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 This sytem is hideously out of date and you end up having a different staff member answering each query you have and you never feel that and communication between them goes on.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!

After a few years of use and then quite a few years in the back of the cupboard it’s time to finally sell my Roland MC-303. My reasons for selling this are to free up some room (really need to declutter) and to allow someone else to make use of the instrument.

When I opened it for the following photos I managed to crank one more tune out of it before I packed it away for the last time. It took me just under an hour. Have a listen (download mp3).

It’ll be on eBay this week!

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

Well I picked up one of these last Saturday and I thought I’d share how I feel about the device.

Firstly, it looks amazing and is a perfect size, roughly 5 CD cases stuck together. And for £39.99 does the three things I need it to do; listen to radio; allows me to plug my mp3 player into it; and is a portable speaker with the addition of a battery. I’ve been looking for something that could do all this for a while at that price, but with no luck.

Plugging in my mp3 player the sound was amazing. It disables the volume control when you do this turning it into a simple monitor speaker. It’s very punchy for it’s size and was much louder than I thought it would be.

The radio auto-tuned in around 30 seconds and it found 20 stations to listen to. I was getting 3 out of 7 signal bars but this seemed enough for clear reception.

I often listen to the radio as I fall asleep and the Pure Mini’s low volume range was perfect. I had three volume settings that could all be used for getting off to sleep depending on the external noise.

But, it’s not all roses. I’m finding quite a few issues with the machine. Enough to think about taking it back and waiting another year for some one to create the simple radio I need.

Now, I’m not sure if it’s just this strange humidity we’re getting in the south of the UK this week but my DAB reception has been all over the place. It’s jumping from 1 to 4 bars (out of a max of 7) constantly which is leading to a lot of bubbling and cutting out. I don’t live remotely or in a valley and the Pure Bug Too I had for a month last year had amazing reception so I can only presume that the DAB tuner in the Mini has been scaled back. Then again, I also lose a Freeview Multiplex with this weather so maybe it is just atmospheric conditions. There’s no external aerial socket so you’re pretty much left with the 17 inch fully extended aerial to get a signal.

Selecting the station is also a bit more complicated than it needs to be. It needs three actions; pressing the stations button, turning the volume dial to the required station, then pressing this dial in to select it. An additional station dial would have been better, although I think the normal Pure One uses the same all-in-one functionality.

Finally there’s one issue which could well be a fault. When the radio is on standby, i.e. plugged in but in the off mode, and the mp3 player is plugged it occasionally makes some feedback noise, like a cough, as if it’s discharging some energy. It’s very annoying and loud enough to wake you up.

So, I’ll wait a week or two but if I’m still having issues I’ll have to take it back and maybe buy a more expensive, less portable radio. That’s unless somebody can suggest a solution to the reception issues. Can I crocodile-clip a better aerial to the top of the current one?

Drivers always seem to make my life as hair-raising as possible as I cycle round our Cities’ streets. Luckily we have some good cycle lanes in Brighton, but here’s a sit that focuses on the very strange ones: www.weirdcyclelanes.co.uk.

I’ve noticed the start of the proposed Seafront-to-Downs has been created with cycle paths going up two blocks up The Drive. If anyone knows where they’re going next please let me know.

News:

A 2,000-year-old mechanical computer salvaged from a Roman shipwreck has astounded scientists who have finally unravelled the secrets of how the sophisticated device works.

New generation anti-depressants have little clinical benefit for most patients, research suggests.

1 In Every 99 Americans Now Behind Bars. While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine. Land of the free?

The World’s largest digging machine. Weighing in at a portly 45,500 tons.

The Wire’s War on the Drug War. Ed Burns, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Richard Price and David Simon the creators of HBO’s The Wire have their say on the drug war.

And finally:

I’ve never bought much lingerie but this site my change my mind. The interactive knicker picker. But for some reason I can see Men using this site a little more than women.

Using one of these nifty wingsuits:

For those that use HTML in their life, why not test your memory:

37

Oh, and take a look at this amazing Depth Of Field site, all done with Flash.

Long interview with Adam Curtis about the future of UK TV.

Play Castle Smasher. My highest score in 2274 and I can’t seem to finish level 5.

Interact with a head by playing Feed The Head. You could spend hours playing with this.

M.C. Escher in Lego. Featuring the amazing ‘Ascending and Descending’ and ‘Belvedere’.

Audio cassette tape nostalgia.