Bridget’s Blog

Saturday Guardian’s ’Money’ supplement has picked up on the problem of fake charity collections raised by Mike Lomotey of ClothesAid. I’m delighted that Mike’s campaign is getting more coverage. ClothesAid is an Islington-based charity and I’ve been supporting them on this for some time. Earlier this year the Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson - who tabled an EDM on this matter - joined us to help highlight the issue. The Government are beginning to acknowledge there’s a problem; but action rather than warm words seems to be a long time coming.

When I moved in to this flat back in 2004, I got some bedroom furniture from James Selby, on Holloway Road. We’ve just ordered a wardrobe & chest of drawers to match, for Richard’s gear. The staff at Selby’s have been really helpful, giving us lots of information on prices, sizes and materials. They even investigated options like extra matching handles and help with home assembly. And I’ve had regular phonecalls from them to keep me informed of progress. Yesterday was d-day and they delivered the furniture right into the room with no fuss as agreed. Now the clothes rails can go and it no longer feels like sleeping in the back of a dry cleaner’s; bliss.

The same courier as yesterday has turned up with another home hub. BT are sending me a reply label so I can return it.

Now I’m working from home much of the time, I wanted to upgrade my IT and go wireless, so I’m not tethered to one modem point. After a bit of shopping around I plumped for BT Broadband, ordered it online - including the home hub - and got a prompt email, followed by a letter, confirming my order and the delivery date (Tuesday 7 August). The kit could be delivered anytime up to 6pm I was told.
On the Tuesday, I went to get my paper & the catfood at crack of dawn, pinned a ‘knock loudly’ note to the door, and from 8am was waiting expectantly. At 5pm I started phoning to check on progress. After a tour of BT departments - from account enquiries to Sales to support - I was told that there was no wireless kit on my order, so none had been delivered. A fresh order was placed with delivery promised for Friday10th.
Friday came and went - no home hub. Another call and an email complaint over the weekend; I got a charming email back and a phone call on Monday promising delivery on Wednesday 15th. The courier duly arrived with the pack from BT. On Wednesday evening I started setting it up - wireless & broadband lights came on but no internet light.
When this was still the case today, I followed the notes in the trouble-shooting guide and rang the helpdesk. They rang me back and talked me through a series of tests - including unscrewing my phone socket from the wall and refitting it; clearly a baffling technical problem. After going away to conduct line tests for 2 hours, they called me back to say that the problem was actually that the Broadband service has not yet been activated for my line….. It should be working tomorrow.

I hate throwing things away, but with Richard moving in, it was finally time to say goodbye to my sofabed (c1987) and old sofa (c1992). Islington Council operates an excellent free collection service, however, it’s for stuff that you’ve already moved outside. As the sofas were upstairs in the flat, we needed help getting them down & out.  Ecojunk, based in NW1, will move furniture and other stuff out, take it away, and dispose of it in an environmentally-friendly way. They charge a moderate amount, based on how much vanspace your stuff takes up. They offer a 2 hour collection slot so you don’t have to wait in all day.

When they had a problem because the van booked for my job was already full, Ecojunk phoned me and offered to either move the sofas anyway, and pick them up later, so I was free to go out; or reschedule the collection an hour later or to another date, whichever I preferred. They arrived within the hour and removed the sofas quickly and cheerfully - I’d recommend them to anyone.

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