Monthly Archives: January 2010

Complaints, Rants

Carphone Warehouse Manager tells woman ‘sweaty ears caused fault in phone’

18 Comments

I’ve had my problems with Carphone Warehouse in the past, as I mentioned here. I wasn’t expecting so many people however to come forward and post comments about they feel they have been ripped off by Carphone Warehouse.

My post has attracted over 80 comments, some from angry customers and some from angry Carphone Warehouse employees. This woman (Claire Robinson), a Carphone Warehouse employee, even pretended to be a customer to try and fool others into thinking Carphone Warehouse were a company that offered great customer service. The complaints against Carphone Warehouse on this website suggest otherwise.

I have now been contacted by another disgruntled Carphone Warehouse customer who has been told that her phone is faulty because of her husband’s sweaty ears!

Have a read of this response to a complaint email from Carphone Warehouse:

Dear Mr ******

Thank you for your email.

I’m sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the repair you have received and the decision that has been made to the fault with the handset.

When a mobile gets wet, whether it’s from precipitation, humidity or any type of liquid, it causes corrosion to the electronic circuits. This gets worse with time. Often, when the mobile dries out, it will work for a short period of time, anything from a day to several months, but eventually stops working for good.

A fault like this often happens when the mobile hasn’t been in obvious contact with liquids. This is because liquid damage can be caused by a variety of factors, and often without you being aware of it.

Important information

Liquid damage is something that is not covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. Even if you wanted to pay for us to repair your mobile, we won’t because we cannot guarantee how long the mobile will work for if it was damaged by a liquid. If you have insurance for your mobile, you should find out if you’re covered for liquid damage. If you don’t have insurance, then you may have to buy another mobile.

If you’d like another second opinion we would advise you to contact that manufacturer directly on 0845 045 5555. Taking all this into account we will not be able to action your request of repairing the handset free of charge.

I apologise I can not offer a more favourable response. If you need any more help please call our Customer Support team on 0870 087 0168, between 8 am and 8pm Monday – Friday, 9am – 8pm Saturday and 10am – 5pm Sunday.

Regards

Kelly Cole

The customer was told that the sweat from her husband’s ear could have been the cause of the fault to her phone, and they will not be repairing it for her.

So, be warned that if you buy a phone, answering it and holding it up to your ear could invalidate the warranty with Carphone Warehouse. This is almost as good as when Carphone Warehouse told me that their returns policy didn’t apply to phones.

Classic stuff.

Internet, Rants

Student Property Shop protest

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You might remember the posts I made a while back about Tariq Zaman and his Student Property Company in Leeds. It seems that students in Leeds are still upset over the practises of Tariq Zaman and his company, and there is a protest planned for this weekend on Saturday January 30th, between 1pm and 3pm. The protest takes place outside the Student Property Shop, and details can be found on Facebook.

The Facebook page reads:

Finally we have some progress in the fight against Tariq Zaman and his cronies…

According to BBC Watchdog:

‘Tariq Zaman has been named as a HMO licence holder for 18 properties owned by his family. Due to the prosecutions, the council has taken the view that he is no longer a fit and proper person and we are now taking steps to remove his licence completely.

Now is the time to step up and the pressure to tell Mr Zaman to return the thousands of pounds students have reported he’s stolen from them and to alert other students before they sign with either him. Mr Zaman had links with Providence Properties which closed down last year, and the shop front was taken over by the Student Property Shop.

SO COME MAKE SOME NOISE OUTSIDE THE STUDENT PROPERTY SHOP ON SATURDAY AND SHOW THAT THE STUDENTS OF LEEDS HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE FIGHT AGAINST TARIQ ZAMAN.

And of course, invite all your friends!!!

Internet, Rants

HDNL employee to customers: You are all morons

40 Comments

Since my post just over two years ago about how a HDNL driver threw a parcel over  a gate, into a puddle, the post has received over 250 comments from angry HDNL customers, and arrogant, racist drivers who work for Home Delivery Network and insist on insulting their customers. The latest comment is by no means the worst, but the abrupt way that the imbecile chose to call all HDNL customers morons in his opening tirade is indicative of the attitude of the company towards its customers.

I particularly like the badly written line that reads: “Get off you fat arses and walk to the fucking shops”

The comment can be read below, and here, and you can read the original post (with the 250+ comments) here.

HDNL Employee
hdnl.co.uk
a@b.com
86.159.220.35
Submitted on 2010/01/23 at 1:39am

You are all morons. Do not use a 7am-7pm delivery company if you are going to be at work. I got an idea for you… Get off you fat arses and walk to the fucking shops…? Makes sense. If you order something be in for delivery! Hell its not hard people. What are you gaining bitching on this website? Why not just pick up a Thompson Local and ring the depot if you have a problem?? HDNL has a 99% delivery sucess rate, and with customers like Amazon moving more parcels through our network than in the past due to failures by other companies its hard to believe we’re as bad as you lot make out.

General

1987 Ford Capri

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capri

I dug out this old photo recently and had to upload it here. It was taken somewhere around 2004 and shows a 1987 Ford Capri that I bought, unseen, on eBay for £1,100. It was in excellent condition when I bought it, but alas due to daily commuting from Cwmbran to Bristol (around a 70 mile round trip) it didn’t last too long before it needed repairs that were too much compared to its value.

It’s still a great looking car though and maybe one day I’ll get one again. Though, if I do buy another Capri it will be a 3ltr rather than the 1.6ltr that I had here. I might also go for Professionals silver, instead of white… or maybe one of each.

Complaints, Rants

Laithwaites Complaints

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This complaint with Laithwaites started as just a mild niggle, and one that I thought had been cleared up quickly and effectively by the Laithwaites customer services department… alas I was wrong.

I ordered a case of Spanish red wines before Christmas, and it arrived (via HDNL would you believe) in good time. I was impressed, and a little shocked. When I tried to open the fourth bottle, removing the foil cover, I found that the cork was damaged. There was only half a cork, it was on its side and the win in the bottle had been exposed to the elements since it had been bottled – it smelled very bad.

I phoned Laithwaites customer services team and was mildly surprised to find that they were willing to deal with it very quickly, offering to send me a £10 gift voucher for the bottle of wine. The chap on the phone said it would be with me by the end of the week.

A couple of weeks past, and several decent looking email offers from Laithwaites came and went while I was still waiting for my £10 voucher (which I would have used on one of the offers), to the point where I phoned them on January 5th to ask where my £10 voucher had gone.

Here is the phone call in full, together with the relevant section from the previous call in December where I WAS told that my voucher would be posted.

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Laithwaites Customer Service

In this call I am told once again that my compensation voucher would be posted to me, and yet, 10 days later, still no voucher.

To be honest, with Laithwaites customer services being so lackadaisical I’m not that keen on ordering from them again, even if this £10 voucher that I was promised before Christmas does eventually show up.

I paid for 13 bottles in December and have only been able to drink 12 – I still have the damaged bottle as evidence, or for emergencies should the alcohol levels in the house become dangerously low ;).

Has anyone else had any problems with Laithwaites, or had to make Laithwaites complaints?

The A-Team

A-Team movie trailer

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This is the official 2010 trailer for the A-Team movie, and I just wet myself when I saw it. As a big A-Team fan I’ll be seeing this film, and hope to wangle my way into the UK premier, but until then I’ll have to make do with this trailer… and what a trailer.

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General

New Year’s Resolutions for 2009, how did I do?

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It’s a little late this year, but I thought it time to tie up my New Year’s Resolutions for 2009 to see how well I did. Here are the resolutions in case you want catch up, and here’s the success, or lack of it.

1. Buy a house
This one’s a check! Bought a house in Manchester in March and have been living there since then.

2. Clear my bank loan
Another score. Cleared this loan around the same that I bought my house, so now I don’t have any more debts draining my finances each month.

3. Don’t buy a new car (unless it’s a DB9)
Another success. I have managed to avoid buying a new car, or a second hand one, and am driving the same Z3 that I’ve had since 2004 (even though it has been stolen once).

4. Be more outspoken on MrDaz.com
Things have been quiet on here lately, but due to content on other websites I have managed to garner another two solicitor’s letters for different incidents. Good stuff!

5. Invest more
I did buy some shares at the beginning of the year. They haven’t done too well, but I still have them and hope that this particular bank makes an upward turn before too long.

6. Don’t have any fault (or non fault) accidents
Success! I didn’t crash once in 2009. I made it a whole year without hitting another car, inanimate object or pedestrian. Go me!

7. Go to the premiere of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
This one was another big check. I attended the premier and the press conference with Megan Fox and Michael Bay. That was pretty damn good.

8. Get my back sorted
This was sort of a success. I saw a surgeon and found that I also have a slipped disc, but an operation would mean going through my stomach due to my steel spine. The surgeon advised I leave it as most slipped discs get better, and it has slightly. I still can’t walk very far, but it’s better than it was in March.

9. Get in shaped (at least try)
The key word here is ‘try’. No, I didn’t get back in shape, but I did ‘some’ exercise. I’m chalking this one down as a success too, but there’s more to come in 2010.

10. Cook more
The final resolution was also a success. I pretty much cooked something from scratch every month, which is about 12 times more than the previous year, so I’m happy with that.

That’s 10 successful resolutions. I have another 10 for 2010, and I’ll reveal those shortly.