Alan

Geek and amateur photographer. Views are my own. Professor of Physics with a heavy admin load.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@VOD_Alex_ A taxi and car parking? Did the cab wait, hence the cost?

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@Mr_B_is_back I think that’s the way it has to be. What a waste though. Have to send back the boxes, probably to be put in a skip.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

Dear @virginmedia it’s really dumb to offer existing customers a package that costs £56/month, when the same package for new customers is available on your website for £29, and the competition is selling an equivalent package of £26.

We’ve been with you 18 years. Toodle-pip!

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@GrantFellows2 Indeed, if they genuinely valued loyalty, they wouldn’t offer new customers a deal for the same thing at half the price of existing ones. This is the first time when I haven’t been able to negotiate down, which is why I was with them for so long.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@IanLythgoe4 @virginmedia At that cost, move! Lots of companies offer you buy you out of your contract.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@loz_field @virginmedia Same here. I don’t need TV or phone anymore. So £86 out of contract to £55 contract for TV/phone/internet. I said I wanted the £29 internet only package on their website, and was told they don’t offer it to existing customers. Refused to hand over to the retention team.

Goodbye!

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@KhyleMedany @KarlKavanagh69 @virginmedia @sky Better bonus to the company to gain those 3 customers AND retain that 1. They are relying on people not being bothered to switch. Mine was going from £58 to £86, so of course i wanted to change that. This time, they didn’t budge on their £55 offer, so they lost me

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@virginmedia And it’s too late to review my account to see if you can match the competition. You should have done that 2 weeks ago when I called to renew my contract. I ordered yesterday. First fit (cable to the house from the road) was done this morning(!) and final fit in 2 weeks.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@virginmedia Well, you’ve lost my business as I’m not a new customer and don’t see why I should pay nearly double for the same service. I asked to be put through to the retention team, was refused. I’ve received 2 emails, 1 call and 2 text messages from the retention team now I’ve cancelled.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@KhyleMedany @KarlKavanagh69 @virginmedia @sky It’s not about loyalty entitlement, just simple business. I’m not about to pay double when there are other providers offering the same for less. They should know this.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@bencooper I’ve used Airbnb once. The list was essentially leave it in the same way we found it, including wash the sheets/towels, no washing up, hoover, mop etc. There was also a cleaning fee.. and a clause for extra fees if we didn’t do the cleaning.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@HerbsandDirt The issue is the owners charged for cleaning AND expected clients to clean. You can’t have both.

For situations as in these photographs, there’s a mechanism for charging extra if the property isn’t left in a reasonable state. Needs to be evidenced - these photos are it.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@reading_penny @MarcWinsland No, it’s for pensioners that have a sole income - the state pension. Someone with £1/year private pension would lose this tax break.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@nmrqip All that said, the guy is dead. You should stop the witch hunt. Let his family grieve and move on.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@nmrqip Classic case of a Turnitin report showing that the writer has copy/pasted from a couple of sources than edited slightly. If a student does this on my course, it’d be flagged for a discussion about plagiarism.

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@chanduuu_cs Actually they do exist. You can buy laptops with Ubuntu preinstalled. But most non-macs come with windows as that’s what most of the world uses. Macs come with MacOS as it’s a closed system (and is based on BSD, which is related to Linux).

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@postsbydb Impact of you not paying rent is lower as it can be mitigated by rent insurance, which is passed onto you in the form of higher rent. It’s also easier and cheaper to evict than repossess, and the landlord can rent out again after, whereas the bank has to sell (possibly at a loss)

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@postsbydb Risk is about multiplying two numbers - impact X probability. Then decisions are made. The impact on you not paying to the bank is high. They therefore lower the probability by making sure you can afford to pay after your current mortgage expires (making some assumptions)

[Alan @PhysicalAlan]

@postsbydb Banks take a risk that you don’t pay, and that the property is worth less when they repossess. They require a much larger deposit. They charge you higher interest the smaller the deposit, as risks are higher. They look at general affordability, including maintenance and insurance