A frugal life is an easy life!

Day 16: Still no access to our account.

Promised us on Saturday that an email would be sent to "the back office staff" regarding our account being mixed up when transfering over to their "one time passcode" system (I cringe whenever the word system, is combined with a customer service issue!)
We were assured that the matter would be rectified by Tuesday, it is now Tuesday, still in exactly the same position as last week, no change, still cannot access our bank account.

They have broken the Data Protection Act, by discussing our account with us, on the basis of incorrect information - we are told that we cannot discuss the account at all as now the date of birth on the account differs from the one given for security... How, they do not know!
Previous advisors have openly discussed the account after asking for this information.

So far Abbey staff have blamed:

• the system - it has mixed up the details on the account somehow
• the system again - this time it is "a known fault for the past three weeks," as regards accounts having date of births messed up when transfering to new system
• us - for registering the wrong details
• the data protection act - for not allowing them to discuss the account and sort the problems out

Notice one blame target missing? Anyone who has spotted that the Abbey staff have failed to blame an actual person, advisor or manager, after continuous promises from them, give yourself a mars bar!

Just one message today for the Abbey: If you continually fail to sort out problems for your customers, on accounts that you are supposed to be managing, making customers wait 4 days, then two days, then the next day, then it is NOT 24 hour banking is it!

ADDITIONAL: Day 17, still no sign of our account.

After just a few weeks of product placement being allowed in our TV shows and radio, it is already apparent that it is dictating the direction and topics, that some shows are using.

Jerermy Vine (dinnertimes radio 2) is a prime example. I listen in on way to and from work, all this week we have had "vote for your favourite bedtime story" being rammed down our throats, promoting BBC website (to vote), promoting calling in about books, authors and fans reading excerpts from each book, etc.
It is one thing promoting reading for children, I have no problem with that, but I find it over-bearing and a personal insult, for shows to force feed me into taking an interest in any subject.

Enough is enough already, we are not America!

One of my favourite tv shows, the darling buds of may, is being rerun on ITV3, from today at 6.50pm.
As escapes from reality tv goes, this is one that gets my vote... why doesn't David Jason return to more comedy roles?

If you miss it, then you can watch them on the ITV player - linked on the right sidebar here for your convenience (Non UK viewers will need a UK i.p address to use it).

ADDITIONAL:
I had forgotten how good this series was!
Every week night it is on (set our freeview recorder to record the whole series) it is a fine example to the sprog* about how England used to be, he tells me he is going to watch it.
I wonder, if we compare life then, to life now, which has the better quality of life?
I know which one I would pick everytime...

The Abbey national has now sank to a new low!
Not enough that I cannot access my account using Abbey online banking (due to the system being down for two weeks) it's not enough that they didn't ring back after more than an hour on the phone trying to have their errors sorted out, not enough that they didn't ring back when they said they would that day, not enough that Abbey then attached and old savings account to the wrong current account details and proceeded to lose our current account, not enough that it was to be "sorted out by monday" yet has still not been sorted out, not enough that I now need to register a mobile phone number to obtain abbey's new "one time passcode" (at a cost of £120 per year to me) just to use their online banking that is still not working.....

Abbey are now demanding a new registration number for their telephone banking!

Not bad for a bank that has lost our current account for TWO WEEKS and the best they can do to sort it out is offer to pay for a taxi so I can visit a branch 14 miles away to try and sort everything out - and they have the cheek to say that I am not secure enough and bring in extra layers of security?

If you need to contact customer services/telephone banking call 08459 724724

I love watching those TV programs where a "celeb" attempts to help members of the public, with their amazing new found wisdom.
I have yet to see a single program that can beat my record for eating prime cuts of meat, plenty of fresh fruit and veg (that lasts) at prices I can find.

This weekends food shopping:

• Meat and cheese - Local butchers - chicken breast fillets, 8 slices (fair big ones as well) of lean braising steak, a huge block of fresh locally made lancashire cheese (enough for the week and my mini flans I'll be making to put in the freezer!) and a pot of local korma sauce.
  Normally I would get just 4 large slices of braising steak, which makes a korma or a spag bol, steak and gravy (done in the pressure cooker in 20 minutes) etc, but I want to make a couple of steak plate pies and freeze them.
  Buying slices of Braising steak (rather than the butcher's own diced version) means I can cut out what little fat is in the meat, plus, I know it is fresh, not old stock mixed with new.
  Total cost of meat and cheese: £17
• Fresh fruit and vegetables - Local market stall - 10 huge carrots, 7 bananas, 4 oranges, 1 large broccoli, 2lb of washed new potatoes, 5lb of king edwards, 1 cucumber, 2lb of loose mushrooms and 3 pomegranates.
  The beauty of buying from a market stall is that you can knock them down in price, you can pick up freebees that they are struggling to shift, everything is genuinely FRESH as they have nowhere to store it, they have to clear their stall each week, nothing is stored for weeks in fridges, it comes in, it goes out, thats it.
  Their stock is not shipping in from china, grown in huge greenhouses and artificially filled with chemicals to make the fruit retain water, etc, as it is in most supermarkets. You will not pay over the top prices for loose produce either! You try getting five pounds of loose potatoes in a supermarket, then take them to a checkout to pay for them - you will be stunned at the price! (often more than double the price of their 5lb bags that are prepackaged and stored in fridges for weeks)
  Total cost of fresh fruit and vegetables for the week: £8.20

The total cost of meat, veg, cheese and fruit, all fresh, that will last longer than a week, £25.20 (add on another £6 if I want a nice big piece of cod or plaice that will feed 4 people, from the fresh fish market stall).

Now the brilliant part, when I visit the supermarket after dropping my fresh produce at home, to pick up some tinned goods and bread, I can now bypass all the supermarket's marketing!
I walk straight past the pizza/bakery sections, straight past the fruit and veg section (where I see people with more money than sense buying cold stored stock at prices above what I am paying on the market) and past all the prepacked meat freezers, I pick up some marg, then I am on to the bread section.
I have got 2 loaves in my basket, a large tub of flora and I have passed more than a third of the store without falling for their over priced marketing!

I pick up what tinned goods I need, but only when they are on special offer - I watch the prices each week, I will only buy heinz beans and sausages when they are reduced from the 90p my supermarket put them up to. Three months ago they were expensive at 62p, so I wait until the 2 for a £1 offer comes on and pick up four tins. Same with soup etc. Walk on by the biscuit and cakes aisles, straight to cat food and then on to the baby aisle for nappies, then hit the checkout.

I can be in and out of the supermarket in about 20 minutes (my record is 8 minutes) I regularly only spend around £25 in there.
My tin cupboard is packed full with enough tins to last me a good three weeks if I am stuck.
If I need biscuits then I get home made ones from my friend at the market stall in the town where the supermarket is, they are fresh and last me around two weeks (as I buy them in bulk) costing around £4 but it is a carrier bag full.

So my shop, for a family of four (three adults) is give or take a £1, is between £50-£55.

That is eating prime cuts of meat (4 meat dishes per week), top quality local fruit, veg and cheese, often more than can be eaten in a week and a tin cupboard with enough tins in reserve I could easily manage to live for three weeks without leaving the house.

Is that good value? You tell me....