Category: Name and shame

Name and shame: CIS (Co-operative Insurance Services)

5 comments

Since the age of about 30, I have tried to be a responsible, law-abiding citizen (yes, ok, so I’m a late developer to the responsible, law-abiding citizen thing) and so I ring my mortgage company to tell them I’m moving and putting tenants in my house and do I need to inform them? and the man on the phone says yes, you need our consent and it will cost you £225 and you also need to change your insurance to a landlord policy.  So I ring up my insurance company and say hello, I’m moving house and putting tenants in and need to change my policy.  I’m asked for the policy number of the insurance of where I’m moving to.  Huh? I want to change the policy of where I’m moving from, not to.  Woman on the phone says I need to have my insurance with them at the place I’m moving to if I want to have landlord insurance on my current property.  Huh?  Can you say that again please?  She repeats what she just said and I say but it’s not my property, the insurance there is nothing to do with me, I just want to change the insurance on my property.  She says I can’t, unless where I’m moving to is insured with them.  But it’s not my property.  She says it doesn’t matter, you have to have insurance with us at your main residential address if you want our insurance on another property you own.  BUT THAT’S CRAZY I say.  She says that’s their policy.  I say well I’m going to have to cancel my insurance with you then.  She says yes I will, and she’ll cancel it from now.  BUT YOU CAN’T CANCEL IT FROM NOW, I STILL LIVE THERE I say.  She says ok, when do you want to cancel it from?  I say I’ll call you back.  I phone my bank and say can I have some landlord insurance please and the nice man says yes you can and it sounds like a pretty reasonable price too so I get my insurance with them and phone the crappy CIS or The Co-operative Insurance or whatever they’re called now and say stick your insurance up your arse you idiots.

Stats:
Insurance companies who are idiots: 1
Nice banks who gave me insurance: 1
Blog posts about running: 0

 

Name and shame: Slackers

18 comments

Everyone likes lists, so here’s a list of slackers.  Obviously, there’s only one person who can go at the top of that list and that’s me.  So, in no particular order (actually, they’ll be alphabetic order, as I’m just going down my blogroll, picking on people), except for no. 1:

  1. Me (I’m not calling myself JogBlog, I don’t do the pretentious talk about yourself in the third person thing.  Um, except on my Facebook status.  Damn, just outed myself.  Must. Stop. Outing. Myself.)  I have been slack.  Very slack.  But my boiler was broken for 9 days and therefore I couldn’t shower and wash my hair after and that’s my excuse and it’s nothing to do with the fact that I was MONUMENTALLY PISSED OFF and found it more fun to sit next to a fan heater or three and drink wine and eat crisps and chocolate instead.
  2. Carl (aka Boris).  No sign of a blog post since 30 December.  Tut tut.  He also informs me that he’s probably not going to do Reading due to lack of training.  Triple tut.
  3. Running From 30.  Not a lot of activity going on on her blog either, although there was a confession of a lack of running.  Don’t you have a half to do at the end of March, Meg?  One beginning with R and ending in eading?
  4. Seaside Strider.  She appears to be making the excuse of having a bad back.  But I’m going to let her off as she’s married to Sore Limbs (see no. 5) and so deserves our sympathy.  Get well soon Eva.
  5. Sore Limbs.  He reckons he’s been doing the odd three or four miler so not completely fulfilling the definition of slacker but I just like picking on him.
  6. Strumming, running & drinking.  Emma, I think you need to take one of the words out of the title of your blog.
  7. The Red Bucket.  Phil’s excuse is that the gym is busy.  But he’s  not supposed to be in the gym, he’s supposed to be outside training for a half.
  8. Warriorwoman.  This should be at number one really (although obviously no one’s allowed to be at number one except me) as Angela’s excuse is that she’s too happy to run.  TOO HAPPY TO RUN?  I’ve heard it all now.

Still, although I seem to be surrounded by slackers, at least virtually, some of you out there have been very good with your training, i.e.

  1. iliketocount.  Keeping up with his marathon training.  And mince pie eating.  And measuring rain.  And all the other weird things he does.
  2. Fit Artist.  Also training for the  London Marathon and does most of her runs with a buggy.  Hardcore.
  3. More to Life  Than Weight.  Said to me “noooooooooooooo, I can’t do a half, no way, no way, no way”.  Is now powering through her training and putting me to shame.  Way to go, Leighsa.

But just remember you three, no one likes a smartarse.

Stats:
Slackers: 8
Non-slackers: 3

Name and shame: Spam

4 comments

Today I was busily checking my personal email at work (woo hoo, I found a webmail site they haven’t blocked.  Yet.) and sitting in my inbox was a WordPress notification letting me know that someone had commented on a post.  Hurrah, thought I.  But alas, it wasn’t a comment from an adoring fan, it was a comment from a dirty spammer.  Boo hiss.  Someone calling themselves Running Shoes London left a comment about how expensive running shoes are but don’t they fit well and they’d bought some last year and are really comfy.

Hmm, I wonder if these expensive, well fitting and really comfy shoes are from The Jog Shop, which is where the link led to?  Surely not.

I replied to let them know I deleted their comment due to it being blatant spam (couldn’t they even at least try to disguise it?) but if they’d like to get in touch with me, I’ll let them know my rates for a text link or advertising space.

They didn’t reply.  Funny that.