….and get a new laptop. Which I find hard to believe I had to do considering the previous one only lasted a couple of years.

If you’ve been paying close attention you’ll remember I alluded to having laptop problems after I finally got my broadband connection sorted out. My keyboard and touchpad stopped working a couple of weeks ago and my IT guy lent me an external keyboard so I could get my essay written. I left my laptop with him this week to see if he could sort the problems out for me. The touchpad still doesn’t work but the keyboard does, although he’s not sure how long that would last. So rather than spend more money trying to fix the old laptop I just went out and bought a new one. I would rather buy a brand new one than throw money after an old one that still had software problems; the touchpad never did work properly, I couldn’t use my old Office 2000 and I couldn’t install certain applications, like the software from my Nokia phone. I also couldn’t open jpeg attachments. After I paid £50 to get the broadband connection sorted out, I wasn’t going to throw more money at it and be without a proper laptop for goodness knows how long while it was getting fixed. Now more than ever I need a laptop for my coursework.

I’ve stuck with the devil I know and I’ve bought another Dell. The previous one was a Compaq, which I won’t be buying again. Them or their sister brand Hewlett Packard. Do you remember the problem I had with the intermittent charging of my battery and I had to threaten to take PC World to court because they wouldn’t accept responsibility? Even though it was within the time of the warranty? Nah, I’m better off without it. I had since looked up any info on-line and I found a techy forum which said that Compaq laptops where renowned for batteries which didn’t charge properly.

I promised myself that after the way PC World behaved with the battery I wouldn’t buy from them again, so I’ve bought this Dell from Tesco’s. I’ve never bought an electrical item from a supermarket before, much less a laptop. But after extensive research I’ve found that Tesco’s were selling the 1545 with a dual core processer for £399, while Dell’s own website had it for £449. Plus I took advantage of their promotion and doubled up my Tesco clubcard vouchers and got an extra £40 off. Tell you what, these clubcard vouchers really come in handy. Remember I had used them previously to get money off my course?

Hopefully now all my computer problems are resolved and I can just get on with things. Wish me luck.

The saga with my suspender belt is, would you believe it, still ongoing. After two weeks they still haven’t been delivered to me.

When they hadn’t arrived in time to see Thursday’s client last week, I wrote them a polite email asking when I might expect them. No response.

When they still hadn’t arrived this past Saturday I called their sales line. The call goes straight to voicemail, not even a personal one, an automated one generated by the service provider BT. Remember, this is the number on their website, this is their sales line. I left a message.

When I got in from my volunteer job yesterday I thought at least there’d be some response to either my email or phone call, it being the start of the business week and all that. There was no response to either.

By this time I’m seeing red. I called them again yesterday, again reaching the BT automated voicemail. I left a message letting them know of my displeasure at not only at the suspenders not being delivered within 3-5 working days as I paid for, but that nobody had the time or decency to get back to me.

I then backed it up with an email – I’ve learnt to put everything in writing where I can. I mentioned that as a consumer I wasn’t very happy at their lack of response to a customer query and that if my goods cannot be delivered then I would like my money back. I even bluffed and blustered a bit and said that I was proficient in consumer law and that I was well aware of my rights. Not totally untrue; in my other job I have learnt a little bit about consumer law. For starters they broke their end of our agreement by not being able to deliver goods within the time they promised.

Guess what? Within an hour of my phone call and email I received both a phone call and an email from Pandora’s Choice, telling me that the suspender belt in my size and colour isn’t actually in stock and won’t be for another two weeks!!

To say I was annoyed is putting it mildly. No where on the site did it say they were out of stock. They took the money out of my paypal account and made no mention that they didn’t actually have what I’d just bought.

I’ve written back to them and told them that what they should’ve done was initially notify me that they were out of stock, not charge me until the sussies were actually back in stock like some other websites do and also give me the choice of whether or not I would like to wait a month for them, or go elsewhere. I’ve also told them that I would like my money back in full, including the postage and that if it doesn’t appear in my paypal account within the next 24-48hrs, then I will have no choice but to take things further. I have no problem doing that, as those long time readers of my blog will remember the saga with PC World.

It’s a good thing the weather is hot at the moment and clients don’t mind my not wearing my stockings and sussies. My feet are always pedicured and toes immaculately polished. I do have my pvc ones, but they have a couple of small buckles on the front with a zip, and they aren’t the most comfortable when lying on top of a client (or vice versa) and I’ve had to take them off during a booking.

I’ve seen the same suspenders on a few other sites so I’m off to order some now. Hopefully they’ll be here by the end of the week.

But what a way to run a business!!

(Edit – I’ve found a site called Stockings Direct and ordered my sussies. When I click on my size – 24 and colour – black, it says they have one in stock for immediate dispatch. Watch this space.)

Yes, in all the furore of it being the week before Christmas and going for interviews, I forgot to mention that PC World have given in and sent me a new battery for my laptop. Not only that, I also received a cheque for £53; £35 for filing the complaint and £18 for all the recorded letters I sent. SJ says if I was really mean I should’ve made them pay interest as well. Shame I didn’t think of that, but I reckon they learnt their lesson.

I may just be a little person in their eyes, but because of their totally arrogant behaviour I’ll no longer be shopping there. I’m in the market for a wireless printer as my Dell is giving me grief. My partner wanted to go to PC World. I told him not on your life. Too many other websites, let alone stores, to choose from.

Consider me a satisfied customer.

Those who read my blog regularly may remember that I treated myself to a new laptop for Christmas. It’s a Compaq Presario CQ60. I knew I should’ve stuck to a Dell.

Typically, 6 months in the battery started playing up. When unplugged for a while it doesn’t always charge when plugged back in. So in July I took it back to PCWorld and they fobbed me off, saying it wasn’t part of the manufacture’s gaurantee as it wasn’t part of the computer!! Okay, I thought. The computer cannot work without the battery when unplugged so how it isn’t part of the warranty I fail to understand. And also seeing as my year’s warranty is with PCWorld and not Compaq, I knew their excuse was a load of poo. So I left and came back home. At the store was no time to argue.

The next day I went on-line and got the number for Consumer Direct. SJ had told me about them and I knew they could help. Sure enough they were wonderful. They informed me that I was well within my rights to ask for a new battery as the computer was less than a year old and that I should write to PC World quoting the Sales of Goods Act 1979 and that I’m aware of my entitlement to a new battery. I was advised to give them 10 days to respond and if they didn’t I was to write to them again, giving them a further 7 days with the promise (not a threat) of taking them to court if I don’t receive either a response or a new battery.

I have already written to them once, to which PCWorld failed to respond. So I sent a follow-up (registered) letter last Thursday and they have a until the end of the week to respond to me one way or another.

Isn’t it funny how these companies think that once you’ve bought goods from them, they no longer have to respond to the consumer when written to. I suppose they’re hoping I’ll just give up and go away. They don’t know me too well, do they?

I’ll be interested to see how this goes. Stay tuned.