accumulating in her body which have caused terrible ulcers on her tongue and throat such that she cannot eat or swallow easily.

 

The GP came out to see her Friday and gave a prescription for an anaesthetic throat spray. I went down to the chemist and they said it was not in stock and that it would be in the next day. Not happy with this I explained the situation and as an interim they sold me another type of throat spray which to be fair did help a bit.

 

Went back yesterday morning to be told it was not in and come back that afternoon.

 

Went back at 2:30pm to be told that they could not be sure that it had come in and could I come back Monday. “Why what is the problem?” I asked. Blank looks and another request that I come back Monday. “Has it arrived I asked?” again blank but rather furtive looks this time and a request to come back Monday.

 

I had told them before of the situation and so asked in a loud voice do they really expect an 84 year old in real pain, unable to drink or eat properly should be asked to wait till Monday. At that point a chap behind me said “Disgusting” and whoever he was I am grateful to him because his input seemed to break the stand-off because one of the assistants then took it upon herself to go through some boxes (presumably the delivery) and after a while said that she had found it.

 

When I realised that the only reason I was asked to come back on Monday was because they had not unpacked that days delivery I “lost it” and told them what I thought of them in front of several customers.

 

Then on the second occasion I was buying a DVD player for the caravan as our old one is packing up. I bought one for £19.99 from our local supermarket. When I was paying for it a lady came over and asked me to fill in a form – I initially thought it was a guarantee form but it had the TV Licence Authority logo on it and asked a fair bit of personal information.

 

Asking what it was I was told it was a form that they wanted me to complete so that the TV Licence Authority can check I have a TV Licence.

 

I said I was not going to fill it in as I had bought similar items elsewhere and never been asked to fill in a form before. I was told it was “the law” and that any TV related item must have one of these slips filled in which is then sent to the TV Licence Authority.

 

Now I am still checking this out but need to wait till Monday of course but if anyone has any info on this I would be grateful to hear.

 

After a bit of a conflab with the manager who told me that they were “personally liable” if I did not fill in the form. “Liable for what?” I asked? - To which he had no reply. And in the end I just picked up the DVD player and said I am going to pay for it but you know what you can do with that form. So again – another “Stand-Off” – so that is two within an hour.

 

And again!!! – someone in the queue behind me said something. She said “Ridiculous!”

 

And as soon as she said that there was a change of attitude by the staff who suddenly just melted away and I paid and left.

 

But I am glad I stood my ground on both occasions and grateful to both people who made a comment because on each of those occasions it was those individual comments that seemed to have the final effect.

 

Is this a sign that the average person has had enough and when we see another getting poor service or subject to ever increasing bureaucracy that we are all now prepared to support the person being put upon? I ruddy well hope so, because I will be in future.

 

OK Rant over

 

Feel better now.

 

[Randonneur]

I am right behind you Clive.

 

When we first came to France our French was not good but it has improved a bit but there are certain stores here that try to overcharge you. Items priced on the shelves miraculously change price when you get to the checkout, this has happened on several occasions and I have waited until the said item has been properly priced at the lower price. Certain things come to mind for example: a full toilet system, USB Key, razor blade refills and a George Foreman Toaster which they tried to add another 10 euros. How many smaller items have slipped though the net I will never know.

 

If we don't stick up for ourselves no one else will.

[Syd]

Another excuse for having their stupid forms filled in is "Oh it's to validate your warranty" I simply refuse to fill them in and if they persist I walk away and buy elsewhere. I have never filled one in yet

[Guest Tracker]

So sorry to hear about your Mum Clive. I've been there with my Mum and experienced the apathy callousness and bad attitude that pervades the health industry, and like you I am not averse to the telling of a few home truths to said operatives - can't really call 'em people as they simply do not qualify.

 

I've also experienced the caring and compassion of many individuals in health care and it never fails to bring a tear of gratitude to my eye. I guess as with everything there is good and bad?

 

When asked to fill in any pointless form needing an address as above or when getting a refund I always just smile sweetly and write in a made up address that I know does not exist along with an illegible name.

 

That should give TVL et al (whoever al may be) some entertainment if indeed anyone ever looks at them which is very doubtful.

[duffers]

Well done Clive and your 'friends' in the queues.

It's appalling the way people are being treated and time more of us stood up to be counted.

Sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. I think a crucial point is to try and individualise the people we deal with, if the shop assistant had been a little less self- absorbed she would have realised that a real person was suffering and that just a small action by her could help ease that pain.

There is too little empathy and too much jobsworthiness [is that a word?] out there.

 

ray

[kelly58]

When asked to fill in those stupid forms I always put a false name and address and use the post code P155 0FF and no one has noticed yet ..http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/images/emoticons/icon_lol.gifhttp://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/images/emoticons/icon_lol.gifhttp://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/images/emoticons/icon_lol.gif

[colin]

It's a requirement for buying tv to fill in the stupid form, but I didn't think it applied to DVD players.

As for your mother in law, thats how people are treated you now have to fight her corner, do not accept that anyone will go out of their way to even do their job to help alieviate her suffering, and do not assume under any curcumstances that doctor or hospital staff have any idea what they are doing, it's a painfull leason to learn believe me.

[Syd]

Hi Colin

This applies equally to disabled children too, we were almost barred from our local hospital at one time

[Philman]

Some years ago I was asked to fill in the form 'to check if you have a tv licence', when I was buying a satellite system from Lidl up in Scotland.

 

Since that time I have bought at least 4 different TVs and never been asked to fill a form in. Strange?

 

Phil.

[CliveH]

Update

 

Well I phoned the TV Licence people and they said that any TV related item purchase had to be reported to them but they had no idea of the potential abuse by the unscrupulous via my handing over my credit card details and personal details on their form.

 

So as my firms Data Controller under the Data Protection Act, I then phoned the Information commissioner and bounced the info off them. They confirmed that it is a requirement but that the outlet must keep the information secure, and it seems that filling in a form and letting anyone have access to it is not keeping it secure so I would have grounds for complaint.

 

But I cannot be bothered with that as I refused to complete the form anyway and was still able to purchase said item.

 

AND - in future if I were to complete said form I would do exactly as Tracker suggested earlier and complete a false (and quite possibly a very rude) address.

 

[Usinmyknaus]

Irked by a similar issue to Clive's experience last year, I looked into the subject, including making a Freedom of Information request when my first communication was ignored. I found the TV licence enforcement system appeared to have been contracted out to the private sector and I gained the impression that it relies extremely heavily on TV users disclosing one or more fixed addresses. (Hence the recent adverts' particular slant.) It being, presumably, cheaper and more cost-effective than systematically driving up and down roads in vans with spinning roof racks or whatever.

 

It seemed that much effort is expended to glean names and address details related to the purchase of any equipment capable of receiving or viewing a TV transmission of any type, whether via a DVD player, solid state recorder, PC computer card, internet connection, mobile 'phone, satellite equipment, Freeview box or a boring old TV. I expect that is why retailers are required to act as agents of the State. Presumably the contractors believe that data trawls and matching exercises from this activity will alert them to the existence of sub-divided properties, second homes, student digs etc, in addition to more traditional residences.

 

I got the distinct impression the powers that be did not like answering questions about these arrangements.

 

Bob

[CliveH]

Certainly that was my impression when talking to the TV Licence chap who was very polite but clammed up significantly when I told him I was the Data Controller for my firm.

 

He even said that "it was just a title" - to which I said I hoped the analysis of the taped telephone call would indeed help in his training because that was very far from the truth.

 

I think it is time we just said no. And stores that insist will lose the business.

 

 

And most seriously - MANY thanks for the kind sympathetic words re my Mother in Law.

 

Much appreciated.

 

[ROON]

Oh, Clive as a carer for my elderly parents I could go on and on about the way we are left to struggle and the lack of understanding of people in the caring profession, but I won't. I just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear of your mother in law being left to struggle like that.... it really stinks. People are just too lazy to do basic things even when they are employed to do them.... I hope the medication is now helping her.

 

Joy x

[Kate1881]

Hi Clive

sorry to hear your news re- Mother in law, as with Joy lets hope the medication is helping.

As for The DVD player, well I bought 2 not so long ago and didn't have to fill in any forms.

Jobsworthy attacked you i think !!

 

Kate

[nightrider]

I lost it some time ago in Aldi when I proffered a Scottish £5 note and they wouldn't take it, on asking why the cashier said it was company policy, not satisfied with that I asked for the manager, by this time a long queue built up, this particular store is staffed and run by foreigners, patronised by foreigners and yet they would not take a Scottish fiver but it is quite alright for Scottish troops to die in places like Iraq, I had accepted the Scottish fiver from another store in my change so why wouldn't they? I then shot up to my bank (Royal Bank of Scotland) and played hell with them, they changed my fiver for an English one.

They then told me that Scottish currency is not legal tender in England, a shop keeper can accept Scottish currency but he must not put it in the till and hand it out to another customer, he must pay it into the bank at the end of the days trading where he will be reimbursed.

A point to remember if ever you go north of the border and you are given Scots notes.

[CliveH]

Got back from the hosp a couple of hours ago - brilliant Echo Cardiogram technician found the problem - she has a heart infection that is stopping the mitral valve from closing properly.

 

She is now admitted to the coronary care unit after being admitted as an emergency thanks to the above technician grabbing his Heart Specialist Consultant and showing him what he had found and she will now be treated with intravenous antibiotics to try and clear the infection.

 

But we have been warned that it is not like dealing with your average infection.

 

So not out of the woods yet.

 

[J9withdogs]

Hope everything goes OK for her, Clive.

[howie]

Glad to hear you're making progress with your Mother in Laws treatment Clive. Finding out what's exactly wrong is half the battle, and in my experience once you are recieving medical treatment then treatment is usually first class.

Infections can be tricky things to deal with, especially these days, but i'm sure the one you described will be now dealt with and get M in L back to full health. All the best.

 

[colin]

Sounds like endocarditis, as I said before, fight her corner for her, thats the best advice I can give.

[howie]

Sad to say, but for many years I believe the NHS's attitude to the elderly has been one of 'low priority' with available funding better spent elsewhere. This to me is ageism at its very worst which can even bring on the early demise of those with so much more to give and live for.

Anyone in Clive's position should take exactly the same action as he did and insist that everyone receives the same care and treatment that should by right be available to all regardless.

[CliveH]

Once again many thanks

 

Two weeks of injectable antibiotics (but may need more than one course we are told) and then an assessment to see if the valve is damaged.

 

It certainly looked it as the echocardiogram showed one side working OK but a huge flap on the other side just waving about. Looks like the valve is torn away.

 

So a new valve possibly via open heart surgery if she ever gets fit enough.

Many thanks for all the concern and good wishes.