just back from a certain DIY shed . . .

Bill Wright wrote:
"AJ" wrote in message
...
So did you follow him home and pop a business card through the
letterbox, for when the thing blows down next week?
To be honest I was ever so tempted to have a word in his ear, but why
should I really?


And what were you doing in the shed, anyway

I was discovering that they sell woodscrews at a price 4 times that of
Screwfix!

With a certain irony, there is a big DIY shed in East Ipswich. Round the
back on the same industrial estate is a ScrewFix branch. Both owned by the
same parent company.


- Nigel



--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

"Nigel Cliffe" wrote in message
...
Bill Wright wrote:
"AJ" wrote in message
...
So did you follow him home and pop a business card through the
letterbox, for when the thing blows down next week?
To be honest I was ever so tempted to have a word in his ear, but why
should I really?


And what were you doing in the shed, anyway

I was discovering that they sell woodscrews at a price 4 times that of
Screwfix!

With a certain irony, there is a big DIY shed in East Ipswich. Round the
back on the same industrial estate is a ScrewFix branch. Both owned by the
same parent company.

Mind you I'd never shop at Screwfix other than on line. The shops are like
Argos -- stand at a lectern looking through a catalogue -- queue up, hand
over a form -- join another queue, etc etc. Not for me I'm afraid! Maybe it
would suit people with time on their hands.

Bill

On 19/08/2007 11:21, Bill Wright wrote:

Mind you I'd never shop at Screwfix other than on line. The shops are like
Argos -- stand at a lectern looking through a catalogue -- queue up, hand
over a form -- join another queue, etc etc. Not for me I'm afraid! Maybe it
would suit people with time on their hands.

Oh, don't they have a similar scheme to Argos where you can order
on-line, then arrive at the shop and skirt round the "what do I want"
and "pay for it" queues straight to the "pickup" section?

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
On 19/08/2007 11:21, Bill Wright wrote:

Mind you I'd never shop at Screwfix other than on line. The shops are
like Argos -- stand at a lectern looking through a catalogue -- queue up,
hand over a form -- join another queue, etc etc. Not for me I'm afraid!
Maybe it would suit people with time on their hands.

Oh, don't they have a similar scheme to Argos where you can order on-line,
then arrive at the shop and skirt round the "what do I want" and "pay for
it" queues straight to the "pickup" section?



You can order online at Argos but you still have to pay for it in the shop
and then wait for it to be brought to the counter (unless you pay for home
delivery, of course!).
--

JohnT

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
On 19/08/2007 11:21, Bill Wright wrote:

Mind you I'd never shop at Screwfix other than on line. The shops are
like Argos -- stand at a lectern looking through a catalogue -- queue up,
hand over a form -- join another queue, etc etc. Not for me I'm afraid!
Maybe it would suit people with time on their hands.

Oh, don't they have a similar scheme to Argos where you can order on-line,
then arrive at the shop and skirt round the "what do I want" and "pay for
it" queues straight to the "pickup" section?

Probably, but why not just do it on line and get it delivered? The cost of
getting there and back far exceeds any carriage charge. Anyway, the Donny
one never has what you want, apparently.

Bill

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:04:45 +0100, charles
wrote:


But, as I understand it, you may still legally do work on your own property
without being Corgi registered.

Absolutely. My mate's pretty handy and decided that he would replace
the central heating system himself in his new house. The only thing he
couldn't (legally) do is reconnect the system to the gas main. That
has to be done by somebody who is CORGI registered. The bloke who came
round to do it complemented him on the quality of his work!!

On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:57:49 +0100, "Bill Wright"
wrote:


"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
On 19/08/2007 11:21, Bill Wright wrote:

Mind you I'd never shop at Screwfix other than on line. The shops are
like Argos -- stand at a lectern looking through a catalogue -- queue up,
hand over a form -- join another queue, etc etc. Not for me I'm afraid!
Maybe it would suit people with time on their hands.

Oh, don't they have a similar scheme to Argos where you can order on-line,
then arrive at the shop and skirt round the "what do I want" and "pay for
it" queues straight to the "pickup" section?

Probably, but why not just do it on line and get it delivered? The cost of
getting there and back far exceeds any carriage charge. Anyway, the Donny
one never has what you want, apparently.

Bill

You can always guarantee that Argos will be out of stock of at least
one item you want. It's a bugger.

Marky P.

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...

"Piers James" wrote in message
...
you didn't feel the urge to point out the error of his ways before he
made his purchase then??

Yes, I felt a tremendously strong urge to do that. But just lately I've
become so old and tired and resigned to the evils of the world that I have
lost some of my evangelical zeal. If there'd been a good alternative
supplier nearby I would have simply suggested that he should go there, but
the nearest was across town. I could have supplied him out of my van in
the car park for half the cost and with much better gear, but that would
have looked like I was trying to sell him something.

All the above is a pompous way of saying, "I just couldn't be bothered."

Bill

fair enough.

in 238471 20070819 125853 "JohnT" wrote:
"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
On 19/08/2007 11:21, Bill Wright wrote:

Mind you I'd never shop at Screwfix other than on line. The shops are
like Argos -- stand at a lectern looking through a catalogue -- queue up,
hand over a form -- join another queue, etc etc. Not for me I'm afraid!
Maybe it would suit people with time on their hands.

Oh, don't they have a similar scheme to Argos where you can order on-line,
then arrive at the shop and skirt round the "what do I want" and "pay for
it" queues straight to the "pickup" section?



You can order online at Argos but you still have to pay for it in the shop
and then wait for it to be brought to the counter (unless you pay for home
delivery, of course!).

Yes, but if you pay at the machine you can be in and out in 3 to 4 minutes.

Cheeky wrote:
On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:04:45 +0100, charles
wrote:

But, as I understand it, you may still legally do work on your own property
without being Corgi registered.

Absolutely. My mate's pretty handy and decided that he would replace
the central heating system himself in his new house. The only thing he
couldn't (legally) do is reconnect the system to the gas main. That
has to be done by somebody who is CORGI registered. The bloke who came
round to do it complemented him on the quality of his work!!

In fact, even that bit is wrong. Legally, any one who is competent (and
not working for payment) can do the final gas connection (or any other
gas connection). If you're being paid for the work, then CORGI
registration is required as proof of competency. If you're not being
paid, there's no registration or proof of competency required. You'll
probably (technically) also require Building Regulations check
afterwards - mainly I believe to check the environmental impact of the
boiler and controls - ie. effeciency requirements and timers,
thermostats and zones. Having a CORGI sign off the installation negates
the need for this additional check.

Many people who know the rules will, as your friend did, DIY everything
except the final connection and they pay a CORGI to do the checks and
final connection to get it all properly rubber stamped - but that,
legally, isn't required if the person who did the work was not being
paid. Also this is often quite difficult, because a CORGI may not want
to sign off work that he's not done himself (even if checking), but
often the case is actually that a CORGI will refuse to do it simply
because he wants to the work himself (with his markup etc) and by doing
the signoff and final connection part, he's supporting a different
market - one which wants to avoid the often high costs of a CORGI.

http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html

Finally, ignore anything CORGI themselves says about this. Unlike what
most people think, they are not a Government department but simply a
trade body who were selected for being the accepted registration body.
Their website implies that a non-CORGI can never touch anything gas,
when legally it's just that only CORGIs can touch gas installations for
reward.

D