I’ve been cutting our old shed down to make a playhouse for our children. The new front has a small window, so for safety I wanted to use Perspex, or to use its generic name, acrylic sheet. Wickes wanted 15 quid for a 2mm thick sheet 1220×600 but I only needed something 420 x 385 and they don’t do anything smaller. 2mm was also a bit thin; B&Q do a 4mm thick sheet but for 24 quid. Screwfix, as ever, were cheaper (half the price) but you need to buy five sheets – fine if you’re building these for a living but not for a one-off.
I then turned to ebay, and found several sellers offering smaller sheets around the A4/A3 size. I found one selling a sheet 500×500 – almost perfect. The listing even mentioned cut-to-size and included an email address so I fired off a quick email and they quoted me a 3mm cut-to-size piece delivered (to my work address for convenience) for £2.69 + £3.50 delivery.
So if you are after a piece of acrylic (or other plastic material), I can recommend Retail Engineering Design Limited.
I recently got a cheap 3 spot light fitting from Aldi. (Likely to get trashed by my two young daughters, so wasn’t after anything expensive)
It came with tungsten halogen lamps I had not seen before – G9. However, at 40W each, it was too bright for the location, so I went looking for replacement lower wattage lamps.
B&Q wanted £5.98 for two 25W lamps. Unfortunately, unlike last time, Screwfix didn’t fare much better, wanting £24 for ten (plus P&P)
The winner this time was our local DIY shop, Wallpaper supplies in Horwich, who were selling 25W lamps for £1.25 each.
Update October 2008
Even better – Aldi now have a pack of three 25W lamps for £1.99.
Well I’ve just renewed my tax disc using DVLA’s new online service, and I can honestly say that it could not have been faster if I had been standing at the post office counter. Very impressive. Just waiting to see if the Post Office can screw it up by not delivering it in time.
UPDATE: Tax disc arrived two days later.
Here’s a tale of good service for a change…
Last week, I dropped my Digital Camera while it was in its case, and damaged the screen.
On Tuesday this week, I rang Halifax Insurance to claim for accidental damage. They said Empire Commercial (part of Empire Direct as it turns out) would contact me shortly, which they did. Empire asked me to send the camera to them.
I sent the camera on Wednesday. Early on Thursday morning, Empire called to say that they had inspected the camera and it was beyond economical repair, and they would be replacing it with a new one.
I received the camera today.
Well done Halifax and Empire!
I was unfortunate to get a Muller Yoghurt which, despite being within date, was very watery with curdled bits. A quick call to Muller and they sent me a letter apologising and 5 pounds of vouchers.
Well done to Muller.
Comment from Julie Heron (6/1/05):
Interesting thoughts on the Muller yougurt. I personally find them obstructive! I once bought one which had a toe nail in it. They would not accept responsibility!
Comment from Caroline Ryder (2/4/05):
what a funny website, but I also had the same problem with Muller yoghurts, esp the lemon cheesecake!