Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Original poster

Rant about things being online only!

170 replies

Noseylittlemoo · 30/03/2022 10:15

My Uncle is almost 92 . He lives alone , independently without help even tho he is almost blind. He doesn't have or use a computer.
He loves gardening and as such signs up for his local council garden waste collections. Previously he has been able to phone a number at the council, giving his card details over the phone to pay for the service. However now they have gone online only so he phoned me to help.
I had to create an account - which obviously he will never use , putting in my email address for contact information. I asked him for his card details but then a one time pass code was needed and he is not familiar with this. So I had to change the mobile number on the account from his to mine and put in my own card details and he will give me the money. The whole process took about an hour when he could have called them and had it processed in 5 minutes.
It also angered me that he is eligible for a 25% reduction as he is over 65. But in order to get the reduced price he was supposed to upload proof of his age and obviously I don't have any of his ID or documentation. He is comfortably off and was happy to pay the full price because he was just stressed about getting it sorted.

Surely the council could look on his previous history to find his age or cross reference with other information held like the electoral register.
It just annoyed me that it took up both of our time and stress for something he could have done independently a lot quicker. There must be others in this situation too.
Rant over!

OP posts:

Piggy42 · 30/03/2022 10:17

I’m sorry it’s unfair and frustrating for you both.

Piggy42 · 30/03/2022 10:17

It does seem ridiculous.

KatsuKatsu · 30/03/2022 10:17

That is bad. I would flag that with the council. They need to be accessible.

newbiename · 30/03/2022 10:20

Could you phone them and explain ? Very annoying.

RestingPandaFace · 30/03/2022 10:20

You could ask the council if the have complete and Equality Impact Assessment for moving the service online as part of their public sector equality duty, and what the mitigation measures are for someone such of your uncle with disabilities.

ChrissyPlummer · 30/03/2022 10:21

Absolutely ridiculous. I’d do as pp suggest and ask them for their assessment for disabled people.

KatsuKatsu · 30/03/2022 10:31

@ChrissyPlummer

Absolutely ridiculous. I’d do as pp suggest and ask them for their assessment for disabled people.

Yes and their answer shouldn't be "its ok they'll get someone else to do it for them"

MakkaPakkas · 30/03/2022 10:33

I agree. So annoying!

EvilPea · 30/03/2022 10:35

I agree. I helped a neighbour sort out a bus pass renewal that could only be done online. She was 80 odd and getting refused bus travel as she couldn’t renew it. I complained to the council and got a stock reply. This was pre covid so now it will be worse

Original poster

Noseylittlemoo · 30/03/2022 10:41

Thanks for the suggestions . I think I will definitely call or email them. I feel especially invested considering that it's my money that they have (albeit I will get it paid back)

OP posts:

EmmaH2022 · 30/03/2022 10:52

I agree
Mum is 83 and some of her lost independence is down to stuff like this.

FiveShelties · 30/03/2022 10:58

Yes, I agree too - the assumption that everyone has and is able to use the internet is bizarre. My Mum is almost 92, has never had internet or a cell phone and finds more and more things are not available for her now.

WorriedMutha · 30/03/2022 11:01

Absolutely. Just had to sort out a Railcard for a senior. She could never manage a digital pass so had to get her to a station. The same with buying advance tickets. I had to order online but physically print at a station. It is beyond all reason now.

Peaseblossum22 · 30/03/2022 11:04

@EmmaH2022

I agree Mum is 83 and some of her lost independence is down to stuff like this.

I think this is an excellent point which is being missed by many policy makers .

Horaceandgus · 30/03/2022 11:05

We had the same thing when my fil died
Mil had never been near the Internet and everything was online-from cancelling the carer benefits to sorting everything out for probate
If it hadn't been for her brother I don't know what she would have done

EmmaH2022 · 30/03/2022 11:11

Pease are they missing it? I think they just don't care.

EssexGurl · 30/03/2022 12:18

In the bank today a lady was getting upset that she couldn’t have a face to face appointment for something - it could only be done via Zoom. She didnt have that. But all the response was - we are moving away from face to face. My Dad couldn’t even cope with remembering his pin before he died and went into the bank to get cash. They knew him and helped. Not sure that would happen now.

yellowsuninthesky · 30/03/2022 12:25

@RestingPandaFace

Exactly this. I was annoyed a few weeks ago when I was travelling from a station that I don't often use, and needed to use the car park. You couldn't just buy a ticket, you had to use an app. I have no idea how it is remotely lawful.

Fairyliz · 30/03/2022 12:43

But isn’t this a natural consequence of everyone wanting to work from home which is seen as a great thing by most of MN?
My dad used to be able to go into the council office to renew his bus pass, now it’s all online. The local bank is shut ‘to protect our customers from covid . Nothing at all to do with saving money.

EmmaH2022 · 30/03/2022 12:47

@Fairyliz

But isn’t this a natural consequence of everyone wanting to work from home which is seen as a great thing by most of MN? My dad used to be able to go into the council office to renew his bus pass, now it’s all online. The local bank is shut ‘to protect our customers from covid

. Nothing at all to do with saving money.

I've been doing a lot of home based work since 2016.

Some jobs suit it. Others don't. I still show up in person some days.

The digital switch has been planned for ages though I'm pleased to see BT have come a cropper on their plan to make landlines internet dependent. It finally feels like progress. I've been fighting this shit for ages.

DGRossetti · 30/03/2022 12:49

What are the implications of not undertaking an impact assessment, or being found to be in breach of the Equality Act ?

Fuck all as far as I can see. There may be a bit of a circle jerk for admin fetishists, but in a far as anyones everyday life being improved ... well 25+ years as a carer to a wheelchair user tells me nothing happens.

Oh, you might get a reply. If you do that's your signal to buy a lottery ticket.

toastfiend · 30/03/2022 12:57

I agree.

My Dad is nearly 80 and isn't remotely computer literate - he wouldn't know how to turn one on. He was extremely successful professionally, so had a team to do those things for him, and is a hugely intelligent man, but he's now reduced to getting me or my DM to help him for basic tasks because everything is moving online with no thought for how people who are not, and have never needed to be, computer literate, will cope. He doesn't want to learn how to use a computer, and that's his prerogative - he's never needed one, his eyesight isn't very good, he has medical conditions which would make it difficult for him and he just finds it too stressful at this stage of his life. He is fortunate that my DM and I are happy to help. If he lived alone/didn't have contact with me and my siblings he'd find it almost impossible and it would be very isolating and that's hugely unfair for those like him who are in that position.

I feel it's especially unfair on older generations and those living in very rural areas (where Internet connectivity is often still very poor) who are basically being left behind by services that are meant to be there for their benefit. Even as someone computer literate it's annoying- our Council's online payment system never works but you don't get an error message so it can be weeks before you realise that you're not signed up for green bin collection, then go through the whole process again and it inevitably doesn't work again etc. etc.

Aretina · 30/03/2022 13:00

There are lots of people in this situation. My FIL is 89 and has never so much as glanced at the internet. He cannot use internet banking, renew bus passes or anything else. MIL is 86. Similar situation.

And many of the rest of us want to deal with actual people too.

Clymene · 30/03/2022 13:03

This is a huge issue. The assumption that everyone has access to a smartphone has meant a lot of older people haven't been able to access primary healthcare over the last few years too.

EmmaH2022 · 30/03/2022 13:18

My mum does use a tablet for fun eg Youtube, and for emailing her mates. But she uses it less as she gets older.

But at 83, increasing arthritis in her fingers makes this hard, and literally painful. Being 83, she has natural deficits. Her brain can't process things as fast as it used to. So having to learn systems that are constantly updated - something many of us find irritating regardless of age - is not really possible for her.

She does find that local banks are generally fine in person if she needs something to be explained, but online you often get confusing stuff. I had to go into a bank in person because I was trying to close an ISA and the message it produced online read as if I had to go to branch to do it.

The garbled statements about fraud are now incomprehensible.

Other countries may be worse. My uncle died - resident elsewhere - and all probate procedures are online. Again, the grieving widow used a computer when working. Doing forms and bureaucracy online at 86 is horrendous.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Swipe left for the next trending thread