Martin writes:
Bord Gais, who sent us threatening texts in the past, despite us being on a payment plan, and despite stating that they wouldn’t, have sent another text threatening to cut off electricity and gas.

I rang them and they said that , while we have a payment plan that it is for the outstanding balance only and that, on receipt of each new bill, a new balance is created, which means a payment plan has to be agreed.

Which means the texts threatening loss of service continue and we have to call them every month to explain the situation and set up a different payment plan.

Until the next bill.

We are making the effort to pay our bills, we have not ignored any creditor and have existed under a harsh budget for well over a year,and to get these texts, a mere two months after being told we would not receive any more, is disheartening , and makes us feel like con artists, frauds and failures.

I certainly don’t need to hear someone tell me that, by paying on a Monday instead of the Friday that we are in violation of the plan and not to do it. And when I persist, saying I have an email promising no further correspondence, and that I consider a text message to be a further correspondence , suddenly a brand new payment plan, a yearly one,
suddenly becomes available. But not before I get another warning about breaching the terms and conditions.

I don’t need this, my wife doesn’t need this. We’re struggling, we’re really fucking struggling. We’re doing our best, give us a break.

Pic via

Thanks Lars Biscuits


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G57WRNqdY08

The worst of the worst of September from master faceplant-compiler Twisternederland.

As always, NSFL, unless you like this sort of thing.

Previously: The Fails Of August

twisternederlandTNL

Phil Hogan at the ploughing championship [ government chief whip Paul Kehoe in background] in New Ross, Wexford, this morning, said he was entitled to make an intervention in the housing of a traveller family in his Kilkenny constituency.

And will not resign.

It’s not his ‘thing’:

February 2011 Announces Plans To Shut Down Moriarty Tribunal.

[Hogan] is likely to be the next Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It’s a powerful gig, all the more so in the context of Hogan’s announcement earlier this month that he intends to shut down the Moriarty Tribunal when Fine Gael gets into government.

Phil Hogan And His One Point Plan (Broadsheet)

February 2012 U-turn on septic tank charge

The Minister for the Environment has announced a dramatic reduction in the septic tank registration fee from €50 to €5 amid claims from opponents it was a clampdown and U-turn.

Hogan Cuts Septic tank registration Fee From €50 to €5 (irish Times)

March 2012 Apology for lewd remark

“He replied in a loud voice: ‘I have no problem screwing you. Hasn’t Mairtin been screwing you for years?’ Then he turned his back on me and said: ‘Business tomorrow,’ ” Ms [Ann] O’Connell, 70, said of the incident.

Phil Hogan Sorry For Lew Remark (irish Examiner)

April 2012  Grants Lowry a Post-Moriarty Meeting

 The minister met with Mr Lowry six days after the Moriarty report’s release in Mar 2011 and after calls by the Taoiseach for the TD to step down.

Hogan And Lowry Met After Moriarty Finding (Irish Independent)

April 2012 ‘Bumped into Denis O’Brien’

“He did briefly bump into Denis O’Brien. They bumped into each other and exchanged pleasantries. They spoke for a matter of moments,” a spokesperson said.

Denying The O’Brien/Hogan Meeting (Story.ie)

April 2012 The ‘Would U Ever Relax And Feed The Children’ Text.

The Kilkenny woman told how kids are going hungry as cash-strapped families scrimp to pay the hated €100 tax. But she was stunned when a reply from Hogan’s personal mobile said: “Would u ever relax. And feed the children.”

Enda To Probe Rude Text By Hogan (The irish Sun)

April 2012 Refuses to pay Service Charges On Holiday Home.

Mr Hogan, who has an apartment in Villamoura on the Algarve, has an outstanding service charge of €4,320, according to a ‘debtors’ list document

 Phil Hogan- Refuses To Pay 4k Service Charges On His Portugal- Holiday Penthouse (irish Independent)

July 2012 The ‘Soft Loan’ from Nationwide

Hogan’s unorthodox loans were personally approved by Fingleton to allow him buy a pied-a-terre house in Dublin 4 and a luxurious penthouse in Portugal using two interest- only loans of at least a decade each, an aggressive equity release, and what appears to have been, for his final loan, minimal paperwork.

Nationwide’s ‘Soft’ Loan To Hogan (Independent.ie)

Earlier: Big Phil’s Fat Gypsy Prejudice

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

Broadsheet.ie