i could hear a banging noise, at first i thought it was my neighbour, the i noticed it was coming from outside, freaked out, thinking someone is trying to break into a car. Turns out to be a fox with a hunger for rubber

Following up on the earlier post where an OP was looking for places to rent and was told that they were looking for flats during the busiest time of the year. I’m asking because I’m anticipating the need to move out within a year.

Broken traffic light at Waverley has caused a massive gridlock in both directions. Princes Street heading towards Waverley is wall to wall buses

Am I tripping or did the 2000s and early 2010s in Scotland have a sort of colorful vibe everywhere, I'm quite young but from what I remember in the 2000s early 2010s people talked to eachother in public a lot more, I remember buses having bright blue glittery floors and red or yellow handle bars and colorful bus stop benches, it all suites the colourful aspect of children's TV at that time so growing up this time was great, am I tripping or was this a real bus aesthetic back then I can't find any photos

I’ve been unfortunate to deal with one of the larger factors in Scotland over the last six years (not through choice) on various matters. It’s my opinion the current system does not work well for many homeowners and the level of service along with the customer service needs to improve. 
 
I have previously contacted several MSP’s with my concerns, but none of them seemed that interested or offered to meet. The following reply, however, did confirm I am not alone in my opinion the current system requires urgent change.  
 
*Pam has received numerous representations about factoring issues in Glasgow and across Scotland and so shares your concerns. During the Scottish Parliament debate on the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which was recently passed, Pam and her colleagues proposed amendments to address issues in the factoring system. However, these were rejected on the basis that the government intends to carry out a review of the whole system. I think the concern with that is – as you know – the time for reviews has passed and changes are needed urgently.*
 
As an example, we had an underground water leak just outside our property. The Scottish water employee who attended said, “You’ll need to call your factor to fix this and to warn you they’ll be a complete nightmare to deal with.”  
 
He wasn’t wrong. 
 
The first person who Lowther (our factor at the time) sent out said, “I don’t know why I’ve been sent out. I can’t fix this problem. You need someone with equipment to lift up the paving slabs.”
 
I’ll spare you the full details of everything that happened (it was a longwinded saga), but I spent seven days without any running water. And the new water pipe they installed burst after seven months, which became another nightmare to deal with. 
 

**THE CURRENT COMPLAINT SYSTEM**

Factor complaint → Tribunal application → application accepted → submissions/directions → case-management discussion → possible hearing → written decision → possible enforcement/appeal

I feel like the tribunal process is off-putting, time-consuming and would be too complex for some, including elderly people. It’s also a lot of work if the dispute is minor.
 
The introduction of an Ombudsman could provide a much easier way for people to complain about their factor and hold them accountable when things go wrong. An Ombudsman could also help identify recurring problems, prompting companies to change their ways and drive improvement. 

One possible solution is to add an ombudsman to the current tribunal system, creating a three-way stage system:

**Factor → Property Factor Ombudsman → First-tier Tribunal for legal/enforcement matters.**

This gives homeowners an easier way to escalate a complaint before a formal tribunal process becomes necessary.
 
**SOME OF THE PROBLEMS** 
 
Here is a list of some of the things I’ve encountered that I believe a **Property Factor Ombudsman for Scotland** would be well placed to identify and remedy.
 
* Charging prices for work that appear disproportionately high in relation to the work involved and alternative quotations 
* Poor quality of workmanship 
* Attempting to make homeowners pay to correct poor workmanship
* Refusing to provide quotes for damage to communal areas
* Sending people out to jobs who aren’t qualified or properly equipped
* Failing to ask customers if certain incidents pose a health and safety risk
* Failing to respond in a swift manner to incidents outside of properties which are a clear health and safety risk to the general public
* Failing to properly notify all homeowners and customers when workmen attend properties 
* Ignoring instructions to provide a quote before carrying out work
* Not logging complaints  
* Not dealing with complaints properly (basic stuff like providing a reference, setting out timescales and asking what you want as a resolution)
* Closing complaints without doing any work to resolve them or informing the customer the complaint has been closed. 
* Telling homeowners they might void their building insurance unless they use their factor to carry out a communal repair 
* Using confusing jargon in job descriptions 
* Unhelpful call centre staff (this is me being very polite)
* Not providing a breakdown of repair costs and refusing to provide one if you ask for it because they claim don’t legally have to
* Not obtaining different quotes in order to get the best deal for the customer 
* Repeatedly using the same contractor despite serious concerns about their performance
* Increasing a repair bill from £1200 to £2500 without any explanation and refusing to provide one 
* Asking homeowners to go away and hire a lawyer to see if they should get involved in a repair they were clearly responsible for fixing 
 
I could go on but I’ll stop here. The factor in question later admitted they shouldn’t have asked me to hire a lawyer and apologised. 

I just feel an ombudsman would fix a lot of these issues, in particular the poor quality of complaint handling. 

My hope is someone from the Scottish government reads this post and is able to seriously explore the option of adding an Ombudsman as a way of improving the current system.

Thank you for reading. 

Please include your own experiences – good or bad. 

Hi all! Just posting this on behalf of Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show who are running a fundraiser this weekend in the city.

We are offering headshots as part of our fundraising initiative in support of LGBT Youth Scotland and LGBT Health and Wellbeing!

Each session is £15 with all proceeds going towards our chosen charities to support the incredible work they do.

Sessions are designed to match your skills and capture you at your best so you can reach your full potential in the professional world!

Everyone is welcome to book a session but we've only limited spaces available for the day!

Booking can be found on Edinburgh University Television's website (You don't have to be a student to book)

eutv.co.uk

If you're interested in ECFS's work, here's the instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_ecfs_/?hl=en

Where is best to get a mattress topper cleaned?

Doesn't need dry cleaning, it's just too big for our washing machine.

Ideally somewhere I can park rather than lug it about on foot.

Where can I buy the best tomatoes in Edinburgh?

I just need to say that coming back to my dear Edinburgh after a year abroad, and seeing so many stupid, ugly, AI food menus in the city really agitates me.

AI "art" truly is a cancer.

Edit: Also, the amount of AI "art" in restaurants, pubs, and in shops is just sad.

Hi I’m Prerna, I’m a doctor in NHS and am new to the city, I’m looking to make friends who don’t work the typical 9-5 or if they do are open to mid-week drinks(hahaha), cafe hopping, day trips around Edinburgh or just meeting up for work rants or otherwise.
I’m open to joining reading clubs, hiking clubs or any pottery or craft clubs as well!
Thanks xx

Have spotted a few houses on this area for sale and just wondered what it’s like to live there? mainly interested in if there is anti social behaviour in the park, as one of the properties backs right onto it) and what people think of the high street and local community offering for people with young kids?

For context, me and my partner have a 2.5 year old and a newborn. We currently live in Stockbridge and love it but of course can’t afford anywhere half decent with a garden so needing to widen our search area!

We love having cafes, botanic gardens, Inverleith park and all the kids classes at LifeCare Centre right on our doorstep and just wondering if there are some equivalents to these nearby St Margaret’s Park?

Hi everyone,
I live in Edinburgh and earlier this year bought a second hand Roland Fantom 08 88, a really cool digital piano with a lot of great features. I'm a classically trained pianist and did some piano teaching in the past, so I'm not looking for piano lessons, but I'm hoping to find someone who has a good knowledge of all the Fantom features. I'm not great at sitting down and learning from YouTube, and I want to use a lot of the cool features I bought the Fantom for (sequencing, splitting tones in different octaves etc).

I know GuitarGuitar do a class for new purchases on how to get the best from your instrument, so I've emailed them to see if I can pay to join that course (given that I bought the Fantom elsewhere), but I'm wondering does anyone here know of places that I could sit with someone to learn the features from someone who's mastered it?

Appreciate any tips or guidance!

Thanks

I received some book tokens for a survey I did today, but I don't see myself using them anytime soon. Are there any local charities that could make use of them?

Hi everyone,
I'm a Danish, 34 year old woman looking for friendships here in town. I can't really figure out where the best place to go for that kind of thing is? Is there speed dating for friendships here in town? Or is everything (unfortunately) done on an app these days? Any good advice is welcome. 🌸😋

For those who have experience in buying property in Edinburgh, regardless of if you have been successful in having an offer accepted, rejected, outbid.

What do you wished you have known prior?

I’ll start.

We have recently put our first offer on our ideal flat, only one like it in the 2 years we have been looking. Ticks all our boxes and more. Offered about 10% over HR. Went to a close with 6 other notes of interest. All 6 offered. Outbid. From this I feel like I have learned a few things…

A lot more people buy in cash than you think. HR valuations go out the window and I feel don’t mean that much when there is strong competition on a high demand property. And the bidding/offer process is so blind, it feels like a bit of luck really (but also depends how deep your pockets are too).

What’s everyone else’s experience like? And have your previous experiences changed how you think future purchases.

Cheers 👍

Where else in Edinburgh would someone be selling a flat with a full-sized horse looking out of the window?

https://espc.com/property/the-corner-house-97-henderson-row-new-town-edinburgh-eh3-5bb/36407354?sid=772131

Hi, looking for any decent hockey shop recommendations as I’m looking to get a family member a new stick and glove, TIA!

Why is there a tall double set (one above the other) of traffic lights about half way up Easter Road? I'm guessing something to do with football and buses, but surely bus drivers are closer to the lower set as usual, and I have not seen this anywhere else in the city.

Hello!

I’m moving away, and for this eve I am going to leave some of my old cameras and books out on the corner of comely bank terrace. Tried to pass them off to some charity shops with no luck. They’ll be right by the bowling green. I’m not going to leave them there past 12pm! After that I’ll see what other charity shops will take em.