Direct Debit

– where they were obliged to. They accepted the authority – but then refused to be bound by it. Thankfully the company taking the money did not try to filch more so we were ok, and i didnt have to make a fuss about it. Ive also managed to cancel payments by talking to the Visa Dept direct, but only in the UK. First Direct – my UK bank- had exceptional customer service, but the VISA dept often let them down badly.

I don’t envy you working for a bank! In any country thats got be a tough job right now. I feel so bad for my Bank Manager. She is a star – but she keeps getting screwed by the loan department who have a tendency to stuff everything up, and then its up to me and the manager to sort it out.

And I completely agree with you about how many people don’t understand how banks work. I’m currently trying to wrap my head around personal guarantees on loans – not easy.

Hxxx

I work for a bank and this happens heaps! There needs to be a major shake up of the law around this issue.

The issue is further complicated by the public’s poor understanding of banking systems. There are occasions where customers give their credit or debit card number to the company to make payments. These CANNOT be stopped by the bank, under the bank’s contractual agreement with VISA or MASTERCARD (or any other credit provider) if a request from a merchant comes through and there is sufficient funds the transaction MUST be honoured. This of course is NOT a direct debit however a lot of people do get mixed up. The only way on the banks end to stop these is to cancel the card (as the card number is what is being used to access the funds.). But once again this does not work in 100% of cases.

I have in the past actually had to close a customers account and open a new one to prevent illegal access by third party companies (this will work 100% of the time) as even if the companies are acting illegally, legal action to make them stop takes time…time in which they will take more payments

As for using a slow cooker – im pretty sure they are too hot. The temperature i used was 1 or 2 on an electric ring which has 9 settings. Even on Low – my slow cookers (I have two of them) would take the temperature a lot higher than that.

I have a slow cooker I use for heating hot stones for massage – on low that keeps the water temp at about 50 degrees c. That woudl be too hot for this I think.

And im really sorry – but i dont know how to make double cream – though now you mention it – i might try and look that up

I am lucky enough to have a friend with cows who I buy raw milk from…it’s super-creamy and I was wondering if I could figure out how to make clotted cream…did a google search and your page came up first – thanks for the good-to-know info about the different fat levels in the UK creams, I always wondered what the boring old NZ standard cream compared to.

Can you also make double cream by heating the milk for a shorter period of time?

Since leaving the UK I have always missed double cream, extra-thick double cream & clotted cream – will definitely give this a go

So sorry to hear that – especially given that I too would have expected government departments to have handled this correctly. I guess I shouldn’t be – but i AM shocked by that.

We are also seeing a mix of behaviors, both in the people losing their jobs, and the people doing the firing.

I feel for anyone going through this. We are so far weathering it quite well, mostly because we saw it coming. But even with that – hubby was still horrified and upset by the way he was treated and the way it was done. I wouldnt wish that anyone (except maybe the people dishing it out right now – I believe Karma should pay them a visit – soon).

I really hope you got a new job soon

A good business friend of mine has a very pertinent saying about such behaviours… ” it is fascinating how people behave when the tide is out”