Latest news with #Herts
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Glitch made my 'smart' dishwasher order me enough tablets to last three YEARS: SALLY SORTS IT
My dishwasher is linked up to the internet, and I allowed it to monitor my usage and automatically reorder Finish dishwasher tablets when I was down to my last ten. The dishwasher is connected to the Finish app on my phone. However, when I ran low on tablets, the app ordered me a new delivery on four consecutive days. I only found this out when packets kept turning up on my doorstep. I now have about three years' supply for which I was automatically billed £45. I have complained, but two months on I've got nowhere. J.C., Ware, Herts. Rinsed: A reader's smart dishwasher ordered new packages of tablets on four consecutive days landing them with a £45 bill Sally Hamilton replies: I was intrigued by the concept of intelligent ordering. It sounds a great way of ensuring you never run out of dishwasher tablets. I'd find such a subscription service handy for other areas of domestic life such as loo rolls, though I'm not sure that many toilets are linked to the internet. I do know some people who use a similar service for the re-ordering of ink for printers and there are smart fridges that prompt owners when they are running out of essentials. The service you signed up to is called SmartFinish, which, as you described, tracks dishwasher usage and automatically sends out a new pack. Ideal, if it works. Customers need to own a Wi-Fi-enabled dishwasher to take advantage of such auto-reordering. The system is matched to the customer, so if you use the dishwasher more than usual, orders will turn up more frequently. Gremlins seemingly got into the re-ordering system in your case, landing you with a pile of unwanted tabs. When you initially complained, Finish said you must have made the additional orders yourself, which you said was laughable. Why would you order three years' worth of tabs over a few days? Scott Dixon of consumer service Complaints Resolver, suggests customers getting nowhere with an over delivery like yours quote section 25 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. He says: 'This says the business is responsible for collecting and refunding the excess items at no cost to the customer.' You asked Finish to do this but hit a brick wall. I contacted Reckitt, the consumer goods giant that owns Finish, to ask it to resolve your dishwasher tab mountain pronto. I didn't get anywhere at first so understood your frustration at the limited response to your complaint. But when I chased a couple of weeks later, it turned up the dial and soon Finish refunded your £45 and told you to keep the excess product. It said the problem was due to a 'technical issue' with the app, which was quickly resolved. When it asked if you wanted to continue the subscription, you politely declined. Scam Watch Drivers should beware a scam email that impersonates insurance company Admiral, consumer website Which? warns. The email claims that you have been selected to win a free 'car emergency kit' that includes tools and a hazard triangle. Scammers say to win the kit you need to answer a few questions by following the link on the email. Do not click on this link. It aims to steal your personal and financial information. Instead, report the email by forwarding it to report@ Rental car mix-up left me with £375 bill I booked a flight with EasyJet to arrive at Edinburgh on May 14, but in error reserved a rental car for pick up from Drivalia a day earlier. I realised my mistake on May 13 and phoned the firm but was advised to sort it out on arrival. When I arrived, I was issued with a second booking at a cost of £375 and received no refund for the first one. I realised later that I was charged again in the second booking for May 13. I even got charged a further £115 for a parking offence that took place on May 13, before I even got to Edinburgh. Please help. J.R., Hampshire. Sally Hamilton replies: Any holiday that involves a vehicle rental fills me with dread as the process seems designed to catch customers out, whether it's the extortionate price of excess insurance at the desk, high charges for extras such as satnavs and child seats or the tricky rules around whether the fuel tank should be returned full or not. Your experience highlights the costly risk of being tardy for picking up a rental car – even though you tried to correct the error in advance. We all make mistakes, and you were prepared to take it on the chin – up to a point. But to be charged twice for the rental is not fair. I asked Drivalia to reconsider, emailing both its chief executive and customer services. I heard nothing back from the former, but the latter requested you complete an online complaint form. In that process you respectfully asked for a refund of the first booking and the extra day charged on the second rental. They declined, though they did refund the parking ticket and admin fee. How kind. Hitting a roadblock with Drivalia, I approached EasyJet, since you had booked the hire from a link on its website. EasyJet told me that while the site enables customers to make such bookings, these are provided by third party partners. In your case, the Drivalia deal was found through EasyJet partner CarTrawler, a platform listing various hire options. I am pleased to say CarTrawler's response was at the speed and standard I would have liked to have seen from Drivalia – with no hesitation in offering you a full refund of both hire bills, a total of £446. A CarTrawler spokesman says: 'We were sorry to hear about J.R's experience. We understand booking errors can have a significant impact on travel plans, and we appreciate how frustrating this experience must have been. 'Although the original issue resulted from a date selection error, and the charges applied were in accordance with the car rental supplier's terms, a full refund of the original hire and additional rental costs has been arranged.' CarTrawler adds: 'We encourage all customers to carefully review the travel dates and rental terms outlined in their booking voucher. 'Should any problems arise at any stage, our dedicated customer care team is available 24/7 to support travellers before, during, or after their journey.' Straight to the point I have had a policy with home repair company HomeServe since 2021 and I have never claimed on it. Now we have a badly dripping tap in our shower – but it is refusing to repair it as it is in a shower. Dripping taps are covered in my policy documents. Please help. J.W., Lincolnshire. Homeserve apologises but says the policy includes a simple 'what is and what isn't covered' image which reveals showers and shower controls are not included. You can cancel your policy at any time. *** I retired in July 2024, and my final pension contribution and salary sacrifice of around £2,268 was paid by my company to Aegon. I tried to move it to my Sipp in September but found out Aegon has received the money but it had not been credited to my account. At the end of last year it gave me £250 as an apology but it still hasn't added the missing amount to my pension. Aegon still can't say when my complaint will be dealt with – even one year on. Please help. S.G., Hampshire. Aegon says the funds have now been applied to your plan and you have received a £300 goodwill gesture for the delay. *** My family and I make regular trips from Leeds to Malaga and sometimes buy food and drink on the plane. Since 2022, the payments have been card only. The menu is priced in euros so I pay with my Spanish bank account. But when I checked my bank account I was paying more than I thought, so a bottle of water cost €4.10 instead of €3.60. What's happening? E.V., Leeds. You were charged in pounds, without your knowledge, on flights to the UK from Spain where the 'local' currency was euros. You were subject to the airline's exchange rate and your bank would charge you to convert the pounds payment back to euros. The airline says you can choose to pay in euros.
The Sun
13-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
O2 phone shops in high risk areas locking their doors after spate of armed robberies by crime gangs
Customers at certain shops now have to knock on the door and be let in by a security guard PHONES LOCKED O2 phone shops in high risk areas locking their doors after spate of armed robberies by crime gangs PHONE shops in high risk areas have been forced to lock their doors to customers after a spate of armed robberies by organised crime gangs. O2 has confirmed a 'locked door' policy is now in place at a number of high street stores across the country in response to the terrifying raids - including Richmond in south-west London, The Strand in central London and St Albans, Herts. Advertisement 3 O2 has confirmed a 'locked door' policy is now in place at a number of high street stores across the country Credit: Andrew Styczynski 3 The move is in response to the terrifying raids - including Richmond in south-west London, The Strand in central London and St Albans, Herts Credit: Andrew Styczynski 3 Instead of just walking into the shops, customers now have to knock on the door and be let in by a security guard Credit: Andrew Styczynski Instead of just walking into the shops, customers now have to knock on the door and be let in by a security guard. The Sun found staff at the shop in St Albans on Friday were operating a one in one out system, only allowing up to three members of the public in at a time. According to a source, they were forced to bring in these measures after two terrifying robberies which left staff members fearing for their lives. They said: 'At the end of February we had an attempted robbery. Three guys came in and tried to force their way into the store room. Advertisement 'I saw them, all with their faces covered, out of the corner of my eye and I thought I was done for. 'We suspected they had a weapon and they were trying to force staff back there to open the door - the police came that time and they didn't manage to take anything. 'A few months before in October the shop was actually robbed, they took thousands of pounds worth of phones. 'There were two customers in the shop at the time, and because of the threats and the suspected weapon it was decided that the door would be locked. Advertisement 'No one should come into work and be scared they're going to be stabbed over a phone - no one wants to lose their life over just a phone. 'It has affected trade a little, but you know now all the people coming in have the intention to buy and it makes staff feel safer while helping them so I think it's worth it.' Moment phone snatcher receives instant karma as he's knocked off his bike by furious Londoners In May, the O2 shop in Richmond was targeted by two armed men, with one swiftly arrested by police. Just a few months before in February, the same shop was raided by armed thieves who forced staff into the store room and made off with a number of mobiles. Advertisement An O2 spokesperson said: 'In response to a growing number of thefts at stores in certain areas, we have introduced a 'locked door' policy at a small proportion of our stores, including in St Albans. 'These stores remain fully open for our customers, and the only difference they will experience is that instead of opening the door themselves, it will be opened for them by a security guard. 'This decision has been taken to prioritise the safety of both our employees and our customers, as well as the security of our stock. 'We are working closely with law enforcement, and with other providers who are facing similar issues, to tackle this problem.'
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
QUENTIN LETTS: The more Napoleon burbled on, the more you understood why his wife whacked him
After watching Emmanuel Macron for any length of time you understand why his wife whacked him. What an insufferable little twerp he is. The French president marked the end of his state visit to Britain with a news conference at Northwood military HQ, Herts. At his side stood Sir Keir Starmer, playing the role of spare part. The nasal knight has seldom looked so potatoey. All eyes were on Napoleon, which is just how he likes it. He was dressed in a waistcoat – odd for such a hot day – and his hairdo had been tweezered to the left, presumably to disguise a bald spot. Unless a patch of fur had been ripped out by Brigitte. He kept tilting his head to make sure we could admire his long sideburns. A good inch longer than Sir Keir's, they were. The rough format was as follows: our old pudding gave stubby answers, biting on his lower lip and telling us what a 'serious' fellow he was. Sir Keir's voice becomes plainer by the week. What a lustreless blob he is. He kept looking over to Macron in affection or envy. Then the floor was given to the mighty midget, his blue eyes suddenly dazzling like BMW headlights. Off he went, juddering his chin in an imperious manner, shoulders twitching a little as he was energised by the attention. These answers, as long as speeches in a Racine tragedy, were relayed by a simultaneous translation chap who sounded less like a Man of Destiny and more like an accountant from Penge. Macron was burbling forth about the European pillars of Nato, pragmatic roadmaps, the wickedness of demagoguery and so forth, while Brian the translator, or whatever his name was, made it sound wonderfully mundane. M Macron hogged the airtime. He was elliptical, which is to say incomprehensible, his answers full of abstract concepts. But one thing became clear: he was obsessed with Brexit. The longer the press conference lasted, the more he attacked Brexit, each time with greater vigour, almost until one of his eyelids started quivering and a tic developed in his cheeks, Herbert Lom-style. He raged that Brexit had made everything worse. Brexit had been ruinous to trade. Quite how that tallied with his boast that Anglo-French trade was now higher than it was when we were in the European Union, it was hard to say. On small boats and illegal immigration, 'the British people were sold a lie that Europe was the trouble!' And yet, and yet, Belgium has been rather brilliant at stopping small boats. Much better than France. Maybe the problem with the small-boats crisis has not been 'Europe' but 'Macron' – and all because our bolt for freedom left him with fewer opportunities to meddle in our affairs. Questions from the media were opened by our own Monsieur Chatty, ITV's Robert Peston, a man whose bulletin intros and upsums can be divided into several chapters, complete with index and footnotes. This time, in fact, he did rather well, and even spoke French, noting that France had pocketed '700 million livres' of our money to do beggar all about stopping those inflatables. Peston also observed that M Macron and Sir Keir were members of 'a slightly beleaguered class of centrist leaders' and he wondered if they were exchanging tips on how to survive. This was intended as a playful remark but they both became distinctly huffy about it. Sir Keir pushed out a pouty lip and complained that it was 'really important to show that social democracy has the answers'. As for Macron, he flew into an impenetrable riff about how his political philosophy was based on science rather than things such as… Just as he was going to say the B word, a male orderly stepped in, jabbed him in the derriere with a large sedative and sewed him into a white straitjacket, to be flown back to his home country where he is such an overwhelming failure.
The Herald Scotland
08-07-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Head coach McNamee thrilled with Bill Beaumont Division 3 triumph
Head coach Brett McNamee hopes Hertfordshire can return to punching above their weight in rugby's County Championship after their Bill Beaumont Division 3 triumph against Leicestershire. Herts ran out 29-10 winners at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, a venue where they were crowned county champions, with McNamee as captain, by beating Lancashire back in 2012. They were finalists in the competition's top tier as recently as 2018 but have dropped down the standings in recent years, with players in the National Leagues no longer taking part. A brighter future certainly looks to be on the horizon on the basis of their performance at the national stadium, with McNamee wanting that winning feeling to become a habit once more. McNamee said: 'When you look at the clubs in Level 3 or Level 4, you've got Old Albanians and Bishop's Stortford and if you're not having the support with clubs and players releasing themselves, I get it – it's a long campaign for National One. 'When you look at accredited RFU clubs from different counties, we're punching above our weight, and we've always punched above our weight. 'We've proven we can compete in previous years, but this now is starting to bring something back and it's building a foundation. 'A team is built on trust and there's 23 players out there – we've had 40, collectively – that I would trust whole-heartedly.' Hertfordshire were clinical in the first half as they built a 24-3 lead at the break, with centre Will Titherington scoring two tries and wing Kyle Lemon and fly-half Josh Sharp also crossing the whitewash. Johno Wicks' score then killed off Leicestershire's attempts at a comeback before Herts had Luke Mongston sent off for a dangerous tackle, with his team-mates defending heroically in his absence. Former Hertford head coach McNamee, whose side trained at Cheshunt RFC during the campaign, said: 'It was probably about 65 minutes of defence. 'We had five entries [into Leicestershire's 22] in the first half and four of them we scored from. 'We came alive on transition, that's our super strength, and you could see the game plan they were going for: they were looking to take it around the corner and be aggressive. 'They had that emotional energy for five or 10 minutes and we had to weather that storm, we did and then we showed how ruthless we are. 'It was clinical once we got into their 22 in the first half.'
The Independent
07-07-2025
- The Independent
Parents battle charity for £100k donations to dead son to be spent on terminally ill daughter
Parents who lost their nine-year-old son to cancer - only to learn his little sister is also terminally ill - are in a court battle with a charity over £100,000 of donations originally made for him. Lego-loving Kyle Morrison died in 2020 after being diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer, leaving parents, Craig Evison and Victoria Morrison, behind. Before his death, wellwishers had donated thousands to pay for treatment in the US and "memory making" experiences for the family, but Covid intervened and he never travelled. The couple went on to have a daughter, Ruby-Rose, now two, but were devastated to learn that she too was seriously ill with a genetic metabolic disease and was unlikely to live beyond this summer. They then began a GoFundMe page - under the name "Ruby-Rose's Making Memories Fund" - in an attempt to take her to Disney in Florida to meet her beloved Minnie Mouse. But when they tried to claim almost £100,000 left from the money donated for Kyle, they were told it would not be paid - because Ruby-Rose doesn't have cancer, but instead a different but equally devastating condition. The parents, of Cheshunt, Herts, are now fighting the charity which holds the money, Gold Geese, at the High Court, saying the money should be spent to benefit their little girl. However, the charity says it cannot pay out, because the donations were made for Kyle when he was a cancer patient and can now only be spent on trials or another child in a "similar" situation to him. In a day-long trial, judge Deputy Master Marc Glover was told how Kyle was diagnosed with a rare cancer - diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DPIG) - in 2019 when he was only eight. Attempts to raise money for his treatment and to help him make the most of his days began with a Facebook campaign through the group One Pound Warriors, which encourages donors to give small but regular sums to charitable causes. However, the group then passed on Kyle's cause to Essex-based Gold Geese, a charity which works for the benefit of cancer-stricken children. The money flooded in and Kyle was due to go to the US for treatment in late 2020, but Covid prevented his travel and by the time restrictions were eased, he was too ill. He died in October of that year. The grieving couple, who also have another son, then went on to have their daughter, Ruby-Rose, in 2022, but she too was diagnosed with a devastating illness known as Megdel syndrome, a genetic metabolic condition characterised by high levels of acid in the body, which is usually fatal in early infanthood. Representing themselves, the couple told the judge that she was unlikely to live beyond this summer, but is continuing to fight her illness. Telling Deputy Master Glover that they believe the money raised for Kyle should now go to their daughter, Mrs Morrison said: "We just want the money to make as many memories as we can." However, for the charity, barrister William Moffett said the money can only be used for the purposes it was donated by the wellwishers - children with cancer, and not other diseases. And a contract which the couple agreed stated that, if the money wasn't spent on their son's treatment before he died, it would go to another DIPG trial or the cause of a child in a "similar" position. However, he said there was no way donors could have meant for the money to benefit Ruby-Rose, as she wasn't even born at the time that it was pledged. "Her illness and the desire to assist this family couldn't have informed the donors when they were giving in 2020," he argued. He continued: "Gold Geese is a cancer charity, it's on its logo. "There are other charities whose objects would include assisting someone with Ruby-Rose's condition, but it wouldn't be proper for Gold Geese to stray outside the illness of child cancer. "The charity is trying to do what they're legally obliged to do within the ambit of their purpose. "If the court were to tell us otherwise, they would have authority, but we don't think it's the right answer here. "It's just an unfortunate fact that Mr Evison and Mrs Morrison have a child who is ill with a different illness." However, the couple insisted that the contract allows money to be spent for Ruby-Rose's benefit, since they believe she falls into the definition of a "similar" case, as stated in the agreement. And they said that, although they had agreed the contract, the situation changed when their little girl was also diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. "This is a mother and a father with a broken heart," said Mr Evison. "We are five years down the line now. Things have totally changed. The world has changed in a harsh way. "We couldn't predict what was going to happen, we are humans. Kyle sadly passed. His sister Ruby-Rose is in an extremely rare and a very similar situation. "If she makes it another [month], she has outlived the hospital's expectancy. We are just trying to have that chance to make these memories while there's still time and we physically can." He also said that he continues to promote the cause of childhood cancer and that, if any of the donors had specifically stated they wanted their money to go on research, the couple would not object. During a day of argument in a hearing conducted via a video link, the judge described Mr Evison and Mrs Morrison as a "courageous family" who had suffered devastatingly bad luck. But he added: "Part of the court's function is to ascertain the intention of the donors. The numbers are large. There are at least 1,300 different payers. "Was it an intention that it should go to a charity for people other than your son Kyle or was it that it should go to Kyle so that on his passing it would go to you to use as you like, including in relation to Ruby?" Judgment on whether the money can be spent on Ruby-Rose will be delivered at a later date.
