Oh Brother! No printer cable at PC World?

I've just been to PC World over at Copdock. I bought a Brother HL 2035 laser printer, and lugged it home through the ice and snow.

Getting home, I opened the box with excitement. Out came the power lead. Out came the manual. Out came the drum cartridge. But... where's the printer lead?

I open the manual. It says "not supplied". It says "make sure you get a USB2 printer cable". Eventually I find a picture of the item, so I know what I need to get.

Only... it's Boxing Day. I can't get a printer cable. I can't go back to PC World now! So I'm buggered. I've spent £80 on this lump of electronics, and I can't use it. I can't use it until I can get a cable, which won't be until Monday now.

Nor will it be cheap. It would probably cost Brother, doing bulk buy, about 50p to supply a cable. It will cost me at least 10 times that, plus the cost of petrol to and fro. You bastards!

It's pretty bad that the first emotion you get on buying something is to find that it isn't all there. It sort of ruins the moment. Excitement is replaced by frustration and rage. Why would anyone do this?

Of course all businesses face cost cutting. But to cut a small cost that will really annoy your customer? Only an accountant could have proposed that. Indeed some suit probably got a bonus for proposing it. In the mean time... I'm stuck.

Oh, and PC World? Why the HELL don't you indicate on the box, on the display, somewhere, that it isn't supplied?

Taking Sainsburys down-market in Warren Heath

I frequently shop at Sainsburys in Warren Heath, and have done for years. But today I needed some stuff, and I deliberately went to Tesco at Copdock instead. Why?

Sainsburys at Warren Heath used to be rather like a Waitrose; good quality surroundings and goods, and quite upmarket. Over the last 10 years it has slipped, and slipped. Today you go into a large, cold, smelly warehouse-like building, with dirty flooring, and look at rows of own-brand goods. It's getting to be like a caricature of Aldi or Lidl. Often there are shortages of basic goods; or items just vanish. The shelves are frequently allowed to become unstocked over the weekend, at least for things I look at.

The other day I wanted some sliced pineapple. I always buy Del Monte; but Sainsburys had removed these! Not sold any more. Instead all I could buy was own-brand, or some unknown brand with a bright blue tin named "DOLE!" Reluctantly I bought the latter, ate it; and got a stomach upset. No more dole for me, thanks. Today I wanted some sliced pineapple again -- so I went to Tescos, and got the Del Monte. It's only 50p a tin. So why on earth would Sainsburys remove it?

I wanted some peas. I want Birdseye, as I can taste the difference between this and own-brand. Sainsbury feel that I shouldn't have the choice. So... off to Tescos for these.

Sainsburys bread has long been rubbish. I have no idea why Tesco can do bread, and Sainsburys cannot, but this is not a new phenomenon. When I want a loaf, again I go to Tesco.

I'm not glad at any of this. Sainsburys Warren Heath is my local grocer. I don't want to drive to Tesco. But increasingly it seems that I must.

Marks and Spencers - trimming the fat or shorting the change?

To Marks and Spencers in Ipswich today, to purchase my customary granny smith apples. But zounds! What is this?

M&S apples come packed in fours in a foam base, thereby reducing bruising. Except that this week M&S has removed the base. There's now just four apples in a shrink-wrap bit of clear plastic. Funnily enough, most of the apples are damaged, and I have some difficulty getting what I want. I notice that less popular apples are still available in the proper packaging.

I'm sure some fool will whimper that damaged apples saves the planet. But this is about cost cutting, surely? The price is the same; but the goods are inferior.

But onwards. On my way to the checkout I saw a box of sweeties in bags of string. Well, I'm quite partial to their chocolate money, so I pick up one of the little yellow bags full of "coins". But egad!?! The bag is about a third empty! Instead of the usual stack of thick coins, there's a miserable three big ones and a few small ones.

I look at the price; it's £2. It's the same as a big bar of Cadburys milk chocolate, and contains about a third of the amount. It's a rip-off, frankly.

Clearly Mr. Marks (or Mr. Spencer) has been at the accounts again. Instead of raising the already absurd price, he's decided to give short weight. At least, what else can I think that this is? So I throw the bag back. I can get a good big bar of chocolate at Tesco for 27p, after all.

I am depressed. I don't go to M&S to get cheap. I go there to get quality.

Years ago, people used to buy M&S clothes. An M&S suit was the standard interview suit. You paid a bit more, but you got rather better quality. Then the market started to be flooded with cheap chinese imports - rubbish quality, but bottom-dollar price. And M&S gradually reduced... their quality. The prices did come down a little, but suddenly you were getting much poorer quality clothes.

I still buy M&S shirts; just try buying a Tesco shirt and you can feel the difference! But I don't buy M&S as I did, and neither does anyone else, as their sales figures show. And it seems that the food department is now treading the same disastrous route.

BT doing a scam?

In my opinion BT is abusing the direct debit system to try to force its customers to buy its most expensive "all calls included" package.

Sounds weird? Let me explain.

I've been with BT forever, and my usage hasn't varied in years. In some years they put the DD up to a large sum, and I end up with a credit balance of a couple of hundred pounds on them -- which you have to ring and ask for, naturally.

This summer I got a note from BT that they wanted to jack up my standing order to around £45 a month. Now that's a fantastic sum, way in excess of what I actually use. How had they managed that?

Well, they'd reduced the DD to a piddling sum, so a debit quickly came into existence. I rang in and got them to change it to something like what I really use.

All BT paper bills are horrible. They charge in advance for this, and in arrears for that, and they bill over a period of 5 months, but only include 3 months payments, etc etc. All the messing about that goes to make their bills unreadable and inscrutable, which I imagine is intentional.

Today I had another one. This time they say I am £70 in debit. How this is achieved, given that my usage really doesn't vary? The bill is carefully constructed to ensure that the details of the calls are not shown, and I can't tell, really. And they want to put the DD back up to £45 a month.

At this point I get suspicious. The reason I pay by DD is so that I do NOT have wild fluctuations in the cost of my services. How come that it's all over the place this year, all of a sudden? Is there any chance, could it be that there is a marketing reason behind this?

I got to the BT website. And ... ta-dah! I find that their "pay us line rental and all your calls are free" package costs about £41 a month.

What a coincidence. Whack the DD up to something ridiculous, based on manipulating the regular flow of costs, and then suddenly that massively over-priced deal looks cheaper, and hey, someone in BT gets a bonus.

Too cynical? Somehow I don't think so.

I wonder how many other people are being scammed this way. If only I didn't need a landline for my broadband, I probably wouldn't bother with one at all.

Hughes Direct and Miele - not a great experience

My old washing machine died on Monday. So I need a new one. I decided to buy a Miele WT2670 washer-dryer. OK, it's a thousand quid, but if it lasts 20 years it's worth it.

A look on Tuesday at comparison websites revealed Marks and Spencers were offering it cheapest; but when I went a second time to their site the item had vanished! Inside 24 hours, no less! I suppose imported items will all go up, since Gordon Brown has been printing money. Also they only had a 2 week delivery.

Next in line was Hughes Direct. Their price was the next best. Their customer service is a bit strange. I rang them, and asked to buy this very expensive item and was told to use the website. Well, I did. Then I rang customer service, and they arranged to deliver it Thursday. They couldn't say when, but a call before 9:45 would tell me what time.

Thursday came, and the call came: "before 12 noon". In fact this meant "about 12 noon". It arrived, and since I'd paid for installation, they did that too. Boy was it heavy! They also removed the old machine for £10 - good value compared to the council £26 charge. I was fairly impressed with the delivery chaps, who did an excellent job. But... the machine was dirty on top, really dirty. How can that be, if it is new?

Time to catch up on the washing. But a load or two later... what's this? Water coming out from under the machine? How come?

Water continued to seep slowly but definitely out, even if it wasn't running, even with the input line turned off. Not much; but indicative of a problem. There was a sour smell, as of stagnant water as well. How can that be, if this is a new machine? I inspected the back of the machine; all dry. I inspected the filter at the front in a little panel; all dry.

I try the dryer. It doesn't seem to do much. I wash some socks, and then dry them for an hour. They are not dry at the end of it. That's ridiculous! They'd dry faster over a radiator.

This machine is not working correctly. I don't want to have to repair a brand new machine, but I don't quite know what to do. Maybe I can get an exchange? I email Hughes Direct (although the website makes this hard). No reply.

I clean up all the water, make sure everything is tight, put down towels on the kitchen floor and go to bed. In the morning... more water. Not much, but there is this smell...

Friday I had to go away, but when I get back, the smell greets me as I enter. It's late afternoon but I ring Hughes Direct. I get a rather determined young man who tells me that I have to have someone inspect it to see if it is damaged. I demur, and he says it again. And again. I politely refer him to the Distance Selling Regulations, and ask if it has to get all legal. He goes off to talk to his managers. He comes back and tells me that I can just have it returned, but in that case I have to pay for the carriage to and fro. I give in and agree to have a little man come round to see if there is water.

Presumably this is all really about their company insurance; they can claim on their insurance if it is damaged. But they don't tell me so; and a customer who just spent £1,000 is made to feel very upset and concerned that they are attempting to force him to accept a repair.

I think Hughes Direct must be a fairly small outfit. It is a mistake to order an expensive item from a small supplier. They will only have the one; and maybe this one has already been around the block?

UPDATE: The machine has an LCD display which you use to monitor progress and change settings. This has just gone dark too! Clearly I have a complete lemon here. Even Miele must produce the odd bad machine. It's going to go back, and I will have my money back, whatever it takes. It will be interesting to see just how difficult Hughes Direct try to make this, or whether they are reasonable and I just got someone on a bad day.

But next time, I will pay the extra and order from John Lewis. Apparently they make no difficulties about returns. If you have a duff washing machine, the last thing you need is someone else being difficult. I am sick of the quibbling.

UPDATE: Over the weekend the display LCD started to recover. It had set itself somehow to German. By Monday it was back to 'normal' brightness. This suggests a battery or something.

I did another dryer run on Saturday. I dried some socks for 2 hours; and it still didn't get them dry. But I noticed that water came out while I did so. I suspect that the condenser "dryer" is responsible for the leak.

On Monday I sat around for half the morning, and a man arrived "to look at my washing machine." I told him that I was rejecting the machine under the Sale of Goods Act and under the Distance Selling Regulations and wanted it removed. I told him about the problems. He asked if it leaked overnight; I said it did. He then made a long call to his boss, saying (without asking me) that I wanted an exchange and that it must be the installation plumbing. Then he told me someone would call me and left. He didn't even pull the machine out to see if the plumbing was leaking!

I didn't feel like waiting for a call (which has not come). I rang Hughes, and told them that I had bought it last week and wanted a return and my money back. After three calls I was told that they would collect on Wednesday and I would get a refund to the card after that. Let's hope, hope, that this is the end of the matter.

Because, after all, I still need a washing machine!

UPDATE: 28th October. I waited around this morning, and got a call at 9:45 telling me they would pick up between 1pm and 4pm. So of course I had to be in by 1pm, and wait. And wait. And wait. At 3:45pm I ring in -- and am told they're running a bit late. At 4:15pm I get a call from the driver, who says he'll be with me "by 5pm" in tones that make it plain this is a moveable time. I've sat here all afternoon, yet they must have known they wouldn't get to me for hours and hours. It's now getting dark, and removing it will be difficult and awkward in the dark. I am so wishing I never, ever bought from Hughes Direct!
UPDATE: They finally appeared at 5:05pm. I must have been the last job of the day. So... why did they make me wait from 1pm? But I was nice to the boys who came to collect it. Not their fault (probably).
Only one more step; to extract from their hands the £1,024 which I paid them a week ago for the experience.

UPDATE: They did refund my money. All of it, and no hassle and argument. Evidently I got a dodgy staff member when I enquired. So ... better than it might have been.

Then I went off and bought a washing machine from John Lewis -- another Miele, but NOT a washer-dryer. And this one was fine. It didn't leak, it didn't smell.

I have no doubt whatever that the Hughes item had been sitting in a warehouse for months, getting dirty. Thank heavens I returned it.

Short-changed at Sainsburys Warren Heath - and the result

I went down to Sainsburys Warren Heath in Ipswich this evening, and bought £5.33 of goods. I paid for it with a £10 note. Unfortunately I didn't check the heap of change and just stuck it in my wallet. But when I got home, I had a look; and something was wrong. I only had two £1 coins, and little more. Instead of £4.67, it looks as if I got £2.67.

I can understand a busy shop assistant making a mistake. If I was £1 short, I'd think it was that. But TWO one-pound coins? I hardly think so.

This is the second time it has happened to me in the last couple of months. The recession is clearly making some people steal. And, of course, the great advantage of this crime to the thief is that once the victim leaves the till, it's impossible for them to prove the crime.

I've written to Sainsburys by email, enclosing receipt details.

Watch your change, chaps.

UPDATE: A week passed, and I thought hard thoughts of Sainsburys. But then I got an email from the customer services, telling me they had spoken to the store and I should take the receipt down there and they would refund me the £2. How very generous of them! I was pleased.

Light on Abbeygate lighting

Today I made a trip to B&Q to get a new lighting fixture for my kitchen. Except... they didn't have any!

Oh, they had rows of eco-fittings, glowing dimly. Indeed there was a whole section of what looked like halogen fairy-lights, so feeble they were. But none of them gave any real light. What I wanted was something that does give some real light. I wanted a three-way spotlight using R80 incandescents, each of 60w. That's what I had before. But these items, previously as common as muck, have softly and silently vanished. Even on the web I can't find them.

But I remembered that there is an old-fashioned lighting shop on the square in Felixstowe. And so there is, Abbeygate Lighting (although the website doesn't do justice to what they have). Park in the centre of town and there it is. So I drove down there, and went in.

Bless them! They had two on display, one chrome, one white. The prices were higher than B&Q used to charge, but so what, when you can't get it any other way? They had all the bulbs one would want as well, unlike B&Q whose range gets shorter every day. A wide range of fittings, shades, and so forth, and they could order in even more.

The shop is small, and the lady who runs it gives excellent service. All the fittings are wired up, and you can see what you get. If you want a halogen setup, she's got the higher-wattage bulbs that you would really need to get any light, and can advise on what you would need in order to fit them. You can find out what wattage each fitting will take.

After the impersonality and sheer uselessness of B&Q, it was a relief to find somewhere that stocked what I actually needed.

Prices ARE higher. I bought a dozen R80 bulbs for my new unit, and they were £2 each. B&Q were selling triple life bulbs in two's for £4.50. But... for how long? It isn't B&Q that is focused on selling us what we want. The eco-nutters are determined to get us all sitting in the dark and the cold. Stockpile your bulbs, and the fittings that use them, now.

So support your local lighting provider. I did!

Plumbase, or plumb-no-good?

I need a monobloc mixer tap for a kitchen sink in a house I'm renovating. Mustn't cost too much; mustn't look too cheap.

B&Q have one, for £45, which seems a bit steep; except that they haven't any stock in the East Ipswich branch. So I drive over to West Ipswich B&Q and they haven't any either.

OK, let's go to a plumber's merchant. Plumbase are on the Ransome's Industrial Estate, near Sainsburys. I go in there at 12:30.

Joy! There is a pile of just what I want on the side, at £26+VAT. That'll do fine. There's no-one on the desk, and two people waiting, but no doubt someone will come back in a moment. I expect slow service in a plumbers' merchant; it's the reason why the DIY's took so much trade from them.

I wait. And I wait. And I wait.

Eventually some dozy herbert comes back. He ignores me, and stands in front a terminal and starts tapping away. And carries on, ignoring all the people in the shop.

Some minutes later, another blank-faced herbert very slowly appears, and slowly hands over some goods to the man at the front of the queue. Then he slowly walks off again. And doesn't come back.

More time passes. I've been stood here holding a monobloc mixer -- a heavy item -- for nearly 10 minutes now. Smiles are long gone. I want to get on.

Blank-face finally comes back. He lethargically starts talking to number two in the queue, who is dressed in overalls and starts reciting a long list to him, evidently in no hurry. Meanwhile Dozy is still tap-tapping away, slow but continuous.

I suddenly realise that I am the only person in this shop whose time is not being paid by someone else. They're wasting time, because they're being paid for it. The staff don't give a damn if they sell anything or not.

At that, I feel disgust, put the mixer back where I found it and walk out. Not a word is spoken. It's as if I was never there. But I'm glad to get out. Why should I give money to people who treat me with such contempt? Any business should just have paused for a second to take my money and let me go. These people? Useless.

I had a bad experience some years ago at this same joint. I needed a bit for a toilet, and brought up the old bit. They didn't have it. But the guy on the desk put on a face which I have since learned to call "the faithless look", and offered me an item which he said "might" work. I declined, acting on instinct. Later I found that it certainly would have been useless; and that he must have known this. But hey, I was a punter, and he didn't give a damn. But he was willing to swindle me, and, to do so, blocked out of his mind that I was a fellow human being whose money was not so great as to waste it. Thus the faithless look, as he mentally dehumanised me.

We all feel sorry for people at the bottom of the job heap who can't find work. But then you get an experience like this, and you realise that some of them are overdue a period of unemployment.

Avoid Plumbase. They're time-wasters.