Servicing the rich, mugging the poor
THERE follows a pointless question but I’m going to ask it anyway because it’s a good way to start off what’s going to be a huge, great rant on behalf of you and everyone else who reads this page.
Here goes: am I the only one that feels constantly royally ripped off by every single service I use?
I’m pretty sure I’m not. Nor am I the only one to be permanently angry that we’re being fleeced on a daily basis, just so a greedy few can stuff their already fat, bulging pockets and stash their riches off-shore, as essential public services gradually sink under the weight of Government austerity.
From the daylight robbery of the leasehold scandal to computer algorithms that clock the number of times you check a travel fare and bump up prices accordingly, to the fact that there are more than 1,500 properties owned by multimillionaires and oligarchs lying empty just down the road from Grenfell Tower, to the latest power price surge, it feels like we’re caught up in a race to make the rich richer.
I bet I wasn’t the only one to blow a gasket on Monday when British Gas announced it was hiking energy bills by 12.5%.
That’s it! I’ve ditched them, finally, after decades of loyalty.
While I was at it, I dumped EDF too, having never been comfortable fleecing my bank account to pay the French state-owned company for my electricity.
You’ll similarly be boosting the German economy if you’re with npower or E.ON, while the Spanish economy benefits if you get your energy via ScottishPower.
I’m with Bulb now, a green energy company with markedly lower prices, based in East London. They urge me to read my meter instead of routinely charging inflated estimated costs.
I’m hoping loyalty will count with them because it counts for nothing, other than the customer being a complete mug, with most. Take the AA, for instance, once a non-profit organisation and national treasure, with road safety its priority; now a company which also flogs insurance and driving lessons and admits in its business report to ‘up-selling’.
That’ll be why ‘as a loyal customer’ I was ‘awarded’ Gold Membership.
My latest bank statement shows they’ve taken £260, as opposed to the current £129 for new membership with Roadside, Homestart and National Recovery. So they’ve CHARGED me for my loyalty.
Even Uber’s conning us, with claims drivers are secretly colluding to cause price surges that allow them to charge more.
Meanwhile, for most of us, incomes and benefits remain static. Or nudge into reverse.
Students training for muchvalued public service careers in nursing, teaching, law, and medicine, are being saddled with huge debts, while George Holmes, vice chancellor of The University of Bolton says he’s worth every penny of his £220,000 salary.
We’ll be the judge of that, George.
I wonder how much of the £1billion of public money the DUP has spent so far, btw? Just wondering. To add insult to injury, the Bank of England announced on Thursday that ‘the squeeze’ is going to continue.
It won’t, of course, make a difference to George, or the energy giants, the AA, the airlines, supermarkets, train companies, mobile phone providers, drug, insurance or, indeed, any of the FTSE top 100 companies.
Once again it’s the little men and women who’ll carry the can. The many, as always, working to keep the entitled few.
P.S. When are the banks going to pay us back btw? They seem to have millions going spare to pay for glossy TV ads, showing their ‘caring’ side. We’ve got long memories.
It’s the little men and women who’ll carry the can