13 March 2021

BUREAUCRACY AND BILLS

 
The château at Fougères-sur-Bièvres.

My dad is settled into his sheltered housing and doing well.  We have completed the sale of his bungalow and re-homed most of his unwanted belongings, one way or another.  There were inevitably a few trips to the tip but very little that was vaguely useful was thrown out.  The local hospice charity shop had first pick of the furniture and with my limited computer skills I successfully used social media as a way of re-homing stuff.  We sold furniture, record players, computer screens, drawing equipment and even the piano that way.  Much, much better than simply paying a huge amount of money to someone to take it all away, although it was, without doubt, a lot of work.  The trick is to make things very cheap to ensure a lot of interest and a quick sale.

Of course, that's not the end of the story.  As always, after selling a house there is a good deal of paperwork to do, cancelling accounts for utilities, insurance, and so on.  We have spent hours, days even, on the phone or in front of the computer trying to get various companies to answer our calls and emails.  What an uphill struggle that is.  These companies are so keen to assure us of giving their best possible service during these "difficult times" but the service is in fact often dire.  After a good deal of persistence most of it is now done.

We do however, have a problem with the council.  They send out a tsunami of printed material to his flat every week.  Most of it is statements regarding his rent and other services.  Occasionally there is actually an invoice that needs paying but poor old Dad, who now can't see well enough to read them properly, thinks everything is a bill.   He's of the generation that is desperately keen not to have any unpaid bills or debts against his name and would be sending cheques off in response to every letter if we didn't intervene.  So far this week he has phoned us four times straight after the visit from the postman to say another bill has arrived.  Out of the five letters this week only one was something that needed to be paid.

The council's bill for all this postage and labour must be huge!  There is an enormous amount of duplication of material.  I expect there are legal reasons why they have to keep tenants infinitely informed but there must be a better way.  We have requested that post be sent to us instead as we have LPoA , and that direct debits be set up for most of it, but so far those requests have fallen unnoticed into the depths of the slowly grinding local authority machine!  We are making very slow progress!

12 comments:

  1. I agree about online selling. There is a sense of "better to go cheaply to a new home than to go to landfill" - but it IS a lot of work. I use two local sites - one is a 'kindness' group for offering stuff free. Things get snapped up very quickly there. I'm sorry about the hassle with your Dad and his post. I appreciate that the bureaucracy is possibly further slowed down by the fact of covid and people working from home etc, but it does make things hard. The hoops I have jumped through to sort out our TV licences. We currently pay for TWO- one here and one at our retirement bungalow. But trying to cancel the first [which actually runs out as we move] is quite complicated. I have cancelled the direct debit anyway! My next hurdle will be postal redirection. When we moved here, I had to list my OH as Mr Bob A. AND Rev Robert A. to ensure informal AND 'professional' post got redirected!

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    1. Oh for the time when I could walk into the gas showrooms in Matlock to pay the bill or change the address on the account! The internet has made everything more complicated I think.
      When I advertised my dad's old turntable for £5 the man who collected it was thrilled and even more so when I insisted that he take a pair of old speakers as well! They were destined for his shed, apparently, to replace the one that has succumbed to old age! I wonder as I drive around the town whether I might hear Pink Floyd or Queen blasting out from the bottom of someone's garden. I expect these items have made him (and his wife) very happy!

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    2. I meant to add that cancelling a direct debit is a tactic we have resorted to, it tends to get the attention of the former recipient much more effectively than phone calls or emails!

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  2. In this world of stuff and COVID giving away is not easy but I was overjoyed the other day to discover our local council tip (open) now has a shed for gifting small household items in good condition for a local charity that helps house homeless people. With charity shops closed and the Spring decluttering gathering pace, it seems I’ve found my solution.

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    1. We have found a similar charity in the next town. They furnish council flats given to refugees. Our local Pets at Home have a collecting bin for the RSPCA that will take towels and blankets. It's just the trinkets and other stuff that can only go to the charity shops that remain in boxes in our shed!

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  3. Been there and it is NOT easy as you say... We did the same with Mums things and most items went the only thing that didn't were some good lampshades and her china wall clock. Larger Items were collected by the British Heart charity. Only had one problem with a private pension provider waited on the phone for 35minutes and then cut off so I emailed them and have heard nothing so we will see if they still send the monthly payment... I hope they do!!! At least you can still go and see your dad... Make the most of the time you have left with him...

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    1. Colin, I was so sorry to hear that your mum had passed away. It's tragic that you were prevented from seeing her for all that time, right until the end. The pandemic has been so cruel.
      It has been quite emotional disposing of such a lot of Dad's things but the truth is, he's forgotten all about them already. As you probably know, last week he had a letter saying, a year after the start, that he should be shielding, in other words he's not supposed to go out at all. Goodness only knows why it's taken a year for whoever is responsible to realise he is one of the vulnerable. We can still spend time with him in his flat as we're his "bubble" but I'm afraid that the idea of him missing his trip out for lunch with us once a week is just not on. He's managed to escape the virus so far and nothing has changed other than he is also now vaccinated.

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  4. Slow progress is all the same progress. I am glad to hear this.

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  5. Found your blog via some rabbit hole or other - what a nice destination to arrive at. I too have a house in France and the UK and can't wait to return - roll on vaccine passports I say!
    And I too am rather dreading dealing with my very elderly mother's affairs - she is one step -and certainly one slip - away from needing full time care. For now we get by with a small army of helpers, but it can't go on forever. Such a difficult decision to know when to call it - so long as she can make her own decisions then I think it must be her that does - but we do worry for her safety now.

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    1. Mark, thank you for your kind words!
      I always knew that this stage in my dad's life would be hard but it's harder and more relentless than I expected. He made the move into sheltered housing too late and would have benefited so much more and found it easier if he had taken this step at least a year or two earlier. The reluctance to let go of independence is detrimental and we are dreading getting to the point where we have to arrange more and more help for him then still consider full time care.

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  6. It is one of the most difficult things you will have to do, I had to get the doctor in to convince my Mum she had to go into care. She had dementia and put an electric kettle on the gas and also fell outside and was in the rain for a couple of hours. I am an only child and lived 50 miles away. She did manage to live on her own up to being 92. She is at peace now. Take Care. Colin

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