Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[admin]

Originally Posted by Bibio

the main care worker for my wife is an 18 year old girl who is fantastic but the company is taking the pizz. she works from 7am till 11pm most days and has not had a day off since she started. why does she work so many hours? she genuinely cares about her clients. you might say that working all those hours is against the law.. well no, as she only gets paid for the time she is allocated to the clients and travel time is not paid.

Dreadful isn't it. My niece did the same job for a while with the same treatment. This country is slipping back into Victorian times. Kids up chimneys next.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Seeker]

Forums! If I ask a question in a forum, I would like that question to be answered first. If you want to give me advice about why I'm barking up the wrong tree or just barking mad, that's ok, after you've answered the question.

I posted a question on the Yaris forum. I've inherited my Dad's Yaris and the a/c doesn't work. I think it's related to the compressor clutch because turning on the a/c only lights the a/c light (duh!) - there is no clunk and change of idle speed. Every car I've owned (admittedly in the US - but it's the same, isn't it?), there's a noticeable noise and change of idle speed when the a/c kicks in, but not on this Yaris.
So I ask the question and, so far, I have one answer, a comprehensive list of likely faults with the Yaris a/c system mostly featuring loss of freon, what the comments don't include is an answer to the posed question.

[ophic]

Originally Posted by Seeker

Forums! If I ask a question in a forum, I would like that question to be answered first. If you want to give me advice about why I'm barking up the wrong tree or just barking mad, that's ok, after you've answered the question.

I posted a question on the Yaris forum. I've inherited my Dad's Yaris and the a/c doesn't work. I think it's related to the compressor clutch because turning on the a/c only lights the a/c light (duh!) - there is no clunk and change of idle speed. Every car I've owned (admittedly in the US - but it's the same, isn't it?), there's a noticeable noise and change of idle speed when the a/c kicks in, but not on this Yaris.
So I ask the question and, so far, I have one answer, a comprehensive list of likely faults with the Yaris a/c system mostly featuring loss of freon, what the comments don't include is an answer to the posed question.

It's a common complaint about forums, and I agree with you.
I'd imagine the change in idle speed would be fairly obvious on a small car such as the Yaris.
A/C fuse? (start simple)

[SV650rules]

Originally Posted by Seeker

Forums! If I ask a question in a forum, I would like that question to be answered first. If you want to give me advice about why I'm barking up the wrong tree or just barking mad, that's ok, after you've answered the question.

I posted a question on the Yaris forum. I've inherited my Dad's Yaris and the a/c doesn't work. I think it's related to the compressor clutch because turning on the a/c only lights the a/c light (duh!) - there is no clunk and change of idle speed. Every car I've owned (admittedly in the US - but it's the same, isn't it?), there's a noticeable noise and change of idle speed when the a/c kicks in, but not on this Yaris.
So I ask the question and, so far, I have one answer, a comprehensive list of likely faults with the Yaris a/c system mostly featuring loss of freon, what the comments don't include is an answer to the posed question.

On modern cars the revs will drop for a second or so when clutch pulls in and then pick back up, 99% of the problems with A/C are loss of gas the other 1% the clutch magnetising coil has failed (just happened on my Civic) - on most cars you can check the clutch with ohmeter from the fusebox A/C relay - one of the main relay pins will be 12V from fuse and the other will go down through the coil to earth (normally about 4 ohms). My money would be on lack of gas.... Halfords / Quikfit / ATS etc (most of the tyre and exhaust places) will vacuum empty the system and refill with proper weight of gas for about £60.

On every make of car Clutch will be inhibited from energising if gas pressure is too low or too high to prevent damage to compressor, clutch is also inhibited when starting the engine and when you floor the accelerator and need the power to overtake etc. The light on the A/C button is just to show you have pressed it (they are normally toggle buttons, press once for on press again for off).

[Craigg]

Originally Posted by Seeker

I've been reading up and it seems that Toyotas have a separate ECU for the a/c which will not allow the compressor to work if it's low on freon or there's a pressure fault.

As above, that's not unique to Toyota, any car AC will not run the comp if the pressure is low.

take it to Kwikfit or the like for a vacuum check and re-gas.

[timwilky]

Probably going to be a bit controversial.


As a kid growing up in the 60s there was a local charity run hospital for "mentally ill" men. As kids we would see the odd resident who was allowed out and we were encouraged up to their cinema on a sunday. I guess it was a way of engaging the local kids not to take the P when we saw one out. There were probably about 150 residents who worked in the factory assembling cardboard boxes or the massive farm they had.


Step forward 50 years and we have care in the community, the charity is still there, most of the halls are mothballed and one used for those who cannot cope. The charity rents a number of local large houses. One of which is directly across from me. If I had to have a complaint, it would be some (not all) carers park like idiots. Generally the chaps are pleasant and not a problem



Recently there is a new chap. He is on the large size and if he gets it into his head to do something then his carers can have a battle on their hands. He knows we have a dog and several times he has tried to come through my gate to see the dog. But the dog obviously doesn't understand his problems and starts to get a bit angry! Worse though is my wife who goes into panic mode when he tries to get into the house.


When he has a melt down, he is left in the garden area to sort himself out. So my gripe is yesterday.


We heard an altercation about 8:30. 30 minutes of banging on doors/windows and loud screaming. About 9.00am the first of the police turn up and by 9:20 there were 4 police vehicles and an ambulance. By 12 we are down to 2 police vehicles who left about 2.00 and the ambulance 2:30.


I suppose my gripe is the duration these emergency services were tied up whilst one chap has a melt down. Especially the ambulance who are a very limited resource locally. Yes the chap needed help. But police/ambulance services are not the appropriate responders for someone having a crisis! But who the hell is?

[kaivalagi]

If he's that much of a risk to call on 4 police cars then he belongs somewhere other than that house with it's limited care capacity...back to a mental hospital I'd say...

[ophic]

Originally Posted by timwilky

But police/ambulance services are not the appropriate responders for someone having a crisis! But who the hell is?

Tony Green off of Bullseye. "Take your time, we want you to win..."

Originally Posted by kaivalagi

If he's that much of a risk to call on 4 police cars then he belongs somewhere other than that house with it's limited care capacity...back to a mental hospital I'd say...

Or simply that the care home needs enough staff to cope.

I find that anything run commercially tends to only cover about 90% of the risk - ie the cheap bit. Anything that falls outside of that is considered unusual or "something they could not be expected to predict". I bet any of the carers that deal with this chap could tell you in 2 mins how often it's likely to occur. But they don't sit on the board...

[kaivalagi]

Originally Posted by ophic

Tony Green off of Bullseye. "Take your time, we want you to win..."

Or simply that the care home needs enough staff to cope.

Yeah, we caught my attention was that the charity rents large homes, maybe I assumed wrong, but that sounds a lot like minimal supervision stuff where the level of staffing wouldn't be expected to be great...and this situation sounds like it doesn't fit with that...I could be making silly assumptions though

[ophic]

Originally Posted by kaivalagi

Yeah, we caught my attention was that the charity rents large homes, maybe I assumed wrong, but that sounds a lot like minimal supervision stuff where the level of staffing wouldn't be expected to be great...and this situation sounds like it doesn't fit with that...I could be making silly assumptions though

No, the right assumption. This gent probably shouldn't be at one of these homes or the homes should be upgraded to cope.

Lots of "should"s there. You never know if the care company falls short of expectations or if the council gives them unsuitable cases. But of course they succeed where every company has to succeed - making a profit. As long as that continues to happen, it won't get fixed. Of course, this profit comes out of taxpayers money.

I alluded to it earlier, but I find modern society has the wrong attitude to risk. We're bikers here. We tend to stay well on the safe side of the line or we die, whether it be maintenance or riding.

Or I'm just getting old.