Room 101

[AnneMarriott]

Fiz, if the dogs don't have adequate shelter the RSPCA will intervene if they are notified, and if the barking is really annoying, the local council will intervene if they are notified.  Keep note of examples to add weight to complaints.

[Fiz]

Not round here they won't, Anne. I've tried.

[AnneMarriott]

Well I'm sorry to hear that- what a pain!  Perhaps you could get other neighbours to complain as well because persistent barking must annoy them even if they're not concerned about the dogs being left outside.  Or persistence with complaints to the RSPCA and local council can work sometimes, I believe., especially if you complain to a named individual such as the councillor for your local ward or the manager of the local RSPCA branch.  Sympathies, though - a terrible nuisance.

[Fiz]

I am quite concerned about the dog. It is a husky and it is left alone for vast stretches of time. I think he is lonely, and he is such a lovely dog.

[AnneMarriott]

No wonder the poor thing barks!  Perhaps the owners think that a husky is fine outdoors all the time and it probably is, if it has a kennel.  I'm not an expert but I think huskies may be more pack-orientated than your average dog so it's not nice to leave it on its own. 

[Fonty]

How annoying for you, Fiz, and how distressing for the dog.

 

People who leave their dogs alone aften swear blind their dog doesn't bark or howl.  A friend of mine had to take a recording of her neighbour's pet whining and barking all day, because they refused to believe her.

 

Very unusual to keep a dog outside if it is a family pet. 

[Fiz]

You are quite right, Anne. They need people around them as they are so pack oriented.

[Anjuli_Bai]

Whether a dog is pack oriented or people oriented - I don't know any who are loners.

 

That's cruelty to leave it alone.  

[alison]

That was until I had to have some work done on my central heating pipes, which meant I had to have the carpet taken up.  She realised just how intimate she and I would be if I took up the carpet permanently.

 

Fonty, I understand completely.  The trouble is, if in these situations you try to be a considerate neighbour and not hoover at antisocial times, wear slippers in the flat, try not to make much in the way of transmissible noise and so on, all that happens is that the other neighbours don't realise that there *is* a noise transmission problem at all, and merrily go on removing carpets, clomping around in high heels, arguing in loud voices, turning TV/stereo volumes up and banging things in the middle of the night with impunity.  You can't win, I don't think - unless your neighbours have previously lived in a flat where they've suffered from the same problems, in which case I'd imagine they are more sympathetic.

[LinMM]

Poor doggy Fiz. What is the matter with people to,leave it outside at night too. Why do they want a pet!! Do you know if they have taken this dog on sufferance or are going away for the night and just leaving him/her behind?

 

If the weather takes a turn for the worse I think the RSPCA should be informed or are you on friendly enough terms to have a word to say you are a bit worried about the dog......though I know this could be a minefield and as you are moving soon may not be worth any antagonism.

I have to say I just don't know how people can do it......I'd want my husky dog to be in the house keeping each other warm!!

[Fiz]

The dog was a present from a guilty father. Mummy doesn't like mess in the house. Her son loves the dog and he wasn't working when they first acquired him. He is now, as is his mother and they both go out a lot at weekends. Our vet said that the dog is well cared for in appearance and that they aren't doing anything illegal.

[porthesia]

People who leave their dogs in cars without the window open.  Saw two cases in the same car park.  I thought the window should be left open just a bit even in this weather.  I suppose I am wrong for not calling the RSPCA .

[Shmendrick]

People who leave their dogs in cars without the window open.  Saw two cases in the same car park.  I thought the window should be left open just a bit even in this weather.  I suppose I am wrong for not calling the RSPCA .

 

  From what I've heard the RSPCA aren't interested unless they can prosecute. 

 

  For me it depends, in this weather cars get cold very quickly and the window open will just make it worse. Unless you're going to be gone for a while it doesn't seem like it should be a problem. In summer it's different of course. 

[taxi4ballet]

The last posting date for Christmas creeping up on you before you've even bought any cards...

[LinMM]

Well I was I initially organised this year and got my cards and Christmas stamps about a month ago(I'm nearly always too late to get the special stamps usually) but I don't know one thing and another and it's the 18th December and I STILL haven't done them!!

 

My friends abroad are used to getting what turn out to be "new year" cards from me but thought I would surprise them this year........oh well next year then!

[Fonty]

Talking of Christmas cards, one of my pet hates is receiving a card from friends you only see once or twice a  year, on about 23rd December, with a note, saying, "Hi there, just to let you know we moved into our new home 3 months ago, and the new address is....."

 

 

[alison]

Well, if they've got any sense they'll have put their post on redirect, so it won't matter so much.  I *did* try to get mine out particularly early this year.

[Fiz]

The Post Office! They are making it virtually impossible for us to redirect our mail! Online, they want far too much personal information about our whole family for no reason connected with redirection. By post, they want two recent paper utility bills. We pay online. It has wasted so much of my husband's time today and it still hasn't been resolved!

[alison]

What personal information, Fiz?  I don't remember it being a problem when I did it back at Easter.

 

And yes, utility bills - proving ID is one of the things nobody ever thinks of when they sign up online.  I'm not sure I can prove I exist at the moment - and my British Library pass has run out, too.  Ah.  How am I going to get a new one, with no utility bills?!!

[alison]

At the moment, I'd like to add the bloke who ran over my umbrella in the tram at the weekend with his mini-tank buggy, without as much as an Excuse me or an apology, and certainly no attempt to avoid the umbrella whatsoever.  Result?  It gave up the ghost in today's, winds and rain, partly, I think, because he'd mangled one of the riveted joints which later gave way, leaving dangerous sticky-out pieces of metal which could easily have been poked into someone's eye.

[Fiz]

They wanted to know the names, dates of birth and other information about everyone who would be have their mail directed. Since this includes our young daughters, we were not willing to disclose this and indeed, I cannot imagine why they need to ask such questions.

[alison]

Oh, really?  They're certainly entitled to ask for names, since they will only redirect the mail of specified individuals: I realise this because the woman who used to live downstairs had her mail redirected when she moved, but her brother didn't, and they both share the same surname and initial.  If they asked me for a birth date, I guess I probably lied: I usually do in cases where it's none of their business.  As far as I'm concerned, they're entitled to my birth year for classification purposes, but nothing else.  (And certain other individuals are entitled to my birthday, but not my birth year).

[taxi4ballet]

Emergency out-of-hours GP's who just aren't interested and don't listen to what you are telling them.

[Thecatsmother]

The chemist where I slipped on a wet floor and am still suffering with an injury 18 months later!

[MAB]

This had a topic of its own a couple of years ago, but this address theft business has turned nasty in my case.  I live in a large old house with four flats over four floors and a massive amount of mail arrives for people that have never lived there, and in the last couple of years I've discovered more and more of this stuff specifically addressed to Flat D: my flat.  Why this kind of thing isn't treated seriously I don't know as it is down and out fraud in my opinion, one letter was a follow up on a claim for child benefit for four kids! Though most are bailiffs' letters.  I always send them back to the sender marked 'no one of this name has ever lived at this address', but they keep coming.

 

A couple of days ago I was setting up a direct debit for internet connection when I was turned down for being uncredit-worthy and before anyone asks, no, I don't have any debts at all, have never had a county court judgement against me, never been a bankrupt or any other thing that would prevent me being turned down for credit.  Then I remembered all those con artists that claim to live in my flat, it isn't me that is the problem - it's my address.

[LinMM]

That's a real pain MAB I would be so furious!

What can you do anything about getting your Internet connection? Letter from a Bank to verify you so to speak? Still a nuisance though.

[MAB]

I went to my mobile phone provider in the end and explained the situation, they checked out my account with them and were happy to sign me up with another direct debit.  The reason I didn't go to them first was because another company was recommended to me by an IT guy at work, but in the end the cost was about the same.  I'm not so much angry about being turned down - it's the reason why that has got to me. 

[Fonty]

That is shocking, MAB.

 

Sorry, I don't remember you talking about this originally.  Are the council or police not interested at all?  I find that most depressing.

[2dancersmum]

That's terrible MAB.  We had a similar situation years ago when renting a flat as students.  Unfortunately I don't know how it was solved because we just handed over all the letters we collected to our landlord but he must have reported it somehow as they did gradually stop.

 

And my own entry for Room 101 - constant wet and windy weather.  Our village has been on and off flood alert since before Christmas and the river in the nearby town has already burst its banks at least twice.  Having your house flood is really unpleasant and I would not wish it upon anyone.

[alison]

This had a topic of its own a couple of years ago, but this address theft business has turned nasty in my case.  I live in a large old house with four flats over four floors and a massive amount of mail arrives for people that have never lived there, and in the last couple of years I've discovered more and more of this stuff specifically addressed to Flat D: my flat.  Why this kind of thing isn't treated seriously I don't know as it is down and out fraud in my opinion, one letter was a follow up on a claim for child benefit for four kids! Though most are bailiffs' letters.  I always send them back to the sender marked 'no one of this name has ever lived at this address', but they keep coming.

 

MAB, you have my sympathies.  And yes, it is attempted fraud, and should be reported, at least to the bodies which are the target of the fraud attempt.  But I'm afraid, from personal experience, that just sending things back doesn't work: a lot of these places just have return addresses which are operated by nothing more than companies who offer "returned mail" services, and they couldn't give a toss whether the people don't live there or not.  Plus, a lot of people who do genuinely live there and owe money will write "not known at this address" in the hopes of getting rid of their creditors - how are these services supposed to know which are genuine?  It's the address on the letter inside which you would need to write to - but then I've been informed that it's an offence to open post addressed to other people, so what are you supposed to do?  (Get an X-ray machine?)  If the person's fictitious, it will never get opened, will it?

 

I was glad I was alert to these things a few years ago when someone applied for credit on a home shopping site in my name.  I got a letter addressed to me as Ms [initial] [surname] saying they needed more information or something, and I rang them straight up and told them that I'd never applied for credit with them.  The woman on the other end of the line asked which bits of the information was correct, and said "I know your name's Angela, but is the surname correct?"  I pointed out that my name was Alison, and she sent the case straight through to their fraud department.  If I'd just ignored the initial letter, I think matters could have got a lot worse before I put a halt to things.

 

It's taken us years to get rid of creditors etc. for a fictitious person who used to "live" at this address, and even now all it needs is for someone to start circulating an old mailing list again and we suddenly get post and phone calls for this person.  I now flat-out tell callers that nobody of that name has ever lived here, and that the name is associated with attempted fraud, which usually stops the calls, but even then that doesn't get back to the people who circulated the mailing list.

 

MAB, it sounds to me as though you ought to get your credit checked with the 3 credit reference agencies, just to make sure that there are no further nasty surprises.  When I was going through all this, I was told that agencies don't simply blacklist the address, it has to be the name plus address.  But houses divided into multiple flats do tend to be quite a major target for cases like this, I'm afraid - or anywhere else where there's a shared letterbox.

[Anon2]

MAB,

 

We have been going through something very similar recently with letters arriving almost daily for an unknown person at our home address, the return address on the envelope making it clear they were from debt collection agency/baliffs etc. We have lived in our house for over 20 years and were the first occupants. We knew that there was no one of the name living in our village or neighbouring villages with a similar postcode, confirmed by postwoman. Initially we returned the letters to sender, unopened, stating not known at this address. When they carried on we started opening them and discovered the various companies/agencies that were chasing this person for money. Husband then spent sometime finding the contact details for the most senior person for these companies and contacted them directly by email adding attachments of scanned copies of the 'threatening' letters. Most replied to us promptly, explaining that when they hand over a debt with contact details to a recovery agency if they are then unable to recover the debt from that address they will conduct their own investigations to see if they can locate the debtor at a different address.They stated that in this case investigations mistakenly directed them to our address. All the companies/DVLA etc have been very apologetic and the letters have stopped - although this did come to a head just before Christmas so fingers crossed that it has been resolved. 

I would therefore encourage you to open the letters to find out who has initiated the debt recovery and deal with them. An ex police officer friend did tell us the police would not be interested.  

[MAB]

MAB,

 An ex police officer friend did tell us the police would not be interested.  

 

Just goes to show the current thinking towards crime in Britan: fraud is being committed but the police aren't interested.

[alison]

Actually, surely it's a case of fraud having been committed in the past.  And Jane did say that the investigations were mistaken anyway, so the police definitely wouldn't be interested.

 

As I said, I was informed that it was an offence to open other people's mail.  But you may well find that the envelopes used by these debt recovery agencies aren't precisely opaque, anyway.