Your ideas
Ideas archive for October 2016
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We need the choice to block Reverse Billing.
Please like this post if you want to have more control of your phone bill.
Mobile bill can now include costs for subscriptions to web sites and receiving messages. This is fine if that’s what you want and can enjoy those services.
However what if you want to provide a phone for your kids or a relative or someone you care for.
The Network Operators, such as Three say it is the account holders responsibility to supervise the use of the phone and that their contracts are only for adults.
Responsibility is fine but only if you have the tools to manage that responsibility.
The current situation places an unfair risk on carers who provide a phone. Reverse Billing charges can be activated by general browsing as well as apps. It is also possible for the charges to arise without any involvement by the user.
We need to be able to control the costs on our phones. If you would like to help let the Networks know we need this please like this post.
If you have time it would be useful to hear your thoughts and experience.
Products that are not what they seem to be…..
Well, many people do when they buy “Lurpack Spreadable”. This very expensive product doesn’t claim to be anything in particular but people assume by the name that it’s some kind of Spreadable butter, which it isn’t. My brother used it and when I pointed this out he thought I was nuts – “of course it’s butter – it’s Lurpack! This from a normally very clever bloke…….
National Poetry Day On Which?
As it’s National Poetry Day,
Come On Which? and have your say,
This years its scams,
So don’t be lambs,
To help combat crime,
We want your tales in rhyme,
The subject is serious,
But it won’t weary us,
They could be jokes,
Or even a hoax,
So put fingers on keyboard,
You won’t get ignored,
Here on National Poetry Day.
This idea was chosen on Thu October 2016
Thank you for your suggestion @alfa, we thought it was a great idea and so commissioned community member @carneades to be our guest poet for the first ever poetry convo on Which? Conversation: https://conversation.which.co.uk/travel-leisure/poem-national-poetry-day/
Defence spending on French steel for British submarines.
Poor nursing in private hospitals
Having worked in Financial Services for over 90% of my career, I would like to raise an awareness go the different lending products that are on the market to 16 and 17 year olds before they are tempted into taking Quick Fix Solutions which rolls over to the following and subsequent loans.
With the help or possibly The Money Advice Service or Citizens Advice, I would like to show people how that these quick fixes rarely work, unless you are due your annual bonus etc. If they were £150 short for whatever reason 2 weeks before the end of the month, they are now starting next month with a greater deficit, the £150 they borrow plus interest. Therefore the person is going to have to use the facility again, but earlier in the mont, making the subsequents months payments ever higher.
That was the part of my role i enjoyed, explaining to people how to manage your money and get through the month in the black.
Finally, I feel that some children get things too easy and don’t appreciate the value of things. If they want something now they get it, so when they have access to their bill money and housekeeping money they will struggle with the surrounding temptations and this spiral will go on and on.
When is a pickle not a pickle?
False and misleading advertising claims driven by misuse of location data and other personal data
There are few well-hidden disclaimers in the advertorial, once you click through, but the principle remains that using personal information in this way to create a “relevant” advertisement is almost bound to be false, if not downright dishonest. Similar ads have appeared claiming that local residents have made £000’s or lost pounds by following a weight loss programme. Both patently untrue!
Time for a ban on this style of targeted advertising, before it gets totally out of hand?
I think I am probably amongst the 1 – 2 % of people who have experienced side effects such as ‘low grade fever and aches’, commensurate 4 days after receiving the flu jab. I have been quite poorly over the past few days with these symptoms and I would be interested to learn of others experiencing similar bad side effects and especially in the elderly. Could the Convo .team look into this very topical subject at the moment? The vaccine is dead so I would like to know what causes these very unpleasant and debilitating side effects.
EE & Pay as you Gp
Termination of inactive mobile phone numbers
Alternatives to UPVC replacement windows.
The plastic frames consume large amounts of energy to be made, and are non-recyclable.
I am told that well made wood units can be just as cost effective over time, and now can be easy to maintain using high quality paints and stains.
Has anyone information on highly efficient, low maintenance wood framed replacement units?
Removing the charge for telephone line rental
Transfer of Brussels flights to Lille
It seems to me that easyJet are using every trick in the book to minimise their payments for these claims, firstly by making it very difficult for the claims to be submitted and tracked, by failing to process them properly and rejecting them for no reason and by paying with cheques, which can get lost. I have an Internet bank account with no ‘local’ branch so cashing the cheque was a hassle, although I was determined to lodge it to my account before it expired.
This is underhand behaviour by easyJet, which flies in the face of their public pronouncements on how simple it would be to be repaid the cost of the inconvenience of using Lille instead of Brussels for these flights.
Which? testing philosophy
The Australian Choice has done some sterling work so perhaps that could form the basis of the Which? research. One defect in their report was that they did not discuss the upkeep regimes.
With new research there are superior finishes and impregnation available for the permeable stone and wood surfaces. Granite tops can be penetrated by fats and by water for instance.
Hello Patrick, thanks for sharing this idea for testing. I’ll pass this onto the relevant team.
There is a need to clarify “completion” definition for new housing
In Scotland the “adoption” of new roads, street lighting & drains is NOT picked up in Home report or by many solicitors – leaving over 20,000* new home purchasers losing out. (*based on FoI responses – awaiting Edinburgh) and false “house completion” stats. Councils are failing to use bonds, legal agreements or applied planning conditions. Some actively manage RCC (Road Construction consent) – many council’s don’t (it helps to reduce costs!). Developers walk away – saving a few bob. Leaving the poor purchaser to pick up the bills years later. There are a number of “volume house builders” whose names regularly crop up.
ACTION:
(1) Require all solicitors handling purchases to legally check if local road/ lights/ drains have been adopted (INFO= NO SURPRISES=PREVENT PROBLEM).
(2) Get such a check added to Home Report checklist (INFO= NO SURPRISES=PREVENT PROBLEM)..
(3) Ensure House Completion Stats corrected to identify “completed but not adopted” houses (in annual stats). (=PRESSURE ON GOV)
(4) ensure housebuilders “10 year guarantee”covers adoption issues (=PREVENT PROBLEM by HOUSEBUILDERS)
(5) For respective governments to create “zero or low interest adoption fund” to assist householders in estates NOT adopted to pay for adoption works up-front (repaid over period of up to 25 years) (TO DEAL WITH EXISTING PROBLEMS).
EXTENT OF WHICH? TESTING – TIME TO DISCUSS
I have been asked to do a survey on what Which? should look for when testing small appliances. Durability/parts are noticeable by being completely absent form the options offered.
It does make me wonder if staff read the reviews comments and how perhaps Which? could interact with te subscribers who left the scathing criticisms on so called Best Buys.
We need a Convo to discuss the suggestions posted in the Ideas section
Hello Wavechange, thanks for this suggestion. We do keep a record of all ideas posted in this ideas section and this leads to content generation from the Which? Convo team, so these ideas don’t disappear. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to publish every single idea proposed here. So to counter this, what we do try and do is commission convos from the most popular ideas, as well as weave other ideas into other relevant convos to ensure that these ideas are ‘voiced’ on convo.
Guest beds
Now I’m looking at folding guestbeds but online reviews give little confidence
What do I do?
Sky TV formal complaints procedure
The “booking fees” charged by theatre ticket agencies.
Ticket reselling sites
Phase out of halogen bulbs
Some of the concerns about energy saving lamps have been debated on Which? Convo but it would be a good time to launch a new Conversation.
my problem is too high interest rates……not with the co-op, but my credit card with mbna.
The over inflated charge insurance companies make for an adjustment or cancellation of a policy