My Tweets for the week 2011-03-20

by Ian Posted on March 20, 2011
  • I've set up a website to keep everyone up to date with the latest news about Dunstable Music Centre http://www.dunstablemusiccentre.co.uk #
  • RT @Drakeproperty: Dunstable – Eight Bells, 121 Westfield Road, Beds, LU6 1DP – http://eepurl.com/cY2u6 – Hmm, looks like the local is going #
  • Waiting for npower to visit for annual boiler service and safety check. Sometime between 9am and 5pm. Not heard anything yet. #
  • npower engineer arrived – we don't service that type, they'll have to cancel your contract and reimburse your money. What a waste of a day. #
  • Just received 3rd notification of the music service fee rise and 2nd of the consultation http://bit.ly/hncMLD. Glad they're saving money #
  • DJ Chris Moyles sets Radio 1 record – http://bbc.in/dTLpeK #r1moremoyles over £1 million raised #
  • BBC News – Major spam network silenced mid-campaign http://bbc.in/fE9N33 #
  • Who else learned to play recorder at school, and who is still playing it..how many years later? #
  • A letter written by Ian Smith to Edwina Grant who is the Director of Children’s Services at Central Bedfordshire Council. http://www.fbym.org.uk #
  • My picture of tonight's perigee moon http://bit.ly/gJMt8F #supermoon #
  • Contemplating going out early tomorrow with my camera, possibly up to Ashridge. I have a look to see what the forecast is/ #
  • OK, that should have been 'I'll have a look at the forecast'; I have and it looks cold. I'll probably go anyway. #
  • Went out with my camera to Ashridge this morning. It was a bit chilly. I saw deer, heard woodpeckers, but didn't get any good photos. #

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npower hometeam 50 boiler care flexi

by Ian Posted on March 17, 2011

Just over a month ago, we signed up to npower’s ‘hometeam 50 boiler care flexi’ boiler and central heating cover for £15 a month.

Within a few days, they contacted me to arrange the initial inspection and today was the day agreed.

The engineer turned up and I showed him into the living room. He looked at the fire and said, ‘there’s the fire, where’s the boiler?’. I told him it was a back boiler. ‘Oh’ he says, ‘we don’t service back boilers with that type of fire’ indicating the gas fire on the front.

So, that had to be the shortest boiler service in history. He check the air vent wasn’t blocked and the chimney and that was it.

He filled in on their system to have my contract cancelled and my money refunded.

I’ve just been looking again at the T&C for the contract and and section 7.3 under the elegibilty section is a gem:

  • 7.3 We may not accept on to a Product some Boiler makes and models. We will notify You of this either when You request the Product or when We are required to carry out Work under this Agreement.

So basically I took a day off work for absolutely nothing! If they had asked me for the boiler model, surely they could have told me up front they cannot service it.

For anyone wondering if they would be in the same situation, I have a Potterton Housewarmer 55 gas fired back boiler and a Potterton Presence 2 Inset Decorative Gas Fire.

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Update on the future of Central Bedfordshire Music Service

by Ian Posted on March 15, 2011

Imagine you take over a company making widgets. The typical market price for widgets is £50. You have many customers who buy a widget every few months at your selling price of £40. The problem is it is costing you £65 to make your widgets. After a business review, you decide to increase your selling price to £65, you give your customer base a couple of weeks to cancel their regular purchase or accept the price rise.

The obvious outcome, is that your customers will take their business elsewhere, rather than paying over the market price for your goods.

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Update on Dunstable Music Centre

by Ian Posted on March 13, 2011

It’s now looking like the plan is to close the music centres, probably at the end of the summer term.

Jo and I hope to find out more on Tuesday evening; we have been invited to attend a meeting as parent stakeholders.

I have put up a new website, http://www.dunstablemusiccentre.co.uk, with the intention of keeping all interested parties as up to date with information as possible.

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My Tweets for the week 2011-03-06

by Ian Posted on March 6, 2011
  • Brr, just re-lit the boiler. Realised it was out when I started getting cold. #
  • Going back to playing trumpet at Dunstable Music Centre on Saturday, so given it a clean and practice. My lips ache now, must practice often #
  • New Raymond E. Feist book "A Kingdom Besieged" arrived today, already started reading and am hooked. Might finish it later tonight. #
  • Just finished "A Kingdom Besieged". Brilliant! Could see one of the twists coming, but not the others. Series is really building to a climax #
  • Why can't they just leave Bank Holidays alone http://bbc.in/hZbBU5 Add another if they want to, but leave May Day alone. #
  • Microsoft are trying to get usage of IE6 to less than 1% worldwide ie6countdown.com. #ie6countdown Use a better browser eg IE8 or Firefox #
  • Worst fears realised. Central Bedfordshire to put up music lesson and music centre fees by 70%. This will make it too expensive to continue. #

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