A personal post from Graham Ellis
Lisa and Graham live in Melksham, Wiltshire, England

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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
Pressure selling in the fire safety business

Written earlier this month / posted 19th February

The gentleman from Xxxxxx Fire (UK) Ltd visited us for an annual check on our extignuishers on Wednesday. He told us we needed 4 new exinguishers (out 5) at what we felt was an excessive price for supply and installation. When challenged on the price, he told us it was high because he sold high quality extinguishers that would last longer than "ones bought on the Internet". When we asked for a breakdown of his quote, he wasn't able to give us one, said he would have to get his office to do that. He emptied the extinuishers (rendering them useless), telling us that was the law. And he left.

The extingusishers have been serviced and renewed by his company, and a predecessor local company who were rather good, for many years. They were taken over by a firm from Preston, and since then we have been concerned at rising prices and the need for snap decisions at service time. We have felt bullied. I question the morals of empting out what were I suspect perfectly functioning extinuishers - though perhaps needing attention very soon indeed - and leaving us with signifcantly reduced fire cover. I also question the legal requirement on him do do this. For a company that's supposed to help protect, I find this behaviour deplorable. At worst case, I would have expected an opportunity to consider options before the destruction; I can't believe that at 12 months from last examination an extinguished suddenly becomes useless!

That was a Wednesday. We had an interim arrangemnt of extingushers in place by the evening, with the units the engineer destroyed being replaced by permanent ones bought online very quickly indeed. They were cheaper - much cheaper ... around a third of the price. Lower quality? I don't think so - they are the same make and model he wanted us to buy from him. And we've arranged for a well known company to take an annual look (we'll call the more if we have any uses or concerns, of coures)




I wrote, but did not post, the above a couple of weeks ago. It's a very serious matter to post a negative review. However, something has triggered me. I recall that when the company was taken over, we received at least one visit from an ex-employee who was now working elsewhere and wanted us to transfer our business. As it was the company rather than an individual we were with at the time, we declined that invitation.

This month, a couple of days after the sales rep / engineer visited, we got a "cold call" from another "company" asking if they could look after our fire prevention needs. They seemed remarkably well informed for a company who had been "looing at hotels in the area online and calling around", and rather persistant. I find these calls (initially taken by one of our team) an amazing co-incidence - and suspect that it might be no conincidence.
(written 2016-02-19, updated 2016-02-20)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
G910 - Well House Consultants - Scams
  [78] Domain Registry of America - (2004-10-07)
  [178] Calling a spade a spade - (2005-01-15)
  [347] Frightening and from-friend viruses and spams - (2005-06-14)
  [860] Warning - false emails, said to be from Paypal - (2006-09-09)
  [1313] Tratum Technologies - (2007-08-21)
  [1342] Google, wwmdirectory, Freshwater, ATP - new scam? - (2007-09-09)
  [1680] Astroturfing - the online definition - (2008-06-17)
  [1772] Ken Palm, iTime, and Domain Name Tasting - (2008-08-25)
  [1795] What have iTime, honeytrapagency and domain listing center got in common? - (2008-09-12)
  [2373] Translation from Ghanaian to English - (2009-08-23)
  [2403] Hotel Booking Scam / Cost of calls to 070 numbers - (2009-09-12)
  [2524] An update on legal changes from the FSB? - (2009-12-03)
  [2690] The World Company Register - is it another scam? - (2010-03-23)
  [2895] Global Computer Maintenance Department - (2010-07-29)
  [2988] Not mugged in London! - (2010-10-08)
  [3222] Clickjacking - another way to get you to follow a malicious link - Facebook issue - (2011-03-29)
  [3291] Pay and refund scam - alive and kicking against Melksham businesses - (2011-05-16)
  [3480] Direct Message: Really horrible blog about you ... a clever phishing trip, said to be from an MP - (2011-10-14)
  [3859] Youve Been Selected for the 2012 Edition of the Global Registry - (2012-09-16)
  [4385] A booking that looks too good to be true? It probably is too good to be true! - (2015-01-05)

Z801 - Pettifog
  [52] International awareness - (2004-09-17)
  [87] Too sittings - (2004-10-13)
  [90] Rude old people - (2004-10-16)
  [323] 1 in 48 steel - (2005-05-24)
  [439] You cant - (2005-09-08)
  [471] And it gets even better - (2005-10-21)
  [478] Watch what you wear - (2005-10-26)
  [519] New Road - (2005-12-06)
  [562] Smoke and mirrors - (2006-01-12)
  [600] It costs nothing to say THANK YOU - (2006-02-11)
  [638] A pile of sand? Where do we stand? - (2006-03-08)
  [783] Good follow up ... my thanks - (2006-06-28)
  [791] Strange housewarming - (2006-07-03)
  [815] Time trickles like water through a sieve - (2006-07-27)
  [826] Fighting illegal net use by imposing download limits - (2006-08-09)
  [1170] Smoking, or no? The law insists we spell out the obvious - (2007-05-01)
  [1337] A series of tyre damages - (2007-09-08)
  [1349] Cash is not an acceptable way of paying - (2007-09-13)
  [1741] Age Concern - (2008-08-07)
  [1783] Think before you send - (2008-09-02)
  [1839] Job application - (2008-10-13)
  [1862] Remember your units - (2008-10-31)
  [1972] Pettifog and forum boards away from public view - (2009-01-03)
  [2122] Commission Creep - (2009-04-08)
  [2193] Excellent product, excruciating customer service. 3 Mobile Broadband - (2009-05-21)
  [2625] Both feet on the same pavement - (2010-02-05)
  [2761] A small business, facing a big government questionnaire - (2010-05-12)
  [2788] Cost of Sales - (2010-06-01)
  [2937] The cat in the dustbin - (2010-08-27)
  [2944] What others cannot do in 10 months takes Virgin 10 minutes - (2010-09-03)
  [3013] Audio equipment - (2010-10-24)
  [3030] Liquorice allsorts and Dolly Mixtures - (2010-11-05)
  [3084] Can you trust the big brand names? - (2010-12-12)
  [3302] Are you a half full or half empty person? - (2011-05-25)
  [3749] Removal of water safety equipment, and how to use a lifesaver ring - (2012-06-04)
  [3835] The Information age - not yet truly with us? - (2012-08-12)
  [3900] The Xxxxx Guest House in Xxxxxxxxxxx - my stay reviewed - (2012-10-20)
  [4140] Riots in Melksham - (2013-07-13)
  [4167] The important customers are the majority, not the celebrity - (2013-09-08)
  [4282] On tipping - and the expectation of a tip - (2014-07-10)
  [4304] Please do not ask me to be the chair! - (2014-09-25)
  [4354] Wiltshire Police - assuming someone is guilty just on the say-so of a member of the public? - (2014-12-16)
  [4630] The story behind the bus cuts, and what they could mean - (2016-01-24)
  [4720] Celebrating our diversity rather than discriminating for it - (2016-11-02)


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Testing new algorithms in PHP
Some other Articles
Image indexer / thumbnail display scripts in PHP
Getting to the Royal United Hospital - the Hopper and the alternatives
Coats of arms - towns and authorities in Wiltshire
Testing new algorithms in PHP
Pressure selling in the fire safety business
Why populate object with values as you construct them?
Object and Static methods - what is the difference; example in Python 3
Why is bus funding a much hotter topic than a new set of traffic lights?
On the problems of a printed train timetable
Sometimes you wonder about people. And perhaps you should not.
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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