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

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Original poster

To think people take the absolute P**s when it comes to paying their own way

155 replies

chopper23 · 14/09/2017 21:43

I am member (lurker) on a Facebook group that helps people get their debt wrote off, advocates not paying TV licences etc the group gets my back up, but it provides some regular entertainment. BUT tonight has shocked me, people are actually calling our NHS disgusting for charging for prescriptions ?! Are people crazy, do people want everything for free in life?

Grrrr I just felt like I needed a little rant

OP posts:

ReanimatedSGB · 15/09/2017 15:36

Also (and anyone who works as a writer, photographer, musician, make-up artist, cake-decorator, jeweller, dressmaker, painter etc knows) there are plenty of horribly entitled rich people who think that they can pay others in 'exposure'. There are companies like Uber and TaskRabbit who charge a fee for... fuck all (the payment you make to these organisations does not go to the person who actually did the job for you until the organisation has taken its cut.) They are raking in huge profits for what is basically a protection racket.
So, again, ordinary people seeking ways to fight back and protect themselves have a valid point.

PeaceAndLove1 · 15/09/2017 15:49

Beat the system at it's own game.

BarbaraofSevillle · 15/09/2017 15:52

I was thinking about that sort of thing the other day SGB.

It seems that the way to make a lot of money these days is to set up a business where you get to take a small cut of lots of other people's money for not doing very much, such as Uber, Deliveroo etc and the payments agencies that deal with pay for supply teaching, building site contractors etc - I think it may have changed a bit now, but DP has done agency building site work on and off for the last few years and as well as the agency taking a cut for getting him work (fair enough, although most people would prefer secure permanent employment thank you very much) there was the umbrella company he had to sign up with to process his wages.

They took £10-20 per week off everyone just for processing wages and that was in addition to the whole 'turn £16 an hour into NMW plus expenses with the umbrella company pocketing the rest in spurious charges' scam that was prevalent at the time.

OutToGetYou · 15/09/2017 16:04

I was in that fb group, I came out for the good of my health. And everyone else's!

ChuffMuffin · 15/09/2017 16:11

The NHS do definitely check up on people claiming free prescriptions they're not entitled to. They can't check everyone obviously as it would take absolutely forever, but each local authority pulls out a random number of prescriptions/vouchers submitted every month and then fine people who've had free treatment but don't actually qualify. IIRC the fine depends if it was for a service or a treatment, with the NHS charges on top. Someone at my dentist just this week was complaining because they'd been fined £120 (£100 fine and £20 nhs charge).

ASongOfRiceAndPeas · 15/09/2017 18:40

andrewofgg no it's not bollocks. If the debt collection agencies were obtaining the debts in the correct manner then perhaps you'd be correct, but they don't. Which is why the three letter thing has actually worked for some people.

Andrewofgg · 15/09/2017 18:50

So if the agencies sort things out and jump through all the right hoops - do you then agree that the debt is due at the original figure however little the agency paid? In principle it is no business of the debtor who buys the debt or for how much, is it?

ASongOfRiceAndPeas · 15/09/2017 18:54

I didn't think it needed to be said, but I am well aware that the tvl applies to iplayer
There are still people paying it who simply don't need to, out of fear of being fined. I've seen these same people (on that group incidentally) let those horrible tvl salesmen into their house and be lied to and then coerced into signing the form that allows them to be hit with a fine. It's definitely naivety, I wouldn't be letting any stranger into my home let alone signing paperwork without thoroughly checking what it was!

RainbowPastel · 15/09/2017 20:02

Jux if you have a pre-payment certificate and forget to take it to the pharmacy there is no need for you to pay. They can tick a box on the back of the prescription to say they haven't seen your evidence.

The conditions that you can get free prescriptions for need to be reviewed. They haven't been changed since the 1960's.

makeourfuture · 15/09/2017 20:21

Andrew,

Contract law can be very complicated. In the case of a standard form, then almost assuredly the debt would be due and payable. But ultimately, if contested, it would be a matter for the courts to decide.

user997799779977 · 16/09/2017 10:32

People get into debt because they were given credit? How about taking some personal responsibility? I dont have debts because I feel guilty even if I owe a fiver!

Kpo58 · 16/09/2017 10:43

People get into debt because they were given credit?

Can be easily done if you are on a low income, especially on minimum wage or zero hours contact.

Let's say your car breaks down. You need the car so you can get to work and if there is any public transport near by, it is either too expensive to use or doesn't go near your work, so you need to fix the car or you will loose your job. None of your friends have the money to lend you and you cannot get a bank loan as you don't have good enough credit history. Where else can you turn apart from the high interest rate loans?

You can afford to pay some of it back each month but not the entire amount of the load. The loan repayments never ends as more and more interest is charged on it. Due to forever paying back the loan, there is no spare money to put aside for savings and then your oven breaks so you need to take out a new loan to cover the cost of an oven...

lastofthewintergin · 16/09/2017 10:48

I darent go on that group it would infuriate me. I'd spend my whole day ranting about it. YANBU. Genuine debt due to unfortunate changes in circumstances in life etc have my full sympathy but people who do it and play the system are the lowest of the low. And we all pay more ultimately because of people like that.

Andrewofgg · 16/09/2017 11:23

Thank you makeourfuture I am aware that contract law is complicated and that disputes have to be settled through litigation. It remains the fact that in principle any debt can be assigned; that it is not the debtor's business how much the assignee paid for the debt; and that it is not an automatic defence to a debt claim that the money should never have been lent.

li12 · 16/09/2017 18:27

Yes I can also testify they DO check.

I recently got fined for claiming free dental treatment which I had not done. I felt I was treated like a criminal - even though I sent them a bank statement with proof of payment on the day I visited the dentist they wouldn't accept that. I had to go to the surgery and get a receipt and it was about a year after the appointment!
It all got sorted after that but it was very stressful.

So if anyone considers claiming reductions they're not entitled to, they need to be prepared to pay a hefty fine!

lolalola19 · 16/09/2017 20:16

They can all afford big TVs and Sky? The latest iPhones and PS4s in every room - but they won't pay for prescriptions because they're poor...my heart breaks for them.

ReanimatedSGB · 16/09/2017 20:40

The sort of loan companies who lend to poor people are not kind, generous bleeding hearts who are being taken advantage of. They encourage people to take on more debt than they can afford, charge enormous interest rates and only exist in the first place because other companies/vested interests keep wages low and take advantage of their employees.

Helentad · 17/09/2017 00:57

My sons has bad eczema and get aveno on prescription as it's the only thing that works. We go through 4 bottles a week but only get 2 on prescription and we are in Wales but would get free anyway as he is unde 16. People do have reasons as to why they are prescribed certain things his being this is the last in a very long list of creams and ointments that we have tried since he was a baby. Don't tar everybody with the same brush.

orecchietti · 17/09/2017 01:19

They can all afford big TVs and Sky? The latest iPhones and PS4s in every room - but they won't pay for prescriptions because they're poor...my heart breaks for them.

Firstly, fuck your characterisation of 'them'. Most people in poverty in the uk are in work, and many people struggle to afford prescriptions. Secondly, even if some feckless monster benefit scrounger of your nightmares has spent every last penny on booze or fags or sky, I still think they should get lifesaving medication for free, yes. Or even life-helping medication. We have a national health service, paid for through taxation so that those who need it can use it whether or not they could pay for it. That's absolutely how it should be.

ilovesouthlondon · 17/09/2017 08:09

I'm joining the group...

BalloonSlayer · 17/09/2017 08:58

We were in the US recently and had to take DC to the doctors. He needed prednisolone as his chest was bad. Five tablets, one a day. On prescription only. It was $4. For an adult in the UK that would have cost £8.

KatoPotato · 17/09/2017 11:09

It's full of conspiracy theorists who say bombings are faked by the media... therefore they shall not pay for their brighthouse laptops

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 17/09/2017 11:54

BalloonSlayer I would rather pay £8 per prescription than thousands in medical fees every time I got ill.

m4rdybum · 17/09/2017 11:57

I've joined the group because of this post, and it's ridiculous.

Also, they've cottoned on that you've posted about them - apparently Mumsnet is full of man hating fucktards

Original poster

chopper23 · 17/09/2017 12:06

https://www.facebook.com/groups/beatthebailiffsandthebanks/permalink/1301129046665653/

HAHAHAHAAAA

Silly me for hiding behind a 'fake name'

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.