OneGuyFromBarlick

I had the free Prime trial, cancelled the paid continuation the morning after I got my free delivery. No issues at all.

I did the same Kev but I didn't consciously sign up I must have omitted to tick a box somewhere. They took me off as requested but like the book offers Pluggy mentioned I had to initiate that myself before the free trial ended.
Pluggy, to answer your question about why they didn't employ experts to advise them, they do but they are either incompetent or the politicians ignore their advice.

The wheeze in Amazon Prime was the way they launched it, so that at the beginning many people signed up to it by mistake and it wasn't as easy to get out then. That's what caused all the fuss and they had to back off, make it more transparent and easier to exit.

Stanley wrote: ↑06 Mar 2017, 04:08 Pluggy, to answer your question about why they didn't employ experts to advise them, they do but they are either incompetent or the politicians ignore their advice.

??

Sorry Stephen it was Tiz but you were evidently heavy on my mind,,,,,

Catching Up
Vehicle Excise Duty, Generally the new system is not quite as bad as some of the dealerships make out, but there is some unfairness on the 5 year £310 supplement for vehicles over £40K (did that price inc VAT and New Car Duty?) , which apparently can hit expensive new electric vehicles- where the tail-pipe emissions are low of course , which can have unintended pollution consequences. What has not been noted is some local authorities charging more for diesel fuel vehicle on-street parking annual permits ( can they do that as CPZs are supposed to be revenue neutral ?).

Eveready Incandescent Candle bulbs, these really should be reported to trading standards as being not fit for purpose, they are being sold in pound and bargain shops and on market stalls. What appears to be occuring is that in 'the old days' the filament had additional supporting wires holding it in place regardless if bulb was fitted orientated upright, downhanging or at an approx 90deg horizonal, the latter being common in wall lights and some central luminaires. Even with support wires over time gravity will pull the filament into itself resulting in short circuit. Something similar happend with the hallway light this week, Standard BC Morrisons incandescent bulb decided to part company with the cap. talking out the MCB, which just needed reseting for the light circuit. I have a cap and a perfect glass bulb it seems, the glue just dried out !

Whyperion wrote: ↑07 Mar 2017, 20:59 Eveready Incandescent Candle bulbs,

As I have said out of 40 bulbs from two different suppliers I finished up with 14 good bulbs. Each time the filament just exploded as though it was drawing too much current. I also mentioned a 10 off order (not Eveready) which never arrived and after complaining I got an immediate refund. Surprisingly, 10 days later they arrived by Royal Mail recorded delivery. In a call to the supplier I told them the bulbs had now arrived but they had given me a refund. "Just keep them" was the reply. "Something must have gone wrong at our end and anyhow the time delay is unacceptable". Not all firms are out to fleece you.

Filament material may also be to incorrect specification or made of incorrect materials. I think the glass envelope on many of these bulbs at one time used to be to similar 'Pyrex' standards, this appears to be changed nowadays. They are dangerous , it is strange that 1 in 4 dont have the problems though ?

I cant understand why anyone would be buying into incandescent lamps nowadays. There are led equivalents to every base and envelope type, with up to 30,000 hour guaranteed lifetime on some makes, a fraction of the wattage for the same luminosity, it's bit of a no brainer these days.

PanBiker wrote: ↑07 Mar 2017, 23:02 I cant understand why anyone would be buying into incandescent lamps nowadays. There are led equivalents to every base and envelope type, with up to 30,000 hour guaranteed lifetime on some makes, a fraction of the wattage for the same luminosity, it's bit of a no brainer these days.

I'm 100% converted to LED lighting now. You are right, a no-brainer, they are the way to go. The downside is that because they are so cheap to run I'm not as fussy about switching lights off like I used to be.

On September 1, 2010, European Union legislation came into force mandating that lighting equipment must be labelled primarily in terms of luminous flux (lm), instead of electric power (W). This change is a result of the EU's Eco-design Directive for Energy-using Products (EuP).[11] For example, according to the European Union standard, an energy-efficient bulb that claims to be the equivalent of a 60 W tungsten bulb must have a minimum light output of 700–750 lm. Quoted from Wikipedia.

I hate seeing comparisons like 'equivalent to a 60Watt bulb', I'll be glad when we all get used to dealing in SI units and forget the dinosaur technology.

I wonder if anyone has brought out a replacement for the tungsten halogen bulb used in security lights?

Stanley wrote: ↑08 Mar 2017, 03:05 I wonder if anyone has brought out a replacement for the tungsten halogen bulb used in security lights?

There is an led equivalent

Good, I don't need any as I have a stock (surprise surprise!) The fact it's 150W doesn't worry me as the timer is well adjusted and it's never on for long.

I always listen to the money programme broadcast on Saturday dinnertime. Yesterday I was alerted to the latest cunning wheeze courtesy of Spreadsheet Phil. Despite the manifesto promise not to use the 'Labour Death Tax' he has done just that by announcing massive increases in some classes of Inheritance Tax to start in mid-May. Guess what, it looks as though this will hit my daughter's UK estate which is making it's slow and painful way through Probate. Deep Joy!!!

Big Kev wrote: ↑08 Mar 2017, 06:49

Stanley wrote: ↑08 Mar 2017, 03:05 I wonder if anyone has brought out a replacement for the tungsten halogen bulb used in security lights?

There is an led equivalent

I don't know about the UK but there was a news report last week about local authorities in the US replacing sodium street lights with LED ones. They must be the `cold blue' type because residents are complaining their sleep pattern is affected badly.

We have a replacement LED street light outside our bedroom, the latest designs throw more light downwards and there is a lot less light spread, noticeable from the sodium we had there before. No bother in getting to sleep with the LED light but we do have decent lined curtains that shut everything out, proper dark when we go to bed.

Tizer wrote: ↑20 Mar 2017, 11:02 They must be the `cold blue' type because residents are complaining their sleep pattern is affected badly.

You're biased. I use "the cold blue type" and call them daylight type. I have 5 floodlights fitted on our roof terrace, 2 x 50W and 3 x 100W, IP66. No trouble so far.

The new LED street lights compared to the sodium ones remind me of the difference between Ektachrome and Kodachrome film a much colder light. I always sleep with the curtains open but I doubt if it will bother me if and when they replace the sodium light in the garden front.....I slsp like a log even in daylight!

Stanley wrote: ↑19 Mar 2017, 05:39 I always listen to the money programme broadcast on Saturday dinnertime. Yesterday I was alerted to the latest cunning wheeze courtesy of Spreadsheet Phil. Despite the manifesto promise not to use the 'Labour Death Tax' he has done just that by announcing massive increases in some classes of Inheritance Tax to start in mid-May. Guess what, it looks as though this will hit my daughter's UK estate which is making it's slow and painful way through Probate. Deep Joy!!!

I think the IHT payable will be on the date of death, but probate fees are rising, payable in advance by the executors, these will particulary hit asset rich but liquidity poor estates. With the changes once again it is the squeezed middle getting the pips felt, for multi-million estates charges remain low, but for the £2m and below its quite a chunk up to 1% of the estate value - and it is easy for a modest family home in London owned by Grandma since the 1940s to be £1.5m before even thinking about it.

The new ploy by Santander noted by Plaques in another topic looks like a cunning wheeze. If asked how many zero hours employees they have they can truthfully answer none!

In similar vein, at present in Ireland there is a bit of a kerfuffle with the Garda (police) force regarding registered post summonses , offenders being summonsed even though they had had no letter, upon enquiring what the problem was the Garda answer was " that the recipient had to prove they had not received the letter ",

Making someone prove a negative is on of the oldest cunning wheezes in the book. That's why we have 'innocent until proven guilty'.

Another wheeze, this time from the government (surely not our government, I hear you say!):
'Fake science used to justify badger culls' LINK
The essence of it is that "Defra has changed the way it assesses badger numbers in a cull area and how it sets the target for the minimum number of badgers to be killed to ensure that its culls are seen to be successful. The previous system involved field work by experts to inspect the number of badger setts and a system of genetically testing badger hairs. Many researchers regard this approach as a more accurate way of assessing badger numbers but it is also expensive. The new system requires no field work. Instead, officials calculate the average number of badgers thought to be in different categories of land from government records....if it becomes apparent during the cull itself that there are more or less numbers than predicted the targets should be revised accordingly."....Prof Woodroffe said "Where few badgers were being killed, they lowered the targets; where a lot were killed, they raised them. This means that there is really no way to tell what reduction in badger numbers was achieved by these culls. Culling that was consistently ineffective would look like a low badger density and prompt a reduced target," she said.

I find nothing surprising about that. Read 'Healthy or Hungry Thirties' by Charles Webster on the site. He exposed there how the government in the 1930s 'managed' the statistics on public health to 'prove' that the situation was getting better despite the Depression. I found another cunning wheeze but it belongs in Public Service Cuts I think.

Time we resurrected this thread I reckon, three and a bit years since the last post. There must be lots of wheezes around with the current status of stuff in general. Having said that it''s too late to think of one tonight. Someone else must have an example, there's a challenge.