Boomer54

Yes, we know they are synching , but nontheless love it.

1 minute ago, Malc1 said:

Oh my …… so much thought going into this …….. £150 an hour estimate …….. the job you had done has just cost a further £1500 minimum in Forum Members cerebral efforts ……. I’ll waive my fees though coz you’re all so poor up North 🥵

Whatever you do next ……, just don’t scrunch the car …… you don’t want it be a Cat N or whatever …… so take care 🤞

🤣😂   Malc 

 

 

 

Not really appreciating the funny side of this right now. Perhaps hit me up in a week ,or two and I might poke fun at it.

19 minutes ago, Bob King said:

"Removal of plastic arch inner guards"

The wheel arch you’ve posted a photo of ….the bolts don’t look they’ve been off.( admittedly very poor photo ! ) 😉😉

Bob, What did you think about the cross section below the radiator? Would you expect that to be treated? Pic is overleaf.

42 minutes ago, Mossypossy said:

Seems good. I forget you are paying pittance Northern prices though.

Shhhs don't tell everybody. They'll all want to move up here. ☺️

11 minutes ago, Bob King said:

"Removal of plastic arch inner guards"

The wheel arch you’ve posted a photo of ….the bolts don’t look they’ve been off.( admittedly very poor photo ! ) 😉😉

Thanks Bob. The situation is two arch liners retained by self tapping screws were removed and treatment was done. The other two are retained by self sacrificing plugs. When advised (which I appreciated) I said no problem I understand the issue. Talk me through it at the end and next time I put it in for service I will have those plugs switched out and we can then do what needs to be done. There has been no adjustment to the price for this and I am ok with that. Some things cannot always be foreseen.

33 minutes ago, LenT said:

Indeed so Stephen.

It’s an immediate display of hypocrisy that may well go into Parliamentary folk lore alongside Liam Byrne’s notorious note to his successor at The Treasury!

Alternatively, it’s confirmation that we ARE a Democracy!  As Churchill quoted ‘Democracy is the worst form of Government - apart from all the others!’

We are governed by those who can be bothered to vote at an Election choosing those who can be bothered to stand for Election!

But at least it’s a choice and - to my mind - better than having only one ruling Party.  Or even no Party!

In fact I’ve never really understood the American system.  With our plethora of Parties - and even individuals - to vote for, it seems unlikely that the entire gamut of human opinion can be successfully represented by just two opposing factions.

That was the situation in Orwell’s ‘1984’ and that didn’t turn out too well!  Still, that was fiction - couldn’t possibly happen in real life?

 

Colour me simple, but I can think of improvements to the current excuse for DEMOCRACY. Proportionate representation would be a start. A reduction in govt mandated policy replaced by digital referendums would be another. Neither requires much to be achieved except for politicians to be willing to accept that the Law of Large Numbers is both more democratic and is going to be more effective in making policy than they are. Spot the problem ? How do you get the guy holding the gate key to give it up when he in effect loses either part of his job ,or indeed his whole job when he does so.

32 minutes ago, Mossypossy said:

I think you are perhaps expecting a lot for what you paid.

I have a friend who underseals some quite exotic cars...is his only job. He looked under mine and thought most rust was very superficial. He could have done the job but would have been a big job, costing well north of £1000 to get into every nook and cranny. Would have involved removal of all superficial rust and then treatment with Dinitrol.

Did your quote involve rust removal or just spray treatment?

 

Well, I don't set the price ,nor could i. The price is set by the business and what they the business does for that price is set by the conditions laid out by the business which I post below. I neither expect too much nor too little. I expect the contract. If the business sets the contract disadvantageously for themselves (price too low etc)  that is not  a matter for me indeed I probably wouldn't even know. I paid for the Full Underseal as laid out below.

Copy and paste.

"A few notes to explain exactly what we do to your vehicle and your consent to apply these

procedures to your vehicle

• High pressure steam clean to vehicle underside using fresh water, Rustbuster Chlor-X
salt removing solution / degreaser / traffic film Remover. We do not clean the engine.
• Manual drying via high volume low pressure warm air.
• Removal of plastic arch inner guards and front engine trays. Heat shields will not be
removed. Body styling panels to door bottoms, skirts, splitters wings or bumpers will not
be removed.
• Masking off of brakes, backing plates and hubs, these will not be coated in the
process.
• Removal of any layered rust and failing coatings back to a sound surface. Surface rust
will be treated with Rustbuster Fe-123. Our technicians will use their discretion in what
areas to convert and which areas to leave.
• Underbody coated with Corrolan Pure, this includes the suspension shock absorbers
springs, roll bars, axles and drive shafts, floor pan underside fuel tank and all brake
hoses. NB Engine gearbox and prop shafts on rear wheel drive vehicles are not coated
• We inject all cavities, sills, sub frames, chassis rails, outriggers, hollow suspension
components. On the full rust proofing service, we also treat Door pillars, doors boot and
bonnet seams and inject with Rustbuster Corrolan Penetrator and Corrolan Active. The
material will lay in the bottom of cavities and seams and a fog mist layer of wax will be
applied to all upper cavity areas.

• Cavity wax is injected via holes that already exist where possible or via holes drilled into
the vehicle chassis and bodywork, a 10 mm hole is drilled and plugged with a 10 mm
plug. Drain holes are left clear even when drilled by ourselves. Injection points are made
at our discretion.
• We will endeavour to remove any overspray from your vehicle before you collect. In the
event that you find some overspray that has not been removed it can be easily removed
with a soft cloth and white spirit, this will not harm the paintwork in any way."

If you wish to understand my reaction to this in any way you need know no more than I am all about the contract. Expectations, feel, hope anything of that nature has no place in a contract for me. Indeed, based upon long experience I will go further and say that when words like "trust", "Good Faith" are thrown about it is usually because someone as either screwed up the contract and wants to deflect from that ,or they don't want to be specific on the contract.

I imposed one variation on the above. I asked that the coil overs be masked and untreated which they were.

55 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

I’m of the opinion that the only real difference between the parties is scrutiny. Outside of Government, there is little except for the most outrageous scandals. Once in Government things change. So, for all of those people who believed Labour would ‘clean up’ Government and restore it to ‘public service’ I’m afraid I have some bad news…there really isn’t much difference. There will inevitably be ‘bad apples’ in all walks of life, albeit within the Palace of Westminster the proportion seems to be rather high…

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-mp-defends-himself-as-renters-champion-after-poor-conditions-found-in-his-properties-13206274

It will be interesting to see what Starmer decides to do about MPs such as this example. Very little would be my guess. Vive la difference?

Back to Winter Fuel payments and the article in Spectator magazine, I do feel that if Jeremy Hunt had implemented this policy there would have been protest marches organised by SWP across the country with wall to wall media coverage of pensioners in hovels wrapped in blankets. Other than the Newsnight interview and the online petition, to quote Bjork, “…it’s oh so quiet…shhh!”

Unfortunately national elections in the UK, USA, France, Greece, Germany etc. are increasingly a choice through gritted teeth of the ‘least worst option.’

Meanwhile, the US election choice and mood is summed up pretty well here.

https://news.sky.com/story/forgotten-rust-belt-town-embraces-donald-trump-despite-his-broken-promises-13206487

Depressing isn't it?

Milton Friedman said it best in my view. I quote;

"Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player."

I have just popped the bonnet and taken 2 pics down the front of the radiator to show the cross member that the radiator sits on. I cleaned this area off a couple of weeks back on 11th Aug as the pics in the thread show. and it showed some superficial rust. On undersealing would you expect this to have been treated, or is it an area that you would not do? If you look comparing the pics above and now below you will see I ask ,because the area has not been touched.

1 minute ago, Malc1 said:

Well we have always understood it was likely to be a crappp Govt …….. and Mrs T is, you say, now looking down on this big big dumpster 

Malc 

Indeed, even in the hereafter she wants people to take responsibility for their personal crap.

12 hours ago, Malc1 said:

Had you a good rapport and used these guys before ? 

That would be my starting point before I decided next step ……… but meanwhile I’d check out availability of another ramp to have photos taken …… or if you’re allowed under that ramp, to take the piccys yourself 

How much £££  is involved btw ? 
Malc 

malc,

I don't know them beyond I had scrolled their facebook page of previous work and found nothing that gave off bad signals. From reading up on the Corrolan product it seemed to be a good choice for undersealing. They have also worked on one SC 430 before which helped boost my confidence a little (probably wrong to make anything of that). I have paid £100 as a deposit with a balance of £530 to come.

Having slept upon it my course of action is clear. He owes me the pics we agreed upon that validates the work done and is the barrier to his final payment. He has stated he will post them ,but might take a week, or two (who knows as he was not specific). Meanwhile his invoice is 30day net so we have time to do what should be done. The fact he is pressing for payment sooner than that is irrelevant .My Jag is due at my Indy on the 10th for MOT/Service. If the pics still have not arrived ,or fail to be what they should be then I will ask the Indy for a cost to book their ramp. I will take pics and ask them for their opinion. If it is all ok he gets paid without further delay less the cost of the ramp. If the Indy doesn't like what they see then I will ask them to do a report and what happens after that I won't know until that time. All dependent upon what is seen.

Frankly, I could really have done without this 'drama', but I will see it through.

1 minute ago, Phil xxkr said:

At last a sane owners club member 🥳. I read that Two Tier Starmer has had removed Mrs T's picture from Downing Street. This has echoes of that other Marxist miscreant Barry Obama who removed Churchills bust from the Oval office! Which DJT promptly put back. 🥳🥳🥳

It's only been removed to his En Suite. It's well know he has constipation issues and being scared 's...less' with Maggie frowning down on him was thought to be a decent solution.

20 minutes ago, LenT said:

Nevertheless Stephen,  a choice is what they are going to have to make.  At least they’ve had some experience of a Trump administration where as - on the back of the second lowest recorded level of support - the UK has acquired a new Government which appears to have elevated ways to rapidly alienate voters to a record level!

The UK made its choice because those who voted thought it couldn’t get worse with a change of personnel in Government.  Well, apparently it can! 

What really astonishes me is that after months of preparation and laying out their stall, the first actions of the new Government is to take actions for which they would have lambasted the previous lot!

Starmer et al are discovering that it is always far easier to oppose the Government than to actually be it!

 

"is to take actions for which they would have lambasted the previous lot"...and indeed the nice link to the Spectator article spotlighted exactly that and further to that it highlighted how little outcry there had been from the usual suspects of Tory bashers !

If the current electoral system in the UK and probably US is consistently throwing up a choice based upon who you don't want rather than who you want then perhaps it is time to change the system. Clearly whatever Democracy is supposed to be we are kidding ourselves that we have it.

1 minute ago, LenT said:

Well, having no influence as to its outcome, I haven’t been following the US political scene as closely as perhaps I should.  But I did by chance catch Harris’s most recent speech.

While I don’t find her voice particularly attractive, I certainly didn’t find her incoherent.  Rather than describe her comments as ‘babbling’ they struck me as rather generalised and sufficiently anodyne that it was hard to take exception to.

Whether or not she’s an idiot, I have no idea.  However, I have been convinced that Trump is a paranoid egotist who has demonstrated scant regard for the Law over many years, a misogynist who is going to find it extremely difficult to debate a woman who has a track record of dealing with crooks and an individual whose claims rarely stand up to close scrutiny and whose major defence is to mount ad hominem attacks on his critics.

Perhaps it is time that a woman was front of house at the White House?

Len, the US has our problem. The candidates on offer are an embarrassment to the 300 plus million population of that country. The voters have no good choice and we know how that feels.

On 8/29/2024 at 3:33 PM, Boomer54 said:

This should be interesting if only for the level of blarney used to sell it.

2002 Red Lexus SC 4.3 430 2dr for sale for £12,995 in Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire (autotrader.co.uk)

Pics are now up. Interestingly another with similar mileage has just appeared for the same price. One a 2005 plate and one 2002. Let the action begin.

44 minutes ago, Mossypossy said:

I would pay up. He probably knows where you live.

Then he should also know I had my first boxing gloves at the age of 4.

45 minutes ago, Bob King said:

I can feel your frustration..you asked for photo’s and they verbally agreed . Now if it got all legal and they demanded payment , if it’s not in writing about the photo’s there is not much you can do about it .

    From your prospective you would not recommend the company to other people as they didn’t keep to their word.

     From the photo’s you’ve posted it looks a messy job, with overspray on the engine underbelly pan…that would rattle me !

 

 

It is actually in writing. He actually says he will post them up, but it might be 1 to 2 weeks as he is busy. . Meanwhile, he has posted up 4 pics of jobs following mine complete with text. He's also texted me rather contentiously a couple of times. In other words I am thinking this chap says he is too busy to post half a dozen pics, but he has found more time than that to do other things. Hence, I am clearly wondering do I have any pics at all? How do I know what he has really done? Why is he pressing for a payment in 3 days when his invoice states 30 days Net?

To me this is all strange. I want to pay him. All he has to do is stop wasting time arguing with me and take the 5 mins max to post the pics so I know more clearly what's been done

Bob, thanks anyway. Just talking this through has made me sure this is not me being unreasonable. In summary, his invoice is 30 days. If he wants paying quickly he should find  5 mins and do what he contracted to do. If that does not happen I will take it into my Indy and get it on a ramp. After that matters will proceed depending on what is seen at that point. Payment, or complaint and clearly I don't know which at this point.

Honest open question, am I being unreasonable?

Here it is chronologically.

Booked undersealing.

Asked for pics on the works at critical points. Agreed.

Asked to see car post completion on ramp.

Collected car.

Car was off ramp. Good reasons for not putting it back up.

2 days after collection got invoice Net 30.

Asked for pics. No reply.

1 day later got text asking for payment.

Stated will pay when the pics received.

Got two very strange contentious texts basically telling me I am being unreasonable.

Facebook page Newsflash stating clients will now be required to make payment before collection due to recent clients not acting in good faith.

These days I know I am not as acute as I once was so I ask openly am I being unreasonable here ?

I did do a limited scoot under the car and yes I know something has been done without getting the full picture.

For clarity, I have paid a deposit at the time of booking, and if I can visually see what's been done is what I expected to be done then no problem.

At the moment I am a bit bemused. Is it me, or am I dealing with someone whose acting a bit strange?

16 minutes ago, fourbanks said:

If only we had an MP that sounded positive. This country never has had one, and there lies the overall problem with the UK

should someone ever come across a positive clip from a mp, then do please let it be shown 

Well, I am no MP unless that stands for Most Pretentious, but I am pretty positive that I am going to die. Does that still count?☺️

4 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

Wood burners and multi-story cladding is an unfortunate association Steve 😅. I understand what you say about work/life balance but surely only in settled circumstances? Having been told incessantly that the countries up to its arse (rear end) in alligators why do you want to be seen as part of the swamp? Shouldn't the optics be to be seen as instrumental in draining it? And was permission sought from Milliband before using a jet just to go jigging about? This really is a two-tier government 😱

"Wood burners and multi-story cladding is an unfortunate association". Yup! 😉

I think I did say she is basically a political numtpy !

8 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

Never mind if you're the deputy PM just go to Ibiza. As in todays Mail

"One moment you're in Dagenham discussing cladding... the next you're raving inside a DJ booth at a packed-out Ibiza club night".

Is that raving mad you think? 

She does have a life outside of politics that she is entitled to. However, an astute politician would not be so oblivious to how this plays out for the voting electorate. If I were a betting man my money would be on this loose cannon not still being in cabinet by the time of the next election. Gosh, she might have a new career cutting and supplying timber for OAP's woodburners ! All the 'rave' she will ever need.

37 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

This is worth a read on a similar path…broadly how are Labour ‘getting away’ with so much when the previous Conservative Government would have been vilified for the exact same policy. 

It seems few people are willing to publicly pick a fight with Labour. For the moment anyway…

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labours-age-of-miracles/

Interesting read and the points made do have merit.

In that interview the words "difficult choice" features large. There seems to be some implication that difficult over rides choice. policy is always about choice irrespective of it being hard ,or indeed easy. What I would like to know is who decided this was a wise choice and why? I would also like to know who thought this logistical approach setting the barrier at it's current level was a wise choice, or even a fair choice? In other words I want to know the real thinking on this policy ,because as choices go it just looks to be not understandable. Why pick a fight with 10 million pensioners for numbers like £1.5 billion.

Plucked straight off todays tabliod;

"Record numbers of migrants living in Britain and not working are costing the taxpayer an estimated £8 billion a year, a new report warns.

Official figures show 1,689,000 non-UK nationals are either unemployed or classed as economically inactive because they are not looking for a job."

"The Centre for Migration Control put the cost to taxpayers at £8.5 billion a year."

Hardly an unbiased source ,but picked anyway ,because the numbers don't even have to be nearly right to make the point. I am very confident I could compile a list of 10 too 20 issues where the numbers would probably be more significant than those at the heart of this Winter Fuel issue.

Over and above whatever I might think about the 'fairness' of this new policy, I can't move past the core issue of it just looks politically irrational and ill thought out. If I want to pick a fight tonight that I can win and be thought well about I am not going to pick on a 6ft 5 inch behemoth who is also the pillar of his community. No, I look for a wimpy 5 footer who just stole the old ladies purse.

May be we should attribute all this to having not been in political power for so long they have no worthwhile experience of how to wield it? Oh dear, if my middle name was Caesar I would be very worried about October, March ,and every month inbetween, because even without eyes in the back of my head I can feel the dagger coming.

10 hours ago, microgerry said:

Well, what a surprising result

I did have a moan to CV but they just told me that they don't own the data they use, just collect and collate it from various sources.

Then I received an email from them asking me to review my experience. I did, and posted it to Trustpilot and within thirty minutes another email from CV! Someone from Customer Services tried to offer me two more credits to my account. As I had no intention of buying another car I declined their offer.

Next I was offered a refund of £28.78 for my disatisfaction.

Wow, I accepted and got a full refund.

Good result !

This should be interesting if only for the level of blarney used to sell it.

2002 Red Lexus SC 4.3 430 2dr for sale for £12,995 in Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire (autotrader.co.uk)