It's been a day but not as bad as our Andrew had.
The Tax Office makes Centrelink look like geniuses ? genii? whatever.
I ring the ATO this morning and get my Tax file number but no I can't have my mother's but if I pop along to Centrelink they'll print off a sheet for me with the number on it.
No they won't because they told me they can't but on the off chance Centrelink was wrong I headed up there.
I forgot, why did I need the TFN when the bank already has it? Because the ATO has encrypted it and won't let the bank have it to send it back to the ATO so they can send back the money they've grabbed because the bank haven't put a TFN on the bank account.
Get that.
Centrelink don't have a TFN either but they do have the paper work to fill out to get one. Jeebus martha and jeremiah, it requires everything but a pint of blood. New strategy, get to the home early on Monday with script in hand for mother to ring for her own tax number. This will probably use up the $30 credit I have on the mobile but worth it.
I took delivery of the full series of Babylon 5 this morning, delivered by courier so who was the other courier that left a note in the box for me to pick up a parcel at the agency? I was home all day until I left (sorry, licorice brain) so lazy swine couldn't walk to the front door for a signature?
Take taxi to Centrelink, stand on bung knee for 20 minutes listening to obnoxious individual behind me who whinges constantly that he has to wait. Walk up to the gem shop for update on divine ring that will enhance my loveliness then catch Berwick bus which stops outside pharmacy which is Australia post agency and pick up teeny tiny parcel from Bangkok. Halfway out of the shop and I'm confronted by Darrell Lea half price Easter eggs, I mean half price and Turkish Delight eggs. I had hand in purse and a sign called feedee on my forehead and walked home with egg - one egg.
Ring mother, wonderful day at the Botanical Gardens but she couldn't take jewell-encrusted velvet covered wheelchair so is now in pain and in bed. They should have bought a map to the gardens as taking 7 wheelchairs up a slight hill was hard but not as hard as not letting them go when they turned to go downhill. She'll be ready and lucid for Monday, my mother, lucid.
14 comments:
I do like the possessive 'our' Andrew. It makes me feel cared for. Men are so needy aren't they. You are having a hard time though. I don't understand why these bureaucratic nightmares happen.
Dearest Andrew, I am thinking ahead and will reserve the wheelchair for you and by then little Jo will be big enough to push you. Take note of everything I'm doing now just in case it happens to you.
And we all care for you. If you fell over tomorrow we'd be right there to rifle through your pockets.
since Aust Post outsourced its deliveries, it's rare to get a parcel delivered to your door, even if you're home all day long. They'd rather put the card in your mailbox and run for their life. Lazy p***ks.
Aust Post can't even read addresses, going by the amount of correctly addressed mail has ended up overseas and interstate reported in the Hun's Black & Column.
Those hills at the Bot Gardens are a biatch on the knees holding wheelchairs back from rampaging down to the lake edge ;)
That was my bitch, Fen. I'd already had a delivery in the morning and the postman had been so it wasn't those two. It probably means the next parcel from Thailand will also have to be fetched, at great risk to my health. I have to pass the fish&chippy, the donut shop and the halfprice Easter eggs.
Jayne, I thought of you when she said that but didn't you make the Feral Beast do the hauling?
I can't wheel the chair in the nursing home let alone outside.
AGL episode #395 happened this week.
Estimated bill of $354 for the inside meter which is never over $100.
However the meter reader really excelled himself this time. An ACTUAL reading of the accessible outside meter of 1900 kWh with a consequent bill of $454.
Read the digit 8 as a 9.
We now have to sit around at home this Monday until a meter reader arrives to get it right ... hopefully.
i.e. read the numbers on those little clock thingies 68950 as 69950.
I think we should put Centrelink and ATO reps in an empty gymnasium, fit them with boxing gloves, then lock the doors on them and let them slug it out until they see sense.
Nice that your mum enjoyed her day out, but it's a shame she couldn't take the wheelchair.
People grumbling in line behind you at Centrelink should be stepped on. In stilettos. Just take an accidental step backward....
I had a delivery last week while I wasn't home, the deliverer left a small parcel sitting on the lid of my wheelie bin in my carport. I didn't see it until later that evening when I took the kitchen rubbish out.
Oh my dear Lord, what will they do when they put in the 'smart' meters? I believe your name is on their shit list of serial complainers along with half of Melbourne. Come to think of it, why hasn't the drug squad paid you a visit? They usually look at high bills like this and check for a little aquaculture in the attic or that basement you built.
River, If it's registered mail I have to sign a great big book and I've just got another one. The walk tomorrow will do me good as long as I bypass the eggs.
Was again looking at the current highly over estimated bill only this morning (after the meter reader had perused both meters) and noticed another piece of AGL bastardry that has slipped under my guard as I frothed at the mouth about the idiocy of the estimated reading.
After the previous mad estimate (last quarter's reading) they sent out a meter reader replete with guide dog. When organising that actual reading had advised AGL that given ludicrous discrepancy between the 'estimated' ($334) and the 'actual' ($87) usage, we did not think it was cricket for us to have to pay the $23 'special meter reading fee'. This was agreed to.
When we got the amended 'actual reading' bill there was a cute entry under 'Other charges'. 'Goodwill Gesture Cr $23'.
Back to the current estimated bill in which there is an even cuter entry under 'Other charges'. 'Special Meter read fee - Dr $23.'
Apparently *Goodwill gestures* are only temporary and are reversed in the following bill.
Absolutely devious disingenuous arseholes!
MiLord, only one thing to do, bury the meter readers in the basement and put on your plausible deniablity face.
Got the amended a/c from AGL based on an 'actual reading'.
*Actual reading* on a/c. 43980
My actual reading on the meter this morning (this one has a digital display with rooly rool easy to read numbers) is 43319.
A mere discrepancy of 561 kWh - translating into $177 - twice the normal charge for that meter.
Guess it's better than the estimated $334.
However the $23 'special meter reading fee' (waived on the previous bill, but mysteriously reinstated) is not only still there, but it is now 'OVERDUE"!
We have yet to receive the a/c following the rereading of the external meter. Can't wait to see what they've done with that'n.
A long apoplectic letter with reams of supporting documentation is being composed as we fume.
'War and Peace' Chapter 3,452.
Decided that I'd gird my loins and enter the lion's cage that is AGL's customer service.
Explained the situation to Narelle after which she informed me that I should ignore the current bill as there was another on the way which should reach me next week. The amended a/c had been re-amended roughly in line with the figures I can currently see, with a bill of $93 which is about right when you add in another 2 week's usage.
She added that she'd noticed the description on the reading was back to 'ESTIMATED'. !!!? An estimate based on an incorrect actual reading?!... See more
Whilst in mid conversation another bit of info popped up on Narelle's screen saying that there would be another recalculated bill which I would be getting after the bill due to arrive and to be ignored next week.
She told me that I should pay neither the original estimated bill of $334 nor the actually read bill of $202 nor the amended actual reading redesignated as an estimate ($93) but pay the 4th bill which has yet to be raised but which is in the system (but she couldn't tell me the latest amount yet).
System!?!
(Word verification 'ousec' which I believe translates from the french as 'where's the SEC when you need it?")
BTW Coppertop, I don't want your sympathy,however a couple of crates of Bombay Sapphire from your green room would go a long way towards easing my pain.
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