Ups and downs

Well to be honest only one up. Today I went for my State Pension and found that I had been given a rise of just over £3.00 a week so from just under £100. a week to just over the £100. The first downer was a reply from Vauxhall. I will write it down exactly as it was sent to me. First though, I will remind you that I had my windscreen crack and eventually after going to Thurlby Motors in Lincolnshire, they informed me that it was caused by a stone. I knew that it was not so but as the dreadful tsunami had just happened, I said I would have it done through my Insurance. Autoglass was organised to replace the windscreen. When they arrived they refused to fit the windscreen. After another lengthy delay they told me that they would inform Autoglass to fit the windscreen, at my expense which they did. When the man came to fit the screen he told me to take photos as in his opinion, the damage was caused by, I think he said too much mastic in one place. This was pointed out when I wrote to Vauxhall also requesting them to contact Autoglass to get an independent assessment as to how the damage occurred. I also pointed out that the man who I saw was less than polite. Here is the reply I received. Thank you for your e-mail received on 11th. April 2011, regarding your Vauxhall Corsa.(I have omitted my name and registration Number.) As you can appreciate Autoglass are not part of our retailer franchise, therefore,we are unable to contact them regarding this matter. However, we have investigated this matter with Thurlby Motors who confirmed that it has not proved possible to attribute the windscreen damage to a manufacturing or material defect. It is for this reason that we will not be able to offer any financial assistance towards repair costs. If you remain dissatisfied with the dealerships findings, we recommend that you contact another Vauxhall Dealership who will be happy to provide their opinion on the windscreen damage Thank you again for contacting us and allowing me the opportunity to clarify our position in this matter. Yours sincerely Becky Lancaster Customer Service Manager. End of e-mail. Now if anyone wishes to make a comment or wishes me to furnish more information, I will gladly do so. I did send a haughty reply stating that it was totally unacceptable what she had written to me. I made comments too. To be honest, I thought that the most important thing in any business is the Customer. Not so on Vauxhall U.Ks case. It seems to be. "Sell the car then ignore the customer from then on. However it is important to inform them that they must have their car serviced to make sure that it complies with the warranty." What they do not tell you is. That if you have your car serviced and only authorised Vauxhall parts are used, you do NOT have to use the Dealerships. I will never recommend anyone to buy a Vauxhall Motor becaue of the lack of assistance I have received from all concerned with Vauxhall Motors. Now to the second downer. As readers will know I am in the process of changing my LPG supplier. Not quite that simple. I must admit that it is my fault. This is what actually happened. In April 2009 a Steve Walmsley a Director of Northern Energy came to visit me and offered to provide me with LPG for the next 2 years, this was signed about 20th. April 2009. I received from them a week or so ago another contract to run from 25th. April 2011 for the next 2 years. I decided to shop around and found Ennergas and signed up with them for the next 2 years. This morning I received mail fro Northern Energy informing me that I was in contract until 1st September 2011 and sent me a copy of the contract. I do vaguely remember this form coming, I thought that it was a hard copy of the original that I had signed in April. Of course this supersedes the original contract. To be honest, I suspect some office girl typed the date of September 1st. That was the date she was typing the contract, unfortunately I omitted to notice this. I rung them up and told them what had happened. They agreed that it was unusual and could not fully explain how it had happened. I then told them that I would NEVER purchase another litre of LPG. I was determined to leave them and that all they could do is charge me rental for the few months remaining. Immediately I finished talking to Northern Energy I rung Ennergas and informed them what has happened, they were sympathetic and I told them that I would contact them in August so that the change over could eventually proceed. What a funny day I have had. Still it is better than sitting around doing nothing. More soon.