That’s it! I am Boycotting SONY…
Right, I am going to have an unmerciful rant now…
My head is bursting, my veins are pulsating and my brain is pounding away like a caged bull inside my skull.
I don’t care if nobody reads this but I am going to put it out there anyway for the following reasons:
1. It will make me feel good to bitch about SONY.
2. I hope people will read this and think twice about buying SONY laptops, especially the following models: VGN-AR1xx, VGN-AR2xx, VGN-AR3xx, VGN-FZ1xx, VGN-FZ2xx, VGN-FZ3xx, VGN-FZ4xx, VGC-LT1xx, VGC-LT2xx because they have been manufactured with faulty NVIDIA Graphics chips!!!
In December 2007 I purchased a Sony Vaio laptop from Micro Anvika. I spent £1300 on the floggin’ thing. It was my pride and joy and I used to skip home every night to use it.
13 months later the graphics went bananas and it never worked again…
Click here for blog on symptoms…
That’s £1300 for a laptop that only worked for 13 months.
I rang Micro Anvika (the shop where I purchased this piece of Junk) and was told that because it was out with my 1 year store warranty, they couldn’t do anything for me; “I’m very sorry” – eh, no you’re not, you don’t give a damn so shut up.
I did a little bit of research online (with my new cheap laptop that I had to buy) and found that a lot of people were complaining about the same problem, so much so, that Sony themselves were forced to release a statement about it on 08/03/09.
The Statement can be read here:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=VGNFZ190N&news_id=349
In a nutshell, they were acknowledging the fault with the NVIDIA Graphics card and were offering to repair faulty laptops.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I decided to contact Consumer Direct and ask them what rights I have as a consumer in this situation.
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
They told me that I should write a letter to Micro Anvika and quote The Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended.
According to this Act, it states that goods should be of satisfactory quality and free from minor defects, have good appearance and finish and are durable, safe and fit for all the purposes for which such goods are commonly supplied.
My laptop had a fault and was definitely not durable.
I came off the phone feeling like I would like to take this further.
I sent the letter to them by registered delivery. That cost me £5, they should receive it today.
This morning I decided to phone Sony to see where I stand with them.
I called 0905 031 0006 which cost 35p a minute. I got talking to a nice chap. I explained the situation and without delay he assigned a case number to me and told me that DHL will pick up my laptop tomorrow for repair.
It all felt too good to be true.
It was.
An hour later, I had a phone call from someone who was very, very difficult to understand . I had to embarrass myself and her by constantly having to ask her to repeat herself and on some occasions to spell words so I could get the information I needed. It was near impossible to decipher what she was saying. It was almost comedy, if I felt like laughing, but I was so far from laughing about this. I was frothing at the mouth with bubbling anger…she proceeded to tell me she was from SONY and would like to ‘discuss fees with me’.
This pushed me to the edge of the cliff that overlooks raving madness…
Just an hour earlier the other fella acknowledged the fault and told me it was a problem with the NVIDIA chip and knew all about it. Now this girl was saying that I had to pay.
I went into rant mode with her and relayed the conversation I had earlier with the fella. She said “Ooh I don’t know why he would say those things”… She said she would check with the technician to see if there is a known fault of this nature. She said she would call me back but “couldn’t guarantee it would be today”. She said that line so many times I thought I was going to have a breakdown.
In hindsight, I should have asked to talk to her supervisor although I imagine he would probably be programmed to speak complete gibberish…
Moments later, I got a blank email from Sony quoting a different case number to the one that the original guy gave me; so are they going to pick up my laptop tomorrow or not!?!? I don’t know as they don’t have the courtesy to call me back today.
I have two case numbers now; one says I have to pay, the other says I don’t. One says I am having my laptop picked up tomorrow, the other says I am not.
This is it.
Me against SONY.
I suppose this is why we as dissatisfied consumers don’t like to go down this road. It’s a pain in the brain and their ’system’ is designed to make you go baloobas so you’ll give up trying.
You phone one number and talk to a moron, they give you another number, which costs 35p/min and after a half an hour wait, you get talking to someone you can’t understand…. You call the shop, they blame the Manufacturer, you call the Manufacturer, they blame the shop… round and round you go until you give up in the end and then they win. They take your thousand pounds with their greedy mits and laugh all the way to the bank.
Dirty animals.
Thieves and robbers and bullies.
It’s disgusting… I hate the way our world is going.
Evil… pure evil.
Willie’s Chocolate bars are really…
I wrote a blog before about Willie Harcourt-Cooze and I slated him. Well I kinda take that back now… because I went to Selfridges one day a few months ago and I saw his chocolate bar for sale.
I proceeded to purchase it for a whopping…
When I got into the bus, I felt the urge. I took it out of my bag and had a little look at what all the fuss was about.
Nice packaging.
Nice logo.
Nice little note underneath the seal, telling me to ‘tuck in’…
Two slabs of chocolate wrapped in gold…
I put it back in my bag.
It was far too fancy to eat on the bus.
Eating a bar of this caliber required a bit of fuss. I needed a cup of tea and a comfortable seat. I needed to put my feet up. I needed a few cushions. I needed a punkah wallah. I needed… well, i just needed to get off the smelly bus so I could really savour these glorious looking chocolate slabs of delight that lay seductively before me…
When I got home and made myself comfortable, I tucked in to what is now, most definitely my favourite chocolate on the planet.
The texture is like, sort of harder than fudge but the same kind of soft quality to it, your teeth sink into it. It’s not like all those plasticky type dark chocolates on the market that make that cheap ’snap’ noise when you crack a piece off…
The taste is so rich and tangy. It boasts of subtle tropical fruit tones, and it delivers them with every bite. The after taste has a zing too and you just have to wait before taking the next bite because the experience continues on in your mouth after…
It was so good, I had to buy two more today!
Chocolate Tasting…
So I was telling you last week that I bought these three Chocolate Bars…
I couldn’t wait to get home and tear the covers off em and ram em down my throat.
I restrained myself though, as these are sophisticated creatures of delight. I knew I had to play it cool with these…
I really had a bit of a pain in my head trying to decide which one to eat first. I pondered over them and fondled each of them one by one. I read their wrappers and took in what they had to say about how they were made, what they were made of and where in the world their innermost beans came from.
I decided by eliminating one from the list. I decided to leave the Mora Mora Bar ’til last, for two reasons;
- It was the most expensive – It cost a whopping £3.21
- It says this on the wrapper:
“Worlds best Chocolate Winner – Silver Award 2007″.
I thought it must be pretty good tasting stuff and best kept for last. I placed it carefully back in the fridge.
So it was a toss up between the other two.
Seeds of Change just seemed to beckon me with it’s pieces of figs, so I went for it.
My God.
My God is all I say.
This is one flippin’ mouthwatering piece of chocolate.
Look at the bits of fig in it:
The whole thing was just perfect. The texture was divine and I didn’t want the consumption of it to end. I wanted more when I had finished, so I moved onto my second conquest.
The Chokolit Dark Orange – Biting Back Bar with the pic of the cute chimp on it. He kinda looks sad… hmmmm… anyway…
This chocolate was just beautiful.
It had the perfect consistency. I’m no professional taster; I can’t go on about the fruit tones and the flowery essence and all that waffle. I’m just a simpleton who knows what I like in a bar of chocolate. I know I like this one. The texture is perfect. It’s got a hint of orange, you’d be a pure eejit to miss that cuz it says it on the wrapper too. It was just another magical experience.
The Mora Mora Bar was consumed on the next evening.
It was a momentous build up…
What an anti-climax.
This was really disappointing.
A glorified Bourneville.
It was hard and plastic-y tasting like Bourneville too.
I wouldn’t recommend it at all.
What a rip off too…
Lemon Meringue Pie…
I don’t know where I read it now, but I read it somewhere and it said that training for a marathon is like being pregnant! It takes over your life for several months and everyone gives you advice and tells you how they did it…
Well I don’t know if that’s true but I thought of that analogy when I experienced an overwhelming, almerciful craving after my run tonight and I just can’t shake it off…
My craving was for a slice of this:
A Slice of Lemon Meringue Pie
I still can’t get it out of my mind. My mouth is watering at the thought of it. I haven’t had a slice of it in years…
I remember where and when I had my last slice of it though, it was here:
Good ol’ Patsy’s Corner in the heart of Kinsale Town… and the Lemon Meringue Pie was made with Patsy’s own hands.
I would kill for one of Patsy’s Lemon Meringue Pies now…
She makes the best Lemon Meringue Pie without a doubt…
If anyone knows where you can get good Lemon Meringue Pie in London, please drop me a line…
GARAGE
Went to see Garage last night – Was a bit grumpy before I went into the cinema cuz I really hate the West End. It was so crowded and the tourists were doing my head in, the way they stopped and started and it was freezing cold too – I got caught in that hailstone shower and was soaked…
Anyway, just before we went into the cinema, they had to empty it of the people inside. Out they came one by one and who was among them only Mike Leigh – Hup hup! The Usher asked him what he thought and his eyes widened and he nodded seriously “very good”… great, my mood lifted…
We got a grand ol’ seat in the middle and of course the tallest person (complete with chefs hat, I’m not coddin’ ya) in the cinema is destined to sit in front of me and he does, what a pain. I lean to the side for the duration. The film starts and I am away…
The film is directed by a Dublin Man by the name of Leonard Abrahamson. He goes to study Physics in Trinity and emerges with a first class honours degree in Philosophy. While there he starts up a video society with a friend and they try their hand at film making on a small scale. One thing leads to another and in time he finds himself torn between his love for film and Philosophy. Thank God he chose the former. Films like this need to be made.
For Garage, he teams up with writer Mark O Halloran gets a few top actors, among the bigger names; Pat Shortt, Anne-Marie Duff… much as I like Anne Marie Duff, I felt as though she was wrong for this particular role…
and this guy I have not heard of before but he is Conor Ryan (below on the left) and a perfect choice for the role. Good on ya Amy Rowan (Casting Director)
The film is set in a small sleepy village in Ireland where nothing ever really happens. It’s a slice outta the life of a fella called Josie. He is a bit soft in the head. He is a totally harmless ol’ fella and his best friend is a horse. The rest of the village holds a random pack of characters. Even if the film didn’t have any story to tell, you’d be happy watching them anyway. There is a story to be told however, and as the yank said as he emerged from the cinema: “It’s not a bunch of chuckles…”
Go and see this one…
go wan….
Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on….
