Council Tax Twuntdom – The Response

Well, colour me (slightly) impressed. I’ve had a response from the council already. I quote it in it’s entirety… (and without changing the way it was written)

GOOD MORNING

TO CLARIFY THE SITUATION.

YOUR COUNCIL TAX ACCOUNT IS IN CREDIT OF £38.23, I HAVE TODAY REQUESTED THAT A REFUND CHEQUE IS ISSUED TO YOU, THIS YOU WILL RECEIVE IN THE NEXT 10 DAYS

THANK YOU

xxx (Name removed by me – fair’s fair)

So there we go – sorted. Well, questions remain unanswered about why they do the form in such a twunty way in the first place, but at least it’s an answer.

Council Tax Twuntdom

One of the joys of moving is getting to deal with whole new levels of bureaucracy when it comes to Council Tax. (for non-UK readers, ignore this post, and simply read it as “Fuckwit cunts, can’t organise a piss-up in a brewery, rant rant, can’t find their own arses with both hands and a flashlight, seethe, seethe, sweary sweary, tossers” and be done with it) Not only do you have to register with a new council, and see what things they can screw up (council tax seems to be a great initiation and benchmark test into just how shite and disorganised a council truly is) but you have to talk to the old council in the place you’ve moved away from, and try to a) convince them you’ve actually left, b) state repeatedly that you are NOT staying within that council’s borders, and c) try to sort out whether you’ve over or under paid the council tax account, and thus try (in my case) to get a refund out of the tightfisted fucktwunt’s coffers. This is nowhere near as easy as it sounds.

Currently I’m now on my fourth letter to Tameside, and about the eighth e-mail. They’ve refused to believe I’m moving, they’ve then charged me for next year’s council tax, denied they’ve ever received the letter to which I’ve just read the reply, and finally said “Oh yes, you have moved. Silly Us. Why didn’t you register it on the website?” “I did. You lost it.” “Oh.”

Eventually, today, the final bill arrived. It’s a wonder of council workings and weirdness.

Amount due 01-Apr-04 to 28-Jan-05	£621.88
Less Disabled Relief	0.00
Less discount at 25&percent; 01-Apr-04 to 30-Dec-04	-£140.59
Less Transitional Reduction*	£0.00
Less Council Tax Benefit	£0.00
Less exemption relief** 31-Dec-04 to 28-Jan-05	-£59.52
Total Amount Payable	£421.77
Payments made	-£460.00
CREDIT	-£38.23
* I have no idea what this is
**I have no idea about this one either

Now, according to that, I’m owed £38.23 by the council because I’ve overpaid by that much. But they’ve listed it as a credit of negative money – which, in English, translates into “You owe us”. I’ve emailed them to ask which it is, and why the language they use is so convoluted and – frankly – fucking wrong.

I can’t wait for the answer on this one. Can you?

Taking The Piss – Part 2

Currently my mobile phone is on the O2 network. I’ve been with them for nearly a year, so it’s coming up to the time to upgrade the handset, and all that gubbins. Joy.

I’m looking for an upgrade to the one that I’ve got now, and quite like the Nokia 6600, which according to O2 is free (plus a free bluetooth headset) with a new account. So I call them up to see if I can upgrade my current phone to this one.

Well, I can, but only if I pay £100. Frankly, fuck that. If I move my number over to Vodafone I can get the newer model (the 6630) for £30 and simply port my number over to them. And save myself a nice little £70 into the bargain. I can get the 6600 for absolutely keff-all.

When I explain to the O2 muppet this situation, that I’ll actually just move my contract to another provider, the attitude is “Fine, you’ll have the same problems with upgrading the phone with Vodafone in twelve months time”. Hardly conducive to making me want to stay with O2, is it?

I have to wonder what kind of company seemingly is so happy to lose customers. Their attitude of “We’ll charge you to stay with us” seems utterly bizarre. Maybe I’m just naïve though. *shrug*

Taking the Piss

As I said earlier this week, Nine Inch Nails are doing two concerts in London in March. Allegedly. Tickets went on sale today at 9am. Allegedly.

The website that’s supposed to be selling the tickets has no mention of them. Ticketmaster have no idea what the fuck I’m talking about, when I eventually get through. The Carling Live website (the London Astoria is now owned by Carling, apparently – Jesus God Fucking Christ help us all) doesn’t even list the gig.

In short, buying tickets for this event is currently an absolute no-no, and no-one seems to know what the fuck is going on. I despair.