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Friday 13 September 2013

The UK and chemical weapons

OK, it was over 70 years ago, but in WW2 we were, it seems, quite happy to consider the use of chemical weapons against the enemy then, the people of Nazi Germany. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vegetarian.  In the event, these were not used, but clearly we had thought hard enough about using them to test them on a (not that) remote Scottish island.

It annoys me when the UK and USA behave so "high and mighty" against the use of chemical warfare when, even very recently, both nations actually used them in Iraq, Afghanistan and of course by the USA in Vietnam (Agent Orange).  Perhaps we learned that their use was a bad thing?

Friday 6 September 2013

Carpets and stain protection

We recently bought a lot of new carpets for our new home from a major East Anglian supplier, Glasswells in Bury-St-Edmunds. All of these carpets had manufacturers stain protection or StainGard protection added before fitting.

Shortly after we moved in, we noticed a small mark on the lounge carpet so contacted the supplier to ask the best way to remove it: StainGard protection is supposed to allow easy removal of stains such as wine spills, coffee spills etc. Rather than advise how to treat the mark ourselves Glasswells arranged for the StainGard people to come out to take a look. This they did, and took several photos, but no action to remove the mark. A week or so later, Glasswells sent someone to look. Again, no attempt was made to clear the mark.

So, nearly a month after having the carpets fitted we have still to be told how to remove stains from our protected carpets. We have not even been given a leaflet telling us how to go about it!  Wouldn't you think that having spent many thousands of pounds on new carpets Glasswells would give us a leaflet on how to remove spills and stains and throw in a little carpet care kit too?  Instead, we have had 2 visits, no action, and no instructions after nearly a month. Unbelievable.

Further to this, I went to the shop recently to try to buy some material to make a bed throw that would match a couple of garden room chairs. On the phone, when checking with the supplier on the wholesale cost, I overheard "£8.60 a metre".  A moment later the salesman turned to me and said the price would be £17.99 a metre!

So, if you ask for discounts when buying a lot of carpets, furniture etc from a major supplier like Glasswells don't be embarrassed to ask for a LARGE discount. Oh, and don't forget to ask how to remove stains :-)

Overall, I am less than impressed.