What Irked You Today?

[BlackSheep214]

On 10/7/2023 at 8:00 PM, NYLIBUD said:

This may not happen everyday,but is it just me,or does anyone else despise the sound,or lack of sound,EVs make.The other day i was outside working on my house and an EV passed by me pretty quickly.It sounded like a UFO..Sswoooosh.,mmmmmm.I hate all EVs.Long live the American V8 engine👍

Amen, brother. Always hated EVs. Even former EV owners are starting to hate them and swallowing their pride after the fact.

[espo]

Not to beat a dead horse but has anyone else looked at the last issue of Motor Trend Magazine? The magazine has been extoling the virtues as well as covering the whole EV thing for some time. I realize that their main theme to inform readers of what is happening in the auto industry, and they seem to cover it well. In the latest issue they run a new Ford EV truck until the batteries are dead. They cover some of the problems that they encountered along with some of the damage they did to the truck in in doing so. They have started talking about the problems in finding places other than home to recharge these vehicles near their offices in California which is starting to mandate that no gas-powered vehicles will be sold there in the near future. My thought is that owners of these EV's will start to have to do what gas powered owners would do in the past carrying a 5 gallon can of gas as a backup in case they run out of gas. Now EV owners will have to carry a couple of extra batteries around for when they can't find a place to plug in their vehicles.  

[stitchdup]

on this side of the pond many insurers are refusing to cover evs and those that do cover them are charging a lot more. even towing companies are having to get new trucks to lift burned evs into air tight sealed steel crates as they have a habit of bursting into flames agin hours later. there are fields full of nissan leaf evs just being left to rot away as nobody wants them. I've said it before and i'll say it again, hydrogen is where we should be looking. use windmills to make the hydrogen and you have a clean fuel with water as the emmissions (which if they become popular could possibly be beneficial to drier areas. the hydrogen can even be made on site if theres a power source for the production units. all electric cars and vehicles are going to do is put food prices up and regularly burst into flames (and i'm sure all those burning chemical fumes are really great for the enviroment and us)

[TonyK]

My opinion on EV's was fine for whoever wants them but now I've become irked with the powers-that-be as they try to shove them down our throats. We're not prepared for this but no one seems to care about that.

[BlackSheep214]

3 hours ago, espo said:

Not to beat a dead horse but has anyone else looked at the last issue of Motor Trend Magazine? The magazine has been extoling the virtues as well as covering the whole EV thing for some time. I realize that their main theme to inform readers of what is happening in the auto industry, and they seem to cover it well. In the latest issue they run a new Ford EV truck until the batteries are dead. They cover some of the problems that they encountered along with some of the damage they did to the truck in in doing so. They have started talking about the problems in finding places other than home to recharge these vehicles near their offices in California which is starting to mandate that no gas-powered vehicles will be sold there in the near future. My thought is that owners of these EV's will start to have to do what gas powered owners would do in the past carrying a 5 gallon can of gas as a backup in case they run out of gas. Now EV owners will have to carry a couple of extra batteries around for when they can't find a place to plug in their vehicles.  

I heard a story from a co-worker the other day a relative or friend (can’t recall which) took the EV Ford F-150 on a road trip and ended up getting stranded in the middle of nowhere after losing its charge. 

 

He got out and walked and managed to hitch hike a ride to the nearest Ford dealer in the next town. Went in and bought a gas-powered Ford F-150 and traded his EV F-150. The dealership inquired where is the truck and the owner told him it’s out on Route whatever, go get a tow truck and it’s yours.

[Danno]

Remember last year when the EV F150 was rolling out and the CEO of Ford made a big deal out of how he was going to drive one from the factory (MI) to DC?  Big press conference and he struck out alone. Had all the pre-planned list of charging stations at intervals matching Ford's advertised ranges for the EF150. Press followed him along, planning to cover his first charging station stop. EF150 only made it about 1/2 way to the first planned charging stop . . . and it quit.  Dead battery.  Seems even for the CEO they couldn't jerry-rig one to go as far as they advertise. CEO left it and got an Uber back to the factory. (He wouldn't accept a ride offered by someone from the press.)    😖  🥴

 

[espo]

18 hours ago, BlackSheep214 said:

I heard a story from a co-worker the other day a relative or friend (can’t recall which) took the EV Ford F-150 on a road trip and ended up getting stranded in the middle of nowhere after losing its charge. 

 

He got out and walked and managed to hitch hike a ride to the nearest Ford dealer in the next town. Went in and bought a gas-powered Ford F-150 and traded his EV F-150. The dealership inquired where is the truck and the owner told him it’s out on Route whatever, go get a tow truck and it’s yours.

 

15 hours ago, Danno said:

Remember last year when the EV F150 was rolling out and the CEO of Ford made a big deal out of how he was going to drive one from the factory (MI) to DC?  Big press conference and he struck out alone. Had all the pre-planned list of charging stations at intervals matching Ford's advertised ranges for the EF150. Press followed him along, planning to cover his first charging station stop. EF150 only made it about 1/2 way to the first planned charging stop . . . and it quit.  Dead battery.  Seems even for the CEO they couldn't jerry-rig one to go as far as they advertise. CEO left it and got an Uber back to the factory. (He wouldn't accept a ride offered by someone from the press.)    😖  🥴

 

Both of these stories are very much like what Motor Trend has described as their problems. The magazine has a couple of EV's in their fleet for a yearlong experience of ownership. One of the things they seem to mention the most is traveling up and down the coast of California is that they often encounter non-working charging stations along with differences in connectors and the long time that it takes to recharge the EV. This is in a state that is trying very hard to be the first one to outlaw the sale of ICE vehicles in the near future. Motor Trend has expressed their issues driving between LA and San Jose. That is less than a day's drive even in the heavy traffic that they experienced. I think that the technology is far from being ready to be the only choice for fueling a vehicle, and they still haven't figured out how to create the energy without burning fossil fuels which was the main reason for an EV in the first place. Besides building large Solar Farms along with Wind Farms they still don't have the infrastructure to transport the energy to where it is needed. The unfortunate part is that the people that are supposed to make the decisions on how and what to do to make this happen don't seem to have any real idea of how to put it all together. As you may have guessed the two ICE cars in my garage have become a protected species. 

[stitchdup]

turns out tesla batteries aren't waterproofed very well and the warranty doesn't cover the batteries. somebody in edinburgh just got a bill for $21,000 to replace them on a 6 month old tesla because it got wet

[TonyK]

Companies that don't have email access anymore. You have to call and talk to someone and I don't like doing that. 8 out of 10 times I can't understand the person on the phone anyway.

There are a few companies that still do emails but they are dwindling. I just had to deal with a credit card company and it was very frustrating. Put it on speaker so my wife could help translate for me. The guy was polite but that doesn't help me understand him so it took much longer than it should have since I had to keep asking him to repeat things.

[89AKurt]

I wouldn't use Chase Bank to begin with..... my mom had an account that I just closed out due her death.  On Friday I went in, but because there was a computer glitch they couldn't cut a check.  They needed my Drivers License to scan in, then the banker forgot to give it back to me, and I am complicit in spacing it out too.  He called later to say my license was still there, I would have dropped everything and driven back if he knew the bank had a policy of shredding personal information after an apparently short time.  Today (Monday) I found this out when I dropped in to finalize the process, so I had to get a new license too.  I can't believe there is a policy that allows them to shred someone's Drivers License!!  🤬

This is from last month ..... mom had pre-arranged cremation about 3 decades ago, it used to cost around $800.  But because of our wonderful governments looking out for us, the cost doubled.  I was floored when they said the County requires a permit to cremate, I am so sick of dealing with permits with the building department process that I almost lost it.   Then when I was told the cardboard box cost $130, I asked if it was virgin paper and not recycled cardboard.  One of my daughters sent this to me for some consolation:

 

[Danno]

5 hours ago, espo said:

 

Both of these stories are very much like what Motor Trend has described as their problems. The magazine has a couple of EV's in their fleet for a yearlong experience of ownership. One of the things they seem to mention the most is traveling up and down the coast of California is that they often encounter non-working charging stations along with differences in connectors and the long time that it takes to recharge the EV. This is in a state that is trying very hard to be the first one to outlaw the sale of ICE vehicles in the near future. Motor Trend has expressed their issues driving between LA and San Jose. That is less than a day's drive even in the heavy traffic that they experienced. I think that the technology is far from being ready to be the only choice for fueling a vehicle, and they still haven't figured out how to create the energy without burning fossil fuels which was the main reason for an EV in the first place. Besides building large Solar Farms along with Wind Farms they still don't have the infrastructure to transport the energy to where it is needed. The unfortunate part is that the people that are supposed to make the decisions on how and what to do to make this happen don't seem to have any real idea of how to put it all together. As you may have guessed the two ICE cars in my garage have become a protected species. 

 

There seems to be a lot of 'who knew?' going on in the EV field.  One of my favorite - although sadly ironic - is LAFD decided to be avant garde and lead the way by buying and placing an electric pumper into service. Great idea. Until it set itself on fire and burned up. 

I mean, really - who couldn't see that coming?  Building a fire engine with a big tank of water on top of the huge batteries?  It developed a little leak that was a big enough leak to short out the batteries.  Gave a whole NEW meaning to Fire Truck. Or, "On-Fire Truck!"  

[BlackSheep214]

On 10/15/2023 at 3:43 PM, stitchdup said:

on this side of the pond many insurers are refusing to cover evs and those that do cover them are charging a lot more. even towing companies are having to get new trucks to lift burned evs into air tight sealed steel crates as they have a habit of bursting into flames agin hours later. there are fields full of nissan leaf evs just being left to rot away as nobody wants them. I've said it before and i'll say it again, hydrogen is where we should be looking. use windmills to make the hydrogen and you have a clean fuel with water as the emmissions (which if they become popular could possibly be beneficial to drier areas. the hydrogen can even be made on site if theres a power source for the production units. all electric cars and vehicles are going to do is put food prices up and regularly burst into flames (and i'm sure all those burning chemical fumes are really great for the enviroment and us)

There’s been incidents where insurance companies are writing them off as totaled on fender bender dents. No insurance company is going to pay out for repair damages on EVs.

As far as vehicles running on hydrogen? Nope….

[stitchdup]

15 hours ago, BlackSheep214 said:

There’s been incidents where insurance companies are writing them off as totaled on fender bender dents. No insurance company is going to pay out for repair damages on EVs.

As far as vehicles running on hydrogen? Nope….

we have ferries running on hydrogen here, and most of the local hauliers now have hydrogen production units in their yards for the fleet vans and trucks. none have gone boom yet. the biggest problem with hydrogen is everybodies first thought is hindenberg but thats not the same hydrogen. it's in its liquid form when its used here

[Tom Geiger]

Here's a good one!  I have an eBay store.  On Saturday a fellow seemed to spend his entire day buying items from me.  Most folks know to put items in their shopping cart, then check out when they are done.  My settings would combine postage.

There are people who don't understand the concept, plus eBay admits that the "Continue Shopping" button disappeared on the mobile app and they have a ticket in to  fix it.  So when unknowledgeable buyers get here, they think their only option is to "Pay Now".  In reality, if you click anywhere else, it will keep it in your shopping cart. 

This guy had bought from me before, some 5 items.  Some of them were spread out between other sales so I didn't see them all at once.  When I started to pack the second item, I recognized the address. At that point he had paid $5 for postage ($1 per item) but if he had done it correctly he would've paid only $1 total.  I wound up sending his 5 items out in 3 different envelopes, so I kept the overpayment.

This time he takes the cake!  He isn't a registered eBay user, he used the "Guest Account".  That's fine, but over the course of the day he bought 40 items and somehow created a different guest account for each of those 40 transactions!   So the user name is slightly different (eBay guest account are the first 3 digits of your name and a long unique number).  In doing this he cost himself $40 in postage, and he cost me $12 in eBay transaction fees (each unique transaction costs 30 cents).

I post this to my eBay  sellers message board and nobody had an answer besides "Call eBay".  So I called eBay expecting it to be a hassle.  I hit the button for their rep to call me back and my phone rang two minutes later.  The rep was very nice.  She was also perplexed that she had never seen anything like this.  Could she put me on hold?  Yes.  She comes back with two other reps on the line a few minutes later.  Nobody knew what to do!

They said if it was just one guest account they could combine the order for me and make it right.  But the 40 different guest accounts?  There was nothing they could do.  They said I'd have to mail each one of these orders out under separate envelope!  Or cancel them all... that would be 40 individual actions,  and have the guy put it all back in correctly.  We then agreed that we doubted he'd do it right!  They said to send him a message through the eBay system.  I knew he'd never go to those 40 accounts to look for a message!    We were all laughing, it was a truly odd situation.

That occupied most of my afternoon yesterday. I'm picturing this very old guy (note that stamp collectors as a group are about 10 years older than model car guys) not knowing how eBay works at all.  But he did buy 5 items from me prior, and had no qualm with how I handled it, since he then placed this sizable order.

So what I decided to do... I have packed up all 40 items into one small package.  I figure between the shipping cost and my eBay fees, that should be around $20.  I will write him a letter, that I will print and put in the package, explaining what he did, and what he needs to do to be on eBay with a legit account.  And I will refund him $20, probably write him an old school check (Note I can't refund that thru the eBay system).

Argh!   

 

 

[CabDriver]

On 10/12/2023 at 3:50 PM, webestang said:

My 99 Mustang had an air bubble in the system when I had no heat. But it was after I replaced the rad. Had to let it sit and run till it burped it out.

Sure hope you do not need to drop the dash, did that on my 85 and 88 Mustang........but at least no airbags to mess with......

88.....

85.....

Mine really does need a coolant flush, so I'm wondering if that might help...like you say, a little air trapped in the system maybe.  It's worth a shot, seeing as it needed one anyway...

[iamsuperdan]

Not really an irk, but...

 

We have a 2016 Kia Soul. This is a car that was my dad's, and mum officially passed it down to us for my daughter. She's 16 and learning to drive.

Anyway, while I'm refurbishing wifey's Volvo, she's been using the Soul.

While I'm in England, day two, I get a text.

"The Soul is making a weird noise from the back every time I brake."

Ugh.

 

So yesterday we did the brakes. Front and rear rotors, and new pads all around. Rears were metal on metal.

Spending money like an adult sucks.

🤪

[BlackSheep214]

In response to Tom G ...

I thought you have to have an eBay account to buy items. I never heard ofbuying as a guest. Am I missing something or is this a recent new eBay option.

[ewetwo]

I'm selling off some of my kits. I have too many and at 68, almost 69 years of age. I'll never build them all. But this is what irked me today.

I sold a kit to a guy. The buyer said the A pillars in the kit I sent were both bent inward. I said I'd refund them but I'd like to see a photo of the body and the bent pillars through the sealed bag. And then I sent him the photo of the kit. The photo I sent to him before he bought the kit showing they were fine. He said he'll work with it and I kept saying to send it back and I'd refund it. But I'd like to see a photo. No photo. He said it was all right and that he would work with it. That he just wanted to let me know. So scammer obviously trying to get their money back. Have to watch PayPal to see if they submit a claim.

And that is another scam to watch for. The PayPal scam. A person will buy an item. Then the next day submit a claim to PayPal saying they never received the item they paid for. Then PayPal takes the money out of the sellers account and refunds it back to the buyer. A day or 2 later they get the item for free. And it's not just happening with us model people. It's happening to all businesses. My sister told me she did it and I told her if I ever find out she did it again. I'd turn her in to police. Always a scammer somewhere. Even really close to home.

[bobthehobbyguy]

56 minutes ago, ewetwo said:

I'm selling off some of my kits. I have too many and at 68, almost 69 years of age. I'll never build them all. But this is what irked me today.

I sold a kit to a guy. The buyer said the A pillars in the kit I sent were both bent inward. I said I'd refund them but I'd like to see a photo of the body and the bent pillars through the sealed bag. And then I sent him the photo of the kit. The photo I sent to him before he bought the kit showing they were fine. He said he'll work with it and I kept saying to send it back and I'd refund it. But I'd like to see a photo. No photo. He said it was all right and that he would work with it. That he just wanted to let me know. So scammer obviously trying to get their money back. Have to watch PayPal to see if they submit a claim.

And that is another scam to watch for. The PayPal scam. A person will buy an item. Then the next day submit a claim to PayPal saying they never received the item they paid for. Then PayPal takes the money out of the sellers account and refunds it back to the buyer. A day or 2 later they get the item for free. And it's not just happening with us model people. It's happening to all businesses. My sister told me she did it and I told her if I ever find out she did it again. I'd turn her in to police. Always a scammer somewhere. Even really close to home.

It's one of the reasons I won't sell on ebay. There are no protections for the seller. It's bad enough to get ripped off for a regular kit but if it's a rare kit you could lose a lot of money. 

[A modeler named mike]

50 minutes ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

It's one of the reasons I won't sell on ebay. There are no protections for the seller. It's bad enough to get ripped off for a regular kit but if it's a rare kit you could lose a lot of money. 

Wow.. I'm an avid buyer on eBay and i've been thinking of opening an account to sell off some of my unwanted duplicate kits but after hearing some of the negative sides of selling on eBay I think I'll dump that idea and stick to just seeking out deals there. So thanks for the heads up and sorry to those who got duped..😞 

[A modeler named mike]

2 hours ago, ewetwo said:

I'm selling off some of my kits. I have too many and at 68, almost 69 years of age. I'll never build them all. 

Collecting them is half the fun! Even if you didn't really need that one kit but you liked the box art. Lol But I hear ya. I'm at 63 and I know there's no way I'll build all of my stash either. I just wish my grandson had the patience to build. I'd love to pass them onto him someday instead of letting them go. 🤔°° that could be another topic. What will happen to our collections of plastic pleasures when we pass?  Good luck on thinning out your stash..✌🤓

[bobthehobbyguy]

3 hours ago, ewetwo said:

Have to watch PayPal to see if they submit a claim.

And that is another scam to watch for. The PayPal scam. A person will buy an item. Then the next day submit a claim to PayPal saying they never received the item they paid for. Then PayPal takes the money out of the sellers account and refunds it back to the buyer. A day or 2 later they get the item for free. And it's not just happening with us model people. It's happening to all businesses. My sister told me she did it and I told her if I ever find out she did it again. I'd turn her in to police. Always a scammer somewhere. Even really close to home

Thing is it shouldn't be that easy to scam the seller. Granted there are unscrupulous sellers. However a seller should have the ability to show if the item was received.  

[espo]

An idea for all the "kids" in their 60's wanting to off their kits think about getting a table or two at a local model show/swap meet and that way you sell directly to the end user and there wouldn't be any debut about the condition of the kit they are buying. Been slowly doing this ever since my 60's and it seems to work well. Hanging around all day at the show anyway with a few models on display and I'm able to pick up a few new treasures as well. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 hours ago, ewetwo said:

And that is another scam to watch for. The PayPal scam. A person will buy an item. Then the next day submit a claim to PayPal saying they never received the item they paid for. Then PayPal takes the money out of the sellers account and refunds it back to the buyer. A day or 2 later they get the item for free.

In my experience, PayPal / eBay will check the tracking numbers, compare to the expected delivery date, and won't issue a "never received item" refund until after a reasonable amount of time has passed AFTER the estimated delivery date.

I get a LOT of stuff mis-routed by the PO, it runs late often, or sellers just delay shipping even after a tracking number has been issued...so I have a fair amount of actual experience with this.

EBay / PayPal aren't just handing out refunds to anyone who turns in a claim after ONE day, and back-charging the seller.

[TarheelRick]

5 hours ago, ewetwo said:

I have too many and at 68, almost 69 years of age. I'll never build them all.

I am in the same predicament, except I am 74 years old.

1 hour ago, espo said:

think about getting a table or two at a local model show/swap meet

I have done this for the past 12-15 years with not so great results. At the last three shows I have attended I may have sold a dozen kits.  With table fees and the cost of gas to and from (none of the shows were close to my home) the costs really add up.  Another thing I have noticed is a lot of the buyers are expecting garage sale prices.  I want to downsize my collection, but I am not going to give it away.  I feel my models are realistically priced, I do not try to gouge anyone and I will negotiate to a certain extent, but don't expect me to cut my prices in half.