Category: BAD REVIEWS (Page 3 of 3)

Bad Reviews about Companies or Organisations. All reviews will be investigated by us first before they are published.

Something For Nothing

Thu, July 09, 2020 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

Something For Nothing!

I feel the last week has been really stressful and I learned a costly lesson, through what has happened today. Normally I have no issues with clients they usually ask me to build them a site, give me the content and hey presto I go about doing the marketing and SEO.

However and I will not be naming anyone but why do people expect something for nothing?

Why do they expect you to slog your guts out and be beholden to their every whim?

I am saying enough is enough if you hire me to do a job do not question why I do things a certain way, at the end of the day I am doing it for you, not me.

I was recently questioned why I do not use the word “Home” as a Homepage title and when I gave the reasons why rather than take my advice, I was told that other companies in his profession were using the word “Home” and that my title looks silly. So you hire me to do a job and then question my ability even though I know what I am doing.

So my costly mistake and this is the first time I have ever included it in a contract was a cooling off period when this person asked me to build him a website, then started to add more pages over what we had initially agreed on and stated that most businesses have more than 10 pages. That may be true but they pay to have the extra pages they do not give unlimited pages for £49.99 per month. He announced today he would be looking for another designer, more like he will attempt to do it himself as I have not come across designers charging pittance for what he expected me to do.

So I suspect he may try to build a website himself after all every one has more time on their hands so why not give it a go, that is what I think. The SEO audit report will show me if his site has been built by a professional or not, can’t wait.

So the good soul I am, I have not been charging for web hosting, SEO, or marketing because of this pandemic as I reckon a lot of people are strapped for cash right now. However, do not take advantage of me. If I do not charge you for a website until the lockdown is lifted do not start throwing your teddy’s out to the pram if you do not give me the content to the sites and then somehow expect me to do it for you. I should not have to find the content for you as that takes time with research and content writing. I build websites, I should not be building your business also.

It rattles me beyond belief how people are so full of themselves and expects something for nothing. What about me I have to live too.

I am the kind of person who will go above and beyond my call of duty to help someone but if they start taking advantage as I have seen a few of my clients doing lately, I will say enough is enough.

Enough is enough, do not take advantage of people!

Again I have a client who cannot work due to government guidelines and has to overcome the close proximity of his clients so not only did I not charge him for the hosting of the site and blog, but I also gave him free advertising on a local business directory only to have him go on his high horse, why his dot com domain name was not associated with his site.

Talking SEO goes right over his head and when I was still contemplating if I should use his dot com rather that a dot co dot UK domain name for his blog he goes on a rant and now has gone quiet on me when I told him he is only allocated two hours a month and that he is in a queue. The reason why I am hesitant to use a dot com is that even though you can set your GEO fencing for the domain names, search engines still send you traffic from the location your domain comes from which in the case of a dot com is the USA. So if you happen then to do pay-per-click advertising your budget will get swallowed up by US traffic not good especially if you are in the UK.

So I thought I had ample time to update him but obviously not as he was throwing his teddy about and expecting me to drop everything. So what did I do I dropped everything for him and now he has gone quiet, how rude……..

As for the other client I built a 40-page website for and he used the get-out clause in order for me not to charge him, I also designed a logo and has he offered to pay for it of course he hasn’t even though I told him at the beginning how much it would cost and he made me do numerous changes and nothing not even a tiddly wink for my troubles. I hope the client that decided to cool off ahead of payment feels really bad about what he has done. My question to this person is “why bother praising me, bigging me up, saying that I am really clever and know what I am doing and even have an email saying he loves the site only to pull out at the last minute?” I think it is to do with money. Yet what he charges an hour would have covered the costs for the next year’s renewal of the website.

I really cannot understand people sometimes, I really can’t and I have now lost respect for this person.

I am going to stop being nice and doing people favors as they take advantage of me and that is from being many years in business, people want to negotiate your prices even though you try to be as low in price as possible yet they always want more and still want you to lower your price, especially for them. I have had enough I am not doing it anymore, you either pay me the asking price or you find someone that will do it cheaper but I do not have time to haggle with you over my pricing. You would not go to a solicitor who charges £300 an hour to lower their price for you so why should I lower my prices considering I am building the engine that will bring in the clients?

Is it even worth me invoicing him the £75 for the logo and for him not to pay and then me taking it to a small claims court, I do not think so, it is not worth the time or stress or trouble and all I can say is “what goes around comes around”.

To think that I know how much my client’s charge by the hour, my fee is a fraction of one job that they would bring in a month yet they still seem to want more. Sheer greed and being condescending will eventually catch up with you, so you treat people with kindness and respect.

If you think you know more than me then, by all means, put me in my place but if you are just a cheapskate and want to cut corners then I am not the person you should be talking to.

Remember treat people like you would want to be treated. If you want to be a miser, people will also do less for you if you want something you want for nothing.

If you look at the national average for a website do not expect to pay basic web design prices and expect more for your money.

https://www.expertmarket.co.uk/web-design/how-much-does-website-cost

Signing off.

#understandingpeople #takingadvantage #somethingfornothing #psychology

Stupid People

Mon, July 06, 2020 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

I need to get this off my chest as I really want to scream. As you all know I am a web designer and internet marketer to name a few services that I offer and most recently I lost one client because I was discriminated by his partners opinion about me.

Anyway moving on, the day comes when termination of hosting is imminent and after explaining in so much detail that a five year old could understand and after the domain name had changed hands it was inevitable that the website and emails would go down.

So approximately two and a half hours before midnight and final cut off period, the hosting goes down.

Now wait for this, after I had explained that the hosting would go down at which point it did, I get an email saying this person’s emails had gone.

So even after I had said that as soon as the domain crossed over the hosting would go down this was somehow my fault that this person had no access to his emails.

Furthermore they tried to insinuate I had cancelled the agreement and that I was keeping the domain, of which I proved that the domain had changed hands showing whois data.

This must have stung like a slap across the face and did I get an apology for the insinuation I had cancelled the agreemnet, of course I did not.

Afterall these people think they are somehow better than me. All I will say is you reap what you sow. If you are not nice to people, people will not be nice to you.

Obviously like a good person that I am, I stayed up until the early hours trying to retrieve his emails from back up and restore. I looked like an idiot going back to the hosting providers and saying hold on but my client has not backed up his emails and has not set up up new email accounts with his new web designers.

I won’t say what profession he is in but if you knew you would be shocked.

Anyway just make a statement about the new web designer who have made a shambles of my ex-clients new website and to blow my own trumpet I have perfomed a SEO Audit Report on his site and it looks like an amatuer has thrown a wordpress site together.

There is a saying ” Do not fix something that is not broken”.

All I can say is “OMG” how stupid can you get and to think his idiot partner made derogatory comments about my site , I am laughing my cotton socks off.

Obviously for legal reasons I will not mention the person’s name , his profession or his domain name, but do not pretend to be something you are not. It has taken me years to learn about serach engine optimization and web design so for his partner to claim he is some sort of expert is a joke.

My daughter has said it is his loss and when she saw his new site the reaction was “Oh God”.

To think I have wasted a whole day today as I have been going back and forth my hosting providers and being extremly tired I could not focus on what I was planning on doing today, I lost a whole days work.

Anyway moving on I have been working on a local directory and the amount of busineeses that I have come across that do not have a website or if they claim they do in order to not pay website designers they cheat and have stated their websites are in actual fact Facebook pages is beyond comprehendable. Do not be a cheapskate and do half a job. Your brand and reputations says all about presentation. If you have a mediocre WordPress site or Facebook page instead of a website it does not say much about you.

If you cannot be honest to people you cannot be honest to yourself. Meaning if you are lying to the world you have a website but the world lands on your Facebook Page, what is the first thing people will see? I will tell you, it says you do not have money to spend on a website therefore you are not very successful.

The same goes if your website has Powered by WordPress. Any Professional Designer would remove all reference to WordPress. Again I am blowing my own trumpet as I can see how stupid some people are and cannot admit that they either want to cut costs or have financial difficulties but instead come up with a half hearted excuse why they want to change web site deisgners after being with them for half a decade.

I Know that it is down to the other partner and not so much my ex-client but you would have thought in his line of profession he would show some intellect and considering I am an Author and have published two books on Domain Names, Website Design and SEO, you would not try to insult my intelligence.

Moving on I came across a post on Facebook how the local shop owners of Wellfield Road, which is in the vicinity where I live, were irrate about hooligans vandalising the trees strategically planted to stop cars parking on the street. They even went on to say they collectively raised £740 plus to replace the trees that were vandalised.

The whole point of the trees is to maintain social distancing.

Yet the picture paints a thousand words. The whole point of the trees is to stop parking and to maintain social distancing but what do the shop owners do?……….only pose for a group photo without maintaining social disatancing…….The council should fine them all !! Somehow they seem to think they are exempt from the social distancing rule and one wonders why the world is the way it is.

Photo and article below.

https://www.facebook.com/7clothing/photos/a.10150309978111218/10157382600586218/?type=3

Group Photo of Shop Keepers – No Social Distancing

Do Not Look Down At People, Show Respect!

Fri, May 29, 2020 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

**Respect Colour, Race, Religion and Gender** **and Status**.

People in all walks of life have someone they know who thinks they are better than everyone else.

The may claim to be experts even though they blag their way through life to gain the attention and respect they so crave.

Whether it is business or at home there is always an elimant of self worth where we try to prove we are sometimes something we are not.

Just because we may have a title, a badge are a celebrity, royalty or a tycoon, does not give anyone the right to treat others the way you would not like to be treated. Just because you have money, are a director of a company does not give you the right to be unkind, use and abuse and be cruel. Money does not bring you happiness, enriching other people brings you happiness and respect.

You do not gain respect for how much money you have in your bank, you gain respect by teaching others how you made that money and how you can empower that individual to also be as successful as you.

The “Do Unto Others” Bible Verse

Matthew 7:12 – “So in everything, do unto others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Its can be borderline narcissistic to look down ones nose at another being for what ever reason we so choose.

We should not judge or make innuendos and sit on our thrown casting stones, we should also not use or abuse people and treat people badly especially the vulnerable.

However people with money and power think they can buy what ever they want and treat people without any respect. We in society are segregated into classes and the people on the top of the food chain are usually the ones that do not care what happens to the ordinary folk, that is why the world is the way it is. Unfortunately I cannot change the world single handily.

Did you know there is a chemical our brains produce when we do something kind or witness another person being kind?, it is called ‘Oxytocin’ The chemical is responsible for feeling love and connection and the more kinder you are the more people are enriched and also do kind things in return.

People want to be respected yet not everyone does get that privilege and there are many especially in business the higher up the ladder they sit, the more mightier some people seem to think they are.

As an example I know of a certain individual without mentioning any names that has sat on his high chair claiming to be an expert in more than one field. This person was once a startup and he too yearnes the respect yet he shows none to others.

I put it down to the fact he is feeling insecure about himself so he spouts out atrocities to feel better about himself without actually realising what he has done to the other person that he may in fact not know very well.

Before casting stones think what it will do to the other person. Some people cannot handle critisism and this may actually tip them over the edge.

Do you want to be that peron that has pushed another too far?

Would you be able to sleep at night if you knew someone had harmed themselves because of you.

Just because you feel intimidated do not intimidate someone else to make yourself feel better.

Some of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time have struggled with fear and self doubt. Just because they hide behind their clean and crisp shiny suites does not make them “super ceo’s”. You cannot know for certain what is going through someones mind when you make detrimental comments about another person. You do not know what the other person has gone through when you make your own opinions about that person.

Here are some tips about gaining respect and teaching it to others.

1. Respect yourself.

I learnt the hard way and this is why I can hold my head up high, someone elses opinion is insignificant to me.

You are your own boss and you control your own destiny.

Without sounding cliche, no one will respect you unless you respect yourself. Love yourself and people will love you.

By showing respect to other people and being kind you in turn will be rewarded for your honorable and courteous behavior.

Remember only you know your self worth and no one can make assumptions without knowing your full story. Do not claim to be someone your are not.

2. To get respect, give respect.

Do not throw stones in glass houses. You do not want to be spoken about badly behind your back so do not speak ill of people when they are not around. People around you want just as much respect as you do. Think of this way karma has a way of pay you back, do not tempt fate as you may end up holding the other side of the coin. Afterall you should still be courteaus and respectful to the person who may be disrespectul to you as this will make you the bigger person. To gain their respect show interest in them and try and contribute by being helpful.

3. Finding a mentor.

By growing a network of like minded people you have the opportunity to be respected because of what you have to say, humans are very complex labyrinthine beings, with only a handful of people whose names are immediately recognizable and well respected. If you are able to learn from someone who is well known in their field of expertise you will find people will follow you like lambs and will be eager to learn from you. By having a great following of people especially on social media you will naturally gain the respect you so rightfully deserve. By having a large network of people interested in your niche you will not only learn from others but you will also be able to teach what you have learnt.

4. Mentoring Others.

By mentoring others and helping them climb the ladder of success not only will this help others it will also help you. If you can invest your time teaching others this will in turn cause a ripple effect and the ones you teach will then be able to teach others and will avoid costly mistakes, yet will always refer to the mentor that originally taught them and you will then gain notoriety and respect.

By enriching the lives of others you will be remembered and referred to and in time you would have built your own legacy.

5. Honesty is the best policy

Do not pretend to be something you are not. The best way to gain respect is to communicate face to face. If something is bothering you or you are not sure about, talk it over, do not hide behind your superior ego.

I had someone most recently without any explanation terminate an agreement. Rather than talk things over to see what they felt was not working for them they chose to cut their losses only to realise that they had infact lost more than they had bargained for.

Through their ill representation of someone who claimed to be an expert in more than one field they had in fact lost several thousands ££££ of advertising and looking at their analytics report a lot of business too and they will not hold global positioning on a local search directory because of the their mistake.

Yet had they have stayed they would have been dominated in their industry and would have held exact match searchable keyword domain names all because of misguidance by someone sitting on their high throne. As an example I have written many contracts in my time but that does not make me a solicitor, so the same could be said for the individual who also claims to be a SEO expert.

All it would have taken was communication from the other Director and his assocociates to resolve the matter.

Not only that they will now how to start from scratch and it will cost them an arm and a leg to get back what they had and more.

There is a saying you reap what you sow. They would have had more repsect from me had they talked things over.

As my daughter now says its their loss.

People value authenticity and honesty more than they value respect and by not being honest and transparent they have now bitten off more than they can chew.

6. Self Representation & Appearance

I will reflect back to a time when I was in a toxic relationship and everything I owned was destroyed and everytime I replaced things these things would get destroyed also, so I stopped replacing them until I could free myself from the toxicity in my life.

This obviously showed in my appearance as I started to play down my appearance and my personality and kept myself to myself. The fear of being humiliated for looking nice was my ultimate sacrifice until I could rebuild my life. But there were certain individuals that chose to be judgemental without knowing the full story and not only did I have to put up with toxicity in my personal life I was faced with snide comments in my work environment.

So I chose to take a stand and remove myself from the people that were weighing me down. This was like the world had lifted off my shoulders. I did not have to prove myself to no one. Either these people accepted me for whom I was or not at all.

I did learn something though looks matter, people are judgemental and I started to love myself again and have started to respect myself although deep down I always respected myself, but found that other people did not.

I started blooming again after so many years of being a closed flower bud. Whenever I went out which was very rarely pre covid -19, I chose to look smart, I wanted to show the world I had picked myself up again and that I was ready to face anyone, holding my head up tall.

You don’t need to earn a lot of money to look smart or professional, you just got to look the part.

By looking great you not only look nice, you also feel better about yourself and are more confident. Your behaviour will reflect your personality and people will take notice and will show you more respect. Looking great, walking tall with your head up high makes you look successful and you feel in your mind you can conquer the world, however looking slouched and you posture not straight gives people a different impression.

I also know my self worth, I also have published 3 books and am writing 2 more. I am well respected in my industry. If you think badly of me then it is your loss not mine.

7. Surround yourself with positive people.

Surrounding yourself with like minded positive people that understand how you think, you will benefit from your friendship with them, from their teachings, makes you a more assertive individual. If on the other hand you constantly associated with negative, depressing, artificial, or critical people, this will boil over to your own personality and you too will act and think like these people.

Nobody respects negative, artificial critical people.

The most certain way to gain respect is to be associated with people that show respect to others and do not talk about others behind their backs in a negative way.

Respect grows in a self-reciprocal way. When others respect you, you feel confident and you then respect them back.

8. Stay Knowlegable and Teach Well.

When someone is eager to learn and is thankful for your teaching you will gain respect.

If you are associated with a person who is defensive, arrogant, condescending, and totally unteachable, not only are you wasting your valuable time with them, you are also weighing yourself down with a person that refuses to learn and refuses to show respect. These people who do not want to help themselves have pretty much given up on themselves, they think they can do as they please without consequences.

There are always consequences with our actions.

If the person that wants to learn everything, will listen, they will be the ones that will show you respect for the knowlege you have passed on to them.

Conclusion

Respect should be appreciated in your home, your work and private life and in all walks of life.

There are so many people in the news nowadays that do not show respect, from the Police in the USA that killed “George Floyd” because they thought they were better than him and hid behind their shield to gain authority, to “Jefferey Epstein” and the dirty old men that thought using and abusing young females, was completely fine and had little regard for these girls as they had no esteems themselves. No matter who you are and where you come from and what title you hold, you should always show respect to other people.

If you stripped your titles and you were left in the room with your arched enemy and there was only the two of you left to save the world would you kill each other or would you help one another? The same goes if you needed a blood transfusion in order to live would you die or would you take the blood from your enemy who was willing to save your life? These are all hypothetical scenarios but you get the drift.

Respect is not a commodity that can be bought, traded, sold, or exchanged, respect can only be earned or lost. Yet in the case of “Jefferey Epstien” he tried buying respect with money. Eventually everything comes out and in the case of “Jefferey’s” partner who has gone into hiding “Ghislaine Maxwell” the daughter of “Robert Maxwell” will she ever gain the respect from all the girls that were abused or the rest of the world for that matter?, only the artificial people in her life will continue to look up to her. Did I forget to mention there is bounty on her by “The Sun Newspaper” of £10,000 reward for her wherabouts.

No matter who you are, showing respect to others you will gain admiration, appreciation, and respect naturally without having to use unnecessary means or paying for it as in the case of the Police in the George Floyd & Jeffery Epstein cases. Preying on vulnerable young girls and taking advantage of them them does not make you a Prince or a President, it makes you not a worthy person.

People are not garbage, people have feelings and we are all on this planet together all trying to do the same thing and that is to survive and build a bigger brighter future for generations to come.

Consider the consequences of your actions next time you say or do something bad to another individual.

NHS Complaint – Well Roath Pharmacy City Road Cardiff

Thu, May 21, 2020 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

Meddygfa Albany Surgery & Well Roath Pharmacy City Road

Due to the coronavirus people who are vulnerable are given the option to have their medication delivered to their property as in the case of my daughter.

So last week I arranged for the medication to be delivered to my property but forgot that my daughter had a hospital appointment and because I cannot get up and down the stairs I would have relied on her to open the door to get the medication from the courier.

The pharmacy was reluctant to do a delivery and the pharmacist I spoke to said is there anyone that can collect the medication on behalf of my daughter i.e a neighbour or friend.

So again the pharmacy have contradicted themselves they asked if we knew anyone that could pick up the medication, but would not leave the medication with a secure neighbour inside my house.

Now you have to imagine the scenario I live in a terrace house, I live upstairs with my daughter, whilst there is a young family down stairs who are my tennants so I trust them implicitly, furthermore my door bell is a video cam so I can record who is at my door should I wish to do so ( however in this instance I did not and in a way I am gutted as I could have uploaded it but mores the pity I did not record it, lesson learnt I suppose for future).

Now pre covid-19 you as a patient can nominate anyone to pick up your prescription from over the counter if you are unable to do so yourself.

Here is my rant the courier came whilst my daughter was out, so I could not go down the stairs but I heard my tennant open the door. the courier did not want to leave the medication with my tennant and proceeded then to intercom me where I said to him I could not go down the stairs and for him to leave it with my tennant.

He refused point blank and said he would get sacked and I said “who would report him to get sacked” ceratainly not me seeing as I would be grateful that he had empathy and had done my daughter a favour and saved her from exposing her to an unsafe and dangerous environment.

So if my daughter God Forbid contracts this disease I can then sue the Pharmacy and the Courier and the NHS, I would go after everyone individually and I was once told by a solicitor that I could have been one 🙂

He went onto say he could not leave the medication with anyone other than the name on the parcel. I said but the medication is for my daughter and not for me, so my name is not on the parcel. He then said but he could leave it with me, so he contradicted himself as my name was not on the parcel.

I called him an “a@@eh@@e” and he doubled back and said what did you say?, being confrontational in which I turned off the intercom and cut him off.

Now my daughter has to go to the pharmacy to risk her own life to collect the medication that this idiot could have left with my tennant, who could have been the nominated person to collect the prescription over the counter pre-covid time and I could have recorded the delivery on my ‘Bell Cam’, but the courier did not give me a chance to do that.

I understand the point that you cannot hand over the medication to just anyone, but this was my tennant and I could have recorded the whole thing as an added precaution and security measure.

I am now going to name and shame this courier and pharmacy and the GP Surgery:

https://finder.well.co.uk/store/roath-city-road

I do not give a damn about this GP and Pharamacy and they have been on my radar for a long time now, with the doctor mis-diagnosing my daughter and giving her Gaviscon for a Auto-Immune Disease.

Not only this, when I first contacted the named pharmacy they refused to do the delivery and said they will do it just this once out of charity and tried to get us to ask a neighbour or friend to come and collect it instead…(no security issue there so it seems).

Yet you expect to clap for them every Thursday, they know what they are doing when they sign up for a job, you would not see soldiers crying because they are on the front line the same goes for the NHS they know what they signed up for when they chose the job.

For the pharmacy making that statement and being reluctant to do the delivery, my daughter already reported them to the council once already, she aims to do it again if this medication is not delivered.

One knows the risks prior for doing the job, so do not moan about the job and do your job properly.

Yes the doctors and nurse do a grand job don’t get me wrong but you would not pay off a heart surgeons mortgage if you had a heart attack and he saved your life. The same goes for the MOD (Ministry of Defence), but we do not stand on the doorstep clapping our hands for them, do we !

So to top it all my daughter went to collect the medication from the pharmacy after being told by the courier it would be back at the pharamcy today. Only to be told by the pharmacy the courier had not come back. So my daughter is now going to have to go again a second time.

15.52 The saga continues. I phoned the pharmacy and asked to see how we could resolve the ongoing problem and they said they attempted to deliver once so they have done their job…….

I reiterrated that my daughter is vulnerable and she cannot go again to the pharmacy, so they replied they will ask their one and only driver to deliver it again but could not make and guarantees. The pharmacy have no care for the patients well being.

I put the question to them if I was to send my tennant to the pharmacy what would be the difference of leaving the medication with the same tennant that lived in my house? The pharmasist could not answer me other than saying delivery drivers have to leave the medication with the patient. So if I was able to get downstairs this morning and I am not the patient the delivery driver should not have been able to give the medication to me, yet he said he was going to leave it with me even though I was not the named patient on the package.

Watch how they will try and justify their shambles of an excuse of a rule that makes no sense at all, that can be broken depending if the person used their intiative and used more than one brain cell. If I was the courier I would have asked the tennant to sign for the medication, its not hard and would have covered his sorry a@@e!

So the appointed person can collect the medication but the delivery driver cannot leave it with the appointed person even though the delivery would be video recorded….. work that one out?

My daughter also observed how the pharmacist was walking at a super slow pace even though there was a queue of people waiting in a line on the foot path in the scorching sun to be served. My daughter said the pharmacist was slower than a sloth

and was asking a patient to re-spell multiple times.

By coincidence I assume it was the same person that asked me three times today to spell the name of my daughter, which only has four characters in the name.

If I was the manager of that pharmacy I would have a stop watch on my staff member and retrain my staff.

This is unbelievable and a total shambles.

If the one and only driver fails to deliver, then tomorrow they will feel my wrath and will be showing them this post.

17.57 Update the Driver Failed to Deliver, why does that not suprise me….

Update Tuesday 26th May 2020

The same digruntled courier did deliver the medication and these are my daughters words not mine, “his body language and tone in his voice gave the impression he does not like his job”.

***Do not use this GP or Pharmacy they are a waste of space.

Faceless – No Empathy Companies

Mon, April 27, 2020 / RENATA BARNES / 0 Comments

Companies that do not have human interaction are cowards if you ask me. Any company offering public services should show they care and have empathy for their customers by having online chat at least.

Companies that are too large for their boots and think they can play God with people should not exist, yet they do. I always think if I was a search engine or social media platform how would I behave. I would have online chat at least. I would obviously prompt people to try and find the answers via the FAQ forum themselves and if after that they still needed to ask a question I would help them.

But these corporate gorilla’s just do not care.

If I offered a public service I would not discriminate in order not to face litigation proceedings against me.

Do not pick an choose who you want to serve.

I refer to my previous post about corporate gorillas who can do what they want with you and if they do not want you to do business with them for whatever reason they will make it extremely difficult for you. Yet if these companies which are owned by the public then they should not discriminate but they do.

So what is this rant over today, well I will tell you, although I do not know why for the life of me why this has happened and cannot get hold of anyone to find out to resolve the issue….

The notification is as follows:

“Your advertising access is restricted • You’re no longer allowed to use Facebook Products to advertise. You can’t run ads, manage advertising assets, or create new ad or business accounts”.

Who the hell do they think they are?

To dictate and to interfere with my business as I manage Facebook Pages for my clients is beyond unbelievable, do not dictate what I should or should not do unless it is a breach of your T&C’s.

If this is not reinstated I will be suing Facebook for loss of business and I welcome any other business having similar problems to also contact me, together we can face these bullies and stand up to them.

Yes you heard me I will be suing Facebook if my advertising is not reinstated.

If you do not like your new image do not be a bully and re-instate my advertising and I may consider taking it down at my sole discretion……….it works both way, see how you like it having an image of you on my blog which depicts who you are in which I have sole control over!!

You can DM me to get my details and ask me to take the image down and
reinstate my advertising or you will be hearing from my lawyers.

Corporate Gorilla Bullies

Wed, April 15, 2020 / Editor CMJUK / 0 Comments

Imagine having so much power that you can destroy people’s lives. I will not be naming these companies in my text content as it is readable but you will get the gist of whom I am referring to by the first letter of their name.

Gorrilla NO1: Imagine owning a search engine and refusing to take down a search result that is inaccurate with the potential to cause the person harm if it continued to be listed. Well that is what has happened to me and although I would love to spill the beans on this I cannot right now for legal reasons, but I am planning to take Gorilla NO1 (G Search Engine) to the European Court of Human Rights. I was planning physically going to my solicitor before the coranvirus-covid-19 outbreak and was planning on sending some documents. Because of this I cannot meet him physically for him to stamp some documents, but this can wait as it has already caused me damage to my business, so whats another few months waiting, it’s not as if I can fly anywhere anyway. But the people I do not want them to see the search result, may have already done so with them having too much time on their hands right now because of isolation and may be even more so researching and may stumble across the said search result which is inaccurate. I want to simply cry just thinking about it.

Gorilla NO2: Moving on the next Gorilla in the room is (F Social Media) in which I do not use very often for personal use and more so to manage business pages, but never the less innocently I posted a video of a notorious journalist in the UK that seems to be deemed as dangerous for spreading hate crimes. Watching his videos I do not beieve he is what they (Coroparte Bullies and the Deep State) claim him to be but more so a target of the Corporate Bullies whom just want to shut him up. The video was about this very same journalist apprehending some thugs that were coughing and spitting into an elderly couples faces. This I thought was good journalism to show what idiots we have growing up as our next generation. I thought it was good he defended the couple in the video yet (F) sent me a message to me today saying that I had promoted hate crimes and that I could not post anything for 30 days. There was nothing hateful about the video other than the thugs coughing and spitting in the faces of the ederly couple and I certainly was not condoning this with the thugs for sure. Yet (F) who also think they are God can pull the rug from right under you and assumed that I was in same way promoting this evil even though my my caption even stated I was furious at what I had seen and was disgusted by our younger generation whom simply do not have respect for their elders. . What if I want to post something on behalf of my clients business pages they have now actively interfered in my business and when anyone does that I see red and I cannot do it for the next 30 day……totally pathetic if you ask me and the only way I could most probably do anything about this if I was very rich then they would see me in a different light.

Gorillan NO3: It has been going round on the internet that all coronavirus and covid-19 domain names are being blocked. I in fact was brokering such a domain name and had found a buyer this one particular day, set up Escrow.com and after vetting this individual the next day the domain was flagged. The owner was selling t-shirts but now the domain is flagged as a phising site.

I usually post on (F Business Pages) and on (L Social Media for Businesses) where I hangout the most and have noticed that everytime I mentioned the domain name as an example to my other clients the keywords where being highlighted as a warning.

So Gorilla No3, being (L) has started blocking some of my posts one which had a video of ‘David Icke’, apparantly it is rummoured he was spreading fake news, yet I watched his video and he not once metioned anything dergatory, you can search him up on Youtube. Then there was the video of the journalist ‘TR’ and the Coronavirus Domain name that I was actively trying to sell for a genuine entrepreneur, who was selling t-shirts.

What is stopping any individual not that I am encouraging it in the slightest but merely making a point that one could easily make a sub domain with the flagged keywords to spread fake news, if one was that way inclined,? Would that mean Gorilla NO1 will then start blocking all sites that have the flagged keywords in the content aswell?

Surely there is a more transparent way of dealing with this and make an announcement that all of these new flagged domain names should only exist if the user purchases a license similar to the Bitcoin Domain Names some time ago.

My final thoughts on this is that these Corporate Giants do not care if you you can bring food to the table or not, they will do whatever they want with you and everything you write or post about is monitored.

Disclaimer

For my own peace of mind I am not re-sharing the videos, you will just have to do your own research, sorry folks, as I know that making waves only causes more problems, so I am tackling each Gorilla one at a time.

I have little respect for companies that do not do their research and assume inacurate information and just simply block you because they can.

There is no freedom of speech anymore and the best part is that these companies are faceless meaning they have done it in a way you cannot just pick up the phone and complain, even going to the lengths of even not allowing to send emails. These companies to me are cowards. With the millions of people unemployed in this world they should have online chat at least. Yet they say they have your best interests at heart, this is complete nonsense, all they care about is making a profit and nothing else.

NPower Electricity Bullies

Sun, March 08, 2020 / Editor CMJUK / 0 Comments

NPower Bullies

My dilemma starts with the fact that I live in a top floor flat, I have lived at this property for about 25 years. Now the problem I have is the electricity meter is not situated in my property it is in another resident’s property below me on the ground floor. In all the time I have lived here I have never had such an intimidating letter from any utility provider and have managed to get by all these years until now.

I have no access to this property on the ground floor.

So with various telephone conversations I have had over different issues with ‘Npower’, I have explained when asked for a meter reading over the phone the situation I am in and I was lead to believe that the people I have spoken with, would have taken note of this and put it on their system. My recommendation was for them to contact the residents of the ground floor flat and ask for a meter reading for my property. Which obviously they have not and have simply sent me a threatening letter instead.

I was also told that a smart meter would be installed, and I refused on the grounds that I may not use ‘NPower’ as my supplier indefinitely plus the fact that these smart meters can spy on you (Read the articles below):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6292809/Smart-meters-could-be-spy-in-the-home.html

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jun/24/smart-meters-spying-collecting-private-data-french-british

So obviously this has gone on deaf ears as I have had a letter (SEE BELOW) come through the post threatening me.

Now in my defence I have never had any letters or cards reminding me, as I always respond no matter how ugly things can get and obviously this is a threatening letter which I am not taking kindly to and will retaliate as I have rights.

So even if I ignored the letter and did nothing and they gained entry by force they would not find a meter in my property. I am laughing out loud as the lawsuit I would slap on them would cause a significant indent in their revenue. Obviously they do not know who I am lol or what I can do.

I therefore can already hear you ask so how will I be able to get a meter reading, the easiest answer is to ask my neighbour which is not always at home or I may be too busy with work to even see her.

Therefore if ‘Npower’ used their ‘brain‘ they you would think they would write a nice letter to my neighbour asking for a meter reading, instead of sending out a nasty threatening letter which I will show to all my connection on all social media platforms just to give them a taste of their own medicine. They say it takes years to build a good reputation and minutes to destroy one…..

Do I have to resort to recording my telephone conversations from now on, as they so rightly do for training and security purposes? Of course, I will be, seeing as during the day I work and am using my business phones. So, two can play at that game.

My answer is ‘DO NOT THREATEN ME”……………… ever !!!!!

I do not owe you any money I am in credit as you can see below and am happy paying my estimated bill, although am curious that seeing as I have not had a meter reading for some time now, how my payments have jumped by an extra £10 per month yet I have not changed my routine in anyway or added any extra devices.

Obviusly the CEO Paul Coffey of NPower needs to get his bonus and pay for his luxury home I suppose with this under-handed threats, whom I will be tagging on Linkedin.

My Linkedin profile just in case ‘NPower’ reads this is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renata-barnes-48025811

NPower Harrasing Customers.

I have not been harassed but I have been intimidated and threatened so I will document everything so that if this gets out of hand and I get any unexpected visitors or my home gets broken into I will be able to take legal action.

Customers that have been harassed by Npower and got into the newspapers:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710809/David-beats-Goliath-Man-wins-3-000-payout-energy-giant-wouldn-t-stop-harassing-bills-didn-t-owe.html

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8393795.npower-harassed-customer-judge/

With regards to installing a smart meter in your home, the things you should know.

Can I still switch suppliers with a smart meter?

In the short term, getting a first-generation smart meter could be a barrier to switching suppliers.

This is because first-generation meters don’t yet connect to the central wireless network, called the Data Communication Company (DCC).

So, if you get a first-generation smart meter installed and you want to switch to a supplier that doesn’t support your smart meter, you may find that the ‘smart’ functionality of your meter no longer works.

If this happens, you’d have to take manual readings again, like you would if you had a traditional meter.

At some point during the roll-out before the 2020 target deadline, many first-generation smart meters will be remotely connected to the DCC network.

When this happens, you wouldn’t have to do anything – it wouldn’t require a visit from a technician.

But a third of first-generation meters will need a different solution – and this hasn’t been developed yet.

Ultimately, if you have a first-generation smart meter that doesn’t connect to the wireless network, you’ll need to have it replaced.

Energy suppliers installing smart meters should tell you if you might lose meter functionality when changing supplier.

You can read the full report here:

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/do-i-have-to-accept-a-smart-meter

I will not be held hostage to a company that I believe I should change because of their lack of customer care.

I will NOT RECOMMEND Npower to anyone Residential or Business.

** Warning…..

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY FOR RESIDENTIAL OR BUSINESS, FIND ANOTHER UTILITY PROVIDER! to avoid any altercations with them.

Trust Pilot Reviews, I have not made one as yet, will mine be the one that will break the straw of the camels back?

If I had that many bad reviews I would hold my head in shame and possibly call it a day.

I will be sending an official letter to ‘npower’ with a follow up phone call and will be linking this post to them.

Will let you know what they say….

10/03/20

I sent them an email with an attachment official letter of complaint yesterday and an updated meter reading and this is what I received from them by email today………..

“Thank you for contacting us recently. We’re sorry you had to bring this matter to our attention. We’ve now assigned your complaint to a dedicated Case Handler who will keep you informed of progress and endeavour to resolve your case. We aim to resolve your complaint within 28 working days, however should you have any questions please contact us, using the details opposite. It’s important that you continue to pay for your ongoing energy use while we work to resolve your complaint so that you keep your account up to date. If you’d like to know more about how we deal with complaints you can download a copy of our complaints procedure from our website npower.com or call us on the number opposite to request a copy in the post, free of charge”.

So my question is why does it take 28 days to respond? They have more than one person working there surely?, but from their bad reviews on Trust-pilot I suppose I need to allow them time to answer to me. What are they insinuating? suggesting for me to continue with my payments? are they planning to disconnect me? If I were them I would prioritise the more urgent complaints and employ contractual workers to sort out the complaints quickly. I would respond in less than 7 days and not keep someone hanging on for 28 days. I can already see they have bad management and they need to re-think how to respond to people quickly. Will just have to wait it out……..

Dettol -Reckitt Benckiser

Sat, March 07, 2020 / Editor CMJUK / 0 Comments

Dettol Antiseptic Disinfectant Liquid on my mind.

Why is this product out of stock?

I hear you say because there is high demand for the product right now. OK hear me out…….

Dettol is owned by a company called ‘Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc‘, they are the manufacturer of Dettol products.

Claims that Dettol can kill the Covid-19 Coronavirus have spread faster than the virus itself, although ‘Dettol’ have not confirmed this and it seems to be that every stockist around the UK is saying the product is out of stock and they do not know if and when they will get any back in.

Their company information is here, the only way you can communicate is by writing to them via snail mail, phoning them or filling out an online form that times outs. There is another way and that is through their social media channels which I took the liberty of contacting them on Facebook the other day.

I will show you the message between them and myself at the end of this post. Their Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/discoverRB/

The Company Profile is here:

Type	Public limited company
Traded as	LSE: RB.FTSE 100 Component
ISIN	GB00B24CGK77
Industry	Consumer goods
Founded	1814 (J&J Colman) 1823 (Benckiser) 1840 (Reckitt & Sons) 1938 (merger of Reckitt & Sons and J&J Colman) 1999 (merger of Reckitt & Colman and Benckiser)
Founder	Isaac Reckitt Johann Benckiser
Headquarters	Slough, England, United Kingdom
Key people	Christopher A. Sinclair (chairperson) Laxman Narasimhan (CEO)

Their Postal address is:

Dettol Customer Service Details UK:

Customer Care Number: Tel: 0500 455 456.
Telephone Number: 01-6305429
For other related company products:
UK Tel: 0845 7697079
ROI Tel: 01 661 7318

Dettol Postal Office Address UK:

103-105 Bath Road,
Slough,
Berkshire,
SL1 3UH,
Slough,
UK.

Rickett Benckiser & Office Address UK:

RB PO Box 4044. Slough SL1 0NS

P: 0333 2005 345

They do not have an email other than a privacy policy email: PrivacyOffice@rb.com but I am sure your message would get passed on to the right person, should you go down this route.

I believe that any company that wants to have a good reputation and to be trustworthy should be transparent and should update their customers if they have supply demand issues, no company on this planet should keep their customers in the dark, as that it is in my eyes bad business sense. and reckless.

My questions are:

If they have supply problems, what is causing them to not supply to anyone at all? Surely if a product is still being manufactured then who are the stockists that are being supplied? (there is clearly no transparency with this company)
Secondly what is causing the delay in manufacturing the product? is it that certain chemicals are in short supply?
Why keep your customers in the dark, some people have mental health issues and are more anxious than most especially if they suffer with ‘OCD’?

Facebook Messenger Message from RB Group PLC.

Renata “Hi, Why is it so difficult to buy Dettol Antiseptic Disinfectant in the UK (Cardiff) area especially. Everywhere it saying stock unavailable, what does that mean exactly? I know we have a pandemic going on with Covid-19 but I cannot get Dettol anywhere for love or for money. I suffer with OCD so I am getting extremely anxious not being able to get hold of this and was wondering have you discontinued it?, or are the manufacturing issues. I am happy to buy in bulk if you tell me where I can get it? I await your reply at your earliest convenience”.

Fri 19:43 “Hi Renata, Hope you’re doing great today. Thanks for your interest in our products and taking the time to contact us. We are aware of the current situation and concerns, and we also know how it affected our retailers’ stock because of the increasing demand of it, exceeding our normal producing levels. Our teams are working urgently to produce and deliver more stock to the general warehouses. They’re doing the best to keep up with the consumer needs in this situation and will supply as soon as they’re able, but we don’t know what the time frame for this would be at the moment. Unfortunately we do not sell directly, but only to our supermarket chains warehouses. We apologise for the inconvenience, but hope you understand and that this is relieving information for you. Kindly, The RB Social Team“

Renata “I understand you do not sell direct but it is getting increasing difficult to acquire you product. Thank you for getting back to me anyway. Kind Regards Renata Chat conversation end Type a message”…

Now if you read my first message I asked them where can I get the product from and they clearly did not answer me and with my final message they just blanked me as if I was insignificant, perhaps I would have ordered a lorry load, they do not know that, so who is to say that if I find another product that my OCD is fine with, I can then kiss Dettol goodbye. Tesco has it’s own brand of Antiseptic Disinfectant. I may have OCD but that does not make me stupid.

**Tesco Antiseptic Disinfectant Liquid.**

Further news of the Covid-19 Coronavirus is now being confirmed that it was man made and purposely introduced as a Political Agenda for the US Government. You can read about it here: https://londonlovesbusiness.com/reports-suggest-coronavirus-was-part-of-a-biological-weapon-programme/?fbclid=IwAR0FFSfmKLPLGnDjFTpVymMcprltKjnq3FPJWtnQZCgFfDKo8iMgdnvnT7s

So my final thoughts are I want Dettol – Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc to announce when they foresee getting stock back in to the British Market, for them to say they do not know is like the Chief not knowing what his Indians are doing? Obviously they must have more Chiefs than Indians.

How can you not know when your supplies are going to be met?

If you a run a company you should know it like the back of your hand and if you do not then there is something seriously wrong. Its like me saying to the customer I do not know when your website will be built as I have no internet.

Who’s to say they are not supplying China and leaving the UK out in the cold?, or if you think out side of the box maybe they are trickling small supply’s in at astronomical prices, after all someone I know managed to acquire some stock from a company for me and I ended up paying £25 for 2 Litres.= or 4 x 500 ml bottles which normally are about £3.00 each, so I literally paid double compared to what I normally pay.

The reason I am making a song and dance about it is because I having been using this brand for the past 30 years or more and it is hard to wean yourself off a product onto a new one, which I have been accustomed to and rely on it as part of my daily living routine. I have trusted them as a company and what they stand for, for many years but recent developments have made me rethink their credibility for not standing by and being transparent and reassuring their customers of difficulties they maybe experiencing. Simply pacifying a customer is not good enough.

I will have to try out the Tesco version in comparison, after all if it kills 99.9% of bacteria then I am happy and it is versatile (meaning you can use it for personal hygiene as well as surfaces), just like ‘Dettol Antiseptic Disinfectant’ and I assume Tesco’s version has a fresh smell unlike its counterpart by the wording on its label, like who does not want have a fresh smell?

Dettol Antiseptic Disinfectant liquid on the other hand has a very strong chemical pungent smell, which is not pleasant on the nose.

I use it for practically on everything from washing my clothes, using it in my bath water. and cleaning surfaces. I prefer it to their odourless surface sprays, but the smell could be improved . I know they have a lavender disinfectant but it does not have a dual purpose like the original version.

I may do a review on Tesco’s own and give you an update soon.

On behalf of my readers I need answers to my Dettol questions and I need them fast !!

ONE.COM & DOMAIN NAME RENEWALS

Tue, February 25, 2020 / Editor CMJUK / 0 Comments

ONE.COM The hosting company for website and domain names. No I am not putting them on a pedestal to market them as being the best hosting company on the planet on the contrary I am putting them on a pedestal for being one of the worst. I cannot say they are the worst as there could be worse hosting companies out there.

Instead I will just highlight how they have added an extra fee for renewing domain names. So if you are in the business of buying and selling domain names you will know that DNS Domain Administration comes part and parcel of the package of renewing domain names as without a DNS system one cannot alter DNS Records or forward domain names.

So a .CO.UK Domain Renewal on any other registrars website costs £10 plus vat but this company ONE.COM are charging for the domain name renewal and also the DNS administration system as you can see below:

This is a scam if I ever I saw one and the customers they have most probably do not know that DNS comes as default with a Domain Name and should not be charged as an add on.

I would avoid ONE.com like the plague, all they have been is problem after problem from the start and God knows what nightmare stories their ex-customers would have to say given half the chance.

Slowly but surely they will end up loosing me as a customer. Customer services were no better basically saying if I did not like it, to take a running jump, I would call their bluff but I cannot afford one of the domain names going into migration over to another registrar as that would mess up one of my clients websites, which I cannot afford to do right now, considering ONE.com lost his blog (it just disappeared off the face of the www) not so long ago.

Total Nightmare Company!

28/02/20 Addendum

As you are aware I am down sizing my portfolio with one.com and am moving over to another hosting provider.

Upon checking a particular website today the contact page was off centre.

This means when I published it the other day they must have re-published my site (even though they claim they NEVER do).

So today I spend my valuable time talking to these idiots again and they admit that they had done a bug fix the other day which may have caused one of my codes to be none responsive.

If my site was working fine the other day and you do a bug fix and it is not working fine today you should reimburse me and you fix the problem without blaming everyone else on the planet bar yourselves.

This is NOT the first time they have done this and then tried blaming the consumer.

I am livid to say the least and hope and pray my client does not see the unresponsive page, they only lost his blog and could not retrieve off their server. I am amazed that they have any business.

…….since writing my post earlier they found that it was not a bug fix but something else which the technician should have spotted before creating a ticket and I did not get an apology, says it all…..

Rogue Landlords!

Sat, February 15, 2020 / CMJUK / 1 Comment

Are you renting privately?

Check out the following website, similar to trust-pilot this website is specifically for reviewing landlords: https://www.marksoutoftenancy.com/

Have you come across the dodgy landlord that patches things up with a lick of paint?

I will reiterate the importance of online credibility. In this day and age to show your trustworthiness, you also have to show who you are publicly and if you have a property management company, you should have a website. Tenants and prospective tenants can then see the latest properties on the market, FAQ, and an about page all about you the landlord, or the property management company. There should also be an info page and who to call in case of an emergency.

Any reputable property management company should have a website and social media integration.

I am located in Wales so all landlords in Wales must be registered and licensed through: https://www.rentsmart.gov.wales Now here is the thing they do a course and they then must comply with what the government expects of them as they could be liable and fined up to £30,000 in a government crackdown on low quality rented accommodation. The government’s proposals also include a ban on people with certain criminal convictions letting out properties. Landlords looking to lease a property to five or more people will need a license unless the tenants are from a single family. A database of “serious and prolific” offenders will also be created – with fines of up to £30,000 for those who let out substandard or unsafe accommodation.

So here is the dilemma of the private tenant if you complain you will be served an eviction notice to leave. A landlord can evict you giving you two months’ notice to find new accommodation for no reason at all, he could simply say he does not want to rent the property out anymore as he is planning to sell. He could keep the property empty or renovate whilst you are gone, leaving you with the problem of finding suitable accommodation and getting money together and ready for the move.

So in some cases, people simply do not have the money to uproot. Imagine you have to find the money for a bond and one month’s rent upfront, never mind the moving costs of hiring a van, taking time off work, and hiring people to help you move. So this is why our country is the way it is, because if a tenant complains they usually find themselves homeless because of the costs involved in finding other accommodation.

The government can help families but single people are not favoured for immediate help and end up being homeless.

As a private tenant, you put up and shut up. Sure the landlord can be fined but you can find yourself also out on your ear. Yes, the Nay Sayers will say but you have rights, of course, I know that but if the landlord then says that he no longer wants to rent the property out, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

I once had a kitchen fire and when the fire brigade noticed I did not have smoke alarms fitted to my mains power they immediately notified the local council who notified my landlord and in turn, he threatened to throw me out as this had caused a problem for him of which he had to fork out the cash. So as a consequence we also had to have turn locks and a handle on our front door and as you know I have OCD so handles and I do not go well together, but who cares right?, certainly not the council and certainly not the landlord.

Since then the local council has made my landlord put turn locks and a handle on my kitchen door even though there is no room for a handle as the fridge is in the way and you simply cannot get into the kitchen without causing yourself an injury with the handle in situ.

On another occasion, someone smashed the front door stained glass window and I remember trying to phone the landlord on a Friday night and he was not answering. I then contacted the police and they gave me an incident number to give to the insurance company. I then called out emergency glaziers where I was charged £250 to make the building safe and secure, they then ordered the replacement stained glass.

Upon speaking to the insurance company on the following Monday as their offices were closed over the weekend, I was told I was only covered by contents insurance and no building insurance. I then contacted my landlord who has to have building insurance for all his properties and he refused to contact his insurers I was left to foot the bill, as it was too late to cancel my order. The glass replacement bill came to £1,500 and my landlord offered me £60.00 as compensation which I declined due to his insulting my intelligence and integrity.

His time will come.

There was one other incident and this is a scam by far, a landlord changes the date of his rent being due so he can in the middle of the month demand the rent to be paid at the beginning of the month and visa versa but what this does it makes the tenant who pays every month have to find an extra two weeks rent as on top of the rent that was due and the moving forward of two weeks make the tenant default by two weeks. An example of what I mean the rent is due normally on the 15th but now it is moved to the 1st so instead of paying for 4 weeks’ rent upfront you find yourself owing for 6 weeks. A simple shift of time change and if the landlord does this a couple of times a year could make an extra month’s rent out of each tenant. ***See where I am going? Fool me once shame on you……

Your comments are welcome.

So here is the thing the landlord is having all these things done including adding more smoke alarms into every room as if one alarm is not deafening enough and he is patching everything else up with a lick of paint rather than hiring professionals who specialize in a trade he hires one person to be the jack of all trades.

Now I could go on but I feel that cutting corners does not benefit anyone in the long run as simply patching something up will only cause bigger problems further down the line. It is always better to tackle the problem head-on and fix it properly as the more times you patch it up, imagine how much money you could have saved if you fixed the problem properly in the beginning without all the callouts.

Do not cut corners “Landlords”, as it will only cost you more money in the end, always hire a professional tradesman, skilled in his field that has good reviews.

Do not hire a friend of a friend that is not known as these people are called “Cowboys”!! Always employ someone that is verified and has some accreditation.

****Addendum 16/02/20

After being promised that the person fixing my roof would come today, yes I know it is a Sunday but the weather has been terrible lately, and especially yesterday my leak got so bad that I put 4 pots down in the bathroom to catch the rain and for over a month I have had a leaking bathroom ceiling, only to be told they had only yesterday noticed two missing roof tiles, trying to put the onus on the landlord for not showing them the right location of the leak, yet they have been in my property for the last two weeks inspecting the bathroom………………. work that one out?

So my concern now is that the water coming through my ceiling is running down my electrics and coming out of my light fitting. Nevertheless, I cannot use the bathroom at all not even to go to the toilet, just in case I get electrocuted and the workman who will remain nameless for now said and I quote “just be careful”. (I have video evidence),

What if this causes an electrical fire or blows my electrics, what will happen then when I will be left without electricity or worse a home? The lack of urgency of some people makes me want to slap them.

Just because I told them my life story they now think I am a walkover and they will take their time doing the work because they think I cannot stand my ground or stand up for myself. They are very much mistaken because “hell hath no fury as a woman scorned” and what they fail to realize I have little empathy for people who lie to me.

Regardless of any pending business, I may have had from them, I will personally will not promote someone who cannot do their job properly and even if they do not use me they will find in the future my marketing skills can make them or break them. I can give anyone their five minutes of fame.

So where they made the emphasis they will climb the roof when it is dry well and when it is safe, that is not going to happen any time soon, and by coincidence had they bothered to turn up today they would have found it was not raining. 🙂

Also, I researched on the internet that there are emergency roofers that will climb your roof even if it is raining as they use something called a “tarp” to keep the roof dry whilst they fix it, so what is the “Woody From Toy Stories” excuse? It been over four weeks now I am getting pretty much fed up with it.

Watch me cause so many problems if this is not fixed tomorrow and I do not care what storm is brewing as my storm “Storm Renata” will be bigger and better than “Storm Dennis or Storm Jorge”.

There is a saying you can build your reputation which may take you years to build but within minutes it can be destroyed. They won’t have a business left once I am finished with them. I was asked to not mention anything to the landlord about them returning, I wonder why?, unless my landlord has given them a warning.

I refer to the landlord when I text him over a week ago, that I wanted to know what company he was using so that I could check out their reviews and for him to be careful not to be scammed, and surprise, surprise he blanked, which brings me to the fact he did not respond because the company he is using is a friend of a friend and not from good old “Google” or “Yellow Pages”.

The tenant below me had her trampoline netting ripped as the same workman fell into it as he was scaling her wall to climb over into her garden to access the roof about a month ago or so, and any decent person would have admitted to her what had happened but he did not mention a thing and when he noticed I had noticed he had fallen and ripped the trampoline he just waved to me and started to laugh with his colleagues, very unprofessional in my eyes.

He should have at least mentioned it to the landlord, but he was not going to do that as that would mean forking out money for new netting. My neighbor was furious when she found out but because I did not record the whole thing it would have been my word against theirs.

As far as I am concerned someone owes me for a stock pot as I have to use that to pee whilst my toilet/bathroom has been out of service.

I wish I had an address for him to send an invoice and at this rate, I am going to have to mention this to my landlord if it is not fixed by tomorrow, I don’t care, I certainly am not dependent on their business and it is no skin off my nose if they do not use me as like I said before “I do not want to market cowboys”.

……….An update……. the roof has been supposedly fixed I think, only time will tell if my carpet gets wet again.

I also noticed that my extension lead at the back of the washing machine had been taken off a pipe as it was suspended from a pipe because it could not lie on the ground just in case the washing machine ever leaked. The people who came to deliver my washing machine refused to install washing machine because it did not comply with PAT Regulations. So these other sets of cowboys who fitted my smoke alarms failed to do anything about my washing machine power cable and omitted to notice my burnt-out chandelier in the living room.

You would have thought they would fit carbon monoxide detectors but they have not in the kitchen. I’m going to have to do this myself. I’m going back and forth here from one set of cowboys to another but the electrical cowboys are a total joke and the handy manny people, well all I can say is they are on a monthly payment regardless of how big or small the job is will do it all and when asked about the kitchen handle they supposedly fitted but in reality they had not, I asked for the handle and was told it is safe with them and if I ever needed to fit it they would come and fit one for me……. What’s to say I would ever use them???

I just cannot wait to move out of this @@@@ tip and move somewhere much nicer. I am contemplating my naval if I ever was to have enough money to buy this property it would be for investment purposes only. I would renovate it and I would live somewhere else. Too many bad memories in the house that I care to mention or remember for me to live here indefinitely.

****Anyone with a nightmare story is more than welcome to share it here, and the more times we name and shame rogue landlords to the point of even publishing their names they will soon go out of business and landlords need tenants more than tenants need landlords. Remember to go check out:

Rogue_Landlord_Database_Reform_Consultation

Or simply type the name of the landlord into search engines to see if his/her name has been mentioned.

Happy Reading!

27/02/20

Continuation of My Leaky Roof Saga, six weeks later my problem is still ongoing and last night my bathroom light was flickering even though the light was not switched on. The light switched on by itself.

I later found out that the rain had been running down my light switch, the string pull and my carpet was soaking wet.

I contacted the building contractor and explained my dilemma and how I was concerned it could cause an electrical fire. The nonurgency of his response was he was busy today and would come around until tomorrow.

I am starting to lose my patience here, if my electricity trips or a fire breaks out and I am left without power, unable to work or God forbid anywhere to live, my heads will roll……

I have since had a message from the building contractor who has canceled on me today period and has said he will have it fixed by the time heavy rains come tomorrow.

I am on the verge of punching him…….

If you read the following article you will see he is now endangering lives by not fixing the problem when I have told him so: https://villageplumbinglv.com/what-to-do-if-water-leaks-from-your-ceiling-light-fixture/

I am the type of person that does not keep quiet and will tell him so to his face and take legal action.

Like I said before I told the building contractors my life story and now they think I am a pushover.

It is also very strange how this building contractor has no digital footprint at all.

Trustworthiness minus 100 in my eyes………

28/02/20

This is starting to be like an online journal.

The workman came first thing this morning after canceling on me yesterday.

They tinkered in the attic for about half an hour, putting their dirty feet on my fridge freezer near my pots and pans, leaving a mess right throughout my kitchen and landing with what I assume were broken fragments of blanket insulation all over my services, my pots and pans my flooring and my carpet. They then reassured me they had sealed the leak and no sooner they had left 4 leaks appeared 🙂

The Chief Building Contractor said he had lied to the landlord’s secretary and had said he was visiting me to return some photos but in reality, he was coming to fix the leak for the millionth time.

So I told the building contractor if he is struggling to fix the leak that I would contact the landlord and request he gets a roofer in, which he has said I should do and that he would confirm with my landlord.

It is now a waiting game to see when this will be fixed. It’s back to using the stock pot again lol.

Furthermore, after noticing my light fixture turning itself on the other night and flickering, upon testing it today the light does not come on at all, and when the building contractor asked if we had any spare light bulbs to which I replied I had not as this was a brand new light fitting the electricians had fitted about a month ago, so the building contractor then tried to see what bulb was in the fitting and could not access it. Usually, this is a man thing where most men can figure out how to change a light bulb but this building contractor could not.

I am still waiting to see how to change the light bulb and if my light fitting broken or not.

I am honestly dealing with stupid people now, who I presume have no qualifications or any brain cells.

The standard of service is a downright disgrace with the electrician not telling me about the light fitting and not securing the washing machine wiring to safety standards yet they charged my landlord to change a fitting that was already safety approved with another one which no one can fathom how to change the light bulb.

18 Visits in Lockdown.

For the last six weeks, I have had about 18 visits from various workmen namely electricians, carpenters and building contractors, and my landlord, yet I am paying rent to not have any problems or visitors.

“I am well and truly fed up with the whole scenario”!!!

03/03/20

Upon finishing my last update, the leak continued on Friday 28th February 2020 when the building contractor said he could no longer attempt to fix it and that I needed a professional roofer. I also told the building contractor about the bathroom light coming on by itself and flickering and not working the following day. He attempted to first start by changing the light bulb only to find it was sealed with some sort of circuit board and that he would find the property management person for advice.

Later that afternoon my landlord turned up unannounced with no consideration to what I was doing to inspect the leak and said he would be back around on Monday, saying he need to find a roofer. I sarcastically commented with an innuendo, getting an emergency roofer would cost lots of money and he apologized and left. Now fast forward to Monday, there was no show from the Landlord or the roofer, and today Tuesday unannounced guess who turns up?, only the same building constructor with another guy whom I have never met before. So imagine if I was working a 9-5 job and I had taken time off work and waited all day for a no-show or even an apology. Another thing is they can gain entry without my permission but by law, they have to give me at least 24 hours’ notice, this has not happened and I have to be present at all times because of the valuable content I have in the property that would not be covered by insurance if someone decided to have sticky fingers.

I have been robbed before in a similar scenario because the thief did not break in to enter my property and used keys, which is what the landlord and his goofy workmen have to gain entry, I would not be covered by my insurance and I am not making the same mistake twice.

(What happened “oh I cannot fix the roof” )?

So in the space of 7 weeks since I first reported the issue and with also electricity checks and alterations in the property I have had 21 visits. Now the law says the following which you can access via this link: https://www.gov.uk/private-renting

Your rights

As a tenant, you have the right to:

Live in a safe property and in a good state of repair (black mold growing on my walls from rising dampness, no double-glazed windows, dangerous light fittings, and not Pat Compliant).
Have your deposit returned when the tenancy ends – and in some circumstances have it protected
Challenge excessively high charges
Know who your landlord is (only have his email address and mobile phone number, do not know where he lives or where he operates his business from).
Live in the property undisturbed (This is a Joke – Have had 21 visits in a space of 7 weeks)
See an Energy Performance Certificate for the property (Never seen one from my landlord in the 20-odd years I have lived here, although I had got my report from an approved company).
Be protected from unfair eviction and unfair rent (The landlord could easily say he no longer wants to rent the property out and there is nothing anyone can do about it).
Have a written agreement if you have a fixed-term tenancy of more than 3 years (Never been sent a copy of an agreement that I signed and was promised I would get a copy of – I never received a copy of an agreement). As far as I know, he could have made me sign it and then ripped it up.

If you have a tenancy agreement, it should be fair and comply with the law.

Further reading of Landlord Regulations, Obligations & Laws can be found here:

https://landlords.org.uk/support-advice/landlord-regulations-obligations-laws

If you do not know who your landlord is, write to the person or company you pay rent to. Your landlord can be fined If they do not give you this information within 21 days.

Don’t get me wrong I am prepared to live in this @@@@ tip for a little bit longer until I find somewhere else or can afford to buy the property of the landlord outright and do my renovations, with legitimate contractors, not cowboys. The law sucks and unless you have a plan b to uproot at short notice (two months approx), think of the consequences before making waves……….It will cost you money to find the bond for a new place £500 upwards plus one month’s rent upfront, which is another £500 plus depending on where you want to live, not forgetting taking time off work and removals which can be anything up to £1000+. So consider the pros and cons.

Instead, collate enough information/evidence and take the landlord to court at the end of the tenancy, when you are good and ready and not before.

I am not going to make waves as I use this property to work, so moving elsewhere would cost me thousands of pounds, which at the moment is tied in my business.

If you are looking for a Pat Test Inspector or Electrician in the South Wales area, I highly recommend:

www.electricianswales.co.uk:

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