What cheeses me off

[SYD]

1. Car rental companies that insist on “upgrading” you but the bigger car you don’t really want in Europe actually has a smaller boot than the car you originally booked!* Arrgh!

2. I was initially allocated an even bigger Jeep hybrid that needed to get back to Valencia - 5mins into my drive in a slightly smaller car with even smaller boot I thought, why didn’t I ask them to waive the one way fee!

*the same office replaced my Fiat 500 or equivalent booking with a Nissan XTrail… The cross your bear being AVIS President Circle (and not sure why I am).

 

[RooFlyer]

WCMO. I am now officially 'aged'

Going to have a hand operation in a month - won't be able to drive for 2 months after it but will need to get 1hr into Hobart and back once a week for 4-5 weeks for physio.

Call Community Transport Service - who I've used before - volunteers drive you down and back, I think for free, or there might have been a small fee. Told that because I'm now 65, I now have to go through 'May Aged Care' (and Feds then will pay the community people for the service, which is good).

Phone up - full details taken - can you feed yourself, etc .... Can't just process me for a code I need for the transport service, I have to be 'fully assessed'. Assessment takes 2 weeks. See how I go.

I've also looked up the bus timetable ...

 

[RooFlyer]

1. Car rental companies that insist on “upgrading” you but the bigger car you don’t really want in Europe actually has a smaller boot than the car you originally booked!* Arrgh!

I've had that battle for decades!! Bigger car - more (expensive) fuel, harder to get into little parling spots (and risk of damage). I once got them to rebate the fuel cost diff on mpg booked Vs mpg given, but only once (was Avis at Heathrow a long time ago.

 

[Pushka]

As someone who works on projects and contracts where the client hasn't always specified things adequately up front it is standard good practice to document any working assumptions needed to progress actions and the impacts if these assumptions fail to prove true.

I'd rather see assumptions noted and discussed, than someone assume everyone else has the same understanding.

The inclusion of assumptions in presentations is sometimes the impetus to securing an actual decision.

Maybe the words "my understanding" is better than the word 'assumption '. It sounds more like a clarification of discussions rather than a blanket assumption.

 

[MARTINE]

Maybe the words "my understanding" is better than the word 'assumption '. It sounds more like a clarification of discussions rather than a blanket assumption.

Yes..
To clarify my point
EG:
Question to customer facing person - does that price include delivery ?
‘I assume so’
Can you check?
Walk out and come back (clearly not having checked)
Yeh

Go to checkout and delivery fee added on by separate attendant.

- does not equate to

I will clarify assumption xx_xx_ from our discussion; my interpretation is …… in a workplace setting.

 

[VPS]

WCMO. I am now officially 'aged'

Going to have a hand operation in a month - won't be able to drive for 2 months after it but will need to get 1hr into Hobart and back once a week for 4-5 weeks for physio.

Call Community Transport Service - who I've used before - volunteers drive you down and back, I think for free, or there might have been a small fee. Told that because I'm now 65, I now have to go through 'May Aged Care' (and Feds then will pay the community people for the service, which is good).

Phone up - full details taken - can you feed yourself, etc .... Can't just process me for a code I need for the transport service, I have to be 'fully assessed'. Assessment takes 2 weeks. See how I go.

I've also looked up the bus timetable ...

Good luck with My aged care - my assessment was over six months ago and they have agreed to some support but still waiting to be allocated a provider or some such rubbish.

 

[TheRealTMA]

WCMO. I am now officially 'aged'

Going to have a hand operation in a month - won't be able to drive for 2 months after it but will need to get 1hr into Hobart and back once a week for 4-5 weeks for physio.

Call Community Transport Service - who I've used before - volunteers drive you down and back, I think for free, or there might have been a small fee. Told that because I'm now 65, I now have to go through 'May Aged Care' (and Feds then will pay the community people for the service, which is good).

Phone up - full details taken - can you feed yourself, etc .... Can't just process me for a code I need for the transport service, I have to be 'fully assessed'. Assessment takes 2 weeks. See how I go.

I've also looked up the bus timetable ...

Importantly, can you get volunteers to bring your wine and gin orders?

 

[Pushka]

Good luck with My aged care - my assessment was over six months ago and they have agreed to some support but still waiting to be allocated a provider or some such rubbish.

Is My Aged Care income or means tested?

 

[Quickstatus]

will need to get 1hr into Hobart and back once a week for 4-5 weeks for physio

Another trip report?

 

[RooFlyer]

Importantly, can you get volunteers to bring your wine and gin orders?

Coles delivers! As does my local winery.

Is My Aged Care income or means tested?

No-one has mentioned that.

 

[VPS]

Is My Aged Care income or means tested?

Income and means assessments

To find out how much you will pay for a Home Care Package or permanent care in an aged care home, you will need an income or means assessment. Learn more about how these assessments work.

www.myagedcare.gov.au

Yes to a certain extent - it determines how much your copayment is for services

 

[JohnK]

Can someone please help out.

I'm writing to you regarding your complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about Breakfree Great Sandy Straits.

In our last email, we advised that we would contact the trader on your behalf to try to negotiate a remedy for you. Unfortunately, they weren't willing to provide a refund.

The trader advised that as per their Terms and Conditions, the $23.55 is non-refundable credit card surcharge that was taken at the time of the booking.

I have never heard of a non-refundable credit card surcharge. Cancel within specified cancellation and receive full refund. Are they allowed to have a non-refundable credit card surcharge on hotel bookings?

AFCA? But they're not a financial institution. QCAT?

 

[RooFlyer]

I have never heard of a non-refundable credit card surcharge. Cancel within specified cancellation and receive full refund. Are they allowed to have a non-refundable credit card surcharge on hotel bookings?

Quite common. The merchant argues that its a fee paid to the bank, that they can't recover, so not refundable to the customer.

 

[love_the_life]

Is My Aged Care income or means tested?

Depends on the program - the entry level Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) is not means/income tested. Clients pay a client contribution towards subsidised services.
The Home Care Packages (HCP) Program is income tested. Recipients on a HCP are assigned a package and there can be an income fee payable towards services. This is why some older people with complex needs choose to remain on CHSP rather than take up a HCP - no one can force them to.
Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) is income and assets tested.
But things will change for HCP recipients from 1 July 2025 with the introduction of Support at Home. There will be different levels of co-payment depending on both the support service type and the financial position of the recipient.

 

[VPS]

Microsoft subscription due - gone up quite a lot - a bit of digging and you can take $20 off if you don't want AI included

UK Times 1 pound a month going up to 9.99 so cancel and get new email and go back to 1 pound a month for twelve months

NY times going from $20 a year to $180 a year so go online to cancel - oh would you stay if it was $25 a year

SIGGGHHH

 

[JohnM]

Microsoft subscription due - gone up quite a lot - a bit of digging and you can take $20 off if you don't want AI included

Pretty sneaky way they have done that...

 

[TheRealTMA]

Pretty sneaky way they have done that...

That’s what AI told them. Wanna make more profit, increase the price significantly without warning. Good stuff this AI.

 

[JohnM]

That’s what AI told them. Wanna make more profit, increase the price significantly without warning. Good stuff this AI.

I was actually meaning what you have to do to remove the AI component: cancel your subscription, then choose another subscription option.

Who would think to actually choose 'cancel subscription' to remove the AI module?

From the MS Community:

If you want to subscribe to Microsoft 365 without copilot, i.e. without Ai functionality. you need to set up a subscription according to the following.


1. If you haven't subscribed to the higher priced Microsoft 365 with copilot yet

• Visit account.microsoft.com.
• Select the Microsoft 365 subscription you have and select “Manage”.
• Select “Cancel Subscription ”
• View “Switch to a subscription that suits you better” and select “Microsoft 365 Personal /Family Classic”.
• After following the instructions to complete your subscription. Your subscription will automatically renew to Classic when its existing subscription expires.

 

[love_the_life]

We have AppleNews and that gives access to quite a few different publications - I have to confess though that I use it mainly for the magazines. This is a family subscription which I don't actually pay the fee for so a good deal. I don't pay for newspapers online at all.

 

[Lynda2475]

My Microsoft 365 family just renewed with co-pilot for same price as past 2 years; however I purchased my original subscription with a discount code from a previous employer which is obviously still valid.

Im cancelling my NYT subscription when it expires at the end of the month, AU$20 was worth it for the games and occasional recipe (never found the news much chop); but the 2nd year price of AU$89 (increasing to $180 for 3rd year) is not. I was thinking about opting for the $39 for the puzzles only option; but will now wait and see if they offer me $20 again after cancelling.