Bob de Bilde gets his 15 minutes of fame...

on IS A C*NT...

http://isacunt.blogspot.com/2010/01/bob-de-bilde.html

Thanks to GOT & the crew

in reference to: Bob De Bilde (view on Google Sidewiki)

My Disgust at Blogger

Blogger has marked one of my blogs (Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies) as spam...

It will be deleted within 20 days if I do not lodge a review

WTF Blogger... I am seriously considering moving all my blogs to the more versatile Wordpress !

I am reposting this on ALL my other open blogs using the sidewikibar thingy!!!

in reference to: My Sony Ericsson Sucks: My Disgust at Blogger (view on Google Sidewiki)

FURY AT DANISH STORE NETTO 'SUPER K' 70P CIDER

ANTI-binge drinking campaigners have slammed a cut-price strong cider deal that could see people getting drunk for just £2.

#bodycopy a { font-size: 12px; } Budget supermarket chain Netto sparked fury by pricing the 8.4% alcohol cider at less than 70p a can.

The bargain basement offer is £2.79 for four 440ml cans of K cider, which it describes as: “The ultimate in quality.”

The Government wants the price of booze in shops raised to 50p per unit and Lib Dem health spokeswoman Sandra Gidley backs the plan.

She said: “This kind of deal is damaging the work we are trying to do. We need to get real about the problem of binge-drinking.

“This makes a mockery of what we are trying to achieve. When it is cheaper than water or fruit juice it is easy to see how people get into such difficulties with drink.”

Don Shenker, of Alcohol Concern, said: “Supermarkets which sell alcohol at pocket money prices are contributing to the problems which alcohol can cause.”

A Netto spokesman said the chain “remains committed to driving a culture of sensible drinking”.

Big Stores conceal greed within the VAT increase

The VAT-freeze illusion: Stealth rises cancel out stores' big tax promise

High Street stores have imposed thousands of price rises ahead of the VAT increase that comes into effect tomorrow.

Some of them claim to be protecting shoppers against the increase – but in recent weeks they have put up the prices of many products that carry VAT.

Leaked figures show that stores such as Tesco, Boots and Morrisons have increased prices on a raft of products, including pet food, confectionery, and beauty products.

The Government is pushing VAT back up from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent on New Year's Day.

Chancellor Alistair Darling cut the sales tax last December on the basis that it would reduce prices, so encouraging people to spend and help the nation out of recession.

But there are mounting suspicions that retailers have used the one year reduction to boost profits at the expense of shoppers.

Many stores did not pass on the cut in lower prices, while others made only temporary reductions.

All the major supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons – have enjoyed bumper profits in the past year at a time when some customers have struggled to put food on the table.

Restoring VAT to 17.5 per cent will bring in more than £11billion to Government coffers this year.

Tesco is advertising a £12million VAT freeze, so apparently offering a helping hand to hard-pressed shoppers. It also promoted 5,000 price cuts in the run-up to Christmas

But the Daily Mail has learned that the chain increased the price of 1,577 popular items – some 6.3 per cent of its range – in December.

The Tesco increases included 500 items that are subject to VAT including bedding, cooking equipment and crockery.

Tesco has been tempting customers by doubling the points offered with its Clubcard loyalty scheme, which offers money-off vouchers and other benefits.

But an industry insider said: 'The figures show Tesco putting up the cost of Christmas to compensate for VAT and possibly, to compensate for the money it has given away by doubling Clubcard points earlier in the year.'

Sales tax: The Chancellor cut prices last December to encourage spending

Boots says it is not introducing a blanket VAT price rise on New Year's Day.

But the industry data shows it has increased the price of more than 1,500 product lines by an average of 2 per cent in the last 12 weeks.

Morrisons, which is not claiming a VAT freeze, increased the prices of 400 products earlier this month by an average of 2 per cent.

Tesco insisted its price changes had 'no link whatsoever' to the VAT increase.

It said: 'We work hard to keep prices down for customers which is why we have frozen VAT on thousands of products at the lower rate of 15 per cent. This is on top of 5,000 price cuts over the last two weeks with average reductions of over 10 per cent.

'A small proportion of products will have increased in price but this is either because of special offers coming to an end or an increase in the cost price.

'Many more prices have fallen than have increased and overall consumers continue to get a great deal.'

Boots said: 'We believe our customers want great value at this time of the year and we are offering a fantastic January sale with discounts of up to 50 per cent off a wide selection of products.

'We are also continuing to benchmark our prices against other retailers and regularly reduce prices to ensure our offering is competitive. For example, we are lowering the prices of over 200 items in January.'

Morrisons said: 'Throughout the year prices vary, reflecting costs and promotional changes across the weekly shop. However, at Morrisons we aim to offer great value for money.

'For example, between October and December we have reduced the prices of over 700 health and beauty products.'

Sainsburys: The bigger they are....

Well after 4 months of running this blog I have a gripe that I can be arsed to post.

I purchased a pair of trousers under the Sainsburys own brand "TU" the day before Christmas eve. They were brown velvet and the collar on the hanger said 38" R. At £20 they seemed good value for money.

Perfect thought I, and like the sad git I am, I wrapped them up to bolster the dwindling presents quota that one gets with age.

Friday morning. Christmas day. I opened my handful of gifts.

The pack of socks and boxers and another pair of slippers off the wife, the dvd from my one son and an Aston Villa tee-shirt from my daughter. My final present was a pair of trousers with a "TU" label and a 38" R tag on the hanger..... and a 44" S label on the plastic tag...

SHIT!!!

Today I searched high and low or the receipt which was nowhere to be found. In fact it was probably in a black bin liner soaked in sprout juice and M&S turkey gravy...

So I stood patiently at the customer service desk. Three tills but only one staff member on surely their biggest 'returns' days o the year, and after a wait of nearly 30 minutes, I got my turn.

"I purchased these trousers on Wednesday and they don't seem to have been marked correctly."

"Do you have your receipt?"

"No"

"Well in that case we cannot offer you a refund only an exchange of a gift card"

Unaware of the sale of goods act (i.e. If goods are not fit for purpose, due to damage, fault or incorrect marking, then a full refund is required by law) I accepted that offer.

Worse was to follow, as the trousers scanned at £10 (in the sale which started today), and she started to do the refund.

"They cost me £20 not £10"

"Well since you don't have your receipt, we can only give you the scan price"

"If I took a £20 bottle of scotch and only gave the tiller £10, you'd have me carted off as a thief"

"Company policy, you don't have your receipt"

I then went to the clothing section to try to find a similar pair with the correct size, for an exchange. I asked an assistant who told me that there were no trousers in my size. Furthermore, she said there were no men's trousers added to the sale from their stock, but the computer prices were changed centrally.

Armed with this information, I returned to customer services only to find the brick wall was still intact and the staff no more cooperative. If anything, they were even more in-cooperative.

I decided to give the trousers away rather than lose a tenner, but how dare they try to STEAL £10 off me, after all the money I spend there weekly!

This is not the end of this, Sainsburys!

BOB SAYS...

"A very merry Christmas and a happy new year to everybody and may next year bring joy and happiness to you"

Bob de Bilde (aka Bill de Dashe)

Don't tolerate poor retail staff - replace them while you can!

This is a message for all the retailers out there in the high street that persist in allowing shocking levels of customer service and staff attitude towards customers.

Memo

To: Retailers in the High Street
From: Disillusioned Customer

The recession has firmly taken hold of retail high streets everywhere. Many retailers have unfortunately gone out of business, releasing many good staff into the marketplace.
When was the last time you (as a retailer) actually looked at the quality of your staff?
When did you last reprimand one of your till operators for being rude to customers, disrespectful to their needs or even worse adopting a real "don't give a sh*t" attitude?
Let me guess....probably never!

Many retail staff really can't be bothered and are just going through the motions at work to receive their wages at the end of the week. They don't care about the service they give and (seemingly) even less about the customers they serve. This is costing retailers like you, business, and driving people further online - me included!!

Why don't actually take an interest in improving the quality and calibre of your staff? You have the opportunity to recruit some good people in the market at the moment - good skilled retail staff, that actually want to work and serve your customers to the best of their ability.

It isn't even hard to recruit these people - a simple poster in the window is probably all you need as a retailer at the moment - word will quickly get around.

I know, getting rid of existing staff isn't pleasant and takes time, but just think of the upside. You will actually have staff that want to work in your shop, and engage with your customers in the right way, to encourage them to return and spend money in your store next time.

So my message is a simple one.

If you have staff that can't be bothered, and are consistently underperforming, then make sure you can't be bothered with them. Go out and recruit better, more enthusiastic new staff that actually want to work............because you can. Make the most of the availability of the talent out there at the moment, and improve your service to your customers at the same time!!