Damn Barclaycard over-charging me

My letter to Barclaycard ( WR@barclaycard.co.uk ):

Dear Sir / Madam,

I've been a good customer, I pay the full amount on a monthly basis, I like to make cashback out of my Credit Card. I don't like borrowing money and paying interest. So one could argue, I'm Barclaycards worst nightmare, and you'd be glad to get rid of me.

I recently called customer service to change the account that the Direct Debit is taken from. The new account is a joint account, so Barclaycard wanted both signatures from me and my wife. They sent us a letter to set up the new DD, which we both signed and returned to a Northampton address. This letter seems to have got lost or not actioned by Barclaycard.

Next thing - I get a reminder email today saying I'm late on my payments!!! WHAT THE!!?!?!?

I called Barclaycard just now to ask what's going on. The representative cancelled the late payment fee (for today) and the interest charged for the period (£27), but would only take a minimum payment of £52.86. He then said I have to wait 48 hours to pay the rest of the balance (in which time Barclaycard will try to charge me for interest for this period and yet more late payment fees).

I said to him I want to cancel my Barclaycard and pay off the balance. This again has to wait 48hours. WHY?!

This is ridiculous. I simply want to pay off all the balance. Why do I have to wait TWO days while you make more interest, and charge more late payment fees?

I was originally a Morgan Stanley customer, and the take-over by Barclaycard has only resulted in disappointment and aggravation. Morgan Stanley's Glasgow office were a pleasure to deal with. Barclaycard has been appalling.

Please don't charge me for YOUR mistake of loosing my information

I know you won't care if I leave Barclaycard, as I'm only one customer; but the grief you've caused to a new family with a 3 month old baby, and only one salary to feed 3 mouths, is simply appalling.

Regards, Scott.

Foxy Lady, Sea Vixen - wheels up landing

Very sad news - the worlds only flying Sea Vixen landed at Hurn (Bournemouth) airfield with an undercarriage problem.

My best wishes go to the aircraft's operators, and I hope to see it airborne again soon... good luck with the repairs..

I hope the CAA don't get cold feet about it continuing to fly, as it is such a unique jet of historic significance, and would be sorely missed from the airshow season.

KEEP 'EM FLYING!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-17629779

Office desk phone headset hack

I made a cable to use my office desk phone headset as headphones for music... Improving productivity for my work, less distraction from others talking to me, as they think I'm on the phone!

Just a piece of Vero Board was perfect to make a connector to plug in to the headset! A quick unplug and plug into the phone when it rings!

(download)

Raspberry Pi - released! 29-Feb-2012

One of the worlds smallest, and cheapest computers is arriving! It's very exciting!

At roughly £22.00 GBP, it's going to sell like hot-cakes!

Raspberry Pi

It's primary goal is to encourage people to learn how to code, however it's a fantastic basis for a very low budget media centre, using the Ethernet connection to network storage, or locally using the SD card. It's operating system is Fedora (version of Linux) http://fedoraproject.org/

It has a CSI connection for a camera, so another aplication may be a low budget IP CCTV camera!

Video: Robert Mullins, Co-Founder of Raspberry Pi explains how it works:

Avaliable to pre-order and purchase from: RS components and Farnell

Images of the Computer I've shamelessly grabbed from the BBC, Farnell and RS:

modelb_blue

Operating system: 

Memory:
SD card

Power supply:
5V via micro USB socket

Connections:
2x USB
Ethernet
HDMI out
Composite video out
Stereo audio out
Other I/O connections from header

Looking forward to buying one and using it... Perfect music player for the shed, just need to run an Ethernet cable down from my network HDD in the house!