(Disclaimer: As with all my blog posts, these are just my personal views. I'm not speaking on behalf of any organisation that I work for.)

As I mentioned in my previous post ( International commerce) there are sometimes reasons to import goods from foreign countries. One potential reason is when homegrown companies do a crappy job. Here are a few ( Read more... )

I've recently swapped ISP, from Zen to Andrew & Arnold. More specifically, I had an ADSL line from Zen, and I now have a VDSL line from A&A; this uses FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet), which BT have just deployed in my local exchange. I'm happy with the new service, and it's definitely faster than what I had before: according to Broadband Speed Checker ( Read more... )

I've had trouble with a couple of mail order companies recently. I understand that problems will sometimes occur, and that people make mistakes, and as long as it doesn't happen too often then I'm ok with that: what's important is the way that the company handles those situations. I'm happy to report that both companies performed beyond my ( Read more... )

On Monday, I started having some trouble with the gears on my Brompton (there are three altogether). More specifically, I couldn't change into first gear at all. ( Read more... )

I've now had my Brompton for a month, and I'm very happy with it. The only real problem is with the lights; I have a hub dynamo, and I can turn the lights on and off via a switch at the front. If they're off, they stay off. If I turn them on, the front light (white) only shines while I'm moving (not necessarily pedalling), but the back light (red) ( Read more... )

If you want to record TV programs, there are a few different options.

( Brief description of VCRs, Sky+, and PVRs )

I've been having trouble with Virgin Media (formerly NTL) for a while now. I'm not actually a customer (despite all their cold calls), but I'm still involved with them: their call centres keep phoning up people who haven't paid their bills and leaving a message with my work number. That means that I get conversations like this:

( Read more... )

The ups and downs of being a public spirited citizen around public transport...

( Vending machines )

I seem to have a knack for finding companies that are hard to deal with...

When I had Sky installed here, I started out with their "every channel" package, since that was the cheapest method. I had to stick with that for a month, and then after that I could change it. So, I phoned up recently to get rid of the sports channels.

( Read more... )