"Martin" wrote in message
...

"the_constructor" wrote in message
...

"Martin" wrote in message
...

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 May 2007 21:45:20 GMT, "Martin"
wrote:

|!
|!"the_constructor" wrote in message
...
|!I paid my council tax today online and on the very last screen you
are able
|!to save the file which is an online VAT receipt, showing all your
payment
|!details in.
|!
|! Great I thinks, I'll be able to print my receipt out later.
|!
|! Logged off after saving only to realise that the file has an
extension of
|! .cfm
|!
|! Trawling through the net I find that it is a ColdFusion file and
the prog
|! is very expensive.
|!
|! Anyone know of a prog that will let you view and print .cfm files
that is
|! relatively cheap or free.

|!
|!What on earth is the point of getting a receipt? On-line payment
means you
|!have proof enough from your own bank statement. And since when is
there VAT
|!on council tax?

And your bank does not make mistakes on your bank statement?
Mine does.

Never, in more years than I care to admit - though I accept my
experience may be unusual. But even if they (or their computer) gets it
wrong, the money has either gone from the OPs account, or it hasn't. If
it hasn't, I suggest the receipt would be of little value - except in
contesting a "late payment" penalty. I also assume that the OP's bank
statement is viewable on line, showing the payment, and the OP could
always print that off before the bank's computer changes its mind...

Apologies that my previous post was unnecessarily aggressive - but I do
believe, in this day and age, that we can dispense with a lot of
traditional paperwork.

--
Martin


Some of us do like to keep a little bit of tradition


grin Fair point.

There are certainly traditions in other areas of life which I'm sorry to
see are now largely ignored. Starting with tradesman turning up when they
say they will.

OTOH, I think I've also read somewhere that paper consumption in the
average office has grown, now that people print off all their emails etc.

--
Martin

You are right of course Martin, the paper industry has never had it so good.
It was said when computer were first introduced to the commercial sector
that eventually their would be a paperless office. How wrong they were.

Personally with regards to tradesmen, the majority of them are just a bunch
of greedy crooks. Only interested in screwing what they can out of you and
doing a crap job at the same time.
--
the_constructor