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Just goes to show just how much power Branson has then, considering that he threw a wobbly when the contract winner was announced. Not sure how Virgin knew they were offering a better deal if the contract was done under a closed bid. I would imagine First Group will be quids in (tax payers money) either way now, either by compensation or by keeping the contract... Will anyone resign or be sacked for this balls up? Doubt it as the blame will probably be put on some low ranking office clerk...

I still don't think that for a lot of people that are on low wages they will be wanting to sign up for this. I think that for many they have had it drummed into there heads that if they do nothing and enjoy life, that the state will provide a safety net of benefits when things don't work out. And to be honest that is how it looks, do nothing and get financial aid. Work all your life, get a pension, get a house bring up a decent family, then get hammered by the state...Why bother?

They may well want it, but they certainly won't be getting it. The ironic thing is though, I was considering giving it another go with Google ads on a one months trial either next month or in December. But considering the cost implications in my particular market and area which is a very highly competitive market. Realistically I could be doing a budget of

Finally I think I may have got to the bottom of what may have happened to one of my sites. From what was good positioning for different terms it has been hammered. To say I'm annoyed would be an understatement, having over the last couple of years of spending thousands of pounds having the site optomised for different services / areas of London i.e. boroughs & towns avoided duplicate content so every single page was individual, no spammy links the site is now virtually impossible to find. But if you are looking for a electric heating installer in Blackfriars, instead of finding the search term you will now find flats to rent via Zoopla. The other point I'd make is, is that it is hardly going to be user friendly if when people type in a search term and they then end up with results that are nothing to do with what they are looking for.
My other site which has 1000s of spammy links pointing towards it, has god knows how much duplicate content on it, has had no money invested in it for the last 3 or 4 years and looks like a pile of horse manure, still does remarkably well and I've considered pulling the plug on it, but Google seems to like it and I have no idea why.....

My thoughts on it are this
(1) If you are on the minimum wage or low income or currently have debts needing to be paid, you will hardly want to or be in a position to be putting money aside for retirement.
(2) The running costs, pensions are managed and sold and those that sell and manage pensions normally have ongoing fees throughout the life of the pension and they in some cases get a larger chunk of the pot than the person who has paid into it.
(3) Are these new pension schemes locked into a safe system, making it impossible for either a Government, business or investment institution from tapping into the pension funds for their own benefit?
(4) Who is responsible for giving the pension fund holder impartial advice on this new scheme?
(5) At what age would it not be worthwhile for an employee to join such a scheme 35? 40? 50?
(6) Is there just one fund to invest in or are ther several to choose from?
(7) What are the cast iron guarantees that any money invested is safe?
(8) Is this a cop out for the state pension?

Well this bumbling apology makes everything alright I guessthumbsdown

If Redditch is within the M25, I'll do it for free and give you a

Bacon sarnie and a cup of tea....to start with

Maybe we should do a thread on 'What are your expectations of customers'

As an example, this Saturday night 8pm, gets a call from a customer who we fitted a boiler back in February in Central London who had no heating, told him over the phone how to reset the boiler he being a teacher you would think would have some savvy up top, but no I had to do a 40 mile round trip to do it for him. Sunday night same guy calls at 8pm the boiler has lost all pressure again, told him what to do again, this time he has twigged what to do, he then explains he has water coming through the walls and through the electrics At this point I know it is nothing to do with the boiler and something else and so will be chargeable. He requests I visit that night ok another 40 mile round trip. Once there it was clear that a pipe had split somewhere within the property and was running down a duct. It could have been 1 of 20 pipes and it could have been anywhere. Solid wood flooring and dry lined walls everywhere too late at night to start cutting into walls and flooring. The following day I sent another plumber @4pm to find the source of the leak. To keep the damage to a bare minimum sections of the walls were cut neatly and methodically, once the leak had been found it was repaired and the boiler re-commissioned, the plumber left @ 7pm after having cleaned up. Around an hour later I get a text from the customer declaring he's had a lovely steaming hot shower (as if I care) and thanking me for a prompt service. He was then invoiced for

If only people in other professions, operated and worked and got slagged off in the same manner as tradesmen life would be a dream. It's easy to slate tradesmen as they are in your property or office and you actually see an end result and everything in between leading up to that result including the mess. It really is amazing how many people think that they can have a ceiling taken down and yet expect no dust. It also makes great television, this is why I am glad the BBC Rogue Traders reporter went to jail for benefit fraud. How dare he stand in front of a camera slagging people off whether deserved or not, and then go home and fraudently claim benefits.
As for television it would be a bit boring watching a half hour programme about a dodgy SEO consultant, web designer, baker, bus driver, school teacher, or even a business forum host. As I said earlier there are good and bad in all professions regardless of what it is, but some people seem to think they should be getting something rather special from the tradesmen other than what is painted on the tin.....