Friday or day 243 (a fortnight into the 2nd lockdown) - a birthday day!
Yesterday I started the day by baking two loaves of bread which had been proving overnight. Mr Cee bought be a bread cloche which works really well (if you don't know what that is, there are a couple of photos under the cut)
I got that done just in time to go for a walk with a friend in the local woodland. We walked, we talked and just at the end of the couple of hours we got wet as the rain fell, but it was nice to catch up and we only got a bit muddy.... When I got back the post had come and I had a cheque from the Post Office! Mr Cee had been pursuing the loss I took for the mirror that got damaged in transit. It's been a long process and moral of the story is that the insurance I bought with the postage is not really worth paying extra for. If you want to details there's more under the cut - mostly for me to remember the idiocy of bureaucracy!
So when I've had a large home made stained glass item to send through the post I've always paid a bit extra to get the item insured, so if there's an issue, I could get my money back. The mirror I sent to a customer was priced at £65 and the postage with 'up to £100 insurance' was £7.95, so when the item was damaged, that's what I put on the claim which was rejected as they said I hadn't provided all the information to have a successful claim.
The information that was missing was the proof that I'd posted the item, and at this point I lost the will to live, so Mr Cee decided to pursue the refund for me. In the end (after much email) the Post Office refused to deal with the issue as Mr Cee kept explaining that where we have to take insured items is somewhere where they can't give a receipt. However, as the item shows where it was tracked electronically (you literally log in with the tracking number and you can see the journey it took!!) he argued that that was sufficient evidence of posting. They disagreed....
So in the end he then appealed to the Royal Mail Postal Review Team. It turns out that if you make something and sell it to someone the post office won't pay you what the retail price is. They wanted to know what it cost ME to make the item. So Mr Cee supplied them with the costs of materials, but of course that doesn't take into account the cost of my time, but that was all they were willing to reinburse me for. So I'm still out of pocket, but at least I've got something back.
The daft thing is, if I had bought the item as a gift for someone, and sent it off and it had got broken, I would have been able to claim the full cost of the item plus the postage. So I'm thinking that next time I either won't bother paying for the insurance (as it's not worth the extra cost), or the alternative idea is that I say that I've bought the item from Wispy Dreams Design (my business name), and then send it off, and if something happens I can then claim the full price.
How ridiculous is that?!!
After some lunch I spent some time in the glass studio, then at 3pm it was time for the last of the online course Men and Women of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It's been an interesting course and the friend I've been doing the course 'with' will miss doing the courses 'together' (we text each other during the lessons). So we had a text chat and then a real chat on the phone (OMG!) and have booked into a couple of new courses in January and April next year so there's that to look forward to. In the evening it was time for bellydance, so I got all hot and sweaty in a good way :)
Today is Mr Cee's birthday! The love of my live and my best friend, who always fights my corner (see the story about the postage!). He worked at home today but he has had his presents, we've taken time out of his working day to take part in Advance Pilates class, and now he's finished work we've just polished off most of a very lovely afternoon tea at home (we couldn't finish it, so there will be cake tomorrow!). Youngest Cee has called him, Eldest Cee is calling after he's finished work later.
This evening there will probably not be any food, but there will definitely be wine!
Oh - and my Esty shop is back open as I've added birds to the listings as I so enjoyed fixing those birds this week, so I'm going to see if I can sell some :)
I nearly forgot the questions for yesterday and today!
19 If you could have free, unlimited service for five years from an extremely good cook, chauffeur, housekeeper, masseuse, or personal trainer, which would you choose?
Housekeeper - no question. I am good at doing the cleaning etc, but I'd love someone to do it for me so I have more time! I love cooking/baking, so that wouldn't be a help, and I exercise a LOT already. I have nowhere to go at the moment and I quite like driving, and a masseuse would be nice, but not essential and probably not allowed LOL!
20 Does the fact that you have never done something before increase or decrease its appeal to you?
It very much depends what it is. If it's something within the bounds of my abilities I rather like trying new stuff, but if it's something that would give me the heebie jeebies like bungie jumping, I'd having to say the appeal would never increase.....
Happy Friday all!
I got that done just in time to go for a walk with a friend in the local woodland. We walked, we talked and just at the end of the couple of hours we got wet as the rain fell, but it was nice to catch up and we only got a bit muddy.... When I got back the post had come and I had a cheque from the Post Office! Mr Cee had been pursuing the loss I took for the mirror that got damaged in transit. It's been a long process and moral of the story is that the insurance I bought with the postage is not really worth paying extra for. If you want to details there's more under the cut - mostly for me to remember the idiocy of bureaucracy!
So when I've had a large home made stained glass item to send through the post I've always paid a bit extra to get the item insured, so if there's an issue, I could get my money back. The mirror I sent to a customer was priced at £65 and the postage with 'up to £100 insurance' was £7.95, so when the item was damaged, that's what I put on the claim which was rejected as they said I hadn't provided all the information to have a successful claim.
The information that was missing was the proof that I'd posted the item, and at this point I lost the will to live, so Mr Cee decided to pursue the refund for me. In the end (after much email) the Post Office refused to deal with the issue as Mr Cee kept explaining that where we have to take insured items is somewhere where they can't give a receipt. However, as the item shows where it was tracked electronically (you literally log in with the tracking number and you can see the journey it took!!) he argued that that was sufficient evidence of posting. They disagreed....
So in the end he then appealed to the Royal Mail Postal Review Team. It turns out that if you make something and sell it to someone the post office won't pay you what the retail price is. They wanted to know what it cost ME to make the item. So Mr Cee supplied them with the costs of materials, but of course that doesn't take into account the cost of my time, but that was all they were willing to reinburse me for. So I'm still out of pocket, but at least I've got something back.
The daft thing is, if I had bought the item as a gift for someone, and sent it off and it had got broken, I would have been able to claim the full cost of the item plus the postage. So I'm thinking that next time I either won't bother paying for the insurance (as it's not worth the extra cost), or the alternative idea is that I say that I've bought the item from Wispy Dreams Design (my business name), and then send it off, and if something happens I can then claim the full price.
How ridiculous is that?!!
After some lunch I spent some time in the glass studio, then at 3pm it was time for the last of the online course Men and Women of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It's been an interesting course and the friend I've been doing the course 'with' will miss doing the courses 'together' (we text each other during the lessons). So we had a text chat and then a real chat on the phone (OMG!) and have booked into a couple of new courses in January and April next year so there's that to look forward to. In the evening it was time for bellydance, so I got all hot and sweaty in a good way :)
Today is Mr Cee's birthday! The love of my live and my best friend, who always fights my corner (see the story about the postage!). He worked at home today but he has had his presents, we've taken time out of his working day to take part in Advance Pilates class, and now he's finished work we've just polished off most of a very lovely afternoon tea at home (we couldn't finish it, so there will be cake tomorrow!). Youngest Cee has called him, Eldest Cee is calling after he's finished work later.
This evening there will probably not be any food, but there will definitely be wine!
Oh - and my Esty shop is back open as I've added birds to the listings as I so enjoyed fixing those birds this week, so I'm going to see if I can sell some :)
I nearly forgot the questions for yesterday and today!
19 If you could have free, unlimited service for five years from an extremely good cook, chauffeur, housekeeper, masseuse, or personal trainer, which would you choose?
Housekeeper - no question. I am good at doing the cleaning etc, but I'd love someone to do it for me so I have more time! I love cooking/baking, so that wouldn't be a help, and I exercise a LOT already. I have nowhere to go at the moment and I quite like driving, and a masseuse would be nice, but not essential and probably not allowed LOL!
20 Does the fact that you have never done something before increase or decrease its appeal to you?
It very much depends what it is. If it's something within the bounds of my abilities I rather like trying new stuff, but if it's something that would give me the heebie jeebies like bungie jumping, I'd having to say the appeal would never increase.....
Happy Friday all!