Well their boast is that “In the unlikely event that you find a cheaper price, for the same product and offer, We’ll not only match the price but also beat it by 10% of the difference. Our price promise even applies up to 7 days after purchase.”

Having stocked all five required items we asked Company X to price match the four that were in stock at both retailers and things started off well. Then came the excuses, “Well that’s a special offer that Comet are doing and we only price match like-for-like offers – ours aren’t on offer”. Then there was the, “Well we need to check that what you’ve told is correct because this could potentially be a big discount”. Totally agree, I wouldn’t give away lots of money on a whim.

“I’m sorry, their phone’s engaged”. That’s not my fault and I offered to take him to the store to show him the deal – but that was turned down, very politely.

“I’ll check on their web site because if they have an offer on they’ll have it on their web site”. Really? You haven’t got every special offer that I can see in the shop on your web site.

Anyway, fifteen minutes later Company X was still faffing around and not in a position to be able to honour their promise and I walked out of the shop to purchase the four products Comet had in stock – I’ll be going back to Comet for the fifth product when it comes back in to stock.

Are price match deals worth the time and effort? Not judging by this performance.

“While the application you have inquired about is hosted on LinkedIn’s platform, the details you have inquired about were designed by our partner, WordPress. Based on our review of your inquiry, we expect you will receive the most accurate and up-to-date assistance from our partner. Please contact them directly.”

Right, so the creator of the WordPress plugin is going to know what my LinkedIn ID is and LinkedIn isn’t. As it happens, the creator of the WordPress plugin did know what my LinkedIn user ID was, it was my screen name – not the code embedded in the URL as I’d read elsewhere on the Internet.

Thanks LinkedIn; in my many years in the computer industry I’ve come across countless situations where one company has blamed another for a problem and vice-versa, but never seen a company tell me that another company could advise me better on their own product before – it’s a new one on me.

Tins of beans are microwaveable, recyclable and good value

Tins of beans are microwaveable, you put them in a dish, put them in the microwave, heat them, take them out and heat them.

Tins from baked beans are recyclable - the paper wrapper goes in the paper bag, the tin goes in the glass and metal box.

Tins of beans are good value for money – about (exact price escapes me) 25p for 450g.

Enter the new microwaveable baked beans pouch

Yes, they’re microwaveable. Good, no better than a tin of beans then.

No, the pouch proudly states that it cannot be recycled.

Pouches of beans are not good value, costing the same as a tin but for only 200g.

So, great taste, less waste?

I think not – not for the pouch anyway – it’s good old tins of beans for me.

Reading the Daily Telegraph today I read on the front page how big firms are slashing prices ahead of the election to try and tempt buyers in to the shops rather than have them delay their expensive purchases until after the election.

The Telegraph gives several examples of such drastic price cuttin. Take the a offer of a satnav system discounted from £299.99 to £129.99 at a major high-street retailer. This organisation has more than one “Upto 50% off SatNav” sale each year. What they actually do is put the price up to the full £299.99 for a few weeks in the year to be able to be able to legally claim these massive discounts, but in truth the units are sold at the lower price for more weeks in the year than they are at the higher price.

The same organisation sells camping equipment for ridicously high prices for a few weeks early on in the year and then discounts them by 50% for the majority of the remaining season.

It is now common practise for stores to offer such massive discounts, but it might appear to the more observant to be nothing more than a scam – making the public believe they are getting a bargain – when they’re not. Given that these products spend most of their shelf life at the discounted price and that the retailer could not afford to make a loss, or very little profit, on these items for such a long period of time, it is obvious that the companies could really afford to sell the products at just above the massively discounted price all year around and still make a decent profit.

Sales are no longer sales, it’s just that the period in between them is an opportunity for these companies to make a massive profit on the ‘sale’ items whilst they comply with the law on sales.

[Show as slideshow]

Many thanks to Shane Prescott for the excellent building work, Ralph Clark Floorcoverings for the new flooring and G7LFC Software for the network cabling.

Putting a celebrity in a televised competition and getting the public to vote for who they think is ‘best’ at whatever the competition is, is a waste of time. Those cynical people, like me, have always known that people vote for their favourite personality, not whose best. Poor old John Seargant has unfortunately fallen victim to this practise, through no fault of his own and you can’t help but feel sorry for him.

Totally agree, he’s no good at dancing, but British people will always support the underdog – just look at our national sports teams for evidence of that.

So, the show’s producers have created a situation which allows biased voting from the public and then complains when biased voting takes place. Yes, it would have been a travesty if John Seargant had won Strictly Come Dancing, but the show allows people to vote for who they want and they cannot rule that they vote for his is best.

These shows have just become a laughing stock and it’s time to get them off the television and replace them with something more entertaining. Bring back the Generation Game, Family Fortunes or Play Your Cards Right – they were good, funny, family entertainment.

James Bond - Quantum of Solace

I went to see the latest James Bond film last night and thought it was a quite a good film. Despite comments that I had heard, I haven’t seen Casino Royale, but was able to pick the thread up and understand what was going on.

However, why is he called James Bond throughout the film? The film had a good plot, some decent chases, exciting action, but James Bond he is not. Suave, sophisticated he is not. I know the film’s supposed to show James’ early years as a  ’00′, but he just doesn’t seem like he’s ever going to become the ’007′ protrayed by Pierce Brosnan, the ultimate Bond in my mind.

And what about the film itself, it was a massive product placement advertisment between all the good bits. Every time a mobile phone was produced we got the idea that Sony Ericsson had payed a mint – the brand name was so prominent in the shots. And as for Ford, could they have got any more models in there? There was the new Ka, the Kuga, Land Rovers, Range Rovers (Land Rover was still owned by Ford at the time of shooting). The only thing I didn’t see was a Jaguar.

Finally, the music – the opening future block buster (I doubt it this time) had nothing to tie it to a James Bond movie at all. Throughtout the film there was nothing I could perceive as a ‘James Bond’ rift. The only musical cue came at the end when they played the James Bond theme music. I guess they had to put that in to remind us we’d been watching a Bond movie.

So, to conclude – good film, but just another action film for me, not a ‘Bond’ movie.

Shane Prescott’s staff have been on-site every morning before eight in the morning, they’ve beavered away relentlessly until about four in the afternoon, been polite and courteous and performed their work in a most professional manner.

I’ve watched loft conversions in the past around here. Generally, the roof comes off and is open to the elements whilst the work continues. Not so here, every effort has been made to keep the house water tight and warm at all times – even when there has been torrential rain. They have performed extremely well and long may it continue.

Thanks Shane for a loft conversion that’s going very well. Oh, and if you need any help with your web site Shane, we’re the people – dynanti that is.

And don’t sit there and wait for me to keep updating the site, please feel free to comment on my postings and content as I am sure that your input will make the site all the more interesting to everyone. So let’s get started and make this one big useful web site.