Another Job Centre Plus, sanctioning rant!

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cheesyboy said:
Well indeed.

(I happen to have sympathy for your GTX 970 comment too - it was a little jarring to see Mr Vidar popping up on MM swinging offers for 980s and the like a couple of months after coming cap-in-hand to GD for £20 or so to sign up for a fathers-for-justice type thing last time.)
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Is that true? I sent him £50 to help him out last time on here. If he's using this forums good will as a means to upgrade his PC I'll go ape ****
 
cheesyboy said:
Well indeed.

(I happen to have sympathy for your GTX 970 comment too - it was a little jarring to see Mr Vidar popping up on MM swinging offers for 980s and the like a couple of months after coming cap-in-hand to GD for £20 or so to sign up for a fathers-for-justice type thing last time.)
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.. and I'm the vile one apparently. :rolleyes:

EDIT: perhaps a little OTT as it turned out it might not have been as straight cut as originally thought. (At least hope not)
 
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Hitman_Leon said:
If you rearrange an appointment it should be as carved in stone, it would make sense that a job interview should take precedence especially in the view of an organisation that is supposed to help/encourage unemployed to find a job.

I suppose in view of some of the things I have read about this organisation the opposite could also be true. if he had gone to the center for his scheduled meeting and missed the job interview I wager they may have then sanctioned him for missing a job opportunity had they found out about the missed job interview.
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I do agree but given that he knows how rubbish they are and how "sanction happy" they can be why didn't he:

1. Arrange the interview for a non-conflicting time.
2. Get it in writing.

Just seems like common sense to me!
 
James J said:
Is that true? I sent him £50 to help him out last time on here. If he's using this forums good will as a means to upgrade his PC I'll go ape ****
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To be fair, I don't think it was quite like that (I'd hope not) - I suspect circumstances changed a little in the intervening months. It's just, y'know, not what I'd be doing with my cash in such a precarious situation.

We all make our choices, though.
 
cheesyboy said:
To be fair, I don't think it was quite like that (I'd hope not) - I suspect circumstances changed a little in the intervening months. It's just, y'know, not what I'd be doing with my cash in such a precarious situation.

We all make our choices, though.
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Indeed. If I was in his position now I wouldn't have the ability to talk to you guys. The PC would be gone, internet, smartphone, etc.

Especially if I had dependants.
 
balky12 said:
Indeed. If I was in his position now I wouldn't have the ability to talk to you guys. The PC would be gone, internet, smartphone, etc.

Especially if I had dependants.
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That's just taken away a large chunk of your ability to find work.
 
lafemmefatale said:
To all those who expressed a wish to help the OP, if I were to create a simple crowdfunding account would people be OK using it?
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don't they take a percent? I'd prefer just to bank transfer him the money I offered.

it's OCUK people exchange bank details all the time in members market.

Last time we had a whip round for a guy in need one of the mods just took all payments to his paypal though and forwarded the donations
 
HEADRAT said:
I do agree but given that he knows how rubbish they are and how "sanction happy" they can be why didn't he:

1. Arrange the interview for a non-conflicting time.
2. Get it in writing.

Just seems like common sense to me!
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I concur, as I said in my first post in thread, dealing with such an organisation that has well publicised levels of incompetence should lead anyone who has to deal with them to document everything and request documentary evidence for everything.

This presently is not much help to the OP in his current situation but can help avoid any future misunderstandings.

The best move the op could currently make is to present proof of the interview.
 
tom_e said:
That's just taken away a large chunk of your ability to find work.
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Library works fine.

Walking around shopping centres (or anywhere) with a CV works fine.

Asking friends / family if they know of anything works fine.

Go into town into the job agencies. Probably give off a better impression than an email/ telephone call would.
 
TBH if I had a young family to support and zero money I would be selling the 970 on the MM, its worth nearly 200 quid.
You still have options, more than a lot of people who find themselves in the same situation. Just sayin'
 
arknor said:
don't they take a percent? I'd prefer just to bank transfer him the money I offered.

it's OCUK people exchange bank details all the time in members market.

Last time we had a whip round for a guy in need one of the mods just took all payments to his paypal though and forwarded the donations
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The one I've used before doesn't take a penny, but I understand people would want to do it the way it's been done before. Either way, my offer of help still stands in any capacity.
 
knowing the OP well he hasn't scammed anyone at any point, me included.

Without divulging details anyones lives have the possibility to have major ups and downs, he has been in work previously hence buying things for himself.

Vidar message me on the old FB, assuming your bank details are the same
 
Boycey0211 said:
knowing the OP well he hasn't scammed anyone at any point, me included.

Without divulging details anyones lives have the possibility to have major ups and downs, he has been in work previously hence buying things for himself.

Vidar message me on the old FB, assuming your bank details are the same
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While I have a lot of sympathy in a general sense - been around here a long time and seen a lot of his posts and he certainly seems like he could do more to help himself - I'll stop short of going into my detail than that as partly I'm only seeing one side of the story but I'm starting to lose a lot of the sympathy I had.
 
James J said:
Is that true? I sent him £50 to help him out last time on here. If he's using this forums good will as a means to upgrade his PC I'll go ape ****
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No my friend I did not use the money you so generously sent me as a means to upgrade my PC. I used it for essentials like food, gas and electric. A while after that, I believe a couple of months, I was able to find a job that was authorised by ESA under 16hrs that gave me a much needed boost, not just to my income but to my self esteem etc. Then in June I was made redundant and bumped off of ESA and onto job seekers after passing a medical and being declared fit for work with no restrictions, something I'm appealing. That and during working at Christmas I received a not incondsiderable amount of cash in tips which I used to buy my kids a set of bunk beds, a second hand cooker and then treated myself to a new graphics card, I was able to get a 970; which I admit was a luxury but something at the time I could afford.

Anyway, The first appointment I missed I wasn't told about, they claim they'd given me a letter at my previous appointment but they hadn't so I was sanctioned for 3 weeks as apparantly not being told about an appointment when they're adament they did isn't a good enough reason for not attending.

And on this occassion I was aware I had an appointment on Tuesday, went in on Monday and informed them that I had a job interview and provided evidence of that. I was told that I didn't have an appointment with them on Tuesday but I did have one on Wednesday and not to worry. I went in on Wednesday and wasn't told I'd missed an appointment and was given the number to chase up the hard ship payment I was owed.

I spoke to the contact centre, and was told they would release a same day payment and that it should be in before midnight. By 3am this morning nothing was in. At 8am I phoned the contact centre again and was only then told that I had infact missed an appointment on Tuesday and so my claim has been suspended.


Just back from the job centre and have an appointment for Monday as the compliance officer is off until then. I've also tried the council for a discretionary payment but apparantly because it's showing I'm due a hardship payment they can't help me.

Thank you for the offer of help guys, I wish I didn't need to take any of you up on it though! :/
 
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