Recently we went away on a short break to Devon. We don’t normally go away in this country but my girlfriend thought it might make a nice change.

Big mistake. It was so bad we came home early. What really pissed me off was there was no mobile phone service where we were staying and to get a signal you had to drive 5 miles! I wasn’t bothered about the phone but I needed to use the data. We had almost a full choice of networks to choose from, O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Three. None of them worked.

Now I have never been to a foreign country where we couldn’t get mobile phone service. Even in the remotest of places where you wouldn’t expect to get it we did. So why can’t the UK networks get their act together and give us what we are paying for? A working mobile phone service.

Well Talk Talk have finally called the dogs off today. I was going to wait until it went to court but under pressure from my girlfriend I called Talk Talk customer service and explained again in detail the problem that they continued to bill me for broadband even though I didn’t have with them and to look on the notes on my account to see I was due a credit.

Well they looked, agreed and said a credit would be raised in 72 hours. Well I’ve heard this before and that didn’t work but this morning we got a call from Talk Talk to say the credit had gone through, my account balance was Zero and they would contact the debt collection agency and tell them the same.

Why they couldn’t have done this before 18 months ago I don’t know but thankfully they are out of my life for good.

I’m being harassed by TalkTalk who told me my account was settled nearly 18 months ago have decided to send me a Final Demand for money I don’t even owe them.

This letter is notification of our intention to pass your account to a licensed debt collection agancy, in order to pursue payment of your final outstanding balance, if we do not receive payment or a response within the next 7 days.

Your credit rating may already be affected through non-payment of your bills.

Nice! So you lot of aresholes are going to set the dogs on me and ruin my credit rating because you are so incompetent to deal with even the simplest of matters.

Well I did respond and explained that I was led to believe this was all sorted out on 21st December 2006 and if anything they owe me money to be told yes there is a note on your account for a credit to be raised but it doesn’t look like it has been done. In order for this to happen I would have to be put through to customer services where I was promptly cut off.

I don’t even have a direct number for customer services to contact them. At this rate I will be attending court as the debt collectors can go to hell!

From Yahoo News

MacNN reports that Greenpeace is planning a rally during Apple’s launch of the iPhone in Europe to protest the use of alleged toxic chemicals in the device, including brominated flame retardants.

The environmental campaigners argue that tests conducted by its UK labs reveal the presence of PVCs and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), both potentially dangerous compounds, which although within the legal limits, the use of which could have been avoided.

Zeina Alhajj, campaign co-ordinator for Greenpeace, told EE Times “The iPhone is a unique product and for us it is a missed opportunity for Apple to combine the innovation of the product with a green performance. If Apple really wants to reinvent the phone, it needs to design out all hazardous substances and materials from its handsets and peripherals”.

Apple aren’t doing anything illegal. They are already committed to eliminate the use of PVC and brominated flame retardants in its products by the end of next year. Why pick on the iPhone? Because they know all the hype around the iPhone will give them publicity.

Get a life Greenpeace! That’s what I say.

The new smoking ban in England came into effect on Sunday 1st July 2007 and now it is illegal to smoke in public buildings and workplaces.

Now a lot of businesses, pubs and restaurants worried about loosing trade have been building semi-enclosed outside areas complete with electric or gas heaters where smokers can go in order to combat this.

Considering how our Government is urging us all to cut down on energy usage and reduce carbon omissions haven’t they just added to the problem?

By kicking the poor old smoker outside we now have many thousands more heaters trying to keep the smoking areas warm creating unnecessary green house gases.

I bet they never thought about that when they introduced it.