Any question answered...

but you shouldn't have to pay 20% UK VAT so it's 1% cheaper (less carrier charges)

19% VAT on the total for goods and carriage, plus whatever the carrier charges to collect the tax.

Thank you!

After digging further it seems as if there's the 19% VAT, plus (if the total value exceeds Euro 150,-) an additional German customs charge ("tariff"?) of 12% (it's 12% for textiles, for leather shoes it would be 8% for example).

If there's any other Germans here having to deal with this, the best calculator-website I have found so far is this one.

Help sought before I start bolting stuff on to my frame.
Will Dura Ace 7900 downtube shifter (rear), indexed, work with an Ultegra 6600 rear derailleur, is the cable pull the same?

According to this website, I believe the answer is yes.
https://bike.bikegremlin.com/1278/bicycle-rear-derailleur-compatibility/

Thank you, I'll start bolting shit together.

Oops, the Netherlands government has given the game away. Your government is protecting you from obtaining the goods you want for the true market value of such goods 🙂

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Any lawyers here??? If an energy supplier (Eon) tries to force your lock to fit a prepay meter, is it an offence if they claim to have a warrant of entry but don't warn you they're coming and refuse to show the warrant when they attend? They said it was on their phone but they wouldn't put the phone through my letterbox in case I wouldn't give it back.

I wrote to them afterwards to complain and to ask for a copy of the warrant. This was 3 months ago, but all I got was a rather mendacious reply. They ignored the request for the warrant. So I still don't know whether they had one. If they did have one, wouldn't the court have written to me by now?

I rang the police when Eon were outside. They said they had been notified that Eon had a warrant, but they didn't have a copy and couldn't tell me what it said.

I refused to open the door. The break-in artists shoved some bendy plastic through the jamb to force the Yale lock, but I'd locked the mortice lock, thank God. They said they would bring a locksmith to drill the mortice lock, but they didn't. I called Eon while their people were here. They said it was correct not to pass a phone through the letterbox. They said I had no alternative but to allow entry to fit the prepay meter.

I don't know whether the backstory is relevant, but my previous supplier, Npower, had made a pig's ear of the billing. They said I owed them £3k, which would take some doing for one person in a small flat. I reckoned my balance was nil but they didn't answer my letters of complaint. They did this to thousands of people and were fined £36m and had to send people compensation cheques for £190. I mislaid my cheque for a while, so they cancelled it and knocked £190 off my balance. Then they got into financial difficulties and were taken over by Eon. Eon then gave me a starting negative balance of £3000, which I ignored. Perhaps that was unwise. By this time I was past caring.

When I phoned Eon (while they were trying to break in) I told them the Npower story and asked them to investigate the balance and give me an accurate bill. The guy said that when Eon bought Npower they found that there was no billing information before 2019. So I don't see how Eon has any legal basis for saying I have a debt of £3k. Eon's intention with the prepay meter would have been to take 50% of any credit I put in the meter to service the so-called debt. Which is just extortion if you ask me. It would also mean changing to a more expensive tariff.

You could always wait a couple of months for Eon to go bust along with every other domestic energy supplier in the UK, then we'll all be with a renationalised British Gas and you'll be lucky to get an appointment for a break in within 18 months 🙂

Jesus

I would contact the energy ombudsman.

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/

Thanks, I intend to. But I think I have to go through the process of complaining and getting replies and logging everything with Resolver. Eon seem to be giving me more and more grounds for complaint with everything they do. At least I hope they are. I really, really hope they lied about having a warrant, and have misled the police as well as me. That should fuck them up good and proper.

Fuck that. Trying to force a door = straight to the ombudsman, do not pass customer service, do not give them £200.

Electricity Act 1989 - Legislation.gov.uk
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/29/data.pdf

IF you owe them the 3k, they can install a prepay meter to recover the debt. Page 327

They have 'reasonable times' access to do so. Page 331
Strange that there's no mention of breaking in. Although access with a valid and correctly served warrant may include forced entry. ( Rights of Entry Act 1954)

Can they prove that you actually owe them the money?

Can you prove that kind of usage is unlikely and its probably an error.

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@nick_h.

If they actually had a warrant, it looks like they will need a new one as they had 28 days.

Page 245/246
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/490992/Electricity_Act_1989__Energy_Bill_2015-16_Keeling_Schedule_.pdf

Non-payment of suppliers' charges
2(1) Where a customer has not, within the requisite period, [made all the relevant payments], the supplier
may--
(a) install a pre-payment meter on the premises; or
(b) disconnect the premises,

(2) The power of a supplier under sub-paragraph (1)(a) or (b) may not be exercised--
(a) as respects any amount which is genuinely in dispute
.

If your sure you don't owe them (or the previous supplier that they took over) and your disputing it, they shouldn't be trying to install a payment meter.

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I didn't notify them that I was disputing it. I assumed it was obvious. But that was probably a mistake. They now know that I'm disputing it, because of my phone call when they were trying to break in, and my complaint letter since. In my opinion they can't prove I owe the money (a) because of no pre-2019 records and (b) because of npower's history of inaccurate billing. But I'm sure they would argue otherwise. Theoretically I suppose it's possible that I could have used that much electricity, if I was crypto-mining or something.

It's good to know that the warrant, if they had it, has expired! Thank you.

But what about not showing me the warrant? Is that illegal? And can I find out from the court (I don't know which court) whether they had a warrant?

is it an offence if they claim to have a warrant of entry but don't warn you they're coming

First of all, they can't even get a warrant unless they can satisfy a magistrate that they have first asked nicely to be allowed in. Did this happen?

Second, while it's not strictly illegal to turn up unannounced with a warrant, it's a clear breach of the code of practice because there was no possible reason not to give you notice. Did they?

Third, nobody who actually has a warrant would show up at a premises they were planning to enter without a paper copy of it, because, absent the need to effect entry against the will of the occupier for reasons of emergency or frustration of purpose, the easiest way to get the occupier to open the door is to post the paper through the letterbox or slide it under the door when asked for it.

So they just lied about it? Seems likely.

Probably the different between "we'll get a warrant" and "we have a warrant".
.

https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/energy-back-billing/amp/

Is looks like this may help. Unless it was a valid bill that you've received and just not paid.

If you don't have a smart meter, going forwards, set a reminder on your phone, to take and submit meter readings each month. Or a week before your next billing date. Saves getting the wild estimate bills.

Sparkies, is there a better connector to use than this which seems to have a dozen moving parts that all need to be held in one precise spot with one hand while you hold the cover and screw it in place with the other hand?

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is there a better connector to use than this

I don't recall seeing a round one with cable clamps, but this modern oblong one does (Ashley J804, about £5 from your local electrical distributor or off of Amazon)

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Can you not just use a standard 4 way junction box instead?

well that is my question.

Looking for banjo fitting bolt. Any chance someone has one that they don't use or know where I can get one?
Or maybe someone has broken hydro r lever that I can buy from you just for the sake of getting that bolt? Any help would be much appreciated.

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Well, IANAElectrician, but I can't see why not. That thing seems to do the same thing as a junction box just with a different layout.

Wrapping something up in bubble wrap, do the bubbles work better facing in or out?