Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

Howardh · 1 Apr 2025

As noted, Skype is ending and I've had to move to Teams. Installed the app and moved everything across, and it's frankly awful. Firstly, getting continually spammed with crypto stuff, secondly no idea how to call one of my contacts.

So just uninstalled it, there was nothing wrong with Skype, heck of a mistake from Microsoft?

Looking for another phone app, but my Tesco PAYG allows £10 mth cancel any time a ton of data and free calls.

Wonder how many are frustrated with Microsoft now?? Don't think it will put them out of business though...

RailUK Forums

sor · 1 Apr 2025

Frankly they probably want you gone. The main point of Teams is the business and corporate users who have little other choice, especially when the accountants point out that Teams comes at no extra cost on top of the Office licences they're already buying. Consumers (who were more likely to use the old Skype) are a nuisance.

The benefit to them is that they get rid of some legacy infrastructure and a load of execs can claim the savings when its performance ratings time. Probably the same sort of amazing brilliance that has led to everything being called "copilot"

Backroom_boy · 1 Apr 2025

sor said:
Frankly they probably want you gone. The main point of Teams is the business and corporate users who have little other choice, especially when the accountants point out that Teams comes at no extra cost on top of the Office licences they're already buying. Consumers (who were more likely to use the old Skype) are a nuisance.

The benefit to them is that they get rid of some legacy infrastructure and a load of execs can claim the savings when its performance ratings time. Probably the same sort of amazing brilliance that has led to everything being called "copilot"

No extra cost 'for now'. But I suspect some standard features will become premium features in the future

Mainline421 · 1 Apr 2025

jon0844 said:
Redoing the website should be easy then.

Find "WH Smith"
Replace "TG Jones"

The website isn't part of the sale, that'll presumably stay with WHSmth

Backroom_boy · 1 Apr 2025

I wonder if any stores have transferred into the travel division before the sale?

simonw · 1 Apr 2025

Howardh said:
As noted, Skype is ending and I've had to move to Teams. Installed the app and moved everything across, and it's frankly awful. Firstly, getting continually spammed with crypto stuff, secondly no idea how to call one of my contacts.

So just uninstalled it, there was nothing wrong with Skype, heck of a mistake from Microsoft?

Looking for another phone app, but my Tesco PAYG allows £10 mth cancel any time a ton of data and free calls.

Wonder how many are frustrated with Microsoft now?? Don't think it will put them out of business though...

Why not use whatsapp?

Forty29 · 1 Apr 2025

AlterEgo said:
I’m still astonished WH Smith has survived for as long as it has.

Not anymore except WHSMITH Travel. The second post of this thread from 2018!

Howardh · 1 Apr 2025

simonw said:
Why not use whatsapp?

Important numbers like my GP aren't on it.

Sun Chariot · 1 Apr 2025

Energy provider Rebel Energy, with about 90,000 customers, has today ceased trading. Its customers will be moved over to a Supplier of Last Resort, decided by OfGem.

Rebel Energy goes bust leaving 90,000 customers without supplier

UK energy firm ceases trading, blaming ‘perfect storm’ of soaring wholesale prices and squeezed customers

www.theguardian.com

simonw · 2 Apr 2025

Sun Chariot said:
Energy provider Rebel Energy, with about 90,000 customers, has today ceased trading. Its customers will be moved over to a Supplier of Last Resort, decided by OfGem.

Rebel Energy goes bust leaving 90,000 customers without supplier

UK energy firm ceases trading, blaming ‘perfect storm’ of soaring wholesale prices and squeezed customers

www.theguardian.com

In a social media post Bates said: “Rebel Energy has been facing a perfect storm of rising wholesale costs during January and February together with the pressure of the cost of living crisis on our customers

Sounds like he didn't hedge. Energy trading 101.

jon0844 · 2 Apr 2025

simonw said:
In a social media post Bates said: “Rebel Energy has been facing a perfect storm of rising wholesale costs during January and February together with the pressure of the cost of living crisis on our customers

Sounds like he didn't hedge. Energy trading 101.

Nice salary, high dividends.... The bosses did fine. Now it's up to Ofgem to sort out the mess and any losses will be included in our standing charges.

Privatise the profits, socialise the losses.

Sun Chariot · 2 Apr 2025

simonw said:
In a social media post Bates said: “Rebel Energy has been facing a perfect storm of rising wholesale costs during January and February together with the pressure of the cost of living crisis on our customers

Sounds like he didn't hedge. Energy trading 101.

My wife worked the energy utility sector, for 2 UK providers. Wholesale price hedging had a rolling 1 year lead time.
When an energy company fails, the bidding SOLAs (Supplier Of Last Resort) have not hedged their cost of energy for the customers of the failed provider. That's why the customers invariably get moved onto a dearer tariff at the supplier who takes on the responsibility for providing their energy services

simonw · 2 Apr 2025

Sun Chariot said:
My wife worked the energy utility sector, for 2 UK providers. Wholesale price hedging had a rolling 1 year lead time.
When an energy company fails, the bidding SOLAs (Supplier Of Last Resort) have not hedged their cost of energy for the customers of the failed provider. That's why the customers invariably get moved onto a dearer tariff at the supplier who takes on the responsibility for providing their energy services

You can buy has futures well into 2026, if not beyond. Sounds like they took a punt and didn't hedge and now someone other than them pays.

125Spotter · 2 Apr 2025

sor said:
Teams comes at no extra cost on top of the Office licences they're already buying

There are "no Teams" SKUs available that save a small sum for those not wanting this add-on – certainly they're there for partners, and I believe for retail customers too if you know where to click.

dangie · 2 Apr 2025

Not a company as such, but part of a company.

A pub near to me, once an excellent pub for a pint or two, has turned into an eatery. Food is nothing special, just the standard pub fast food microwave stuff. Worse still the beers on offer are virtually nil. If you like any of six lagers on offer, ok, but a pint of ‘proper’ beer then forget it.

As much as I hate to see pubs closed, this one won’t be missed.

Ashley Hill · 2 Apr 2025

dangie said:
Not a company as such, but part of a company.

A pub near to me, once an excellent pub for a pint or two, has turned into an eatery. Food is nothing special, just the standard pub fast food microwave stuff. Worse still the beers on offer are virtually nil. If you like any of six lagers on offer, ok, but a pint of ‘proper’ beer then forget it.

As much as I hate to see pubs closed, this one won’t be missed.

Let’s hope it’s taken over rather than closed.

C J Snarzell · 7 Apr 2025

BingMan said:
I am surprised that the WHS at Man Pic survives as it is next to a Sainsburys Local where prices are much lower.
WHS were asking £3.99 for a bag of Jelly Babies on Wednesday which were only £1.35 in the Sainsburys

The WHSmiths in Manchester Piccadilly is never over flowing with customers either. They get lots of people through out the day, but there is only one staffed till and the member of staff is often away from the till doing other things. I have noticed that their snacks and refreshments are extortionate in price compared with Boots, Sainsbury’s, Greggs and the Co-op who are all a stones throw away. They do seem to sell quite a bit of novelty stuff in there such as mugs, stationery and fridge magnets which are all themed around Manchester which seems like a lame way of promoting souvenirs to people visiting the City.

CJ

317 forever · 12 Apr 2025

They might not be much better as TG Jones than WH Smith. If so, it will be a case of Alas Smith & Jones :lol:

londonteacher · 12 Apr 2025

Howardh said:
Important numbers like my GP aren't on it.

To be fair, you are almost certainly a minority for using Skype to make phone calls such as to GPs.

jon0844 · 13 Apr 2025

317 forever said:
They might not be much better as TG Jones than WH Smith. If so, it will be a case of Alas Smith & Jones

This is why the forum needs a like function for posts!

Howardh · 13 Apr 2025

londonteacher said:
To be fair, you are almost certainly a minority for using Skype to make phone calls such as to GPs.

I don't have a landline contract to keep my broadband cost down, so if I used my landline the cost per minute would be excessive. I suspect many others are in that situation and simply use Skype or their own mobile to get round that?

Annoyingly the doc puts you on hold "you are no. 6 in the queue" which gobbles up minutes and cost.

Of course that applies elsewhere too!

londonteacher · 13 Apr 2025

Howardh said:
I don't have a landline contract to keep my broadband cost down, so if I used my landline the cost per minute would be excessive. I suspect many others are in that situation and simply use Skype or their own mobile to get round that?

Annoyingly the doc puts you on hold "you are no. 6 in the queue" which gobbles up minutes and cost.

Of course that applies elsewhere too!

I still think that people using Skype for such calls is probably a minority, whereas by mobile is definitely more likely.

Howardh · 13 Apr 2025

londonteacher said:
I still think that people using Skype for such calls is probably a minority, whereas by mobile is definitely more likely.

Ah, I see what you mean! I found Skype handy as it could be used via desktop, I hate making calls in my mobile, although I do need to find and use a Bluetooth headset for it.

I expect, sadly, earphones with jacks to disappear in time, it's becoming hard to find a phone with 3.5mm jacks.

So not a business going, but an item of equipment!

Silent · 17 Apr 2025

Howardh said:
Ah, I see what you mean! I found Skype handy as it could be used via desktop, I hate making calls in my mobile, although I do need to find and use a Bluetooth headset for it.

I expect, sadly, earphones with jacks to disappear in time, it's becoming hard to find a phone with 3.5mm jacks.

So not a business going, but an item of equipment!

I doubt earphones with jacks would disappear in the near future, maybe become more rare. Wired headphones are still best for something like music producing as wired has zero latency or the sounds produced don’t suffer from some delay like they do with Bluetooth headphones.

Also there are a community of people into feature phones and MP3’s as they find the modern lifestyle of constantly being online with a smartphone overstimulating also with some schools banning smartphones or seeing social media as bad for kids I wonder if MP3’s and feature phones are or would be seen as suitable devices for kids.

duffield · 17 Apr 2025

Silent said:
I doubt earphones with jacks would disappear in the near future, maybe become more rare. Wired headphones are still best for something like music producing as wired has zero latency or the sounds produced don’t suffer from some delay like they do with Bluetooth headphones.

Also there are a community of people into feature phones and MP3’s as they find the modern lifestyle of constantly being online with a smartphone overstimulating also with some schools banning smartphones or seeing social media as bad for kids I wonder if MP3’s and feature phones are or would be seen as suitable devices for kids.

Latency aside, wireless earbuds always put me off anyhow since they're yet another thing to charge and easy to drop and lose.

But I recently switched from cheap 3.5mm jack headphones to equally cheap USB-C wired headphones, and I've found them to be a great improvement; in practice not being able to charge the phone and use the headphones at the same time hasn't proved to be an issue since my battery lasts all day. I chose my last phone partly because it had a 3.5mm jack but I won't care if the next one doesn't.

jon0844 · 18 Apr 2025

You can get adapters to have USB-C audio and charge at the same time. Indeed, you can get adapters to connect other things and charge (essentially like a USB dock but much simpler). That port can often do video out, Ethernet, act as a mic, connect to external storage etc.

And you can get 3.5mm to USB-C adapters for existing headphones, which for a time often got bundles with some phones that lost the headphone socket.

The Ham · 19 Apr 2025

jon0844 said:
You can get adapters to have USB-C audio and charge at the same time. Indeed, you can get adapters to connect other things and charge (essentially like a USB dock but much simpler). That port can often do video out, Ethernet, act as a mic, connect to external storage etc.

And you can get 3.5mm to USB-C adapters for existing headphones, which for a time often got bundles with some phones that lost the headphone socket.

Some of the more powerful smartphones are theoretically good enough to use as a replacement for a laptop by connecting to a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor.

jon0844 · 19 Apr 2025

The Ham said:
Some of the more powerful smartphones are theoretically good enough to use as a replacement for a laptop by connecting to a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor.

Samsung, Honor and many others do have a desktop mode with windowed apps.

Steddenm · 19 Apr 2025

jon0844 said:
Samsung, Honor and many others do have a desktop mode with windowed apps.

I use Samsung Dex quite a bit with my phone as well as Samsung Flow on a GalaxyBook as you can have your phone screen on your Windows desktop.

eyebrook1961 · 20 Apr 2025

Paid a visit to Stockton on saturday (mainly because our son is at Teeside university and he'd noticed a comic shop in Stockton on his travels) - I found it very pleasant walking round in the sunshine BUT, one thing I noticed was that W H Smith were having an "everything must go, closing down sale" that also gave the date they would actually cease trading. On the board is also said, in very large letters, that the Post Office within that WHS would not be relocating and would cease trading the same day as WHS

I thought that high street WHS with a Post Office were being retained and rebranded by the new owners??

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