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my-spirit-soars-free

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my-spirit-soars-free last won the day on March 23 2012

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  1. For the people who are telling me to drive around all the local dealerships - I knew that was an option before I posted here. I also know that I can do without a car, and get a train. I am also aware that I could just stay home, and therefore don't really NEED the information. Now we have those options out of the way, I want a car, and I am trying to start by excluding ALL cars where the wheelchair obviously won't fit, and I would to make a short list without travelling. Some people might start off by saying "I want a 2 litre", or "I want a electric car" - and then, presumably, they make a list of possible cars by excluding, for instance, manufacturers that only make a petrol model. They then don't waste their time going to the Jaguar dealership looking at all the cars to see whether they make an electric car. I want a car with a big enough hole in the back, I would love it to be a Volvo, but if the chair won't fit I am not about to go and drool over a car that I can't have. So, does anyone know of any online site that would have the information?
  2. The vehicle adaptations place can get the dimensions, probably, (not all cars have the information available), if I give them the VIN of the vehicle. I don't have a VIN until I buy the car, and I won't buy the car until I know I can actually use it - I would not buy a car if I did not know how many seats it had, or what insurance group, and it seems to me that it is a very basic bit of information that the manufacturer should be able to supply. Volvo UK sent me a copy of the specification/pricelist, with a snooty comment of "I can confirm that the information you require is in the attached". It wasn't, so I went back to them, and they then told me to go to the dealership and measure for myself - which I feel is not a reply I would expect from any customer service department! Going with a measuring tape means a long drive,possibly to 2 or 3 dealerships, as which car I am interested in is decided by whether I can fit a wheelchair, and I am unlikely to find all three models at any one dealership. If I find, as I suspect, that the new Volvo is not going to work because of the new styling, then I want to find out what other options are available. Checking measurements for myself makes sense when I have chosen the car, and am on the point of purchasing - it does not make sense when initially deciding which cars are even feasible. After all, who here would expect to be told to go to the dealership to count how many seat belts in a car, or to see whether it had a heated rear window?
  3. I am trying to replace my rather elderly Volvo estate. At the moment, I have a wheelchair hoist in the boot that lifts up my wheelchair and deposits it into the boot. The hoist is matched to the car, and the wheelchair, and it can be a pain finding a combination that will fit, and obviously, some tailgate openings are just too small. I therefore went to Volvo UK, and asked them for the dimensions of the tailgate opening of each of their estates - I mean, there are only three, and armed with those numbers I can go to the vehicle adaptations place and see whether my current wheelchair is possible, or if, indeed, any wheelchair/hoist combination will go in to the new body shape. Usefully, so far, I have been sent a price list with the boot volume in litres - and when I pointed out that was not what I needed, I was told to go to the local dealership and see whether my wheelchair would fit. I can think of various reasons why I would prefer their customer service to answer the question I asked: 1. They are unlikely to have all 3 estate models in one dealership. 2. They are unlikely to be very pleased at me lifting a large, scratchy, metal chair into the boot of a brand new car. It does scratch the bumper, and make marks on the carpet. 3. They are unlikely to be very pleased at me asking two members of staff to lift it into the cars, three times over. 4. It would still only give me a guess whether there is space for the hoist. 5. It is a long drive. 6. If Volvo UK are so flipping unhelpful now, before they have my money, I suspect that I have no chance afterwards. Reason 6 may yet prove to be the reason that makes the decision for me, despite my having passed my driving test in a Volvo, and always having driven them since. Does anyone have any idea where I could find the information on the actual size of the hole what leads into the back of the car on the 3 Volvo estate cars currently available?
  4. PALS, as ever, are acting as the Hospital excuses department, I have never known PALS to act as anything other than a "PATIENTS ARE ALWAYS WRONG" section, but they have to be gone through before access is given to the higher levels of the complaints procedure. The hospital have not gone through the Deprivation of Liberty procedure, I am not aware of any other lawful route that they could have gone down to be able to lock him up?
  5. The ward is kept locked, only the staff can open the doors, and they refuse when he asks. When I visit I can only leave if the staff let me out, it is really horrible... It is an elderly medicine ward, so not mental health as such.
  6. A member of my family is in an NHS hospital. He has had a stroke that means he struggles to recognise places. He has been assessed as having capacity, and wants to go home, so he is being discharged to living alone, carers coming in a couple of times a day, but basically, free to go where he wishes. However, until all the carers etc can be sorted he is being kept on a locked ward, and the staff will not let him leave the ward. Surely this is false imprisonment, if he has capacity they can't imprison him? They have also said things like "you have to have a key safe fitted before we allow you home", and told him that he can't discharge himself. Not that I want him to discharge himself, but surely, if he has the capacity to make the decision to be discharged into the community he has capacity to go down to the hospital shop to buy a packet of smarties? What can I do? Surely they can't do this?
  7. You have probably already done these, but, just in case: If the fridge does not close properly then you can get a lot of water inside the fridge, condensation of the warm, moist air from the house. This water is drained out of the fridge through a drain hole, and some fridges have a water collection tray. Do you have a water collection tray? Is it full? Is your drain hole blocked, causing the water to leak out of the fridge via an alternative route? Is there a problem with the door seal, is warm air getting in to the fridge? Or are people spending ages looking at the latest snack with the fridge door open (teenagers, in this house)? I traced my water leak to ice cubes dropped onto the floor with careless use of the ice dispenser. Of course I found that after cleaning the drain hole, checking the seals, etc!
  8. You have the right to appeal to the tribunal for revocation of the order. Your wish to seek alternative treatment elsewhere may be something that will influence the tribunal to change the order? If you present a well thought out plan that can only help your case. http://www.nes-mha.scot.nhs.uk/stdc/appeal.htm As a general principle, you have the right to be involved in your treatment decisions. The fact that you have been found to lack capacity on the subject of your admission for treatment does not mean that you have no right to be involved in other decisions once you have been admitted. http://bma.org.uk/practical-support-at-work/ethics/mental-capacity/mental-capacity-scotland Having said that, it can be very difficult to change doctors minds once they have decided that there is a mental condition, and there does seem to be the view that refusal to accept that there is a mental condition proves that there is a mental condition.
  9. If you "pull" the sellers details you get the town, and a phone number. You no longer get the address. The phone number is permitted to be a mobile, ebay no longer insist on a landline being provided. Of course you could phone the seller and ask for their address, but I can't see that working. It used to be possible to get the seller address by ticking "cheque" during check out, then paying by paypal, but most sellers only take paypal now. Ebay have always argued that buyers don't need the seller's address, as buyer protection is there to protect them, and ebay will get the money back from the seller.
  10. When buying a new Apple device direct from Apple they now offer to buy your old device. You don't get cash, you get a voucher, which you have to spend with them. I therefore expected a decent deal, as usually you get a better deal if you accept a voucher. Not from Apple, I found a working, excellent condition iphone 4 was "worth" £25. To compare (I only checked 3 others): Envirofone £46 Mazuma £45 (or £49.50 if you accept a voucher) Envirofone via sellmymobile £50 Somehow, I expected better from Apple, I did not think they would offer so much less than other sites.
  11. Update - I have had a refund from the seller. However, it still leaves me with no confidence in ebay, the seller did not have to refund. Ebay without buyer protection is not safe, there is no way of getting the sellers name and address unless it is on the listing, ebay will only give the phone number and town. It also leaves me with the "false" buyer protection claim on my ebay record. I have learned my lesson, don't buy via ebay unless you are prepared to gamble on whether you get your item.
  12. The courier used was UK Mail. They must have an arrangement with ebay where ebay can see more tracking than the normal consumer, as the CS rep was able to see that the courier had been within an "allowable distance". There is also a house number where it was left, this is not readable, a signature, not readable but the courier has filled in that it is signed for in my name. (How likely is that, when it was left at the neighbours?). The seller confirmed all of the above to me, and to ebay. I am still amazed that ebay can change buyer protection to be "allowable distance" even when there is evidence that the item was not delivered. Rather more seriously, I have the buyer protection claim denied on my record. Ebay have never stated what the implications are, but I suspect that it is treated as a potentially fraudulent claim, so I am more likely to be turned down in the future.
  13. Sending a letter before action requires paying out for postage, and for such a small claim it really is not worth it.
  14. The online tracking does not state delivered, it states left with neighbour. The seller confirmed, through ebay messages, that the item was delivered to a neighbour, ebay CS read that message to me. They have also looked at GPS (I assume), and decided that the courier was close enough. If the courier was near your house at the time they state delivered that now counts as proof, and I feel that is not good enough.
  15. It is, however, still wrong that the retailers feel that they can force us to fill in long forms, tick the box that says "no spam", and process our details in their "abuse prevention system" as a condition of their refund. I have been in the situation where a large retailer did not have the computer game I had bought. Apparently, they have a policy of not taking the cases off display in case you want to know that they will have it back in. Anyway, I picked one case up, took it through the till, another member of staff went to get the disc while I paid. They did not have the item! As they did not have the item I had to queue up at CS (with my frozen food melting), fill in their paperwork (including DOB and a reason for the refund - of course there was no fitting one), and I was told that the details would go onto a database to monitor refund abuse. Then the money went back onto my card - after a nice bit of humiliation because the CS terminal is too high to be reached from a wheelchair, and this is my fault, apparently. I have never bought anything similar from this retailer again, and my main food shop is now done elsewhere - but the point remains. I had to agree to my details going onto a system, they asked for personal stuff including DOB, all because they had sold me something they did not have in the first place.
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