I’ve been without a printer for about 4 months now, which isn’t great when you run a small business. So I finally tracked down the printer I wanted, the Samsung CLP-315W Wireless Colour Laser Printer. Now keep an eye on that ‘W’ there as it’s important. That ‘W’ means Wireless. Yes I could put this printer anywhere in the house. My desk’s real estate is expensive and I was looking forward to all that free room that a printer stashed in the cupboard would bring.

So I looked around and found the cheapest place to buy it, Overclockers UK, a snip at £125.31. I’ve used these people lots of times for all sort of computer bits and never had a problem although a quick look around the internet showed they had quite a number of dissatisfied customers. Most were complaining about the companies’ poor returns policy and up till then I’d never experienced it.

Well I’ve got to say that many of these customers were correct. Overclockers’ Webnote system is the only way to contact the people there as there’s no email address. This sytem is hideously out of date and you end up having a different staff member answering each query you have and you never feel that and communication between them goes on.

Anyway, I order the CLP-315W and get the CLP-315. Not much difference I admit but the CLP-315 is lacking one thing, yes that ‘W’. Bang goes that free desk space because the printer I get sent isn’t wireless!

Now begins a torturous procedure of trying to get the company to take back this printer and swap it for the one I ordered. This has happened to me before and has always been painless. The company arrange for somebody to come and pick it up and within a few days you get the right one. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out like that and now 4 weeks after ordering the printer they just sent me back the old CLP-315.

This wouldn’t be that annoying if it wasn’t for the fact that I have told them on two seperate occasions that they may just make that mistake so please could they double check that they send me back the correct printer. I was told that the managers has ensured that my order has been corrected, oops!

So I’ve just sent off an email to them explaining this, along with a nice timeline of the order so far and asking to see how they may lift me out of this Kafka-esque nightmare. I’ll probably be adding to this over the next painfull few weeks. Do you think they may send me back the wrong one again? I may start taking bets.

UPDATE: Overclockers UK have given me a full refund after messing up my order due to a stock numbering problem. One member of staff there was really quite helpful in sorting this out. The conclusion I’ve drawn during this is that Overclockers UK really need to change their problem management software. The current webnote system meant a complete breakdown in communication between different members of staff and it’s really awful to use for the end user too.

Time line of my Overclockers UK Samsung CLP-315W colour laser printer order:

22 Nov – ordered Samsung CLP-315W StockID PR-011-SA – order number 3XXXXXX

23 Nov – Rec’d email conf that Samsung CLP-315W has shipped

24 Nov – Was delivered Samsung CLP-315 by mistake

24 Nov – Rec’d RMA number 1XXXXX

27 Nov – after waiting 3 days for RMA instruction I send email asking for RMA instructions and explain that Stock ID PR-011-SA has been changed to non-wireless Samsung CLP-315 product

27 Nov – Rec’d email reiterating RMA number but with no further details

7 Dec – I email you to ask again for RMA instructions

9 Dec – Told item will be picked up from me on the 11th of Dec

11 Dec – Contact you to tell you pick up was not made and to ask for another pick up.

15 Dec – DPD finally pick up the printer from me

17 Dec – Told new printer will be dispatched soon

17 Dec – Rec’d email conf that Samsung CLP-315 has shipped

17 Dec – I contact you to check that you’re sending me the correct printer this time (the CLP-315W not the CLP-315) as the order email looks like you’re sending me the non-wireless one.

17 Dec – Rec’d reply saying that the managers have assured you that this has been corrected.

19 Dec – Rec wrong Samsung CLP-315 printer (as I predicted might happen due to Stock ID number correction).

19 Dec – Send them a complaint and ask them to solve this once and for all.

21 Dec – Rec new RMA number and date of 23 Dec for pick up.

23 Dec – Printer picked up.

30 Dec – Printer arrives at Overclockers.

31 Dec – Rec email telling me my money will be refunded.

5 Jan – Money refunded into my bank account.

That’s 44 days in total!

Epilogue: I ordered the same printer from PC World last week and the correct one arrived 4 days later, even with all this snow!

Here’s a few interesting things I’ve seen or heard on the net recently.

Want to edit your photographs but don’t have Photoshop? Then use the online image editor at Pixlr. It’s relatively simple to use.

Live camera from the LHC collider in France.

Games:

Coign Of Vantage. Rotate the screen using your mouse to find the hidden image.

Totem Destroyer. Perfect blend of skill and luck. I managed to do all 25!

Split Words. Match the correct parts of words together. This is much harder than it first seems.

Music:

The Re:Publikan Podcast. Download mixes by AtJazz, Mark Farina etc..

Dixon presents Inner City 2005 – 2008

Yes, another set of links I’m dumping here top clear up my browser’s bookmarks.

Film sequel quiz. Go on – you know they made one more.

Current status of HDTV in the UK.

Logic Puzzles. For when you want to waste an afternoon.

Sorry I Missed Your Party. If you can’t make it to a party youself take a look at these ones.

Whole Lotta Blog. Searches blogs for links to music files. Dodgy (in the crim way) but very good at finding obscure stuff without resorting to bit torrents.

German Bunker In My Garden. Guy tries to find a bunker in his garden. Start at the link and work your way up the archive.

It’s traditional here for me to let you know what my Grand National selection is. This year, like my disastrous 2007, I haven’t had time to study form, listen to pundits or get the word on the street. So what you’re left with is plain guesswork.

There’s no horses sticking out for me so it’s gonna be one of those years where most of my bets will be on clapped out old nags that might just finish somewhere in the first 4. I’ve placed each-way bets on:
NAUNTON BROOK 100-1
FUNDAMENTALIST 66-1
L’AMI 40-1

And of course, I had to put some money on one horse to win, and it didn’t take long to pick this one. My 2008 winner of the Grand National will be …..
KING JOHNS CASTLE 16-1

If you can’t make it to the bookies just click on the Ladbrokes link on the right (5th down). Good luck!

Download some Charles Webster, Moodymann, Theo Parrish and Ron Trent mixes at Bozman’s site. I’m getting into the 3 Chairs and Charles Webster & Moodymann mixes on Page 2.

I’m playing a lot of Advance Wars: Dark Conflict on my Nintendo DS at the moment. Let me know if you fancy some wifi battles.

Kids, just because you put the word Monkey next to something doesn’t make it cool.

I’m thinking of creating a Russell Brand Sentence Generator. It will spurt out words like Shackled, Pomposity and Judgemental.

Currently going through a non-red meat phase for a while so I’ve been cooking such delights as Jhinga Bhindi Fry which is a prawn and okra stir fry. You can get the recipe here. I may even attempt to grow my own okra this year, yikes!

And finally, all the local councils on the South East coast are being complete idiots in stopping the residents of Sussex from getting hold of the wood that has washed up on the beach. Just when you thought that you might get a little kickback from all that council tax you’ve been paying. No. The beach is off limits and so is the wood.

Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians. Does as it says on the tin.

Check out the latest celebrity armpit flaps at flappits.com. You must be pretty deranged to think of that one.

An interview with Ken Buckle, mobile disc jockey in Enfield. His words of wisdom include, “You can have women asking for Abba week after week, then next time you think, ‘There’s a load of women here, I’ll give it the old “Dancing Queen”,’ but nothing happens. There’s no guarantee in this game. It’s like fishing.”

Interview with Chris Rock, from The Guardian. On Hillary Clinton:
“I think America is ready for a woman president. But does it have to be that one?”

And originally from the geniuses at Poisoned Mind, here is how I spend most of my day:

I made this:

Today’s game is Dice Wars. It’s like a mini version of Risk where you have to roll higher than the territory you’re attacking. Good quick fun!

Today’s ‘everybody is stupid’ moment goes to the news that Camelot are withdrawing a scratch card game as it’s too confusing. Yes, it uses minus numbers to show cold temperatures and working out if you were colder or hotter proved a bit too much for some people.

Today’s bet was another of my crazy longshots. It’s a bet that Croatia don’t qualify from Euro 2008. They are currently top of the table with only two games to play but if Russia win both of their matches, Croatia lose against Macedonia and England beat Croatia next Wednesday then they don’t go through to the finals. It’s a long shot and it wasn’t even available at the normal betting sites. Therefore I took my first shot at using BetFair which is a totally different kind of betting site, called a betting exchange. Here you can place bets ‘against’ results as well and you can choose your odds from a selection. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. For a £25 stake (which was free with the offer I had) I stand to win over £600. Fingers crossed!

Today’s annoyance is Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, insisting that the War On Iraq has not increased the threat of terrorism. I feel so confident which such free thinkers in charge of the country.

Today’s mix tape comes from DJ Rocha with his Made Inn Radio Show mp3 mix – sorry about the RapidShare link. It’s a light deep tech-house mix with nothing too underground or experimental.

Today’s ha! comes from John Scalzi who reports back from the new Creation Museum somewhere in the US. “Every single thing on display in the Creation Museum is either caused by or a consequence of exactly three things: 1. The six-day creation; 2. Adam eating from the tree of life; 3. Noah’s flood.”