Rip Off Britain

[skier-hughes]

Conway Borough Council may like to know of your support for Listed Buildings, following the episode of Rip Off Britain shown on BBC one this morning.

http://www.conwy.gov.uk/sectionextra.asp?cat=459&Language=1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wck32

 

[plasticpigeon]

Typical Brummie there, wanting to put in UPVC to smarten up the front of the building and make it look even better. Come to Birmingham and see how beautiful it is! Very ignorant people, and rather biased reporting.

 

[robgil]

Is it just me or are more and more people nowadays ready to put a knife in your back whilst shaking your hand? Ove the past 3 or 4 months I have had three people do this to me , one was to the tune of nearly 1500 quid, another was an ex employer who thought he could make the law up as he went along. It seems rip off britian is having a knock on effect and turning people into complete barstewarts (or just bringing out the truth in people) who will quite happily and bare faced take what they can get from you while fronting them selves as friendly.
What goes around comes around.
Rant over.

 

[philpjuk100]

See! if you have single glazing you might as well leave the windows open and let the heat out! she may have something there,my wife on entering the room said"its freezing in here,its warmer outside" she then told me I was being silly opening the windows to let the" warmer" air in! you just cannot win!

 

[plasticpigeon]

I suppose rip off Britain could be seen as inspiration for people who might be thinking of a career in crime. I used to think better of people before I bought a house. I was never happy go lucky, but often optimistic. The whole experience has made me think less of almost everybody. In fact no matter how cynical I become I'm sure I will never be cynical enough to reflect reality.

 

[Lime]

I suppose rip off Britain could be seen as inspiration for people who might be thinking of a career in crime. I used to think better of people before I bought a house. I was never happy go lucky, but often optimistic. The whole experience has made me think less of almost everybody. In fact no matter how cynical I become I'm sure I will never be cynical enough to reflect reality.

Oh! I quite agree.
Buying a house seems to make most potential purchasers turn into a combination of selfish liars, time wasters and petty narrow-minded self-important nonentities with no imagination.
When I sell a house I give them little attention and time, if any.
I take the attidude that if someone wants to buy my house they'll tell me.
On average I'd say that the great majority of house-viewers are a complete waste of time and space.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Thanks. Maybe I should put it like this. I like to think the best of people but the more I get stung the harder and harder it is for that to be my default position. I could understand what Robgil was saying, as whether it is heathy or not, I have been feeling similar recently. Perhaps I should have written "the whole experience has made me suspicious of everybody".

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Great to see you back Graham Skier-Hughes.

 

[Lime]

Thanks. Maybe I should put it like this. I like to think the best of people but the more I get stung the harder and harder it is for that to be my default position. I could understand what Robgil was saying, as whether it is heathy or not, I have been feeling similar recently. Perhaps I should have written "the whole experience has made me suspicious of everybody".

Life experience has made me as I am.
My early/youthful hopes were that people would be thoughtful and kind.
However the majority of people are not like that no matter how hard you try to coax them to be otherwise.
Many people see kindness and friendliness in another person as weakness.
It has been a hard lesson to learn, but most people try harder to please someone who is cold and distant if they want something.

 

[philpjuk100]

please dont let programs like cowboy builders,rip off britain,don`t get done,etc colour your judgement too much,be careful,look into peoples eyes,take great care of your possesions,but there are many good folks out there,yes I have been ripped off (once for £35 worth of turf 41 years ago for the garden of our first house,still hurts!) but I have found most tradesmen honest if sometimes a little greedy,just take care and do a bit of bartering!

 

[tobydog]

Our garden is about a third of an acre. Our neighbour has over two acres. Our boundary is fairly long but only about 40-50ft is/was open with a low open fence. We get on well with them and the husband even works in the same office / company as me in London, however, that didn't stop them not thinking before putting triple compost bins, a large tramplone (three young noisy children) and a large chicken run right up against the fence in that open section. It's also right next to our new seating area that they know we have spent the year building.

I certainly wouldn't do that to my neighbours and would normally put myself in their position first before I thought about doing something like that. I did have a friendly chat with them about what was developing but it led to nothing.

In the end I put it down to arrogance that they would do what they wanted to do regardless. 'Nice' as they are, they are the type. Do we try and beat them or join them? My personal experience of people in general has made me more cautious and protective over time but you won't win all the time.

 

[philpjuk100]

There are good folks around! a chap in nigeria that I have never met has just emailed me to say he wishes to give me 23 million dollars,see you just have to belive in folks! he just needs my bank details to transfer it.

 

[Flyfisher]

Yep, lots of friendly and generous people in Nigeria. :lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

I think, in general, if you give kindness and sweetness and honesty to people you get it right back again. I can't recall a single instance of being ripped off, or done over, or cheated on, and I certainly wouldn't behave that way towards others.

We've bought things we probably spent a bit too much on, and used services we perhaps could have done without, and occasionally experienced disappointing, poor quality work, but that's all just part of the general learning curve of life. You learn what you can do better yourself ( most things).

Having said that I certainly would not have neighbours again as they consider their house and garden their private kingdom ( as I do) and give very little time towards your feelings. Noisy children and trampolines are awful but at least not threatening to your property. We experienced a landlord in London who excavated a basement flat adjoining ours without planning permission, the whole house had to be underpinned and vast cracks appeared and ours flooded. It all seems totally fine now though, and I believe he appealed and got retrospective PP for most of his tunnelling, but it was a stressful thing to live through. No neighbours here is bliss after that.

 

[LadyArowana]

Yep, lots of friendly and generous people in Nigeria. :lol:

I'm so glad you have met them too!

 

[skier-hughes]

From: Peter Jones-Hughes

Date: 28th September 2012


Programme ‘Rip off Britain’ – Double Glazing


Thank you for your email dated 12/09/12. I am sorry for the delay in my reply. I have been on leave and have had some catching up to do since my return.

I am grateful for your letter of support for the Council’s stance in the above case. A Listed Building Enforcement Notice Appeal Hearing is due to take place in October and the Council will be presenting its case in support of remedial action to remedy the breach. The Council are also undertaking an exercise in the next couple of months to inform all listed building owners of the implications of listing. This should further assist owners who are contemplating work on their buildings.

Having seen the programme I agree that there could have been greater clarity in explaining the statutory obligations for listed buildings. The programme called these controls “a local law” which I consider to be incorrect and misleading. I have copied this correspondence to Becky Garrod of the ‘Rip off Britain’ BBC programme team for her information and response.

Regards





Peter Jones-Hughes
Principal Conservation Officer

 

[agbagb]

By "AGB's Other Half'
Glad to see we're back "on theme". The programme took one woman's view into account. It's not for the council to appologise, that's for your solicitor to find out in your searches when you purchase. We have recently bought a cottage in a conservation area and our conveyancer couldn't stress strongly enough that we had to look into what pitfalls that could mean for us (didn't matter, we'd fallen in love, so irrelevant) Sorry Penners, if I've misspelled or punctuated incorrectly. I've had the wine, but no kit kat