On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:15:32 +0000, Rod wrote:

I have noticed that most (possibly all) electrical goods on display
stands at John Lewis have their cables cut off. (I suspect this is
portable devices and not every white good.)

Cheap way to reduce the number that walk I suspect. Send one ex-display
off to auction or just bin it rather than have any number walk...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 10 Nov 2008 07:39:10 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

"Invitation to treat". A seller marks a price. You make an offer
(normally at the marked price but it doesn't have to be), the seller
can accept or reject the offer, they are under no obligation to sell.

Agreed. But a bit stupid to offer it in the first place if they weren't
going to sell. I suspect that the refusal was an individual decision by
someone who just wanted to feel important.

Yeah, was it the OP who said it was probably the sales assistant
unoffically keeping it back for a friend.

If I'd wanted the tool I would have noted the assistants name, quietly
wandered away and found the duty manager to enquire why assistant X wasn't
prepared to sell me the tool and if it was policy not to sell for the
reasons I had been given why the invitation had been posted in the first
place.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Sun, 9 Nov 2008 16:42:37 -0000, "Michael Chare"
wrote:

"bilbo*baggins" wrote in message
...

With regret, I visited the big B&Q barn in Hartcliffe, Bristol
yesterday and expressed interest in a Table Saw on the 'Tools' sales
floor that had been lifted down from display. It had an 'Ex-Display
Reduced' price sticker attached.

The storeperson told me she 'couldn't under any circumstances' sell
the device to me, for 'Health and Safety' reasons. When I asked what
those reasons were, she told me that some of the packaging seemed to
missing. I persisted. She insisted that "You might not have all the
instructions, and cut your finger off. Then you could sue us. It's for
your own good......"

I pointed out that, in the more than 50-odd years I'd been using
tools, powered and unpowered, I'd somehow managed to hang on to my
original ten fingers.... but she was adamant. It would not be sold.

So I left without the table saw - and the trolley-full of other stuff
I'd selected.

Would someone please tell me how we can rid ourselves of these
creatures?


Sometimes asking for the shop manger can help in these situations, as quite
possibly you could have downloaed the instructions from the internet.

No long ago I bought a Samsung Fridge.

Bad move. You can't get spares for these if they are more than a few
years old.

The instruction manual was full of
advice like make sure things don't fall on you when you open the doors. Not
a word about what might be sensible temperatures to run the fridge and
freezer at. .

This is absolutely normal for instruction manuals these days.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org

In article ,
Mark wrote:
No long ago I bought a Samsung Fridge.

Bad move. You can't get spares for these if they are more than a few
years old.

I'd say fridges are one of the few things that rarely need spares. Or by
the time they do few makers would still stock them anyway.

--
*Indian Driver - Smoke signals only*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

wrote:
On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:28:10 +0000, Lobster wrote:

I waver any liability from the seller (insert name of shop here) due to

Write 'waver' and the contract will be held void as it doesnt make
sense.

Highly unlikely. It's perfectly clear what was meant, and courts
shouldn't have a problem with it.

I wouldn't expect any chain-store manager to agree to bind his employer
to such a contract though.

Pete

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:42:17 UTC, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:28:10 +0000, Lobster wrote:

I waver any liability from the seller (insert name of shop here) due
to
injury to my person and / or any damages that may occur due to my use
of said product.

Waiver... B-)

Waive... :-))

Spotted the delibarate mestook. ;-]

wrote in message
...
On Nov 10, 12:42 am, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:28:10 +0000, Lobster wrote:
I waver any liability from the seller (insert name of shop here) due to
injury to my person and / or any damages that may occur due to my use
of said product.

Waiver... B-)

Write 'waver' and the contract will be held void as it doesnt make
sense. If its accepted and if the tool injures you you can still sue.
However there are other issues with such a contract that make it
worthless in reality, and few managers want to enter into murky
contracts just for a quick sale of a low value item. A few might
though.


NT

OOPS !!! I missed an " i " Silly me. I will right it dine a thighs and
times, two help me remember the next time.

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/waiver
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/waiver
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/waiver
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/waiver
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/waiver
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/waiver

:-)

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something
like:

A big part of the problem is the absence of a power balance. What the
safety man says goes, and its that simple. If there were the practical
ability to say no you got that wrong and have someone else decide, the
numerous flights of imagination they suffer would be curtailed
somewhat. OTOH the slew of ignorant objections would take up a whole
lot of time - there lies the problem.

A couple of years ago I did an H&S short intro course and we were asked
to make a list of all the items in and outside the hall that *might*
pose a danger to someone. In fact, there were a couple of dodgy items
(broken socket, rusted bracket on water tank), but it was a hoot
populating the list with all sorts of utterly trivial stuff that nobody
in their right mind would bother with.

Amazingly, the H&S bod took it all seriously and promised they would all
be attended to.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:11:41 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Mark wrote:
No long ago I bought a Samsung Fridge.

Bad move. You can't get spares for these if they are more than a few
years old.

I'd say fridges are one of the few things that rarely need spares.

I'd say not. Many fridges use electronic control systems which do go
wrong. My 6 year old Samsung fridge has such a failure and I had to
scrap it because spares were no longer manufactured.

Or by
the time they do few makers would still stock them anyway.

I'm not sure what you meant by this apart to contradict your first
sentence?

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:50:46 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Rod wrote:
I have noticed that most (possibly all) electrical goods on display
stands at John Lewis have their cables cut off. (I suspect this is
portable devices and not every white good.) Pretty sure they didn't used
to do that - even fairly recently. Anwyway, that would prevent anyone
using it - and if sold accidentally I would expect the customer to
complain. :-)

Also makes it less likely they will be stolen.

How? IME theives chop off mains cables rather than unplug them.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Mark wrote:
No long ago I bought a Samsung Fridge.

Bad move. You can't get spares for these if they are more than a few
years old.

I'd say fridges are one of the few things that rarely need spares. Or by
the time they do few makers would still stock them anyway.

Mostly te plastic interiors call apart, and the door seals.

Lec is as good as it gets for that.


If they degass, chuck em.

In article ,
Mark wrote:
On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:11:41 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Mark wrote:
No long ago I bought a Samsung Fridge.

Bad move. You can't get spares for these if they are more than a few
years old.

I'd say fridges are one of the few things that rarely need spares.

I'd say not. Many fridges use electronic control systems which do go
wrong. My 6 year old Samsung fridge has such a failure and I had to
scrap it because spares were no longer manufactured.

Not possible to repair it?

Or by the time they do few makers would still stock them anyway.

I'm not sure what you meant by this apart to contradict your first
sentence?

I have a near 30 year old fridge still working as new. I'd not expect to
be able to buy spares for it now. Haven't tried, of course. But few even
decent makers carry spares for things over 10 years old.

--
*Pentium wise, pen and paper foolish *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Mark wrote:
I have noticed that most (possibly all) electrical goods on display
stands at John Lewis have their cables cut off. (I suspect this is
portable devices and not every white good.) Pretty sure they didn't
used to do that - even fairly recently. Anwyway, that would prevent
anyone using it - and if sold accidentally I would expect the
customer to complain. :-)

Also makes it less likely they will be stolen.

How? IME theives chop off mains cables rather than unplug them.

At the appliance end?

--
*The first rule of holes: If you are in one, stop digging!

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher writes:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Mark wrote:
No long ago I bought a Samsung Fridge.

Bad move. You can't get spares for these if they are more than a few
years old.

I'd say fridges are one of the few things that rarely need spares. Or by
the time they do few makers would still stock them anyway.

Mostly te plastic interiors call apart, and the door seals.

Lec is as good as it gets for that.


If they degass, chuck em.

For freezers, add in waterlogging (icelogging) of the insulation
when they first switched away from CFC expanded foams to more
environmentally friendly insulation (which meant chucking out
the freezer after less than half the lifetime it would have had
previously). Sigh.

The most unreliable parts are the fanned frost-free sections.
Avoiding units with those will give you a very much more reliable
fridge/freezer. The basic sealed system compressor technology has
been around for decades and achieved quite remarkable levels of
high reliability at low cost.

Sometimes gas leaks are obvious (a friend had one where the pipe
coming out of the vibrating compressor was rubbing against a bit
of fixed metal, and we had the same thing in an air conditioning
unit at work. A blob of solder to fix the hole and bending the
pipe away from this point permanently fixed both cases after
regassing.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:46:06 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Mark wrote:
On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:11:41 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Mark wrote:
No long ago I bought a Samsung Fridge.

Bad move. You can't get spares for these if they are more than a few
years old.

I'd say fridges are one of the few things that rarely need spares.

I'd say not. Many fridges use electronic control systems which do go
wrong. My 6 year old Samsung fridge has such a failure and I had to
scrap it because spares were no longer manufactured.

Not possible to repair it?

I don't know how to repair it nor did anyone else I could find.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:47:11 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Mark wrote:
I have noticed that most (possibly all) electrical goods on display
stands at John Lewis have their cables cut off. (I suspect this is
portable devices and not every white good.) Pretty sure they didn't
used to do that - even fairly recently. Anwyway, that would prevent
anyone using it - and if sold accidentally I would expect the
customer to complain. :-)

Also makes it less likely they will be stolen.

How? IME theives chop off mains cables rather than unplug them.

At the appliance end?

Pretty close. I visited an office shortly after a burglary and all
that was left of the computers and printers were chopped off leads.
The mains leads were still plugged in.

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org

On Sun, 9 Nov 2008 22:30:31 -0000, "Rob" wrote:

At headoffice they had a department called risk management who were
supposed to the knowledge base and they were again giving out
that information.

More properly called "risk avoidance" department in most companies and
headed by a solicitor.

In article ,
Mark wrote:
At the appliance end?

Pretty close. I visited an office shortly after a burglary and all
that was left of the computers and printers were chopped off leads.
The mains leads were still plugged in.

Sounds like someone with mental problems - given that most computers and
printers don't have captive leads.

Perhaps we now know dribble's real job.

--
*Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:42:05 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something
like:

A big part of the problem is the absence of a power balance. What the
safety man says goes, and its that simple. If there were the practical
ability to say no you got that wrong and have someone else decide, the
numerous flights of imagination they suffer would be curtailed
somewhat. OTOH the slew of ignorant objections would take up a whole
lot of time - there lies the problem.

A couple of years ago I did an H&S short intro course and we were asked
to make a list of all the items in and outside the hall that *might*
pose a danger to someone. In fact, there were a couple of dodgy items
(broken socket, rusted bracket on water tank), but it was a hoot
populating the list with all sorts of utterly trivial stuff that nobody
in their right mind would bother with.

Amazingly, the H&S bod took it all seriously and promised they would all
be attended to.

I hope you included the possibility of spontaneous human combustion
of your workmates as a reason for working from home :-)

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember saying
something like:

A big part of the problem is the absence of a power balance. What the
safety man says goes, and its that simple. If there were the
practical ability to say no you got that wrong and have someone else
decide, the numerous flights of imagination they suffer would be
curtailed somewhat. OTOH the slew of ignorant objections would take
up a whole lot of time - there lies the problem.

A couple of years ago I did an H&S short intro course and we were
asked to make a list of all the items in and outside the hall that
*might* pose a danger to someone. In fact, there were a couple of
dodgy items (broken socket, rusted bracket on water tank), but it was
a hoot populating the list with all sorts of utterly trivial stuff
that nobody in their right mind would bother with.

Amazingly, the H&S bod took it all seriously and promised they would
all be attended to.

I get a fair bit of work from H&S inspections. Local church last week,
paint 3 x steps white, box in some electric cables, fit beading to door
thresholds so they wern't trip hassards.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:26:33 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

What am I missing here, why was it on sale with a reduced price if
they could not sell it to you?

I thought that as well. If its offered for sale, its for sale
surely?

See my other post. It's an "invitation to treat", nothing more.

I appreciate that, but what I meant is - why did they put a price ticket on
it if they couldn't sell it?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
Mark wrote:
At the appliance end?

Pretty close. I visited an office shortly after a burglary and all
that was left of the computers and printers were chopped off leads.
The mains leads were still plugged in.

Sounds like someone with mental problems - given that most computers and
printers don't have captive leads.

No, it's quite normal when computer kit is nicked.
Maybe not in the case of a domestic one-off, but when
multiples are nicked from an office, they always just
cut through all the cables.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:12:10 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

I thought that as well. If its offered for sale, its for sale
surely?

See my other post. It's an "invitation to treat", nothing more.

I appreciate that, but what I meant is - why did they put a price ticket
on it if they couldn't sell it?

'Cause the sales assistant was talking ******** for some reason. The very
likely reason being unoffically keeping it back for a relative for friend.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 10 Nov 2008 18:15:29 GMT, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Sounds like someone with mental problems - given that most computers
and printers don't have captive leads.

No, it's quite normal when computer kit is nicked. Maybe not in the case
of a domestic one-off, but when multiples are nicked from an office,
they always just cut through all the cables.

I can see that it's much quicker to cut the cables but cutting through a
live mains cable is "exciting". I guess after the first one the protection
will have tripped but you'll have not done your cutters much good. Two
pairs of cutters or a plug top with all three terminals heavyly bonded
together and a bit of brass for a fuse?

Plug it in, switch on, instant trip either as overload or earth leakage.
The sophisticated burglar would have one with a resistor between live and
earth just to trip any RCD.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:01:36 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On 10 Nov 2008 18:15:29 GMT, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Sounds like someone with mental problems - given that most computers
and printers don't have captive leads.

No, it's quite normal when computer kit is nicked. Maybe not in the case
of a domestic one-off, but when multiples are nicked from an office,
they always just cut through all the cables.

I can see that it's much quicker to cut the cables but cutting through a
live mains cable is "exciting". I guess after the first one the protection
will have tripped but you'll have not done your cutters much good. Two
pairs of cutters or a plug top with all three terminals heavyly bonded
together and a bit of brass for a fuse?

You're probably less likely to leave fingerprints about the place if
you simply snip through the wires with gloved hands than if you start
undoing connectors which might get left behind

--
Frank Erskine

"Frank Erskine" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:01:36 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On 10 Nov 2008 18:15:29 GMT, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Sounds like someone with mental problems - given that most computers
and printers don't have captive leads.

No, it's quite normal when computer kit is nicked. Maybe not in the
case
of a domestic one-off, but when multiples are nicked from an office,
they always just cut through all the cables.

I can see that it's much quicker to cut the cables but cutting through a
live mains cable is "exciting". I guess after the first one the
protection
will have tripped but you'll have not done your cutters much good. Two
pairs of cutters or a plug top with all three terminals heavyly bonded
together and a bit of brass for a fuse?

You're probably less likely to leave fingerprints about the place if
you simply snip through the wires with gloved hands than if you start
undoing connectors which might get left behind

Frank Erskine


Is there something you're not telling us Frank? How would you know so much
about it? :-)

Owain wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
I get a fair bit of work from H&S inspections. Local church last
week, paint 3 x steps white, box in some electric cables,

Will you be recalculating the thermal effects on the circuit cables of
the revised mounting method?

Of course - and I sanded the sharp corners of the MDF.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Pretty close. I visited an office shortly after a burglary and all
that was left of the computers and printers were chopped off leads.
The mains leads were still plugged in.

Sounds like someone with mental problems - given that most computers and
printers don't have captive leads.

No, it's quite normal when computer kit is nicked.
Maybe not in the case of a domestic one-off, but when
multiples are nicked from an office, they always just
cut through all the cables.

Any guesses as to why? Unless it's for scrap that sort of thing will
reduce the resale value - even at a car boot sale, etc.

--
*Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:52:01 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Owain wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
I get a fair bit of work from H&S inspections. Local church last
week, paint 3 x steps white, box in some electric cables,

Will you be recalculating the thermal effects on the circuit cables of
the revised mounting method?

Of course - and I sanded the sharp corners of the MDF.

You used MDF in a church? Sacrilege.

What's the matter with proper oak?

--
Frank Erskine

On Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:01:17 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Any guesses as to why? Unless it's for scrap that sort of thing will
reduce the resale value - even at a car boot sale, etc.

'cause they are knicking the machines for the parts rather than working
systems. Parts like the memory, cpu etc. Though now that 1GB of memory
doesn't cost you and arm and three legs and an ordinary desktop
workstation can be had, complete, for a few hundred quid I shouldn't think
there is much market any more.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Pretty close. I visited an office shortly after a burglary and all
that was left of the computers and printers were chopped off leads.
The mains leads were still plugged in.
Sounds like someone with mental problems - given that most computers and
printers don't have captive leads.

No, it's quite normal when computer kit is nicked.
Maybe not in the case of a domestic one-off, but when
multiples are nicked from an office, they always just
cut through all the cables.

Any guesses as to why? Unless it's for scrap that sort of thing will
reduce the resale value - even at a car boot sale, etc.

Maybe for reasons of time; very often cables will be all tangled up and
fed through orifices in worktops so the perp would be grovelling around
underneath desks extracting them - I expect the time taken to do that
would be more productively spent nicking a few more chopped-off machines
from another office in the building.

David