Boots Vo5 Competition Gone Wrong – Technical Error?

16 November, 2012 Uncategorized No comments
boots competition winner

Yes I’ve won the Boots competition to Barcelon

Yesterday like many other people out there I received an email telling me that I’d won the Boots Vo5 competition to Barcelona. I’m always slightly sceptical when I receive emails, but this definitely looked official and had no reason to believe that these reputable companies would make a mistake.

I did a quick Google search for the competition and found it in online, including all the details of the prize (the page is no offline).  I then posted on Facebook, told my husband, friends and colleagues and sent an email to them to thank them and was looking forward to them getting in touch.

Boots Sorry

No!! Sorry there has been a technical error

 Two hours later I received another email to say sorry there had been a technical error.  I emailed them back to find out what happened.  It was only after looking online I found an article in the Daily Mail and posts on MSE and discovered I hadn’t been the only person who had received this email. 

 

I know people can make mistakes, but this situation hasn’t been handled very well.  Why are no safeguards in place to prevent this? And how exactly did the winner email get mistakenly sent to so many people.  I would like to know if a winner has been picked and who it is.  Apparently all victims are going to be compensated with £10 of Boots vouchers and they are going to have a second winner.  The problem is are you really going to believe you’ve won if you are picked the second time?  Maybe when the plane tickets actually arrive in the post.

HP Folio 13 Review

24 August, 2012 Laptops No comments
HP Folio 13

After thinking I wouldn’t get a replacement laptop through the buy one get one free promotion, I decided to buy myself one.  Recently Intel have been battling with Apple to rival their MacBook Air by releasing their own slimmed down version known as an Ultrabook.

Being a .Net developer I use a lot of Microsoft products, so having a Windows machine makes the most sense for me.  I’ve been keeping a close eye on Ultrabooks since their arrival over a year ago now, I really liked the idea of having one but wanted it to be affordable. A few weeks ago I  found a great deal on a refurbished HP Folio 13 from Dixons for £489,  I ordered one and it arrived last week. Overall I’m throughly happy with my purchase.

Purple Covered Ultrabook

Purple Hard Shell Cover On My HP Folio 13

Weighing only 1.5kg when I was handed the item I nearly dropped it, as I was expecting it to feel heavier.  Similar to when you have been in plaster, as soon as you have it removed your arm feels much lighter.  One of the things noted about this Ultrabook by some of the reviewers is that it isn’t the most attractive looking of machines currently available on the market and has more of a business look.  I however have brightened mine up with a hard shell cover from iPearl, not surprisingly the one I chose is purple

 

With a backlit keyboard, SSD Hard-drive, USB 3.0 and HDMI port the ultrabook is everything I’ve been looking for. I won’t miss having a dvd-rw drive, I think eventually everything will be virtualised into the cloud so it’ll prove unecessary. I have also picked up a portable 1tb WD drive incase I need to store any extra data. I would definitely recommend this machine if you can pick up a good price on it.

Another laptop update

9 August, 2012 Laptops 10 comments

Good news! After many weeks of stress and upset my laptop has been found and delivered to the correct address.  It has to be the most expensive and slowest delivery ever, it would have got there in less time if it had gone around the world first.

Finally, the company that had my parcel found it amongst their 8,000 others, although this was only the beginning.  I spoke to Royal Mail and I asked them if they would collect the item and redeliver it.  They refused and told me that the parcel was delivered on 25th June.  They suggested I make a claim!  I informed them that I would never use their services again and hung up.

I proceeded to find another delivery company that would pick up my item and take it the whole 500 yards to the correct address. I had to opt for a same day service at £48 as the overnight service didn’t include sufficient insurance. Finally, I received a call from the courier that the item had arrived.  I just hope all this effort is worth it in the end. I’m now just waiting to hear back from Opia to confirm delivery.

Lessons Learned:

  1. Never use Royal Mail parcel service again
  2. Check address of where item is being sent to and ensure it is valid
  3. Send packages in distinguishable wrapping

Updates

Friday 10th August

1) Just spoke to Trojan and they confirmed they have my parcel – yippee!
2) Received confirmation from Opia that my laptop had arrived and to send them a copy of my invoice (another hoop to jump through – but I keep everything)
3) Another email from Opia saying that they would be sending me a white Sony Vaio E15

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