Shouldn't have gone to Specsavers!

http://www.blipfoto.com/view.php?id=881124

The link for the picture of my broken glasses is above.

I've be tweeting Angry Tweets all afternoon and have uploaded the above to Blipfoto, I need to write down what happened today and leave the emotion out of it. I won't be slagging anyone off, however I will be using names of all involved.

I went into town with a list of little post Christmas things to do 'sans' family. One of those jobs was to get my Black Jaspers adjusted because over time they have become a little loose to wear. So I went into Specsavers in Colchester and Arron (young lad, wearing glasses and a Mr Men T shirt) greeted me. I told him I needed my glasses adjusted so he took me over to sit down. Colin (Hope) manager and franchise owner of the branch came over and shook my hand and said 'welcome to our new shop' I've been a customer of Specsavers Colchester for well over 15 years so Colin and I know each other a little.

Colin and I had a little small talk whilst Arron checked my glasses and then got up to go over to a machine to heat up the frames. Colin was stood next to him. Colin saw that Arron had broken the frame and after a brief discussion he offered by way of compensation 50% off a new pair.

Call me 'churlish' if you like but I thought that I would be offered full repair or a full replacement 'no questions asked' because a member of Specsavers staff had broken my glasses. Colin made it quite clear that the deal he was offering was actually quite a good deal because my glasses were more than 2 years old and actually he was being very generous. I am a daily contact lens wearer and these glasses are worn a few hours in the evening so not 'old' and 'out of warranty' as he suggested. Whilst I understand that Arron did not deliberately set out to  break my glasses I find it hard to accept that I need to 'buy' a new pair because Specsavers broke them.

Colin then mentioned that Arron should have given me the 'Specsavers will adjust at your own risk' warning before touching my glasses. I've been a glasses wearer for 30 years and I've never heard an optician say this to me.  By Arron's own admission and agreed by Colin, Arron didn't issue the 'warning' before attempting to adjust my glasses.

I left the branch when we were no longer making any progress with the argument and I visited DandA and also Vision Express. Both of them said that if it had happened in their stores they would have either repaired or replaced, but certainly not offered to 'sell' me another pair. I went back to Specsavers to speak to Colin Hope again about this. He was still holding his ground on the 50% discount on a new pair and stated that the other 2 opticians were liars. (bit unprofessional)

So this is where we are. I went into Specsavers to get my glasses adjusted. They broke them and I have to buy a new pair from them at my cost. The 'compensation' offered of 50% off a new pair is no different to the advertised 2 for 1 offer so how is that actually compensation?

The Specsavers website has no section about complaints or customer service issues. All it has is a 'Contact Your Branch'. This is a problem when the branch is the problem. I have requested a 'contact' from the website so hopefully in the next 48 hours someone apart from the owner of the Colchester Specsavers will get in touch.

This is far from over.

Artful Dodger 'It's all about the Stragglers'

I'm back again, after taking some time off and being a bit lazy. I've been inspired by reading some wonderful blogs so here I am again. I suppose blogging is a bit like Twitter. It can take a while to 'find ones voice' and 'sometimes one can't be arsed' with it all. I'm not going to think of this as blogging, I'll pretend I'm writing a column for a really cool magazine that no one reads...

I've pulled out a couple of CDs from my stash. Artful Dodger is playing at the moment. It's been on repeat since 9.30am. Here's a little recap as to why I'm doing this little exercise. I've been listening to and buying music nearly all my life and I love love love music. However, I stopped strongly connecting new music to events and memories a few years back. The old stuff's fine, but nothing new. I'm certain that this coincided with the purchase of my first iPod. Too much music on tap, too much choice and not spending enough time listening to 1 thing. Sure, there's still the odd piece of music that I can hear that transports me straight back somewhere however I feel this is getting rarer and rarer these days with current music.

I'm revisiting every CD I own and writing about the feelings and memories it evokes. Sometimes it does nothing.

'It's All About the Stragglers' is one of those albums for me. I've had it playing now for nearly 4 hours now and I don't really get a sense of time or place from it. I know I didn't buy this, I'm sure it was from the insurance company after we were burgled. It's the only album of this genre I own. It's good though. Richly produced, clean, bright and bassy. I'm listening to it on my proper hifi in my office and it sounds quite fat and organic... Do you know what I mean?

My mate Ben called me earlier and I told him what I was listening to. He actually booked Artful Dodger a couple times to gig at his Uni a few years back.

I'm glad I pulled this out. It's definitely a HIFI cd. You need space to appreciate this kind of sound. The really annoying thing about this CD is that it has 99 tracks. 12 real ones, followed by 86 silent ones and then 1 last hidden track. What's the point? It's just annoying.

2 things you must know about this CD

1. Craig David's on it (not too annoying either)
2. It's where 're re wind when the crowd say Bo Selecta' came from

It's 10 years old you know?! Blimey, that surprised me...

Hello and Welcome Again!

I've been really really lazy re my blogging this year.

My last proper entry was my London Marathon 2010 entry in April and then I've totally stopped. I had a little looky at my blog and I'm going to make some time and start the music blogging again. I suppose I just don't want this blog to end up a 'dormant' blog.

One thing I have been doing everyday is blipfoto. This has given me the discipline to 'blog' everyday. So, I'll be giving it a go again.

Currently listening to the Beatles Red Album.