I was in town today and went in to BHS and saw they were selling advent calendars.

I think we need a campaign to ask all shop keepers to keep christmas in december and not to start the christmas frenzy earlier and earlier each year.

There is an old joke. How can you tell its getting close to christmas? The shops are starting to sell easter eggs.

How true this is.

Personally I like to buy all presents on december 24th. This way you don’t (can’t) spend hours trying to decide what to get everyone.

It’s not bah humbug. I just don’t want the kids to get excited too soon.

I have used Belkin for many years and never had an issue with them, but a company is measured by how they respond when things go wrong.

I have had a Belkin Pre-N Router for the past couple of years, which has been fine until the last couple of weeks. When uploading a photo or I try to attach an attachment to an email, the router freezes and it needs to be rebooted. Up until that point the router works fine.

As Belkin products have a lifetime warranty I called their support line and they confirmed the router was faulty and I was passed to customer services to arrange the new router. This is where it all went wrong.

As I run a business from home I need an internet connection (even an internet connection that does not work too well) so Belkin said I had to return the router and then they would send me out a new router which means I would not have an internet connection for a few days.

• I asked them if there was a way of collecting the router when they delivered the new one – NO.
• I asked if I could collect the new router from Northampton -NO
• I asked if they would take my credit card details and if I did not return the faulty router within a week they could charge me for the new one -NO
• I asked if there was any way they could help me so my business did not have any downtime -NO

They asked me “If the internet is so vital why do you not have a backup?” to which I replied “If your process does not meet your customers expectations why do you not have a backup process or a work around?”

Conclusion

I have to admit I do like Belkin products; however; I would recommend not buying one as their customer service will not meet your expectations if anything was to go wrong with that product. Lifetime Guarantee? as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

Links to this post on other sites

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=364052&forumid=2

Every now and again something comes along that just does not make sense. I stumbled on a website called Terminate the Rate which explains a few things about mobile phone companies.

When making a call to a mobile there is a charge levied by the receivers network carrier for the call. It is this charge that explains the high call charges and high contracts.

This is called a Mobile Termination Rate or MTR and is currently charged at around <strong>4.7p or more for every minute of the call.</strong>

The site suggest that you write an email to your local MP asking them to join in with the campaign, so rather that just sending my MP the same text as everyone else, I decided to write a bespoke letter.

It read :-

Dear Sir

I am local resident of Marton and a business owner, and I would like to bring a current campaign to your attention.

I am not sure if you are aware, but every time you make a call to a mobile phone from a land line or a cross network call a charge of 4.7p per minute known as a Mobile Termination Rate must be paid to the mobile network carrier.

I am of the opinion that this charge does not reflect the level of service they provide and in the current climate I believe it is time for Ofcom to investigate this charge and dramatically reduce overall call charges for me and other hard presses constituents.

I would like to ask you to lend your support to the Terminate the Rate campaign and sign the Early Day Motion (EDM) 1531.

After reading your website regarding the St. Georges Swimming Pool, I would like to add that I totally agree that Blackpool needs more swimming pools. My children used to take swimming lessons at St Georges, and as my wife does not drive we find it difficult to arrange swimming lessons for the children.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Kind Regards

Andy McDonald

I received a automatic reply :-

Thank you for your e-mail.

This acknowledgement has been triggered electronically and means that

your email has been received by my office.

All correspondence that I receive is prioritised and treated with equal

importance, so as not to discriminate against constituents who do not

have access to e-mail.  Therefore, please do not be disappointed or

offended if you do not receive an immediate reply.

You may know that there is a strict Parliamentary protocol that means

that MPs may only act on behalf of their own constituents.  My

constituency covers the area of Blackpool South.  If you are one of my

constituents please ensure you have included your full name, postal

address and telephone number in your e-mail.  This will help me to deal

with your communication more effectively and you will receive a reply in

due course.  Without these details it will not be possible to reply.

If I ever receive a proper reply I will update the post with the details.

While in London we decided to take the kids to see a show. The kids wanted to go and see Lion King or Thriller, but Rachel and I put our foot down and said no.

In the end I persuaded Rachel to go and see Sister Act, the kids promised that they would not enjoy it, and Rachel was not too sure. I can honestly say that everyone enjoyed themselves. Even thought in true “Kids” style said it was “alright” when asked but they were all up waving their arms, clapping their hands.

The show was very enjoyable, very different from the film as it did not have the well known songs; however; this did not matter as the music and lyrics were excellant. I would recommend anyone to go and see Sister Act as I am sure they will have a fantastic time.

Many people do the sudoko in the sun.

I have deecided to record how long it takes for me to solve it. I have added my own spin on it, you have to do the sudoko in a pub drinking a pint.

Monday 23rd march easy 1 pint hard 1.5 pints
Tueasday 24th march easy .5 pint hard 2.2 pints (although I had 6 pints before starting LOL)

William played his first game for spirit last saturday. Fantastic match and the win was even more pleasing as it was against Layton my old club. William played in the first match and the game was a draw 1-1 which is a good result considering William and 4 others in the Spirit team were actually Under 6’s

Each and every player tried their hardest and never gave up.

Keep ot going lads (and girl, we can’t forget sophie), well done.

I arrived early to London and decided to go to Leicester Square to watch a film. I could not decide which one to watch so i went for a little walk around.

I was approached by a couple of promotions people for comedy clubs. Having never been to a comedy club I decided to give it a go. I went to the 99 Club on Leicester Square (after having a pint in Yates’s). Entrance was £5 I went in and ordered a bottle of strongbow.

First up was Matt Green who was in Extra’s and I am sure I have seen him on Harry Hills TV Burp.  He was very good quite funny.  Second was Janice Phayre who was a very energetic Irish Lady.  Last was Prince Abdi who I have to say really made me laugh. He was very natural and absolutely hilarious.

Overall I had a fantastic night, got the tube back to Gunnersbury.

Well, it was back to the theatre to see quite a dark play called Mrs. Afleck. I have to say, I had a brilliant time and really enjoyed my trip to the theatre.

The play is about the breakdown of a marriage, which is expedited by the death of the couples son.

In the audience were a couple of faces I recognised first was Becky Grainger from Coronation Street. The actress Katherine Kelly was sat on the front row. Second was an actress from Casualty. I cant remember her name but she was the daughter of a surgeon.

So there you have it, I was rubbing shoulders with the famous again.

I was in the pub last night and a fella at the bar ordered a Lager Top. Nothing unusual there, I have ordered then for friends in the past; however; I always call it Shandy

As everyone knows a shandy is lager and lemonade, and a lager top is lager and lemonade so what is the difference? nothing as far as I am concerned. lager top drinkers (which I will from now on call shandy drinkers) argue that shandy is 50% lager and 50% lemonade, but when have you ever seen a barmaid measure the quantity?

lets look at another example. if you have 1 shot of gin and add tonic you get a gin and tonic. if you have 4 shots of gin and half the amount tonic it is still called a gin and tonic, its just a little stronger. If we apply this to lager and lemonade and we add more lager and less lemonade then we have a strong shandy, so why call it a lager top?

its all down to ego.

Shandy drinkers would feel embarrassed in front of their mates asking for a shandy or even a strong shandy, by asking for a lager top they are trying to say “I am drinking lager not shandy” even though logic dictates they have asked for lager and lemonade, which everyone knows is a shandy.

So who drinks shandy?

The majority of shandy drinkers can be found in the south of England – no surprise there then !

When is Shandy acceptable?

Now dont get me wrong there are times when a shandy is not considered a girlie drink. There are times when you have worked up a thirst and a shandy (only one) is acceptable. Examples of this would be after a round of golf, or after playing squash or badminton. Basically when you go to the pub after doing any energetic sport (darts, pool and snooker do not count) its OK to order a pint of shandy. Obviously you cant have two pints as that would be far too girlie.

I have had an account with Vodafone for 8 years, at one point I had 3 numbers (work, private and data). Last year I decided to try someone else.

I opened an account with Three and got a N95 4-5 months later when I was happy (sort of) with the quality of the phone calls I had on the Three network I finally took the plunge and transferred my main mobile number from Vodafone the Three. Everything went really smoothly with the transfer and I have been on Three for nearly a year.

Last week I decided it was time for a new phone, I could not decide between the Blackberry Storn and the Nokia 5800. Once I had made up my mind I rang Vodafone as I had decided to move back to them. I wanted to do the same as last time, get the phone, start using it (yes I know I would be paying 2 line rentals) and transfer the number when I was ready. Vodafone do not allow this! I would have to transfer the number immediately. I was not happy with this and spoke to Vodafone for ages about it, why Three can do it and Vodafone can not seems to be a complete mystery

Vodafone say that when you transfer a number it has to be to a new contract and there is no way round this. I told them that it did not make business sense for me to do this and they left me no alternative but to look at other suppliers, Vodafone did not care and could offer no solution.

I think this is very poor of Vodafone. Businesses dont want to have downtime of a major contact number, and it makes sense for the users to get used to a handset before they have to use it in their line of business, Vodafone obviously don’t care and are not interested in listening to the customer requirements. If  Three can do it why cant Vodafone?

I have decided to have a look at T-mobile and O2 and possibly staying with Three and I will definately be giving Vodafone a wide birth.