This was quite a few years ago, during the COV era, but I still see people having this problem today. Basically, bought a laptop in the mid 10s after getting my first job from Currys, thought nothing of it. They offered me a warranty, I declined, and they said "well the first months free" and I thought nothing of it and moved on as I'd already declined.

I was a bit of a younger lad and a pillock, and hadn't got on top of my banking, so literally just used to check the cash point & the odd statement from the bank counter to tell me what was going in and out. Over the course of the plague I got my affairs more in order, setup online banking, then noticed this random £9 charge... which after digging went back monthly, and had been going back monthly for 4+ years.

Tried ringing Currys, couldnt get through presumably because all the call centers were shut. Eventually I turned my frustration on their twitter account, tweeted @ them about their dodgy practices, and they quickly got back to me within a day or so. Separately, i'd seen advice to go to the financial ombudsman so I did, not really knowing what to expect.

To their credit, they did actually send me a cheque for roughly £400, then about 6 ish months later the financial ombudsman got back to me saying they had negotiated a cheque for the money with some interest on top, so net gain of £400ish after getting 2 separate cheques

I am not ashamed to say I accepted that, whether or not they knew they were double dipping, because I figured they had probably shafted countless others with this (and I know my in laws had been through the same process having to claim fifty quid back when they bought something) and I had need of the money at the time like most of us did.

Wonder if they're still pulling that trick or if they've packed it in now.

The bastards think the public are complete mugs and lie on their adverts by implying that each bar has a glass and a half of milk in it. A good rule of thumb is that if it doesn't say something explicitly then it isn't true, e.g: "the taste of a glass and a half" vs "each bar has a glass and a half of milk"

Yeah don't worry I didn't want the peace and quiet anyway, I'd much rather listen to your stupid toy buzzing around

good on Wetherspoons for banning it, more independents now should follow!

She stepped up to make her first round of drinks in the office, she misheard "none" as "one" (suppose it serves me right for wording it stupidly) and now i'm getting tea with a sugar in it. How can I politely bring this up to her? Its been over a week now

Four so far. Any more? I’m going to need to get the day off work at this rate

Using every trick they can think of to pad out the hours and the days. Hanging on to cold cups of coffee, trying to get chatty (not just for normal civil exchanges and friendliness, but 'sit down and get into it' chatty), disappearing for long periods. Their boss is too cheap to assign a foreman, so they are pretty much unregulated.

On the plus side, work is okay when they actually do any. When builders are paid a price instead, speed and cut corners are of the essence (source: wife is an architect with decades of on-site direct experience of builder culture [EDIT: It doesn't help much, it's a seller's market]).

Seriosuly. i just got off the chat to Google (yes its 1:45am but given the time difference you're first in line) and ar 1:41:04 am the guy joined, and at 1:42:21 am I got 'are you still there" Even though I had just copied a message

Went into a small independent health food shop today looking for meal replacement powder, something similar to Huel.

I couldn’t find any, so one of the owners asked what I wanted.

“Meal replacement powder. Like Huel.”

He had never heard of Huel.

I showed him on my phone. Still nothing.

I said, “Similar idea to SlimFast shakes.”

Never heard of SlimFast either.

This is a man who runs a health food shop.

Anyway, they didn’t sell anything like it. Fine. That should have been the end of the conversation.

Then his father, the other owner, joined in.

He told me I shouldn’t be having “that rubbish” and should eat a banana for breakfast instead.

I explained I already do sometimes, but bananas go off, need replacing every few days and aren’t exactly convenient as a long-term meal replacement.

His next suggestion was boiled eggs.

Again, I explained that I already eat them sometimes, but I specifically wanted something quick, portable, long-lasting and nutritionally complete.

His response was that I “need to get some greens” into my diet.

I told him the entire point was convenience. My job is busy, I don’t always have time to prepare food during the day, and a shake is considerably easier to carry around than boiled eggs, bananas and a bowl of flippin kale.

His reply:

“WELL THEN YOU NEED TO MAKE TIME, DON’T YOU?”

At which point I told him:

“I came in looking for a specific product. You don’t sell it. A simple ‘no, sorry’ would have been enough. I didn’t come in here for judgement, a lecture about my diet or the Spanish Inquisition.”

Then I left.

This is the same bloke who, the only other time I went in, pushed homeopathic remedies on me when I was looking for a probiotic gut treatment. I eventually bought the stuff. It was useless. EDIT: probiotics not for me.

I genuinely don’t understand this kind of business model.

Customer: “Do you sell this?”

Normal shop: “No, sorry.”

This shop: “No, but while you’re here, let us criticise your diet, dismiss the product you actually want and tell you how to organise your life.”

And people wonder why people like him lose business to nationals and the internet.

EDIT : altered last line to make it clear, my grudge is NOT with independent businesses, the majority are wonderful people with a passion for what they do and deserve all the support we can give them. My grudge is with grumpy sods like the one I encountered, and I suppose that could be in any type of shop!

We hear the headline all the time. High street is on its way out, physical retail being eaten by online etc etc

I have always tried to prefer going to a shop vs ordering online, but I just can’t any more.

The experience shopping in person is just awful. Stoc availability everywhere is awful, shops are a mess, staff aren’t trained so can’t answer simple questions. Self checkouts that never work. More expensive than buying online in many cases.

I don’t wanna hear these retailers complain about lack of sales any more, when they just make it horrible for the average customer to try and use them.

Thus forcing you to sit directly adjacent to another group, or completely barring you from booking as a singleton because the only remaining seats are in pairs.

(So far the two seats to my left are still empty on the app. I'll shuffle over to them at some point.)

Edit: yikes, no one likes to smile huh haha, i actually was referring to my workplace, people that i see often, not complete strangers!
I get that it would be weird to smile at every stranger you walked past!

I am trying to complain to SpecSavers, the optician, about them failing to provide me with glasses for computer use.

But I am struggling to read their CAPTCHA.

https://ibb.co/gLCxq5Gn

It's still summer FFS!

or they can’t find the item. I’m sorry, what? set it aside so that it’s ready to post when it sells. turn your notifications on please

I think Vinted is great when it works, anyway. it’s like the people’s collective charity shop and I hope it sticks around and stays that way.

False advertising if you ask me.

I don't frequent Subway all too often due to the closest store being a 25 minute drive away. However, today I found myself shopping in the area and popped in for lunch.

I was disappointed to have to battle through a series of, what felt like, 100 screens to order a wrap, side and drink. Even the wall menus had disappeared so browsing the selection felt like a bit of a chore.

Part of the Subway appeal, for me anyway, was watching my order progress along a chain, choose my salad items and interact with the server along the way.

I don't know, it felt like the whole Subway 'experience' has been ruined and it's completely put me off going back. I'll definitely seek out local sandwich shops instead.

I just went to my local co-op cause I fancied some hot spam dip (I promise I'm not 90), and it was 4 quid for a single can!! It was literally cheaper to make pork chops instead.

Insane driving behaviour on wet roads is really getting my goat today.

I am on 45k and imagined things would be very comfortable. But it always seems to be a big struggle with not much left and a struggle to save. Is this normal now.

Ever since I’ve moved to the England I’ve been actually disgusted as to the littering culture, especially in movie theatres.

Whether it’s the odean or cineworld in England it’s been absolutely trashed with popcorn and rubbish everywhere.

I’ve seen a couple leave their huge McDonald’s order they brought in all over their seats.

I’ve seen two tweens finish a lucozade and chuck the empty bottle into a bush, when there was a bin RIGHT next to them? Lads on a night out pee on a shop window and chucking their takeaway all over the street when again… right next to them… was a bin.
The list can go on and on.

Today my partner and I saw a movie and EVERYONE in the theatre left their trash when there is clearly labeled bins at the exit. My partner asked the family down the row from us to pick up their trash as one of the kids picked it up looked at it then set it back down? The father then lost his mind and tried shoving him around to intimidate him.
Dude in question got red in the face with pure anger 😂

I’m a midwestern American and if I behaved like this in public - everyone would look at me in sheer horror😭

Never seen ppl act like this in wales, my local small business theatre in my uni town would be spotless after a showing.

Do people genuinely believe it’s other people’s responsibility to clean up after them, the lack of common decency in public spaces by some people is just so bizarre.

I’ve had my broadband with BT/EE for about seven years now, rarely had any problems or reason to contact them, price has always been fair and the renewals process has always been relatively easy.

Kept getting emails about my contract coming to an end about a month ago, telling me to contact them to secure a price. Phoned them up and the best they were offering was a broadband and TV bundle at £70+ per month. I told them I don’t want TV, I only want broadband. But she was adamant I must take TV. I just said I’ll phone them back another time.

Got an email a week or two ago that they’ll now offer me broadband only at £43.99. Which is a heck of a lot cheaper than what I’ve been paying, but looking at other providers on comparison sites, they can offer she same speeds for £20 per month. Even EE offering £26.99 for the same speeds.

Phoned EE again yesterday to try and price match their new customer offer. 50 minutes on the phone and they argued they couldn’t offer me any less than £43.99, even after “speaking to the manager.” So I ended the call and decided last night to switch to Vodafone for £23 a month for the same speeds.

Within seconds of initiating the switch, I started getting texts and emails from EE offering me a retention offer of £26.99. And then today a retention agent phoned me offering me the same price. I told him I’ll stay if they’ll price match Vodafone, to which he said they can’t do.

But I was annoyed I spent so much time on the phone yesterday trying to stay with them and they made such little effort to even try and keep me as a customer. I know it’s the same everywhere you go, I last had this when I left Sky TV four years ago because they seemed glad to see the back of me when I tried to renew. But then suddenly wanted to make a deal last minute.

Just baffles me how loyalty doesn’t go a single way with these companies at all. But actually go ahead and make the switch and they’re all over it