Your ideas

Why when you subscribe to one catalog that comes in the post do you end up with umpteen others from other Companies? I recently got a catalog from ‘Fur, Feather and Fin’. This company sells, among other things, guns for shooting animals with and clothing with real fur! Both things I am strongly against. And where did they get my contact details from?

I purchased two offers in a promotion in the October issue of The Oldie Magazine – “Give 12 issues of The Oldie for just £24” – quoting SP1018 and using the e-mail address shown. Six days before the offer closing date my bank account was debited with two amounts of £42.50, not £24. I queried this and in several e-mails was told:
1) I used the wrong promotion code;
2) I should have ordered three subscriptions;
3) Would I send them a photograph of the offer page?;
4) This promotion code is only valid to customers who order online;
5) I was not eligible for the promotion as I paid through a third party company.

A letter to the Editor on 20th November did not receive the courtesy of a reply.

I paid using a standard on-line system. There were no mentions on the promotion page concerning the number of subscriptions or the method of payment and if I made a mistake in filling in the on-line form it would have been obvious to their staff that I was applying for the £24 promotion, otherwise it would not have been a promotion.
It is extraordinary that I have to send a national magazine a scan of one of their published pages.

Have others had similar experiences with either The Oldie Magazine or other promotions?

Baxi outsource their servicing costs to one insurance provider, who in the last 24 months, has increased their costs by 31%. The insurance provider would seem to be independent of Baxi and to have a complete monopoly of Baxi’s servicing costs. So you have a Baxi bolier serviced by Baxi engineers, whose servicing tariffs are costed by an outsouced provider. This seems completely absurd. With costs increasing alarmingly, why would we buy another Baxi boiler as the product and service are inextricably linked? When I phoned Baxi’s Customer Services Department they understood the dilemma but asked me to call again to speak to their Customer Relations Department where I was left waiting for 25 minutes with no one answering the call – great customer relations!! Half way through this call, a computer activated voice asked me for my phone number to call back which it then refused to accept – yes I am very frustrated! But I am even more annoyed by seeing my annual boiler servicing costs increase by over 31%.

Does everyone want household full of items that work through WIFI and connect to each other through a router, voice command or a smart phone? What are the dangers that others might use these connections for nefarious purposes and gain access to personal data? Do these fears outweigh the advantages of the convenience offered? How reliable are they and how might they malfunction? Could they act without the owners consent if programmed incorrectly? Can Which explore this connected environment and form an opinion on these things? Can we debate that here?

Charging mobile phones more efficiently, not directly from the mains, means that you will get a better charge, and it will last longer per charge.
The reason being that converter technology from mains to direct current is not very good, irrespective of which manufacturer makes your phone.
So, rather than plug it directly in to a mains charger, instead charge it from your car’s accessory socket or charge a separate battery bank from your car’s accessory socket, then use it to charge-up your phone. It also helps to keep your leads and sockets scrupulously clean, with a squirt of contact cleaner now and again to remove all the built-up dirt on the metallic socket/plug parts. With dirty electrical contacts, the charge has to ‘jump the gap’ and the built-up resistance means that the power has trouble getting in to the phone, so the voltage shows a false peak and switches off the charging process prematurely. Resulting in less power/ charge getting in to the battery. So, by keeping every contact clean and free of fluff and other every day debris, you can get a better charge/discharge so batteries will last longer and your phone will stay charged for longer. My previous phone( iPhone 4 ) with it’s original battery lasted me until August this year, by non-mains direct charging. I decided that ,after 7 years of continuous use, I need the extra resolution of the later SE model for video etc.I still have it, and it still works ok, much to the surprise of my local Apple store staff, some of whom had never seen an iPhone 4, let alone one in ‘showroom’ condition in it’s original case with it’s original battery. Hope this might help some of you. Cheers Ian

My SP3 type cover failed after update 1803. MS website has hundreds of complaints, this a common issue and known to MS; are MS liable for the issue they, in my opinion, have caused?.

They are quick enough to take instant payment from your credit card. Why am I waiting 18 days for a refund showing on my paypal account to be credited to Amex. Why is it routine to wait 10 days?