Earlier this week, my mum decided to sort out the road tax for my stepfather's car.
She typed in the correct URL into the search box in her iPad's Chrome browser (the URL in the letter from the DVLA - it was verbatim).
Inadvertently, she clicked on the first result. She hadn't noticed that, in spite of having entered the correct (fully qualified) URL, Google will prioritise advertised links from even scummier firms (my opinion- not the opinion of this site- and under UK law, covered by "fair comment").
She entered the car reg number, the site correctly identified the vehicle and explicitly mentioned taxing the said vehicle. It gave her the option of pay monthly or annually. She selected the annual payment.
At the end of the web page it says (in my opinion) that you are only paying for the ability to enter your number plate and see which vehicle it is. And they will, seemingly, potentially charge you an annual fee to access the data that would otherwise be free at the aforementioned government website.
My elderly mother is probably only £12 down, the bank has issued her a new card so that they, the wnkers, cannot steal the onward £8 per month. She has been robbed of a fairly trivial sum, but has now lost her confidence to pay bills online. Why the feck do we, as a nation, force old people to be in in this situation? What happened to letting people phoning and paying?
I overheard my mum telling, an equally old friend, that she is no longer confident of making significant purchases online unless I, or my sister, are there at the time.
Sorry- I am angry. The government should not (in my opinion) force older people into this situation. And Google should not profit from people being complicit with people being ripped off.
The horrible irony is that when she entered the correct URL, our government is paying Google to be the first or second search result. When she searched- the "thieves" were first on the Google page. When I used the site later, they were second BUT the official site, the one that people should go to was third (after the promoted sites).
Why (as Brits) are we putting up with this? I am in my late 50s. I am very, very tech savvy, less so when it come to social media. I hate seeing people whom I love being confused. Anyone reading this- it might not be your mum, but it might be her tomorrow.
She typed in the correct URL into the search box in her iPad's Chrome browser (the URL in the letter from the DVLA - it was verbatim).
Inadvertently, she clicked on the first result. She hadn't noticed that, in spite of having entered the correct (fully qualified) URL, Google will prioritise advertised links from even scummier firms (my opinion- not the opinion of this site- and under UK law, covered by "fair comment").
She entered the car reg number, the site correctly identified the vehicle and explicitly mentioned taxing the said vehicle. It gave her the option of pay monthly or annually. She selected the annual payment.
At the end of the web page it says (in my opinion) that you are only paying for the ability to enter your number plate and see which vehicle it is. And they will, seemingly, potentially charge you an annual fee to access the data that would otherwise be free at the aforementioned government website.
My elderly mother is probably only £12 down, the bank has issued her a new card so that they, the wnkers, cannot steal the onward £8 per month. She has been robbed of a fairly trivial sum, but has now lost her confidence to pay bills online. Why the feck do we, as a nation, force old people to be in in this situation? What happened to letting people phoning and paying?
I overheard my mum telling, an equally old friend, that she is no longer confident of making significant purchases online unless I, or my sister, are there at the time.
Sorry- I am angry. The government should not (in my opinion) force older people into this situation. And Google should not profit from people being complicit with people being ripped off.
The horrible irony is that when she entered the correct URL, our government is paying Google to be the first or second search result. When she searched- the "thieves" were first on the Google page. When I used the site later, they were second BUT the official site, the one that people should go to was third (after the promoted sites).
Why (as Brits) are we putting up with this? I am in my late 50s. I am very, very tech savvy, less so when it come to social media. I hate seeing people whom I love being confused. Anyone reading this- it might not be your mum, but it might be her tomorrow.
