These days, you have to tackle life admin pretty much as you would tackle a game of rugby. You have to be prepared to put your head down, square your shoulders and charge like a demented bull into the mess of a scrum that is 21st century life. You have to be prepared to elbow your way through all the obstacles that will stand in your way, the annoyances, the irritations, the petty minded bureaucracy that will fling itself at you as your strive towards the prize called ‘Attempting To Keep Life Simple.’
I’ve never played rugby. Back in the old days it was a game played by men with odd-shaped balls, but these days ladies can play, too, although lordy knows why they’d want to. All that mud, bruising, risk of being broken, and a very unattractive sports kit - no thank you. My tube of arnica has enough trouble keeping up with the cockapoo-called-Nell inflicted injuries let alone ones induced by being slammed into the ground at high speed.
Today, Lord Malarkey and I have been tackling life admin. Why do these things always happen at once, eh? Anyway, we needed to sort out an ISA, a mobile phone contract, a car insurance and British Telecom.
Firstly, the ISA. I transferred my matured ISA last week, all done, big tick gold star, thanks for all the interest. Andy’s ISA needed transferring this week. His online banking wouldn’t allow him to do it online because apparently he might not be who he said he was so the bank demanded he went into a branch with identification documents. We’ve been with our current bank for 12 years. You’d think they would know who he was by now. But oh no. He could have been Basil Brush for all they cared. Also, because of all the recent closures, our nearest branch is now a 45 minute drive away plus parking plus walking.
Off went Andy, then, suitably documented. Two hours later he called to say that the bank lady who was dealing with him said that I would have to re-register myself on the app I’ve been using for 4 years in order for Andy to be app registered so he could transfer his ISA. This is because we have a joint bank account because when we set it up we stupidly thought it would be easier than having separate accounts. (Sighs and rolls eyes…)
When I tried to log into my app, it seemed to think I was a new person. I had to go through all the rigamarole of photographing my driving licence as ID, inputting PIN codes and account numbers, taking a video of myself AND setting up voice recognition. And then the message came up that sometimes it took a long time to confirm a person’s identity, so please go away and come back later! OMG!!! Bloomin’ cheek. I thought, they’d better not dare to say that I need to go into the branch to prove who I am. Fortunately, an hour later the bank agreed that I was who I’ve always been and the app was restored to me. Andy arrived home four hours later and managed to transfer his ISA which the bank lady failed to do in branch. He didn’t use the app. He used his online banking account.
Next, my car insurance. Last year I paid £115. This year, it has shot up to £208! That’s nearly double. I knew it would probably go up because yesterday I received an email from my insurance company explaining (with an air of false jollity, I might add) why insurance premiums have risen so much in the last year. I thought, hello, they’re bracing me for bad news. Having driven without making a claim for the last 41 years, I was straight onto the comparison websites and, after half an hour, managed to find a comparable policy for £154. Still a significant increase, but not as bad as the increase my current insurer was proposing. I don’t worry about customer loyalty these days. Loyalty means very little in this modern world.
Next, Andy’s mobile phone. His contract with 02 has expired. He has decided to go with my phone service provider which is Smarty. I’ve been with them for 3 years. I pay £5 a month and only ever use 10% of the data that fiver provides me. Andy is now saving almost half what he was paying 02 AND, because I recommended him to Smarty I will receive a £10 gift card and he will also receive a £10 gift card which means we’re quids in to the tune of around £100 over the next year!! Mind you, it was a faff retrieving the gift card link on account of when I signed into the Smarty website it sent me an access code to make sure I was who I said I was, which took a while to come through on account of the dodgy mobile signals around here, especially when there’s a high wind a-blowing. But Admin Three completed - hurrah!
And then we had to tackle British Telecom. Now, BT has to be one of the most insidious, sly, disingenuous and money-grabbing companies out there. We’ve been tied into a contract with them for the last 2 years, during which time they have raised their prices whilst providing exactly the same service AND have taunted us by advertising the package we have for about a third of what we are paying for it. We have tried to negotiate with them but it is like trying to winkle a hole in a concrete wall using a pipe cleaner. Once, we managed (after a good hour talking to their customer services) to get £3.50 a month shaved off our bill only for them to raise it by £4.00 per month a few weeks later during their annual price increase. Pah!
Anyway, by this weekend we shall be out of the clutches of the BT contract - hurrah! And today we signed up with another provider - recommended by U-Switch - for the same package we have now but that will save us just under £500 a year. Also, the new provider will deal with the transfer of our services. And give us a £95 gift card!
Of course, I am very much of the opinion that all telecoms providers are as bad as each other but if you’re going to be mucked around and held to ransom you might as well do so as cheaply as possible. Needless to say, BT has been trying to contact us this evening, presumably in an attempt to persuade us to stay with them so they can spend another 2 years trying to swindle us back into another extortionate monthly payment. Seriously, they have no shame.
It’s been a frustrating scramble today but I think we’ve come out top in the life admin battle and saved ourselves around £650 over the coming year. It’s a minor triumph but really, should life have to be such a battle?
Comments