Judith Proctor's Journal

 I can happily recommend RS components for good customer service (and good prices).

I ordered 10m of black velcro.  It was delivered the next morning, postage included in the price.

I realised I'd accidentally ordered hook tape instead of hook and loop tape.

Even through the fault was mine for ordering the wrong item, the friendly man on the phone gave me a free return label.

I think they mostly sell to maintenance engineers: they stock a wide range of batteries, tools and tool storage of every kind, PPE, electronic components, lots of kit for testing and measuring, etc.  If you need the ultimate spanner kit, then this may be a good place to look.

(I slag off firms when they screw me up, so I always and post something nice when a firm goes the extra mile)


What do I need double sided velcro for?

Morris bells are expensive, so I buy a lot of these:


They cost about £5 if you buy them individually in Hawkin's Bazzar as "Jingle bands" but I've just discovered a firm that sells them in bulk under a different name for £34 for 20 bands!

They will fit around a child's wrist, but not an adult's knee.  However, add a strip of double-sided velcro and the gap is perfectly bridged!

 If you recall my problem with a book I recently bought on Amazon, here's how it worked out.

I filed an A-Z complaint - I think it was Aralias who suggested that - and I just got a full refund from Amazon of  £2.81.

I strongly suspect that Amazon are aware of this firm's 'no return postage' policy and tacitly allow it.  I imaging most customers give up early on in the process and either pay the postage or accept the crappy book.  But if you stick to your rights under the Amazon policy, you do eventually get your refund.

It probably helps that I regularly buy from Amazon and post positive feedback for the many good sellers there, so I clearly wasn't just trying it on.

It was a lot of effort for a refund that small, but I take a real dislike to people who try to con me.  Maybe it will make them describe their books a bit more accurately in future....

 My daughter in law is allergic to grapes.  Looking for an alternative drink for Xmas dinner, I decided upon mead.  A couple of morris friends introduced me to Moniack Mead in the summer and it's very morish.  

C said it sounded good, but she'd been told that some mead actually contained grape juice.

I followed up with Moniack to ask them if their mead was grape free.  They said it was now, but only since February 2015 as they'd changed the recipe to pure honey at that point.  Very kindly, (and this was only two days before Christmas, when they must have been pretty busy) they offered to check the bottle number for me to see which batch my bottle was from.

Pleased to say it was grape-free.

Thank you, Moniack Mead.

I think I may skip wine next Xmas, the mead tastes better.  (Though you have to treat it with respect, as it's a very high alcohol content)

 I've been investing in Funding Circle for five or six months now.  It's a peer to peer lending system.

I like it for several reasons.  

Firstly, I'm getting an average interest rate of 6% and that will increase slightly over time (the minimum lending rate has increased over the time I've been with them, and reinvesting interest pushes up the overall rate).

Secondly (and very important for me) it's  very ethical system.  All the money is invested in British businesses, so I'm investing money in my own country which means it's benefiting the people around me.  But more than that, I can choose exactly which companies I invest in.  I have small investments in everything from organic farms to  companies producing improved paint for exterior walls.  I never invest in anything involving cars or aircraft (bad carbon footprint) and I can be as selective as I like.  I chose not to invest in a firewood company this morning as their blurb said nothing about planting new woodland, just about buying up stuff they can fell, but I chose to invest in a firm making children's play materials.

Thirdly, I can invest small sums.  I typically invest £20 - £60 (usually £20) in each business. ( £20 is the minimum investment.)  Therefore, I can invest small sums when I have them, but I'm not tied to any regular schedule or amount.

Fourthly, it has play value.  It you don't have much free time, you can use the autobid facility which will invest across a spread of businesses at the rate you request (but you lose the ethical advantages of choosing where you invest).  If you have a bit more time, you can treat it a bit like a computer game.  It works very much like ebay in reverse.  Investors bid the interest rate they will lend at, and when the auction ends, the lowest bidders get accepted.  (But as the business needs lots of those £20 bids, they may end up accepting 1300 bids at 6.2%, 231 bids at 6.3%, 20 bids at 6.4%, etc.)  If you like sitting around near the deadline, you can often slip in a high value bid and get it accepted.

Fifthly, the borrowers are mainly small businesses who have difficultly getting bank loans at sensible rates.

Sixth, you can choose your risk level.  Funding Circle assign each business a risk level which is essentially their estimate of how likely the loan is to default.  Higher risk loans attract higher rates of interest.  (their estimate of risk seems reasonably accurate.  I've had a few defaulters, but no more than feels right statistically)  I'm currently beating the odds by about 2%, but then most of my loans are still in the early stages.  (They pursue defaulters, so you don't get involved in any legal hassle)

Seventh, capital is repaid as the loan progresses along with interest.  I like this as it means I get back a steady trickle of money which I can either withdraw or reinvest.  (you don't have to wait until the end to get all your capital back)
(You can 'withdraw' money by selling your loan parts to other investors, but you may have to take a small loss if you want to sell them quickly)

NB. (pasted fro Wikipedia) The peer-to-peer industry adheres to standards set by the Financial Conduct Authority. Peer-to-peer depositors do not qualify for protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which provides security up to £85,000 per bank, for each saver^[12] but the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association mandates the member companies to implement arrangements to ensure the servicing of the loans even if the broker company goes bankrupt.

If anyone would like to try Funding Circle, they've got an offer whereby I can send you an invitation.  If you invest a minimum of £1000 in your first month, we both get £40.  

 I bought an item off Ironmongery Direct a month or two ago.  I ended up with an item that didn't fit the charity shop's existing slot shelving system - which was entirely my fault as I'd assumed single and double slot systems were compatible without checking first.

What really impressed me, apart from the amazing speed of delivery, was they they not only gave me an instant no-quibble refund, but even gave a pre-paid return postage label (it was in the package when it arrived, but I hadn't noticed it).

And, they also replied quickly and helpfully to my emails.

In short, a firm I happily recommend for excellent customer service.

I mention them now, because they've just given me a code that's good for a 20% discount for the next seven days.

Sadly, the voucher is non-transferrable, but I could probably get something mailed to another address....

 Remember that free Sony voucher I had the other week?

I got my credit card statement today...  They billed me.

I phoned up and complained.  They said the voucher was only valid for one of five books.  This was not stated on the original email, nor on the page the email too me too, not by the person I queried about the fact that I was taken to the billing page after entering the voucher number.

So I've phoned my credit card company and made a chargeback.  £3.99 may not be a lot of money, but I've had it up to here with Sony.  I wonder how many other people made the same mistake?

 We've been getting a veg and fruit box from Riverford for several years.

This week's melon started erupting.  Literally -interesting frothy stuff was bubbling out of it, with sound effects.

I left a message on their web site explaining the problem. (and popped the melon in the compost bin)

Within five minutes, a lady had phoned, apologised for the problem and offered me a choice of items to have next week as a free replacement for the offending melon.

So, next week, we're getting extra mushrooms.

Nice people, always friendly and helpful. I think the boxes are good value too.  It's rare that we get a duff item, but they've always been replaced without any stress or hassle.

Happy to recommend them any day.

Trying to buy a camera tripod for my dad and finding the very limited information about the product on Amazon to be a real problem (reviews were saying things like - this tripod wasn't rated for a camera of my weight).

Went looking elsewhere and found Park Cameras  who have a phone number that you can ring to ask about the products.  After chatting to a very helpful lady over the phone and explaining what my dad wanted to use the tripod for, I have now bought one off them that I feel confident will suit his needs.

I deliberately didn't compare prices - I consider professional advice worth paying for.

It's interesting to see how many of my friends are pen geeks.  Stationery porn is how I think of it - the drool that ensues over different coloured inks, propelling pencils and the precise choice of the hardness of pencil lead.

For anyone who wants to geek over ink, here's a nice little article. 

If you're looking for a pen or pencil, you can't do better than Cult Pens.  Their range is wide, their site makes it easy to find what you're looking for, and their customer service is excellent.  They'll change things without a quibble, even when the mistake wasn't theirs (speaking from personal experience here).  They respond to queries (telephone or email) quickly and with friendly, helpful staff.  I've bought from them before (found the leads for my 40 year old propelling pencil in the B hardness that I prefer), have a new fountain pen from them and am happily toying with the delights of different colours of ink.

I just ordered a tabor from the Music Corner.  Their web site was having problems with the credit card payment - probably 3D secure (which I loathe with passion) playing up as the shop said they'd had a lot of problems today.

Pleased to say that when I phoned them up (number easy to find on their site), a friendly, helpful staff member was able to process my card payment over the phone.

I'm very happy with their customer service, so I'll check them again if I need anything in the musical instrument line.

(I notice they also stock rosettes for the Monster Raving Looney Party, in addition to those for all the other parties!)

I find myself in need of an even angrier icon than Gene Hunt, but I don't have one equivalent to "I'll tear you into little pieces and then stamp on the pieces."  --  Where's Arthur Dent when you need him?
( Read more... )

I don't know how they rate on other fronts, but I do know that NatWest have the most helpful phone system of any bank I know.  No call centres, just real people at an actual bank.

I have the number of the branch that the Redemption account is with.   I phone them, and a really friendly, helpful person on the other end of the phone helps me to do exactly what I wanted, with the minimum of fuss.  Here's to the staff at NatWest, Winton!

Those who saw my earlier posting about the effect of bid retractions on ebay   (if you bid £10, maximum bid £20 and someone else bids £25 and then drops out, YOUR BID IS INCREASED TO £20 even if there are no other bids on the item)

I queried ebay about this.  Their first reply was a standard one that didn't even bother to read my email (just bunged back a standard answer on how to bid).  Their second reply was clearly more concerned that I had cancelled my bid in protest at their mechanics rather than any concern that people bidding for valuable items could be duped in this way.

However, it did also list when you are allowed to cancel a bid, so read carefully if you are worried about this particular problem. 

A few weeks ago, Riverford, our organic veg supplier (we still get stuff from them, though a lot less than we did in pre-allotment days) sent us some really fantastic potatoes.  They were a pale gold inside and had a flavour like no other spud I've ever tried.

So I wrote to Riverford yesterday and asked what variety they were.  Riverford, who are good at customer service as well as wonderful veg, promptly replied that they were either Sante or Valor depending on exactly when we got them.

Looking on the web, they were probably Sante, but Valour has blight resistance and that is a really big bonus.  Maybe I'll try growing both next year.  (We're trying four different ones this year, and only one of them is one we tried the previous year)

I've been meaning to cancel Sky for a while now.  90% of what I watch is available on Freesat (which only costs £20 if you already have a dish and Sky box).  The remaining 10% is stuff I can rent on DVD or stuff that I like to watch with Henry when he's home from university so don't mind if I see it later on terrestrial or DVD.

Finally got around it today.  Was talking to the man at Sky who was trying to talk me out of it and sell me Sky phone services and all the rest of it.  I was content to let him waffle until I remembered we were on an 0870 number.  I said "I'm sorry, but we're on an 0870 number, this call is costing me money.  If Sky want us to hang around, they ought to get an 0800 number, please skip to the end."

Blow me!  He did exactly what I asked.  He immediately said (politely) that he'd put the stuff I needed in the post.

Top marks to a helpful man at Sky.  (they may have lost me as a customer at present, but they've also just improved their chances of getting me back in the future if I feel rich again)