Tag Archives: ordering online

Grrrr . . .

11 Replies

Garden Flowers

I ordered a microwave today. We have been  without one for quite a while but first we couldn’t agree on what we wanted and then we decided we may as well wait until we moved. Then I went ahead and ordered the one I wanted. Julia didn’t see why I wanted a combi with microwave, grill and oven. I know why I want one – they are useful and convenient and avoid heating up an oven that is too large. She forgets there are only two of us now. She wanted an air fryer. They are probably OK, but they are possibly the new bread maker. You may all use these things regularly, but we don’t. I don’t remember the last time we used the bread maker. However, as the new microwave can air fry we now have something for everyone. If it works well, I will be a hero. If it doesn’t . . .

Do you know how difficult it is to get things delivered? They all advertise free delivery, but what they don’t tell you is that if you want anything other than a long wait and a very imprecise date (they won’t always even tell you an exact day) you have to pay. I am paying £9.99 to have the microwave delivered. That’s £5.99 to have it on a certain day, and £4 extra to specify an afternoon delivery. I could leave it to chance, but it’s easier to put some shape in the day. I won’t know when the Dunelm delivery is coming until the day before, but at least I know roughly when the other delivery is arriving.

Garden Flowers

I’m still lurking round the Dunelm website waiting for them to open the window that allows me to order something for Thursday delivery, when I can order the ottoman/footstools. Is the plural of ottoman ottomans or ottomen? It’s a tricky plural. Maybe I should just order one.

Meanwhile, I tried to order a new freezer. I can have one this week, but Wednesday, Friday or Saturday. Neither day is much use as I have things to do and want everything on Thursday.

Meanwhile the solicitor emailed. She has had the money and asks if I am happy with completion on Thursday. Why would I be? The whole mad rush has been to get it done before the Budget on Wednesday, as the new tax rules are likely to add an extra cost to the transaction.  The solicitor, when my sister pointed this out, said that she hadn’t realised this was the intention. I’m seriously concerned that we have used a lawyer with a very poor grasp of current affairs. At least if we can get the sale completed the worrying bit is done. Fingers crossed.

I’m hoping the rest will be easy.

Yellow flowers in need of identification

 

Death by a Thousand Cuts

11 Replies

The Lake at Clumber Park

As I told you last night, the solicitor handling my conveyancing has been irritating me in a number of ways.

What I didn’t tell you was that we had a miserable journey home last night. First we came to an accident on a minor road and had to turn back because the police had closed the road. Not much of a problem for us, more a problem for the people in the accident. I hope they are well. This led to a detour along some narrow, potholed back roads. It ended up at a level crossing, where we queued. We had caught the same set of trains last week at a different crossing. There had been seven trains, taking about fifteen minutes to clear. This was Helpston – one to avoid if you can.  One rail forum says – “The level crossing at Helpston is notoriously busy. Six lines cross it – East Coast Mainline and the Cross Country route between Birmingham and Stansted Airport as well as a lot of freight. I believe it is closed for 45 mins in every hour.”

I don’t think it’s closed that much, but it’s bad when you catch it wrong. Yesterday there were 12 trains going through and a delay of about 20 minutes. I’ve never used that road before, and probably never will again. Where do all those trains come from?

Dead trees at Clumber park – the ground subsided into an old mine, the water flowed from then lake and the trees drowned.

If you read down to the bottom of the Helpston link there is an interesting bit about deodands, which were only, it seems, abolished in 1846. I thought they’d gone centuries before, but I did know that Trial by Combat lasted until the 19th century, so should have known better. Trial by Combat was abolished 1819 for those of you who are interested.

As a result of this delay and several slow lorries on the trip back, we ran into rush hour traffic on reaching Nottingham.

The builder has submitted his quote.Finally. It has taken ages and Tolstoy, in that time could have produced 10,000 classic words of timeless prose. He has produced one long sentence on his phone. It ends with a figure that resembles the national debt of one of our smaller nations. And it doesn’t say when he can start or whether it includes the 20% VAT. These things are all done, I swear, to irritate me.

Walkers in Clumber Park

I made another IKEA order last night. I went to the order page after filling my basket. New bed, two mattresses, 2 office cabinets, two display cabinets, bedding. My eyes were watering. My heart was fluttering. My aversion to spending money was under severe pressure. I pressed the button and it told me that they couldn’t give me a delivery date and I should try later. This gave me time to think about the office cabinets. They had some poor reviews, were supposedly difficult to put together and  would cost £50 a cabinet to use the assembly service. I decided to cancel them. It felt good. Then I decided to look at Dunelm.

The bed was nicer and the mattresses appear to be better value for money. IKEA lost the order. Dunelm will be delivering next week. Irritatingly, Dunelm won’t deliver the bedding at the same time. In fact they won’t deliver some of it at all, you have to go and pick it up. The final cut in tis story so far – the Dunelm ordering system is still trying to use the wrong address as my delivery address. Fortunately I spotted it this time.

More leaves on the floor

Delivery from IKEA is £45. Dunelm is £9.95.

I emptied my basket and let IKEA run free.

Then I had a call from the builder to see if I had had his quote. Two weeks to write it then gives me a couple of hours to accept it.

And there it is, my day of a thousand cuts. Nothing big enough to kill me but every one designed to weaken and annoy.

Squirrel in MENCAP gardens, Wilford

Adventures in Blunderland

16 Replies

 

Green Woodpecker

I just spent a day ordering furniture online, then cancelling it again.The first was a two-seater settee and armchair.  I had wanted an ottoman to put with the settee to act as a footstool. It was going to be a nice matching set. Unfortunately, although you can order the chair and settee for delivery on a specified day, the ottoman comes with a note “Delivered on X, or earlier.” This is clearly no good if you aren’t actually living in the new place. It’s not, to be honest, much good if you are living in it either, as it’s a bit vague and is effectively putting you under house arrest.

Even the two pieces that I did order come with a very vague delivery window – from 07.00 to 18.00 on the specified day. We will have to set off from Nottingham around 5 am to get to Peterborough on time. I expect we will then spend all day waiting.

Grantham Gingerbread

However, it’s an academic point, as the online order form filled in the delivery address for me, using my billing address, and I had ordered delivery to the wrong address before I realised. You can’t change the delivery address after ordering in case of fraud. So I had to cancel it. What a palaver! Anyway, it’s done now.

Unfortunately, I was so flustered when I ordered a new microwave and freezer that I didn’t notice the autofill option had put my current postcode on the end of my new address. Nor did I realise, after specifying a certain day, that they were having trouble with their system and may not be able to deliver on that day. They only tell you that after you pay. Same again – couldn’t alter the details even though it was a small point, so had to go through the rigmarole of cancellation. The difference between the two companies is that I will have a refund in 3-5 days for the furniture, whereas the refund on the electrical good is likely to be two weeks. Two weeks of them using my money – not a bad racket. However, where I reordered the furniture immediately, I will be waiting until I get the refund for the electrical goods, and may reorder them from another company. It will be good if I can reflect my view of their service by voting with my wallet.

Gingerbread Men

Did I say I reordered the furniture? Well, after doing that I noticed that the confirmation shows delivery as being a different day to the one I specified. Worse than that, it’s a day when we are doing something and can’t be in Peterborough. It seems the actual day will be the one I requested, though they didn’t seem overly concerned they were showing two different dates.

It may seem like we are buying a lot of new stuff, but the old furniture was second hand when we got it twenty tears ago and needs recovering, which will probably cost as much as buying new. I will recycle it. The old freezer is shabby, broken and inefficient, so we could soldier on, but I decided enough was enough. The microwave broke a few years ago – we have been waiting to move before buying another. They new one will be a combination oven with air fryer so it will be more efficient and more healthy. It’s not that we’ve suddenly become big consumers, just an admission we have spent the last few years living frugally, and in some cases, inconveniently.

New scone recipe with home made microwave blackberry jam

Pictures from November 2016. many of those books have now gone. The biscuits have all gone.