Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?

I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep 
cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.

I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so I 
took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!

So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and 
clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated 
:-)

Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

"Edward Cowling London UK"  wrote in message
news:qNQfYpGvGoaIFwP9@genghis0.demon.co.uk...
>
> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>
> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep
> cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>
> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so I
> took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>
> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and
> clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated
> :-)
>
> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?


Indeed.

Announced today.

The ground breaking British Leyland "Metro"  DVD player with
the revolutionary square discs.

In up-to-the-minute brown and beige trim.

In the shops soon only at £650.45. Plus VAT


michael adams

...









>
> -- 
> Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"
>

Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
> 
> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
> 
> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep 
> cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
> 
> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so I 
> took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
> 
> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and 
> clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated :-)
> 
> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?
> 

You know I've been very lucky , everything I have works OK , Pacific DVD 
  (asda cheapy) , fergusson STB , Matsui VHS (currys own brand) . Most 
of it old - works fine! MY VW van (1985) only needed a number plate 
light for its MOT last week!

In article , 
edward@genghis0.demon.co.uk says...
> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?
> 
Who do you suggest makes it, then?

And why are you using Krusty's punctuation ?
-- 

Dom Robinson	  Gamertag: DVDfever      email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor)
/* 1174 DVDs, 375 games, 451 CDs, 114 cinema films, 54 concerts, music & news
/* gta 4, waz, sweeney todd, interstate 60, indiana jones, avp2, god of war
             New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml
               Youtube - http://uk.youtube.com/user/DieHardDom

In article , mjadams27@onetel.net.uk says> Announced today.
> 
> The ground breaking British Leyland "Metro"  DVD player with
> the revolutionary square discs.
> 
> In up-to-the-minute brown and beige trim.
> 
> In the shops soon only at £650.45. Plus VAT
> 
Yay! That'll shit all over Blu-ray :)
-- 

Dom Robinson	  Gamertag: DVDfever      email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor)
/* 1174 DVDs, 375 games, 451 CDs, 114 cinema films, 54 concerts, music & news
/* gta 4, waz, sweeney todd, interstate 60, indiana jones, avp2, god of war
             New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml
               Youtube - http://uk.youtube.com/user/DieHardDom

Should have been Allegro not Metro.



"Edward Cowling London UK"  wrote in message
news:qNQfYpGvGoaIFwP9@genghis0.demon.co.uk...
>
> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>
> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep
> cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>
> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so I
> took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>
> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and
> clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated
> :-)
>
> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?


Indeed.

Announced today.

The ground breaking British Leyland "Allegro"  DVD player with
the revolutionary square discs.

In up-to-the-minute brown and beige trim.

In the shops soon only at £650.45. Plus VAT


michael adams

...









>
> -- 
> Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"
>

Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>
> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep
> cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>
> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so
> I took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>
> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and
> clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated
> :-)
>
> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?

Possibly not.  But people want cheap rather than quality.  And things 
electronic are incredibly cheap.  You have a choice.  You can buy Bang and 
Olufsen at ten times the price and it will work 100% of the time, or you can 
buy Chinese at one tenth the price and it will work 80% of the time.  You 
choose.

In message , Dom 
Robinson  writes
>In article ,
>edward@genghis0.demon.co.uk says...
>> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?
>>
>Who do you suggest makes it, then?

If we'd paid another country sensible money to make our stuff the 
Chinese wouldn't have all the billions of spare spondoolics. So they 
wouldn't be buying up half the worlds food and oil and we wouldn't be 
paying through the nose for it now.

We got greedy and wanted stuff cheap, and now we're paying the price !!


>
>And why are you using Krusty's punctuation ?

I've always done that !  Haven't you noticed ? :-)

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

In message <g4e5fj$hic$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>, Norman Wells 
 writes
>Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
>> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>>
>> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep
>> cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>>
>> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so
>> I took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>>
>> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and
>> clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated
>> :-)
>>
>> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?
>
>Possibly not.  But people want cheap rather than quality.  And things 
>electronic are incredibly cheap.  You have a choice.  You can buy Bang 
>and Olufsen at ten times the price and it will work 100% of the time, 
>or you can buy Chinese at one tenth the price and it will work 80% of 
>the time.  You choose.
>
I'm slowly arriving at the first choice. There is nothing worse than 
something that becomes part of your life and then starts being 
temperamental..... but enough about women :-)

I think I'm going to start buying only decent makes with no "made in 
China" labels.

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
> In message <g4e5fj$hic$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>, Norman Wells
>  writes
>> Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
>>> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>>>
>>> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep
>>> cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>>>
>>> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions,
>>> so I took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>>>
>>> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and
>>> clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this
>>> complicated :-)
>>>
>>> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?
>>
>> Possibly not.  But people want cheap rather than quality.  And things
>> electronic are incredibly cheap.  You have a choice.  You can buy
>> Bang and Olufsen at ten times the price and it will work 100% of the
>> time, or you can buy Chinese at one tenth the price and it will work
>> 80% of the time.  You choose.
>>
> I'm slowly arriving at the first choice. There is nothing worse than
> something that becomes part of your life and then starts being
> temperamental

True.  That has recently happened to me with a DVD recorder.  I bought it 
three years ago and it wasn't exactly top of the range then. However, it did 
record to almost every format and it read every single disk I put in it. I 
bought my father an identical model at the same time. My father's DVDR 
ceased to record about six months ago. Mine has lasted longer but has become 
very temperamental lately. It will record quite happily in one session. 
However, if I take the disk out of the drive and put it straight back in, it 
cannot read the disk, even though it formatted the disk itself only a few 
minutes before.

So...  I've bitten the bullet and bought a new one. It's a Sony and was 
actually cheaper than the old Lite-On model.  However, as the old one only 
cost me about £120 and I got a *lot* of use out of it, I won't complain too 
hard.

-- 
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

"michael adams"  wrote in message 
news:6cvhfoF3bmiU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "Edward Cowling London UK"  wrote in message
> news:qNQfYpGvGoaIFwP9@genghis0.demon.co.uk...
>>
>> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>>
>> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep
>> cleaning DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>>
>> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so I
>> took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>>
>> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and
>> clean my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated
>> :-)
>>
>> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?
>
>
> Indeed.
>
> Announced today.
>
> The ground breaking British Leyland "Metro"  DVD player with
> the revolutionary square discs.
>
> In up-to-the-minute brown and beige trim.
>
> In the shops soon only at £650.45. Plus VAT
>
>
> michael adams
>

Remote control not included.

Gaz

In message , Enzo Matrix 
 writes
>
>True.  That has recently happened to me with a DVD recorder.  I bought it
>three years ago and it wasn't exactly top of the range then. However, it did
>record to almost every format and it read every single disk I put in it. I
>bought my father an identical model at the same time. My father's DVDR
>ceased to record about six months ago. Mine has lasted longer but has become
>very temperamental lately. It will record quite happily in one session.
>However, if I take the disk out of the drive and put it straight back in, it
>cannot read the disk, even though it formatted the disk itself only a few
>minutes before.
>
>So...  I've bitten the bullet and bought a new one. It's a Sony and was
>actually cheaper than the old Lite-On model.  However, as the old one only
>cost me about £120 and I got a *lot* of use out of it, I won't complain too
>hard.
>
There was a part of late 70's and early 80's where stuff went on 
forever. I still have a Toshiba colour TV that I bought in about 1980 
that sill works perfectly and I've never had the back off it. Similarly 
I bought a Mitsubishi top of the range VHS recorder in 1986 that is 
still going strong in the bedroom and once again has never needed any 
maintenance.

Now it seems if something lasts 3 years you're lucky. Yes the VHS 
recorder cost me the equivalent of a months salary, but it's over 20 
years old and still giving 100% performance.

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
any maintenance.
>
> Now it seems if something lasts 3 years you're lucky. Yes the VHS
> recorder cost me the equivalent of a months salary, but it's over 20
> years old and still giving 100% performance.

It's also the size of a suitcase, the weight of a small car, can't handle 
long play, won't play DVDs, sounds like a BSA Bantam, takes 8 minutes to 
rewind a 4 hour tape, can only record 4 programmes, and connects via RF Out 
for maximum quality.

Whereas, for £100 today ...

"Edward Cowling London UK"  wrote in message 
news:qNQfYpGvGoaIFwP9@genghis0.demon.co.uk...
>
> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>
> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep cleaning 
> DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>
> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so I 
> took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>
> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and clean 
> my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated :-)
>
> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?

You want to complain,I want to complain,I only bought these shoes last week 
and they are worn right through!If you complain,nothing happens,you might as 
well not bother and I am stuck in this office in this hot weather 
................

In message <g4fcr9$4o1$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk>, Norman Wells 
 writes
>Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
>any maintenance.
>>
>> Now it seems if something lasts 3 years you're lucky. Yes the VHS
>> recorder cost me the equivalent of a months salary, but it's over 20
>> years old and still giving 100% performance.
>
>It's also the size of a suitcase, the weight of a small car, can't 
>handle long play, won't play DVDs, sounds like a BSA Bantam, takes 8 
>minutes to rewind a 4 hour tape, can only record 4 programmes, and 
>connects via RF Out for maximum quality.
>
No to all of that, even the long play. It really was ahead of it's time 
and has functions I's like to see on modern equipment. Plus the on 
screen timer was so good..... well my ex wife could work it :-)

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

In message <g4g659$k3e$1@registered.motzarella.org>, Commander Gideon 
 writes
>
>"Edward Cowling London UK"  wrote in message
>news:qNQfYpGvGoaIFwP9@genghis0.demon.co.uk...
>>
>> Why does nothing seem fit for purpose these days ?
>>
>> I had problems with my DVD player freezing up, and I had to keep cleaning
>> DVDs, so I bought a DVD lens cleaner.
>>
>> I put it in the player and it refused to load up the instructions, so I
>> took it out and noticed it had dirty marks on it !!
>>
>> So I found myself cleaning the DVD cleaner, so it could load up and clean
>> my DVD player..... AArghghh ... life was never this complicated :-)
>>
>> Maybe if we didn't buy cheap shit from China this wouldn't happen ?
>
>You want to complain,I want to complain,I only bought these shoes last week
>and they are worn right through!If you complain,nothing happens,you might as
>well not bother and I am stuck in this office in this hot weather

Well yes of course, that's what news groups are for.

Have I gone on about Morrisons this week yet ?? :-)

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

In message , Enzo Matrix 
 writes
>So...  I've bitten the bullet and bought a new one. It's a Sony and was
>actually cheaper than the old Lite-On model.  However, as the old one only
>cost me about £120 and I got a *lot* of use out of it, I won't complain too
>hard.
>
I've just bought a Sony combo with DVD & VCR in the same unit, with the 
ability to copy from DVD to tape. Multi Region of course and a 
reassuringly hefty price :-)

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

In , Edward Cowling London UK
 wrote:
>Have I gone on about Morrisons this week yet ?? :-)

Do you need more reasons to go on about Morrisons? :-)

In message , Mike Henry 
<{$mrtickle$}@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
>In , Edward Cowling London UK
> wrote:
>>Have I gone on about Morrisons this week yet ?? :-)
>
>Do you need more reasons to go on about Morrisons? :-)
>
I only go in there to get anecdotes :-)

My favourite was the tin of chicken casserole I bought and when I got to 
the checkout I had the girl say.

"I can't sell you this it's not on the computer"

No amount of common sense or logic would shift her and when I insisted 
she call over the supervisor he said...

"We don't have any. I mean yes we have this tin, but we don't have any 
in the stock system so we can't sell it to you".

Like part of the bloody civil service !!

-- 
Edward Cowling   "Must Go - The Gimp Just Escaped !!"

Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
> In message , Mike Henry
> <{$mrtickle$}@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
>> In , Edward Cowling London UK
>>  wrote:
>>> Have I gone on about Morrisons this week yet ?? :-)
>>
>> Do you need more reasons to go on about Morrisons? :-)
>>
> I only go in there to get anecdotes :-)
>
> My favourite was the tin of chicken casserole I bought and when I got
> to the checkout I had the girl say.
>
> "I can't sell you this it's not on the computer"
>
> No amount of common sense or logic would shift her and when I insisted
> she call over the supervisor he said...
>
> "We don't have any. I mean yes we have this tin, but we don't have any
> in the stock system so we can't sell it to you".
>
> Like part of the bloody civil service !!

A similar thing happened to me in a Safeway supermarket a few years ago. 
However, instead of refusing to sell me the item, the supervisor gave it to 
me for free.

The same supermarket (which had since become a Waitrose) did me a good turn 
a couple of years ago. All I wanted was beer. Nothing else. Just beer. I 
went to the beer section and looked for my usual box of four bottles of 
Shepherd Neame Spitfire. Usual price £6.49. This time it was on a BOGOF. 
Yay!

When you take that to the checkout, your receipt looks like:

S NEAME SPITFIRE            6.49
S NEAME SPITFIRE            6.49
* Buy One Get One Free *    -6.49

BALANCE DUE                    6.49

However...  the beer was short-dated with a Best Before date of 6 Dec 06. 
So, each box was knocked down to 3 quid. Double Yay!

I picked up my two boxes and took them to the checkout, expecting to pay 3 
quid and have the receipt say:

S NEAME SPITFIRE            3.00
S NEAME SPITFIRE            3.00
* Buy One Get One Free *    -3.00

BALANCE DUE                    3.00

Instead, it came up as

S NEAME SPITFIRE            3.00
S NEAME SPITFIRE            3.00
* Buy One Get One Free *    -6.49

BALANCE DUE                    -0.49

I'm a fairly honest sort of bloke and, knowing that a mistake like that 
would come out of the checkout girl's wages, I queried it. The supervisor 
came across and checked, only to tell me that it was correct. It is the 
decision of the shop to reduce the price of anything, but by law a BOGOF 
discount cannot be reduced. The BOGOF discount *must* be the full sale price 
of the item.

So, effectively Waitrose gave me eight bottles of beer free and paid me 49 
pence for my troubles!

RESULT!!!!!



-- 
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

"Enzo Matrix"  wrote in message 
news:6d4oh3Fs3rlU1@mid.individual.net...

>
> So, effectively Waitrose gave me eight bottles of beer free and paid me 49 
> pence for my troubles!
>
> RESULT!!!!!

So in all seriousness, did they *really* pay you 49p out of the till for the
privilege of removing beer from their store?

If so, you should've gone round again and found all the other out of date
BOGOF stuff, you could've made yourself a few quid as well as having
loads of free beer!
-- 
Col

Steal a spaceship and head for the sun,
Shoot the stars with a lemonade ray gun.

"Edward Cowling London UK"  wrote in message 
news:G1UUW0B7dRbIFwxQ@genghis0.demon.co.uk...
> In message , Mike Henry 
> <{$mrtickle$}@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
>>In , Edward Cowling London UK
>> wrote:
>>>Have I gone on about Morrisons this week yet ?? :-)
>>
>>Do you need more reasons to go on about Morrisons? :-)
>>
> I only go in there to get anecdotes :-)
>
> My favourite was the tin of chicken casserole I bought and when I got to 
> the checkout I had the girl say.
>
> "I can't sell you this it's not on the computer"

Computer said no *cough*

In article <486d2fba$1_2@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>, reddwarfer2
@tiscali.co.uk says...
> 
> "Enzo Matrix"  wrote in message 
> news:6d4oh3Fs3rlU1@mid.individual.net...
> 
> >
> > So, effectively Waitrose gave me eight bottles of beer free and paid me 49 
> > pence for my troubles!
> >
> > RESULT!!!!!
> 
> So in all seriousness, did they *really* pay you 49p out of the till for the
> privilege of removing beer from their store?
> 
> If so, you should've gone round again and found all the other out of date
> BOGOF stuff, you could've made yourself a few quid as well as having
> loads of free beer!
> 
No, only Stuart Hall is allowed to re-enter supermarkets :)
-- 

Dom Robinson	  Gamertag: DVDfever      email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor)
/* 1174 DVDs, 375 games, 451 CDs, 114 cinema films, 54 concerts, music & news
/* gta 4, waz, sweeney todd, interstate 60, indiana jones, avp2, god of war
             New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml
               Youtube - http://uk.youtube.com/user/DieHardDom

Col wrote:
> "Enzo Matrix"  wrote in message
> news:6d4oh3Fs3rlU1@mid.individual.net...
>
>>
>> So, effectively Waitrose gave me eight bottles of beer free and paid
>> me 49 pence for my troubles!
>>
>> RESULT!!!!!
>
> So in all seriousness, did they *really* pay you 49p out of the till
> for the privilege of removing beer from their store?

Yes.  They did.


> If so, you should've gone round again and found all the other out of
> date BOGOF stuff, you could've made yourself a few quid as well as
> having loads of free beer!

I *could* have done.  I didn't.

Under normal circumstances, I would have bought other things as well and so 
would not have noticed the situations, which is what I'm sure the 
supermarket was counting on.

Yes, I could have cleared the shelves of that beer, but it didn't seem 
*quite* right.  I got what I wanted for free, with ten bob for my trouble. 
I was happy. I'm not greedy.

-- 
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.