Where NOT to shop

I do try and restrain myself from turning this blog into a negative rant about things, but, unfortunately I can't stop myself on this one!

My wife, Marcia, is a massage therapist (and she also runs Spanish Spirit Holidays a holistic holiday retreat). One of the things she does is make up custom blends of oils for her clients. To hand these out she needs a lot of little bottles.
We thought we'd found a good supplier in Primrose Aromatherapy in the UK. They claimed to have 50ml Amber bottles with dropper tops.
Now, the stuff Marcia sells HAS to be in glass (plastic gets corroded by the oils). So, I sent an email to Primrose:

From: Phil Smy
To: primrose_aromatherapy@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: bottle droppers

hi, I'm interested in buying your 50ml bottles with dropper 
caps (item amber11), but can you tell me if the droppers 
are glass or plastic?

The response:

Hi Phil
droppers are glass.
 
Lucinda McKee
Primrose Aromatherapy

So, I placed the order! Guess what, the droppers were plastic.
Then I was told this:

Do you mean the long glass pipettes with the little
rubber squeezable teats at the top? The tops I have sent 
you are universally known as droppers but the others as 
I have mentioned are called pipettes. 
If this is the case I'm sure we can sort something out. 
Have a look on the site in caps and atomisers at pipette 
droppers (cap 02) and let me know.
Dawn Hinsley
Primrose Aromatherapy

Oh... I see. It's MY fault. I called them droppers instead of pipette droppers. Ok. So I looked at her suggestion (cap02). They looked good, so, I thought I'd bite the bullet and order them even though they should have come included.
This is what I got from placing the order:

In order to make the business what I wanted it to 
be I am going to discontinue some of the lines. This, 
unfortunately, is going to be one of them. I will sell 
what I have but I will not replace these lines once 
they are depleted. 
The stock situation is that we have pipettes for the 25ml 
bottles (67mm length on the shaft) but none for the 
50ml bottles (90 mm drop on the inside of the bottle).

So even though she told me to buy them she doesn't have them!
So I asked for a refund. Guess what?

Your request for clarification from Lucinda McKee was for 
the material used in the droppers. You were advised that 
the droppers were glass. The previous owner used the 
description "dropper" for the seperately sold items 
with a rubber top and a GLASS shaft. In this case the 
description was correct.
 
When we took the business over we were unaware of the 
correspondence as attached below. Your order was for 
Amber11 with black caps and droppers, which we 
believe we fulfilled.
 
This being the case we are unwilling to have these items 
returned to us. I trust you will undersand this and we 
can move forward. 
 
Best Regards
 
Dawn Hinsley
Primrose Aromatherapy

So. To summarize:
I asked what they were made of. Was told glass. Got plastic. Asked for glass, tried to order, was told they weren't going to help me and because they consider there isn't a problem (of course not, they got the money!) they wouldn't offer a refund.

Great customer service!

Buyer beware if you order from here!!!!

New Game Coming

A while back I worked on the back-end of an interesting new online game. The game is part first person shooter and part money making! Basically, how well you play the game will determine how much money you win.
The public beta has just opened up, so why not go sign up.
I haven't played the game myself in months (since I ended the project) but it looks to be good.

Here's the link: Go To Kwari

getting the concept going

Had an interesting meeting this morning with Mark Montovio and a group of his clients in Mount Productions. We are working on a kind of Public Service Announcement for Gibraltar about teen drinking.
We sat around with the 4 young people who are going to be in it (hopefully) and tried to get some ideas flowing. A couple of them were great - forthcoming with ideas and willing to share their experiences. The other 2 were a bit more shy. Funnily enough one of the shy ones told me she wanted to be in the modeling business. You can't be a shy wallflower in the modeling or acting world! You have to be confident and get out there.
At first I thought, hey, they're only young. But then I realised that a lot of the contestants on America's next top model (for example) were only a year or so older than these guys. I know that at the age these guys are at I was out playing in bands in clubs. So it is possible to be confident!

Anyway, I am hopeful that the product will be entertaining and get a message across. (FYI the message is that drinking as a teen is not all fun!)

Best Wikipedia page ever!

Check this out

What Web2.0 is all about!

Once more with Tori!

Once again we saw Tori Amos! Ah, we were in London anyway, so thought we'd stop in. Good seats. The show was a little different from Milan - she was a different opening character.
Unfortunately she did a prolonged solo set at the piano. And she managed to destroy 'Winter' - one of my favourite songs of hers. I really wish she would stop this self-indulgent pausing and interpreting. Yes, they are her songs... but come on! She needs a producer.
But the rest of the show was great and the fans were a bit more rowdy than in Milan, which was nice.
She wore this CRAZY outfit - it was after all the 4th of July.

See more photos on my photo site.

Oh Canada!

Sunday was Canada day, and we flew up to London to attend my friend's Dave and Linda's Canada day party. The day was spent listening to Canadian music - more Terry Jacks please! - and eating such things as potato salad and pumpkin pie. Despite a high number of non-Canadians the part was a complete success.
The horrible weather even managed to hold off and we had a day of relative sunshine.

All for a good cause

On Friday we went to a charity evening. The cause was 'Animal in Need' and the La Linea dog shelter.
Pedro (Peter) is a great guy, who has committed himself to making life better for the dogs of the area.
I am making a documentary about dogs in Spain - called 'No Shelter' - and Pedro's one of the shelters I am filming at.

It was also great to meet up with Diana Luchies. Diana is an ANGEL, who has spent the last few years committing herself to the dogs of the Costa del Sol. She has been spending her savings on living so she can devote herself to it.

So, if you can, show your support!