Every time I go into the Hogs Head in Didsbury I’m forced into playing this damn movie quiz game with my flatmate, who insists he always wins on it. I’ve yet to see any of this winning action, even when there’s three of us, all with film degrees, we go away empty handed.
Now there’s a bloody film quiz on the Internet for him to challenge others at. Check it out if you’re into movies.
Just before Christmas I ordered one of the new Asus Eee PCs from Amazon.co.uk, through a marketplace seller called BUG Computer Components – who are based in Germany.
Some weeks went by and I never received anything. My efforts to contact Bug proved fruitless as they never replied. Naturally I was concerned as I’d ordered something in excess of £200 and had received no contact from the seller. I emailed Amazon about it and they sent me a stock reply saying to contact Bug.
Not good enough.
I replied to Amazon and stated how Bug had not replied to me and that I wanted my order cancelled immediately so I could order it from somewhere else. Amazon did so this time, insisting I would get confirmation of this from Bug. Naturally I didn’t receive anything from Bug, and still haven’t to this day. I’d advise anyone to stay away from them when ordering items on Amazon’s marketplace.
I then ordered the same Eee PC from Aria.co.uk, based down the road in Manchester. Within one hour of ordering I received an email stating my order had been dispatched. Now that’s better, but let’s not count those chickens.
The package arrived before 9:00am on Monday morning, the next working day. Superb! When I plugged it in however the Eee PC asked me for a password for Natalie Coward.
Ummmm?
That’s right, they’d sent me a returned stock item instead of a new one. One that I couldn’t use because it was password protected. This was someone else’s computer!
Luckily they were very fast at rectifying their mistake and turned up later that afternoon to make the switch. So, what about the Eee PC itself?
I’ll review that little sucker in the next few days after I’ve had a chance to use it some more, and I’ll even write the review with it… unless it annoys me too much.
You’ve probably seen the Pepperjam Network splashed all over the affiliate and money making blogs today. The reason is they’ve just launched their new Affiliate Network and are promoting it with a massive web blitz, that’s why they’ve ordered this ReviewMe review.
As affiliate networks go Pepperjam is one of the sleekest, sexiest designs around. I didn’t need to be asked twice to sign up, I mean, mentioning Star Trek on the front page made me leap right in 😉
One of the most important things with any affiliate network that wants to be successful is transparency with the affiliates. Pepperjam have made giant steps towards this by detailing every aspect of their business on their own network blog.
The network already has some fairly big merchants on board, including Blockbuster and the bloggers’ favourite ReviewMe.
When I signed up for the network as a publisher I was presented with the all too familiar US focused sign up forms. This is a pet hate of mine, but at least Pepperjam’s did have a stab at making it easier for non US based affiliates. The problem was though is that it forced me to enter a VAT number, which is apparently essential for EU based affiliates.
I’m not VAT registered, never have been. I don’t have a VAT number. However I couldn’t proceed without adding one, so I had to make one up. I’m sure there’s an element of illegality in doing that, but hey ho.
I’ll certainly give the network a chance, but at the moment it is very US focused. If it starts to creep into my site network and oust networks such as CJ and Affiliate Window I’ll let you know.
About Pepperjam:
Pepperjam is an industry leading full-service internet marketing agency offering marketing services and advanced technology in the areas of pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and online media planning and buying. The company was founded in 1999 by internet marketing expert, conference speaker, and published author Kristopher B. Jones. Pepperjam has received numerous awards and achievements, including recognition by Inc. Magazine for two consecutive years as one of the fastest growing privately-held businesses in the United States. Learn more at www.pepperjam.com.
Met Police Inspector Garry Weddell was released on bail after allegedly murdering his wife, only to go round and shoot his mother in-law with a shot gun.
Well done Gary!
This news comes from the BBC website.
If Gary hadn’t blown his own head off with the same shot gun, I’d be buying him a beer right now. You’re my kinda guy Gazza.
I’ve just had a shot of the new Lynx Dark Temptation sprayed directly into my face when my flatmate bought it and said “smell this, it’s like the old Brut aftershave”.
When it’s sprayed into your face you can’t really smell the similarities to Brut, nor can you see for several minutes afterwards.
However if I get half the luck with women the guy in the advert is getting I’ll be happy, though I wouldn’t one of my arms torn of. It’d halve my sex life.
Here’s my complaint letter for the CSA. I don’t imagine it will do any good, but what the hell, it’s good content for the website if nothing else.
CSA Complaints
Child Support Agency Birkenhead
Post Handling Section
2 Weston Road
Crewe
CW98 1ZR
Dear Sir,
I write this letter more in hope than in expectation but it is with some regret that I must complain about the actions, or rather inactions of the child support agency.
I don’t actually expect any coherent response, but I felt I should go through what passes for the ‘proper channels’ before escalating the situation to the public domain in a viral capacity.
I first telephoned the CSA and spoke to Shelly d’Coeur on January 9th 2007. I raised my concerns over the amount you had calculated that I should pay, with regards to the extra money I was already paying out because of my ex-wife. She assured me that my caseworker, Steve Gibson, would telephone me the next day.
He did not. Despite numerous efforts by myself to contact Steve Gibson throughout January and February he never answered his phone or returned any of my messages. Eventually, in March, Steve actually telephoned.
This was the one and only time I spoke to Steve Gibson.
Steve advised me that I should fill in a variations form and claim for travel expenses to see my children and for my rent in Manchester as it was work related. My house in Wales, which was jointly owned by my ex-wife and myself was still having its mortgage paid by myself. It was vacant at the time, and is still vacant today.
I filled in the form and returned it to Steve Gibson. I received a reply about the form, and then some weeks later in June I received a letter from Steve Gibson requesting my variations form, as he hadn’t received it. He had not only received it, but he had replied. This has been commented about on my website here: http://www.mrdaz.com/csa-given-more-power/
In fact you can read everything that has happened to date on the website here: http://www.mrdaz.com/category/csa/ – it chronicles the whole escapade, but doesn’t have all of the phone conversations yet…
The comments made on the reply stated that according to my ex-wife I returned home to work rather than to see my children, which wasn’t true, and that I couldn’t claim for rent on the flat where I work.
I have since learned from Nicky Tyler that the rules governing claiming for rental accommodation were changed in 2003, so when Steve Gibson advised me to claim for this rather than for my mortgage payments on our jointly owned property he was lying to me. Either that or he was incompetent in his job. Whichever the reason for his deceit, Nicky Tyler now advises me that as I have now only returned a completed variations form in November 2007 I cannot claim for any mortgage payments prior to November.
This again flies in the face of the lies Steve Gibson told me back in March. He said any payments made by me would be taken into consideration and would be backdated from my variations form.
In addition to this, my communication with the CSA has been hindered because of your refusal to speak to me over the phone. You have refused to do this because I record ALL of my phone calls. It is because I do this that you should be advised that I can prove everything I have said. Every phone conversation I have had with the CSA has been recorded. All of the broken promises, factual inaccuracies and lies you have told me have been recorded.
I imagine at this point that you’re feverishly routing around in your nostrils for that ‘hard-to-find’ bogie and wondering whether you can just toss this letter in the bin and make out that it never arrived. You can’t. It too has been posted on the website.
The last cock up from you was in October when you sent my correspondence to the wrong address, despite having the correct address on the system. I telephoned you to find out what was going on as you were supposed to be communicating with me via post but hadn’t contacted me. The compulsory deduction of earnings order you sent to my place of work was for too much, so I was forced to telephone you. I spoke to a chap named Ryan who admitted the most awful of incompetence on your part.
This phone call was the last straw and forced me to animate a video for it and upload it to YouTube. It has now received over 1,000 views: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g6vqCGhJBK4
As you have lied to me about what I can claim for and have ignored the fact that I have been paying a mortgage on a jointly owned property from the date of your claim through to and including July you are over charging me for child maintenance.
You were 2 months late in replying to me through Steve Gibson’s incompetence when I originally telephoned you on January 9th, and then Steve Gibson lied to me about what I could claim for.
The CSA are wholly responsible for the mistake. Had you returned my call and advised me correctly when I first contacted you this would have been dealt with in January 2007, rather than still be ongoing in January 2008.
I demand a written apology from you and for you to correctly alter my deduction of earnings order to take into consideration the mortgage payments I have made on our jointly owned property.
I had requested from my ex-wife that I rent out the vacant property to cover the mortgage so I could pay her what my children required, but she refused. She instead insisted that I continue paying for the vacant property. It was for this reason that I was forced to cease the mortgage payments, for which there is a repossession hearing scheduled for January 21st.
Please take note of my address when replying to this, it’s the one at the top of the page.
Yours very nearly bankrupt due to the CSA’s unrivalled incompetence,
Darren Craig Jamieson
If you’ve ever been a moderator on a forum, or like me actually own a few forums, you’ll be familiar with spam users who sign up and paste sales letters into their one and only post before they’re banned. I’ve often wondered however what possesses companies to employ people to do this. It creates nothing bad publicity for your business.
I had one such spam post on one of my forums recently, which was immediately removed. The post was for the company: TELCOM COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED (naturally their name was all in upper case).
The moron was trying to sell mobile phones for this supposed UK based company, yet the post was made from the United States at 3:00 am. They’re supposed address is: 36A GORING ROAD, GORING BY SEA, WORTHING, WEST SUSSEX, BN12 4AD (again, written all in upper case, what an intellect).
If TELCOM COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED is actually a real company I’d advise anyone to stay away from them. Their marketing techniques are pure spam, therefore their business ethics must be equally low.
And just for the spam bots out there, the automated ones, here are the contact details of the low life who spammed up my forum:
Intrested buyers can contact me direct via:
tltd@ommail.com
telcomltdukoo1@yahoo.com
MSN.. telcomltduk1@hotmail.com
Wayne bruce
07024 074 657
Go on spam bots, do your thing and index the tosser.
Incidentally ‘Wayne Bruce’, adding “God Bless” at the end of your spam isn’t going to tempt people to contact you. The UK isn’t as stupidly obsessed with religion as your usual shit for brains customer.
God bless you Batman!
You might remember this photo of American Pole Vaulter Alison Stokke that I put up on the site back in June last year.
Thanks to this photo I actually rank #1 in Google for an image search for Alison Stokke, which is bringing me an awful lot of traffic. She’s a good looking lady and has a lot of fans. Sadly though, that traffic has also brought the leechers. This guy has leeched the image from my site, stealing my bandwidth, causing me to have to block the image with the htaccess file.
If anyone is thinking of stealing images, don’t! I could have replaced the image with something very unpleasant, which would have given that chap the fright of his life. If you want to use an image you’ve found on someone else’s website the correct protocol is to upload the image to your OWN website and then give a link back to the original site.
Do not steal!
