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Becoming a Non Smoker 21st May 2018 7:52 PM
Do you still get the urge / craving for a cigarette Ray?....
 
I like the smell of fresh smoke but hate the smell of stale smoke?
 
In terms of cravings, very high stress moments can trigger a brief craving but nothing that I can't handle. 
 
When I am locked up (part of my day job) I can get cravings but I dont think about cigs when I leave the prison? I guess its a simple psychological dilemma, when I am locked in I can't have a cig so I want one. When I leave, I can have a cig but choose not to? Weird. 
 
It is perhaps worthy of note that tobacco now sells at around 15 times the retail value in prison. In other words a £10 pack of cigs will cost you £150 on the inside. 
 
When the government bans something it simply creates a lucrative black market for others to exploit and get rich. 
 
My sense of smell is now better than the drug dogs, I can smell a smoker from 500 yards....

 

"Simon" you are indeed very lucky

"not had even a puff of o cigarette since, and have never had a craving".

Becoming a Non Smoker 20th May 2018 7:47 PM
What I do think, however, is that it's purely a state of mind”
I could not agree more. Like you I YoYo'd many times but never really had the genuine desire to quit. Then a combination of my health, the increasing cost and the death of a close friend aged 50 (smoking related illness). I went to see my GP, he encouraged a brief period of counselling and a cessation course. I politely told him I was a Probation Officer, I had no time for counselling and I just needed the fudging tablets!
 
Don't think the tablets really affected me, I think they had a placebo effect and if I am brutally honest stopping was much easier than I thought. That said, I was committed to stopping on this forum and more importantly I was ready....
 
my state of mind was very clear.  I do hope you get there Dreamraven and I am sure you will when you are ready.

 

Broadband Service Providers 14th May 2018 7:42 PM

hahaha, you have to laugh 

The nice manager assured me the matter was now resolved even though the accounts department were having none of it. They insisted on reconciling the account, squaring the circle to the penny so to speak.

Well, the manager gave me a credit to clear the bill, accounts then deducted what they thought I owed, the manager then gave me more credit to appease his accounts department and finally close the account... The problem was they could not agree (within Talk Talk itself) who was paying what and to whom..! The account was then left in credit to the value of £1.78 and I was told they could not close it until the end of May and a refund issued.

I was then asked how I wanted my refund and how it would be so much easier if I gave them my account details so they could undertake a bank transfer.. "Over my dead body was the reply" I then graciously suggested that they could donate any outstanding balance to a charity of their choice or simply add it to the Chief Executives bonus. You never know this could turn out to be the biggest refund in living history.. then again it may take them years to work it out.

Either way, I have had no more begging or threatening letters or emails for several days now. This could be the end..

Yay 

Broadband Service Providers 9th May 2018 8:14 PM

Well it took another rant and several calls to the residential side and the big brother business side 'but' on the 30 April, I did get a Manager to agree that things were getting beyond a joke.  I even threatened to seek legal advice in respect of ongoing harassment. I added that a Restraining Order made against Talk Talk Business preventing them from contacting me in any way was my next step....

Then...... on the 04th May I got a bill for £19.00 via email, stating that had to be paid or I would be cut off..!! Even though I switched my supplier on the 05 April. What they were actually planning to cut off was far beyond my feeble brain to comprehend? To add insult to injury I also got a paper bill dated 19 April and 20 April (all on the same page) for £31.98. They were going to cut me of and suspend my services too!

I called, I shouted, I begged, I pleaded like a dying man on death row to end the misery. I even offered to pay them any amount to stop the harassment. I only asked that we agree that amount in advance, like Noel Edmons Deal or No Deal I was prepared to take a risk. Would it be £1.70, £2.55, £6.88, £8.90, £8.95, £18.95, £21.00, £31.00 or £31.98? I explained I had been told by many 'contestants' or as they would say Customer Service Advisers that it was one of those mystery amounts and if they had got it wrong I would possibly get a refund....

A quote from my final email; "How much time do I need to spend on this sorry saga? Just what do Talk Talk Business want me to do? I am so exhausted by the whole experience I would happily pay them to leave me alone!"

Well I Finally received the following on the 09 May 2018. (this sorry saga started on the 05 March 2018 when I decided to switch supplier)

Dear Ray, The credits that we agreed to place on your account will be on there within the next 3-5 days. Once these are on the account no further amounts will be owed or added. I will today close this case as no further actions are needed on the account. Thank you for allowing me time to investigate and resolve this issue for you. If you have any further queries please call our team on ************

 Kind Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXX
Complaints Resolutions Team | TalkTalk Business
Direct Dial: 03330011052

 

Becoming a Non Smoker 9th May 2018 7:42 PM

I have now achieved 6 years plus..... but glad to see the thread is still getting noticed haha.

Still looking for the money saved 

Broadband Service Providers 23rd April 2018 8:47 PM

Whilst I am mid rant and have unresolved issues with my 'ex' service provider it would perhaps be inappropriate to name them at this delicate stage. However...the saga so far;

In early March 2018 I was approached by the residential arm of my current 'business' provider of telephone line and broadband services. Given the recent changes to our own business and on the back of their assurance/promise that I could switch from a 'business' contract to a residential contract 'without any' penalty being imposed.

Being both cynical and suspicious I requested the above promise be put in writing from both side of the offending organisation. By switching I received 'fibre' broadband, faster speeds and lower bills. Hooray for competitive salesmen... "leave it to me said the man, we will arrange everything"

Well within hours of signing up, I received a call warning me that I would have to pay £125 to be released from my contract (we have been with the same company for over 8 years now, very long contract me thinks). I confirmed that I had it in writing that I would 'not' have to pay that or any other charge... after a few grumbles the angry man agreed....phew what a relief that was, crisis averted.

3 days later I received written confirmation that I would now be charged £125 for 'cancelling my contract',  I called the nice arm of the company who were going to give me a great service for less money, I was told to ignore the angry sibling. After many, many calls everyone kissed and made up, we all agreed I was not in contract to anyone and was free to switch away...

Fearing the angry sibling would take my money anyway, I paid my bill, in advance and in full up to an including the 02 April 2018, I then cancelled my direct debit. On the 17 March my landline and broadband was 'cut' off without any warning or explanation. I called the angry man and asked how they could do that given my account was in credit and paid up to the 02 April 2018?. He stated no direct debit, no broadband... It was their new policy and I would be charged the £125 for leaving my contract early and I would not be reconnected until I reinstated my direct debit. I was a little angry, I did shout and I did point out that my account was in credit, I was planning to switch my service to his nice sibling and unless I was reconnected I would take all of my business elsewhere. 

I received an apology, was reconnected after several hours and the nice arm of the business then confirmed my service would 'switch' to them on the 05 April 2018. The switch was seamless, the connection speed was fantastic, I even left a nice comment on Twitter to show my gratitude for the nice sibling for doing exactly what they said they would do.  However....

The grumpy side of the bushiness had other ideas, feeling grumpy because I had left them, he wrote to me telling me in a very grumpy and threatening way that I had better reinstate my direct debit to pay for the 3 days service I had in April (02 April to the 05 April). I called him and asked him to send me a bill and even offered to pay him his £2.55 over the telephone. Unfortunately he was not old enough to handle money and he needed to get a grown up to ring me back on Monday to take payment. He then gleefully agreed I owed 3 days at 0.85 per day (£2.55) but his boss still wanted me to pay for the whole month of April (£26) plus an extra £5 charge for cancelling my direct debit.  They added they will keep adding charges until I pay, but if I was good I could always ask for a refund of any over payment?

I voiced my disapproval on twitter and was contacted immediately, I was promised a manager would call me today. I waited and waited, I waited some more. I got three apologies via email/direct message and was told that a manger will ring me ASAP.

watch this space, I am still waiting

Becoming a Non Smoker 16th August 2017 7:46 PM
Inspirational Ray, but we need to work on someone. A certain forum admin who quit but has fell off the wagon....

Not mentioning any names Rachael  Tell her Ray, filthy smoker!

 

Did Rachael ever try quitting again? She kept a very low profile when introduced to this thread.

I have just watched your short My Local Services Facebook video, very impressive Steve.

Taken some time away from the day job this week, home improvements and planning for (or is that paying for) the lads wedding in September....

Come on Rachael, give us all something to cheer for...

Well, as recommended, I urged caution and a slowly slowly catch the monkey type approach to change. My Wife on the other hand argued that she wanted a padlock on her website when'her' customers were visiting and placing orders. She added that she wont buy anything unless the web site she visited had a padlock visible so she was having one too, she didn't need to understand all of that techno rubbish, she just wanted a padlock 'its not really complicated is it, she said'.... arguably the most analytical approach to business decision making that I have ever seen.

Without delay she set up her own google console to monitor traffic, instructed our providers to make the changes to our site (http to https and (on the advise of my local services removed our blog that was not being used and was an http address). 

Result, slower traffic for a couple of days while we were re indexed by google 'but' we appear to have bounced back and seem to be getting more clicks now?

Not sure if it is relevant but we are getting more 'new' customers now (much of our existing traffic was repeat business).

Guess I will stick to working with the criminals, less complex and by far easier to understand..

We are now https because she wanted a padlock...

Simple

having fought and paid Google Adwords to maintain our position at the top of page 1, I am now told that to maintain a secure website our host  (EKM) needed to convert and redirect our web traffic to  https://www.hornseaink.com or we would descend into oblivion. 

We accepted the advice, made the change and descended in. To oblivion anyway. Less traffic,  poorer sales and spending even more money on Adwords protecting our own name and brand. Is this another Google money making scheme? Have we jumped without just cause, am I truly that stupid?

help advice and simplified explanation more Han welcome....

Becoming a Non Smoker 8th April 2017 1:16 PM

thought it was time that we got this thread back on track....