The tale of the sale of our old house

[Jeremy Harris]

17 minutes ago, jack said:

 

 

No, it sounds like they offer multiple options. I've just checked with my wife and she definitely doesn't use her phones for codes, just the hardware hash generating device which they supply free. I have exactly the same setup for my HSBC business account. Nothing at all happens on or via my phone. I don't even have an HSBC app installed.

 

Thanks very much for confirming this, @jack

[Jeremy Harris]

3 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

Doubt it would be that expensive if you wanted one. You can pick up uber cheap ones now, and second hand even less. 

 

 

The snag is that neither of us have any use for one, other than to enable online banking to work.  We'd still keep our old Nokias, as the long battery life is a really big plus point as an emergency only phone in the car.

[Square Feet]

31 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

So, does that mean I have to fork out a few hundred quid for a wifi enabled smartphone, simply to use First Direct online banking?  I know that neither of us would have any use at all for a smart phone, other than to access online banking, so that makes it a very expensive way to just use a banking service.

Smartphones don't cost a few hundred quid.  Well, they can if you are silly about it.  You can get a perfectly fine second hand one that would do the job for less than £20 on ebay.  My brand new 'Chinese company nobody has heard of' branded phone cost me £130 last week.

 

I'm sorry, but it seems daft to inconvenience yourself so much for the sake of £20.  They also have all sorts of other nifty features that you will probably find yourself using, even if it is only the calendar and torch....

Edited November 18, 2018 by Square Feet

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, JSHarris said:

 

Yes, it would be useful occasionally, but I just can't justify the cost of a smartphone just to get this feature, when we pretty much exclusively use the landline for 'phone calls.

You want to look into that a bit more.

 

I was given a 2 year old Samsung Smart phone. It is now on a £5 per month contract with O2.  Not unlimited but enough minutes for all my call needs.  I don't ever use the landline now unless it is for an 0800 number (which peversely you have to pay for on a mobile).  The £5 per month for the mobile is way cheaper than BT can offer a "call package" for and in any case we were paying about that per month for metered landline calls with them.

 

I don't generally use the phone for anything other than phone calls, the exception being I have Open CPN chart plotter on it for when out on the boat.

[newhome]

I think most banks are ok until you need to do anything with them . I have a few different current accounts just because the interest rates they offer are much better than normal savings accounts but all I do with those is pay the minimum amount in each month and pay 2 DDs out. I do need a reliable bank for when I actually need to make proper transactions however. My main bank used to be Lloyds and it was fine. It has a Lloyds sort code (starts 30 rather than 77 or 87 that are heritage TSB) so I've no idea how it got included in the divestment but there I was punted to TSB. It was all fine when the TSB systems were a rebranded mirror of Lloyds but it was an utter debacle when they moved to Sabadell and fecked everything up. They knew at the outset that once they had started it would be a fix forward scenario but still didn't do enough to ensure that they were ready to go. The opposite in fact. They went before they were ready on an 'it'll be alright on the night' basis. A few months later the internet offering is still found wanting and I have noticed that recently the names of the last 3 payees from my account pop up before I have even logged on. I'm not very comfortable with people seeing that TBH. Surely all account information should be hidden until you have logged on? 

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

1 minute ago, Square Feet said:

Smartphones don't cost a few hundred quid.  Well, they can if you are silly about it.  You can get a perfectly fine second hand one that would do the job for less than £20 on ebay.  My brand new 'Chinese company nobody has heard of' branded phone cost me £130 last week.

 

I'm sorry, but it seems daft to inconvenience yourself so much for the sake of £20.  They also have all sorts of other nifty features that you will probably find yourself using, even if it is only the calendar and torch....

 

Just to put this into perspective.  I turn my mobile 'phone on around once a week, if that.  I have no good reason to ever feel the need to turn it on more often than that, nd it often sits in the glovebox of my car for several weeks without being turned on.  I have no real need for it, apart from emergencies when out and about.

 

From what I've read, no smartphone has a battery life that exceed a day or two, which is frankly ludicrous.  My Nokia easily lasts at least a month between charges, sometimes a lot longer.

 

Why should I buy something extra, that I don't need or want, get another SIM card, put up with charging the damned thing every day or two, just  to be able to use online banking?  It just doesn't make any sense to have all this extra hassle just to be able to set up a payment to someone every now and again.

[newhome]

3 minutes ago, ProDave said:

unless it is for an 0800 number (which peversely you have to pay for on a mobile). 

 

You sure about that? They used to charge but certainly Three has stopped doing so. 

[Square Feet]

Just now, JSHarris said:

 

Why should I buy something extra, that I don't need or want.....

 

You just don't know that you want or need it it yet  

[NSS]

But any smartphone battery will also last a month if you only switch it on once a week.

[Jeremy Harris]

2 minutes ago, ProDave said:

You want to look into that a bit more.

 

I was given a 2 year old Samsung Smart phone. It is now on a £5 per month contract with O2.  Not unlimited but enough minutes for all my call needs.  I don't ever use the landline now unless it is for an 0800 number (which peversely you have to pay for on a mobile).  The £5 per month for the mobile is way cheaper than BT can offer a "call package" for and in any case we were paying about that per month for metered landline calls with them.

 

But we can't get a mobile signal at home, never have been able to (since we left Scotland in 1997) so would be reliant on the landline, anyway.  If we succeed in getting FTTP, then I may ditch the landline and switch to VOIP, but at the moment it's unclear as to whether we can succeed in getting FTTP for a reasonable cost.

[Jeremy Harris]

1 minute ago, NSS said:

But any smartphone battery will also last a month if you only switch it on once a week.

 

But how long will any smartphone battery last on standby?  The Nokias we have will easily sit switched on in standby for three or four weeks when we're away on holiday.  As I understand it, the very best smartphones manage two or three days on standby before they need a charge, which for us, would be a significant additional hassle, as we only want something to receive and make 'phone calls.

[NSS]

Typical standby time for most smartphones is 10 - 15 days. I absolutely pummel mine and only need to charge it every 2 days or so.

[Jeremy Harris]

10 minutes ago, NSS said:

Typical standby time for most smartphones is 10 - 15 days. I absolutely pummel mine and only need to charge it every 2 days or so.

 

That's a heck of a lot better than I expected.  To have the phone able to be on standby and able to receive calls for 10 to 15 days is probably just about OK, although three weeks would be better, as we're often away on holiday, sometimes without the ability to charge a phone, for that long.  The Nokias we have used to last around 6 weeks turned on on standby but that's been dropping as the batteries age.  I keep meaning to get some new battery packs for them, as decent BL5s are only three or four pounds or so each.

[ProDave]

19 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

But we can't get a mobile signal at home, never have been able to (since we left Scotland in 1997) so would be reliant on the landline, anyway.  If we succeed in getting FTTP, then I may ditch the landline and switch to VOIP, but at the moment it's unclear as to whether we can succeed in getting FTTP for a reasonable cost.

The point was to use the wifi calling option so your phone contract minutes can be used without a mobile signal if you have wifi available, and you can send and rciv texts by wifi as well.  Definitely works out cheaper for calls than the landline.

[Square Feet]

On 18/11/2018 at 18:50, Dreadnaught said:

 

Which also explains why you cannot use a "Wifi Calling" feature, which is offered by many mobile networks operators and would enable you to receive the needed SMS while within the signal not-spot that is your home. Wifi Calling requires support by the handset and I have only ever heard of it being available on smart phones.

 

More about "Wifi Calling" here if anyone is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_Access_Network

 

I read this with interest as I have pretty much no mobile reception at home which is a pain. Being able to make and receive phone calls and texts via our home internet would be great.

 

 I have tried googling, but as I am using a fairly obscure phone (Oukitel K10000) I can't find any information on how to switch wifi calling on.  I can't see it as an option when I go to the Advanced Wifi menu - I only have 'Install certificates, Wifi Direct, WPS Push Button and WPS Pin Entry'.  Does this mean that my phone doesn't support it?

 

Edited to add: I might just have figured it out - it is more a thing to do with your network provider than phone.  I am on Three so I had to download and install their Three in Touch app.  Hopefully that will do it....

 

Cheers for the suggestion - I had no idea that this was a thing.

 

Apologies for highjacking your thread Mr Harris....

Edited November 20, 2018 by Square Feet

[Guest Alphonsox]

First Direct also allow you to use a WiFi connected IPad as the Key Generator (basically anything that will run their IOS or Android apps).

 

[newhome]

On 18/11/2018 at 14:42, newhome said:

Drove the 16 mile round trip to the branch to be told that you have to make an appointment to open one and there was no one who could do it for me. So First Direct here I come. 

 

I complained about that experience and I’ve been offered £50 for the inconvenience and £18 travel costs as I will need to make another trip to open the account. Given that opening their monthly saver account last year only resulted in just over £30 in interest for the 12 month period I think that’s ok ?.

 

I’m still going to open a First Direct account however. Do you physically have to close your old current account with them or just move DDs / salary payments? I have 2 current accounts with TSB so I guess I could just close one. 

 

[newhome]

1 hour ago, Square Feet said:

 

Edited to add: I might just have figured it out - it is more a thing to do with your network provider than phone.  I am on Three so I had to download and install their Three in Touch app.  Hopefully that will do it....

 

I used to use the Three in Touch app but my phone has this setting now. Maybe you still need to use the app if it’s not a compatible phone. This is iPhone. 

 

 

[PeterW]

14 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

I complained about that experience and I’ve been offered £50 for the inconvenience and £18 travel costs as I will need to make another trip to open the account. Given that opening their monthly saver account last year only resulted in just over £30 in interest for the 12 month period I think that’s ok ?.

 

I’m still going to open a First Direct account however. Do you physically have to close your old current account with them or just move DDs / salary payments? I have 2 current accounts with TSB so I guess I could just close one. 

 

Only have to move 3 DDs from memory - will PM you ...

[Jeremy Harris]

Back on topic.  It's pretty grim being back in the old house.  Had to turn the heating up, as when I came back from the new house to here to finish clearing out and packing our last few bits and pieces up it felt miserably uncomfortable (and noisy).  The heating's been on, set for 21.5 deg C, but I'm sitting here with cold feet and not looking forward to our last night here.

 

The stark difference between a much-improved (loads of extra insulation, lots of attention paid to improving airtightness, reasonably decent uPVC double glazing, condensing combi boiler) 1986 block and brick bungalow and our passive house is just unbelievable.  The room temperature of both is the same, but for some reason (most probably the far more even temperature in the new house, with the walls, floor, ceiling and windows all at the same temperature) the new house feels so much more comfortable.

 

I won't regret finally moving out of this old house.  Having experienced the comfort of a passive house I doubt I could ever feel comfortable in any other type of house in future.  Good job we have no intention of ever moving house again.

 

Best of all, I'm finally shifting out of "self-build mode", and starting to think about life when we're not working almost exclusively on house-related stuff.  First off is a nice holiday, though...

[HerbJ]

 

I hope the removal  and completion goes well tomorrow.

Enjoy the new house... Have a great holiday

[Jeremy Harris]

1 minute ago, HerbJ said:

 

I hope the removal  and completion goes well tomorrow.

Enjoy the new house... Have a great holiday

 

Thanks Herb.  I'll be "off the air" here for much of tomorrow, but with luck should have everything settled by the evening.

[PeterW]

I know what you mean about a house with no draughts and decent windows..! I was in a new build last weekend that a major house builder is classing as “eco” and I could feel the gaps around the doors and it was quite cool even with the radiators on upstairs.

 

When I asked the sales manager what it’s energy rating was, I was told it “exceeded building regulations”.... not sure how or by how much, but it didn’t stop someone cooing over the kitchen when I was in the show home ... 

 

Anyway - enjoy the new house ..! I’m planning to visit when I get a spare hour..!

[newhome]

Hope the move goes well. Soon be time to enjoy simply living in your home rather than working on it or wrapped up in the house sale.  

[Jeremy Harris]

Well, we're both out of the old house for good, now.  We did the final cleaning of the old house yesterday, so we could have a weekend in the new build without having to worry about still having to go back to do stuff at the old house.  All I have left to do there is pop over on Monday to take the final meter readings and try to get hold of the buyer to sort out passing on the keys.

 

The latter is predictably difficult, as the buyer seems not to be willing to commit to any arrangements for collecting the keys.  I have everything sorted on our side; my solicitor is going to call me as soon as they have the funds and completion has taken place, so I can hand over the keys.  The problem is that the buyers solicitor (I've literally just found out today) is based in London, and doesn't seem to advertise a conveyancing service at all; they seem to be specialists in family law.  No wonder we've had endless problems with them.  It also explains why our solicitor has had to repeatedly chase them up for everything, along with some really daft questions they've raised, often questions that they already have had written answers to.

 

This means I can't just drop the keys off with the buyers solicitor, and with the buyer being reluctant to commit to a time to collect the keys, I'm left with the feeling that I'll have to find the buyers address and just drop the keys through the letter box, if push comes to shove.  The daft thing is that I've already offered to meet the buyer at the house, and talk through the heating and boiler controls, bathroom UFH programmer etc, something the buyer was keen to accept.