RAC 01 Dashcam

How about this for an anomaly. I received a marketing email from Staples advertising a RAC 01 Dashcam at £99.99. I then go to the RAC website to see a full description of the product, and am surprised to see that the RAC sell it for £59.99. I complain to Staples, and they tell me that they cannot get a better price from the RAC.

The perils of car buying

I found a 2003 Mercedes A Class and had an AA inspection for £172. They gave it a clean bill of health, so I bought it the next day. When we arrived home we found the NSR door couldn’t lock, even though the AA report said they were all satisfactory. I am now battling to have the cost of the lock replacement of £240 repaid by the AA. They have insisted the lock worked on Monday when they checked, and have offered the cost of the inspection to be reimbursed as a goodwill gesture. I am insisting there is absolutely no goodwill involved and want the £240. So there is a stand-off. They have even said that they will not enter into further correspondence. The AA Report actually described the "Door locks/operation" as satisfactory 

I should explain that the doors close with automatic central door locking. The door in question had its knob permanently down, so it was only obvious when we tested the door handles after locking with the key. So I am quite sure the Trader I bought it from had never noticed there was a problem - as he asserts, of course. The garage that replaced the lock discovered that the wire attached to the knob had severed at the junction with the vacuum unit that activates the mechanism. So it could not have occurred whilst it was not in use.

The issue is still unresolved, and I will report later developments.

NatWest Online banking

I bought a car this week, and paid online, and NatWest chose to block the payment, but kept it quiet. The next day the car Trader informed me he hadn’t been paid, so I contacted the Bank that told me it had been blocked as it was for an amount higher than my account normally spent and they gave themselves up to 72 hours in which to notify me. I expressed outrage, and insisted they write me a letter of apology and pay me £50 in compensation. They agreed.

IBM's Trusteer Rapport

A gripe I have concerns the NatWest bank’s security software that they offer to install on the browsers of Macs and Windows PCs. I noticed that the icon that used to be displayed in Safari that signified the presence of the software protection was not evident. So I contacted the publishers who happen to be IBM. The software is called Trusteer Rapport. They told me that the version of the software that was compatible with the latest version of OSX (El Capitan) had been released on the 21st October. This means that the millions of customers that use it have been unprotected for three weeks. So I told them that the Update released on the 21st October had not automatically downloaded to my Mac. So, it seems, they would not have known the Mac users were unprotected until I told them.  I have also complained to NatWest about this, as I’m sure they were unaware of this too. If you are a Mac user, please check this out before you engage in Online Banking via Safari.