So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Hercule]

At this time of year, all my household annual bills come rolling in. House insurance, bricks & mortar, house contents, car insurance, utility bills, on and on.
My main gripe about insurance is how we are treated as a cash cow. Every year there's a thumping great increase on the previous year and every year I have this verbal exchange that results in my premiums being reduced to that of before. Are these premiums computer generated? And do they have some sort of software that deliberately hikes the rate, year on year? Makes me wonder how many households just pay up and put up.

Been there done that - My understanding is that there's an assumption that your stuff has become more valuable/costly to replace so the cost of coverage must go up accordingly. Went through this years ago with regard to car insurance - my car gets older every year hence it is increasingly worth less so there's less to insure so my rates should actually go down. They didn't buy it and countered with the argument that the cost of liability only goes up. Something else that ticks me off is that the insurance companies offer sweet incentives to lure new customers. But what about those of us already being insured? Can't we get a little appreciation, afterall WE'RE the ones floating YOUR boat payments!

 

[HudsonHawk]

Been there done that - My understanding is that there's an assumption that your stuff has become more valuable/costly to replace so the cost of coverage must go up accordingly. Went through this years ago with regard to car insurance - my car gets older every year hence it is increasingly worth less so there's less to insure so my rates should actually go down. They didn't buy it and countered with the argument that the cost of liability only goes up. Something else that ticks me off is that the insurance companies offer sweet incentives to lure new customers. But what about those of us already being insured? Can't we get a little appreciation, afterall WE'RE the ones floating YOUR boat payments!

Yes, the value of your vehicle goes down over time, along with the cost to reimburse you if it's totaled. However, the cost to repair it goes up, as does the cost to repair/replace other vehicles should you be liable. That's why the older your vehicle, the more likely the insurance company is to total it rather than repair it.

 

[GHT]

Something else that ticks me off is that the insurance companies offer sweet incentives to lure new customers. But what about those of us already being insured? Can't we get a little appreciation, afterall WE'RE the ones floating YOUR boat payments!

That's, more or less, exactly what I said. I'm the customer and you are calling the shots. After negotiating the revised rate I was told that there was a one & a half percentage price to pay by credit card. When I ask why that is I'm told that they are just passing on the charge. This I challenged. You, the insurance company, set up payment by credit card so you should pick up the tab. They argued that this was the only way.
Really? My utility bills have a perforated paying slip attached so that I can choose to pay it either by mail, bank or post office. I asked why the insurance companies couldn't do the same. They couldn't answer that.
Truth is, they make quite a bit out of that one and a half percent.

Yes, the value of your vehicle goes down over time, along with the cost to reimburse you if it's totaled. However, the cost to repair it goes up, as does the cost to repair/replace other vehicles should you be liable. That's why the older your vehicle, the more likely the insurance company is to total it rather than repair it.

My insurers weren't interested in insuring my classic car so I took the business to a specialist. This I told to the administration clerk, adding that it costs just £110 to insure a classic 52 year old car, at a rebuild or write off cost of £21000. But our regular VW Golf that's ten years old is insured at a cost of £202 for just the write down value of about £500.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Five minutes ago, I came home with the second exemplar of my office-swivel-chair, which I bought in February.

I don't wanted to wait a further day, with these ugly padding of the first exemplar, which was already failing, like I would have the chair already for three years or so! Of course, the replacement at the furniture-market was no problem. On german law, you have to accept maximum two replacements, before rescission.

But surely, the new exemplars padding will be fail after short time, again. We will see. I will assemble the chair in the next minutes. It's easy to make. But, I'm not happy.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Nope, this .... goes back!!

Are you kidding me? The one armrest got correct screw-holes with metal-resistance inside and all is fine, but the other armrest got screw-holes with only plastic, so you can't screw correctly and the hole is destroyed!! I never experienced such a ....!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Ok, now 3rd try.
I came home, minutes ago and assembled the 3rd exemplar of the same chair. We looked together exactly after the armrests, already in the markets wrapping-counter and the armrests screw-holes looked correct (all metal inside).

Now, we will see, how the condition of the padding will be in two months.

 

[Trenchfriend]

And believe me, I'm 31 and always absolutely carefully on screwdriving! AND naturally, I know the old famous term:

"Easy does it!"/"Don't push too hard!"

German:
Nach "FEST" kommt "AB"!

 

[Edward]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but people referring to their pets as their "children" has always bugged me, even before I had children.

Love 'em, sure. Companions, why not, they are there and you can interact with them. "Friends", okay, I'll buy that.

But they are NOT children!

I have a variation on that. I adore my cats, but I hate it when people think they're substitute children. Additional cost of running aside, I'm pretty sure I'd have opted for actual human young had that been what I really wanted, not least because they last longer. It's hell to lose one of the little furballs.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Cats will break your heart, but they'll never grow up to *disappoint* you.

 

[GHT]

As in a teenage sprog who turns up with pink hair, body piercings, multiple tattoos, a mohican haircut, smoking something that smells like fertiliser? Yep, years ago so many friends and family berated us for being childless, now we are told that we don't know how lucky we are. Can't please some folk.

 

[LizzieMaine]

With the exception of the smoking -- drugs are counterrevolutionary poison -- I wouldn't mind any of those things, to be honest. What would disappoint me is a kid who just wasn't very bright. All of my cats have been very very intelligent.

 

[MisterCairo]

My next dog is going to be a cat.

It's "free labradoodle day" folks, first taker gets him...

 

[Trenchfriend]

As in a teenage sprog who turns up with pink hair, body piercings, multiple tattoos, a mohican haircut, smoking something that smells like fertiliser? Yep, years ago so many friends and family berated us for being childless, now we are told that we don't know how lucky we are. Can't please some folk.

The people could maybe do a good-hearted act and donate their children to Lizzie and the Strand-Theatre.

 

[sheeplady]

The only ways my kids could really disapoint me is having a lack of compassion and an unwillingness to contribute positively to society in some way.

Honestly, don't hurt other people, be able to see outside yourself, and try to do good.

My kids aren't carbon copies of myself, but I hope they aren't jerks.

Since I plan to get some tattoos in my old age and a purple stripe in my hair once I've gone completely gray, I figure I can't talk. I just hope they get good tattoos and dye jobs.

 

[ChiTownScion]

To be quite honest, these three have been a lot less expensive, and a lot less grief and aggravation, than the kids ever were-- although we have referred to them as "the furry children" on occasion.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of my favorite kids has her hair a different color every week, and has a tattoo of the solar system on her thigh. It's no less an affectation than a $1500 leather jacket, so who really cares. What matters to me is that she's smart as a whip and takes no crap from anybody. She's also a cat person, which is a definite plus.

 

[GHT]

Since I plan to get some tattoos in my old age and a purple stripe in my hair once I've gone completely gray, I figure I can't talk. I just hope they get good tattoos and dye jobs.

Jenny Joseph’s “When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple”
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

 

[dh66]

Since I plan to get some tattoos in my old age and a purple stripe in my hair once I've gone completely gray, I figure I can't talk. I just hope they get good tattoos and dye jobs.

My father used to tell people he was going to get a tattoo when he got real old, so that if later on he regretted it, he wouldn't have to live with it very long.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[sheeplady]

My father used to tell people he was going to get a tattoo when he got real old, so that if later on he regretted it, he wouldn't have to live with it very long.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

This started out as a semi-joke. I study aging and am very anti-aging stereotypes. So the idea got more real.

After I had cancer, I considered getting a tattoo, because I've always wanted one. (I have a scar on my chest from my port i thought abut covering.) However, they said they wouldn't tattoo me until the scar was completely faded. The scar is barely visible now unless you look.

So now I have to live until 60 to get my tattoo.

 

[BobHufford]

My father used to tell people he was going to get a tattoo when he got real old, so that if later on he regretted it, he wouldn't have to live with it very long.

I got my first tattoo in my 50s. I figure it will still look pretty good when I'm in my 60s.