Tesco treat their customers like crap too; an elderly disabled couple
whose Christmas shopping trip to Tesco cost more than £300 have
been given a warning for taking too long in the store.
Wheelchair-bound Roland Hodgson, 80, and his wife Pauline, 75, took
more than four hours to complete their gift-buying expedition, which
included a meal in the cafe.
Shortly afterwards they received a letter pointing out that they had
exceeded a three-hour limit for parking at the store in Trowbridge,
Wiltshire. They were warned that they face a fine of up £100 if
they repeat their transgression. Not content on ripping people off with
dodgy prices they're going to fine you if you take too long giving them
your money.
It's not just Tescos ripping us off it's also Asda and Sainsbury who
were recently fined £116 million over their roles in dairy price
fixing, apparently the fraud cost the consumers about £270 million.
Tesco were also involved but they are vigorously fighting the accusations.
However, all the fines get paid into the treasury so the consumer still
stays ripped off. Why couldn't these supermarkets be made to reduce
the prices so consumers can get their money that's been ripped off back?
Hello you've just drawn level with Boots the chemist , what's that
there? Boots facial spray, "the definitive answer to those everyday
health and beauty problems we all suffer from, but keep putting off".
It promises to refresh and hydrate, blimey £3.99 what a bargain
to help stop skin drying out.
But hold on isn't that the Boots product which investigations show is
in fact plain old water, from the tap at a factory in Wellington, Somerset.
What a rip off, it reminds me of the old quack medicine men in the Wild
West films who came around and sold one cure for all ailments off their
wagons.
Oh yes I just remembered ladies watch out for some of these beauty
products; my wife used Avon eye cream to remove those black discolouration
under her eyes, but her eyes start watering every morning quite badly,
it could have affected her driving and caused an accident. Being a bit
of a chemist hot shot when at school I thought about what could have
done it and asking her what she put near her eyes on a regular basis
I found out about the Avon cream and had a closer look at it; it seemed
to have the odour of chlorine about it so I dabbed a bit under my eye
and sure enough my eye started to water virtually straight away. Obviously
no Avon chemist noticed the experimental rats suffering with watery
eyes. Apparently my wife bought it as a half price bargain at £10
for a tiny pot; not so much of a bargain if you are damaging your eyes.
There's also a warning about lipstick. Chemicals found in lipstick
and nail varnish could trigger breast cancer, A study has shown that
butyl benzyl phthalate, or BBP, can interfere with the healthy development
of breast tissue. Environmental campaigners have called for it to be
banned in the cosmetic industry, where it is used to make products glossy.
The man-made substance is part of the phthalate family of chemicals,
which mimic the female sex hormone oestrogen.
Phthalates are widely used to soften plastics and are found in food
packaging, toys, carpets and solvents. Past studies have linked them
to birth defects, kidney problems and infertility. They have been banned
in teething rings and babies' dummies across Europe.
Beauty product manufacturers don't care about their customers health
as long as they can make a profit.
Water companies are prone to ripping people off too, the latest idea
is trying to get water meters installed for every consumer, that's not
to stop drought orders it's to get more revenue off us. Not bad profits
either from what comes from the clouds for free!
What's going to happen is people with large families who have a lot
of flushing the toilet and washing clothes are going to see their water
bills jump from the current rate, for example the average bill of Thames
Water of £172. will jump to £291.79 a year
In areas covered by Wessex Water, a family of five could pay £417.28
a year against an average bill of £201 now.
Also whose going to pay the cost of installing the meters, which is
likely to total more than £1.3billion, not the water companies
because they will up the price of water to cover it!
Labour, argued vociferously against compulsory metering in opposition,
now they want them!
Pity water firms aren't forced to fix leaky pipes before expecting customers
to use less, maybe they could reduce prices.
Figures show water companies are wasting 750 million gallons (3.42 billion
litres) a day through leaks from cracked pipes.
By the way watchdogs have slapped a £20.3 million fine on Southern
Water for deception and over-charging customers.
Speaking about water, Claridges hotel offer 30 varieties of water with
prices stretching to £50 a litre.
Here's a way Government decisions can create a colossal market for their
business mates.
Whitehaven's Tesco store has seen sales of digital set-top boxes rise
by 1400% since the end of July, and digital TV sales were up 280% in
the same period.
Whitehaven took its place in broadcasting history by becoming the first
place in Britain to start switching over to digital. The process began
when the analogue BBC2 signal was shut down. After a month the Cumbrian
coastal town's entire analogue TV signal was switched off.
The number of UK households with digital TV was almost 21.4 million
by the end of June 2007, the latest period for which figures are available.
That means there are still 4 million households watching analogue TV
on their main set.
So pretty soon you will be forced to subscribe to some digital tv provider
unless you go with the freeview with its poor quality signal and coverage.
But households' "main" TV set is only one part of the digital
switchover challenge. What about portables? The average UK home owns
2.4 TV sets, with around 35 million "secondary" sets in the
kitchen or the bedroom, a total of 60 million.
What a market for those cheap, oriental made, toxic chemical containing
products made out of our recyclable rubbish.
A hidden cost for viewers of digital switchover is replacing their
analogue video recorders, which are unable to video one programme while
watching another on digital.
So you see a government decision creates a massive new market for foreign
large companies to exploit and for the British people it's not optional.
Either pay up or lose your home entertainment.
Pensioners too are not free from being ripped off, those paying for
their own care are being charged more than double the amount local councils
pay for places in some areas.
The commission of Social Care Inspection, CSCI, found one nursing home
that charged wealthier residents £1,500 a week for a room where
local councils paid only £650 per resident. CSCI says those paying
for their own care are being forced to subsidise council places in nursing
homes, 450,000 English people pay for their own long term care bills
and only those with assets of less than £12,000 including the
value of your home receive care fully funded by the State.
Let's change the subject and go back to how companies are more concerned
with profits than people's health.
Apple iPhones contain hazardous substances, Greenpeace say their analysis
of an iPhone showed it contained brominated flame retardants BFRs and
PVCs. Among the PVCs was a mixture of toxic pthalates, like those earlier
mentioned in lipsticks, in the plastic coating of the headphone cables
which has been linked to interference with sexual development in animals.
The chemicals are allowed in mobile phones but banned in toys in Europe.
Food companies are using children's characters, including Doctor Who,
Spider-Man and Barbie, to sell products laced with suspect additives.
Chemicals identified as causing hyperactive behaviour in healthy children
were found in 95 per cent of top-selling cakes and hundreds of sweets,
fizzy drinks and processed foods.
The latest toy scare to hit our shops is BINDEEZ a children's toy to
make animals and other shapes with beads , Woolworths and Argos withdrew
sets after Moose entertainment, an Australian company, admitted children
needed treatment after swallowing beads made in China. That's the China
who seem to be the biggest producer of dangerous toys, remember the
lead in the paint scare. The beads are coated with glue to make them
stick together but the chemical used is a compound similar to GBH date
rape drug which can cause seizures and unconsciousness
Here in Britain a five-year-old girl slipped into a coma after putting
the toy beads into her mouth. Molly Henderson is believed to be the
first child in Britain affected by the Bindeez beads found to contain
Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB. After 24 agonising hours, the youngster
pulled through but why she had become ill remained a mystery until the
Bindeez beads were recalled by the manufacturer.
Companies maximising profits, what a good phrase that is it covers
using dangerous chemicals, cheap labour and as here cutting safety corners.
Engineers who had been fitting potentially lifesaving sprinklers to
the Atherstone warehouse, that's where four firemen lost their lives
putting out a fire, told how they had to abandon the work because of
financial problems.
Fire-safety company Prestige Protec Systems confirmed that installers
had got only a quarter of the way through the job when the warehouse's
owners went into administration in June.
And when food company Wealmoor took over the vegetable-packing building
the following month, they chose not to complete the work.
It had been also been revealed that fruit and vegetables packaged there
were being harvested by immigrant workers earning just £14 a day
and working 7 days a week. Locals suggest the migrant workers were living
on the property, one of the reasons the firemen went into the blazing
building in the first place.
Child labour is still rife in the world, retailer Gap has pledged to
"do more" to eradicate child labour after it emerged one of
its Indian suppliers had been employing children as young as 10.
Now the US firm's been caught out it has said it will donate $200,000
to improve factory conditions in India as well as tighten up its own
procedures. Some children were working up to 16 hours a day on items
carrying Gap labels and barcodes.
The British public is being ripped off by councils playing the environmental
card too, making the taxpayer feel guilty about not recycling enough
rubbish. Although householders recycle almost three times more rubbish
than they did six years ago and the amount of refuse sent to landfill
sites dropped to the lowest level in more than 20 years. Ministers said
they were still determined to press ahead with pay-as-you-throw rubbish
taxes that will penalise families and probably see a rise in council
tax bills.
Laws giving councils the power to bring in rubbish
charges were included in this year's Queen's Speech.
What actually happens to this
recyclable rubbish? Some is sent abroad to be made into cheap shoddy,
dangerous to consumer electrical goods and imported back into this country
to undercut British firms or there have been some instances that it
actually ends up in landfill sites because councils have no facilities
to deal with it and in my area it is driven over 200 miles away to be
recycled, how much fuel is burnt into the atmosphere during that process?
Dress it up how you like but recycling rubbish is a way of extracting
money from the gullible public either through rubbish taxes or the new
rubbish police issuing fines.
Feel sick about all this, well don't phone for a doctors appointment.
Millions of patients are having to pay 40p a minute to phone their GP.
More than 1,500 of the 8,000 practices in England - one in five, with
10 million patients between them - have flouted government guidance
by switching to expensive 0844 numbers.
GPs can keep part of the charge patients pay when they call to fix an
appointment, or get test results or repeat prescriptions. Massive wage
increases for doctor by Labour government and they still rip off their
patients!
Talking about phone calls Labour conspired with phone companies to
keep overseas call charges high it seems.
Margaret Hodge, the former Industry Minister, publicly appeared to welcome
an EU cap on the amount holiday makers could be charged for making and
receiving calls abroad. But in private she told the big firms she was
fighting their corner, official documents have revealed.
UK customers have been billed up to 94p a minute in 'roaming charges'
to use their phones abroad.
Well you've paid about £2 to get an appointment with the doctor
but he's sent you up to the hospital , hope you've plenty of loose change
in your pocket because a hospital raked in £2.4 million last year
charging patients and their relatives to park their cars for appointments
and visits.
Southampton University Hospitals Trust topped a league table which revealed
that 30 trusts made more than £1 million each from the fees. Overall,
the NHS in England made at least £100 million last year from parking
charges for patients and visitors coming to see sick loved ones - up
a quarter on the year before.
I suppose people could always flee this rip off country by plane but
one last parting shot before you leave
Air passengers are to be forced to pay up to £20 on each ticket
to fund the revamping of Heathrow, Britain's biggest and most criticised
airport. BAA have been given the go-ahead for inflation-busting increases
in the landing fees it charges airlines.
The Civil Aviation Authority says the increases are needed to pay for
improvements for passengers who have suffered from massive queues at
security and check-in. These are the queues formed because the Government
have scared us all into believing terrorists are everywhere in our country.
Have they deported all these hundred's of potential terrorists yet,
no! The CAA said charges for Heathrow landings should increase in real
terms by 15.6 per cent - to the equivalent of £11.97 per passenger
- in 2008/2009.
Or how about a cruise to get away for a bit, well unfortunately you
might get on a ship where safety is a much lower priority than getting
passenger's money. Nearly 100 holiday makers, including 23 Britons,
had to be rescued from the Antarctic Ocean after abandoning ship when
their cruise liner hit a submerged iceberg and began to sink.
The ice punched a fist-size hole in the 2,400-tonne liner, the Explorer,
which began taking on water, forcing passengers and crew to flee in
four open lifeboats and eight inflatable dinghies.
It later emerged that the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors
had found five faults with the Explorer when it docked at Greenock in
May. These included missing search and rescue plans and lifeboat maintenance
problems. Watertight doors were described as "not as required",
and the fire safety measures also attracted criticism. Still fire wasn't
a problem as the boat was rapidly filling up with water.
It is understood that Chilean port state control inspectors also found
six deficiencies during an inspection in Puerto Natales in March. These
included two problems related to the safety of navigation matters.
You know its all very well me spouting
about all these people ripping the British people off but what can we
do about it?
Well, read this news
story from the U.S.
The US Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has announced
that its boycott of Miller breweries has succeeded and that the company
will no longer be supporting a sadomasochistic, anti-Christian homosexual
parade in San Francisco which regularly includes full nudity and public
sex acts.
The League quoted Miller Brewing Company saying that "following
a review we are aware of other disrespectful activities, objects and
groups associated with or present at the fair which, like the promotional
poster, violate our marketing policies."
Miller's apology was accepted by the Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights president Bill Donohue who said, "The Catholic League
is happy that Miller has reconsidered this ugly issue and has no plans
to revisit it again."
Miller was boycotted when it became known that the company was helping
to fund the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, an event organised
by San Francisco's homosexual community, to celebrate sado-masochistic
sexual deviancy that forms an integral part of the homosexual subculture.
Most offensive was a poster produced by the event's organisers showing
a parody of the famous painting The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
that replaced Christ and his apostles with homosexuals displaying sex
devices. Miller later offered an apology for having its company logo
appear on the poster, a response described by Donohue as "lame."
The company, however, did not fulfil its promise and continued its support
of the event.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue was quick to respond on September
27, 2007, on a Fox network programme, calling for the more than 200
Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations
that support the League to boycott the company.
Yes the answer is consumer power;
issue boycott notices by using web sites, forums, newspaper adverts
or letters, maybe documentaries on YouTube, group texts. Organise a
particular day or week to focus all the action to make a greater impact.
Also most online news sites have a place to contribute news stories,
make use of these just write the facts without disclosing your political
persuasion, keep it brief and full of facts this makes it hard for administrators
to cut bits out; warn people of the dangers, many people do not even
know of these health scares.
For instance, the Boots water facial care, suggest people avoid shopping
in Boots for one particular week, in this instance revenue will go down
and Boots will have to take note even though the probability is customers
will return the following week. It shows consumers can flex their muscles.
On an individual note consumers should refuse to buy any products from
China, the country that is more responsible for destroying our environment
and poisoning our children.than any other. In future pick things up
to see where they are made and be more selective. Stores will soon take
note when their shelves are full of these dangerous products that nobody
wants.
As my old foreman used to say "do
nothing and nothing will happen"!
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