Biomech

My hats go off to the workforce of builders on site who seem to have got so much done. It's VERY clear to see who was holding up the project for the last, however many, years. It always baffles me how things in Hereford take so long to get done.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Tz86YBLOM

I'm with bobby on this one.... :P

Yeah the reserve and collect is an idea that failing shops came up with to get punters into the shops, at which point they are either tempted by other products or the sales force are encourage to sell high margin attachments. You see, the trouble is that so many of these shops sell their primary products at very small profit margins - even negative*, and then rely on high margin attachments to generate a profit. Part of the upsell process if you like. The problem with online shopping is that people don't know about the extra things they might need, or know what they need but aren't educated in the varieties of such things - cable specs for TV's, paper weights vs printer capacity, tyre type for cars etc. So while online shopping grosses more business, it actually nets lower profit margins. So the plan is to get people into the shops at which point all of these extras are explained/sold. The trouble is, by this point the consumer has mentally left the shopping stage, they have closure on their price and now want their product. Frequently, shop staff churn through the reserve and collect desks with no effort in adding to the sale, whether the consumer requires something additional to make the product work or not. Online shopping requires the consumer to know EXACTLY what they want and know where it falls within the product range. This is VERY rarely the case. There is A LOT to be said for in store sales, it's just a shame that it is extremely uncommon for shops in Horrorford to employ the necessary staff and knowledge. As for DSL in Hereford.... certainly around the city and outskirts you can now get fiber optic.

Obviously Horrorford is no major city like Cardiff, so I wouldn't expect the place to look like Central London or Newcastles Metro Centre - unfortunately, that's what the HC are trying to mimic. Personally, I think the style of Worcester would suit Horrorford the best. Worcester have built on the features and quality of what they have already. Quaint backstreets with black and white shops dripping with flowers from hanging baskets, there's a busy, popular, visual, personal air to Worcesters shopping. http://goo.gl/maps/TmDbU It just comes back to the same thing again, the HC have scrapped Hereford to start again with glass rather than renovate and build on the features of the city. But the HC don't care about building business here, they'd rather buy in prefab businesses from other countries.

To be honest Colin, I said it many times on HT before I was executed... it has become absolutely clear that the council had planned to scrap the city centre from the start. When you weigh up the evidence it's clear to see that they never had any intention of renovating the center, they wanted to shift the center and start again from scratch. First there was the Left Bank / Riverside, plans put forward to renovate, project scrapped. Eign Gate - OLM end, renovated instead Broad Street - Opposite end, plans put forward to renovate, project scrapped. in favour of... Widemarsh Street, OLM end, renovated River Island burnt down, city center - site is still under construction (3?) years later. The Crystal Rooms closed down. Lay dormant for several years. Now occupied by a small beauty salon. If it's not on the OLM side of town, they've left you to the dogs. (Chadds area for example, with the lovely demolished vista of the old Subway sandwich place for everyone to gaze at as the drive through the city) There are some nice areas in Bristol, but I'm not a fan, the traffic is always horrendous. However, I am a big fan of Cardiff, the place looks fantastic and I go there shopping and for nights out quite often

A subway from Widemarsh street to the OLM would be nice.

heh, in all fairness, I do realise that in business the contract starts and then you have logistics and assignments and orientation and everything. But they knew they had won the contract, this should have been done ages ago. But more importantly, when the council are cutting services at such a rate, such as lost dogs (didn't even know there was that service) to save just £12,000, it's ludicrous that they don't have tighter controls over a company who are being paid £385,000 a WEEK. Just one day of inactivity and they've thrown £55,000 down the drain.

heh, imagine if a client went into a project with a business, the contracts were signed, the money started rolling and the business said, "we're not giving you our contact details for 2 weeks"... wouldn't be great for business would it? .... unless you're contracted by the council. There are 2 reasons for not giving out names. 1. They don't know who will be allocated the work. Makes my the most sense. But then, who starts a contract without a plan? 2. They don't want to. Either way, if the details for the work aren't giving to the client (council) then the client should withhold payment for the next couple of weeks until they are. Think about it, if they're preventing the start of work for 2 weeks, at £20 million a year, you're about to pay them £770,000 to do nothing.... apart from have a party Tell you what, when you look at it like that, us paying them £385,000 PER WEEK, can you honestly say that you see £385,000 worth of work being done every week?

I'd rather petition for a fair share of refunds for all the contracted work that never gets done!

So we're getting our money back then right? For services not provided.

Indeed. I'm not sure if I like the roof yet, it reeks of "Old Market" not new. I can't make up my mind if it's just poor design or the architect/s keeping some of the old market in - as it so clearly resembles the old cattle buildings that were knocked down with it's |\|\|\ shape. I wonder if they have found anyone to fill in the empty units .... which make up the majority http://herefordoldlivestockmarket.co.uk/retails.aspx

But we only have 8 Colin! It will be very interesting to see where all of the town workers who rely on Merton Meadow to park end up. Also, we need a cull on Taxi's, there are FAR too many which is why I imagine the price is through the roof. I actually don't get taxi's home from the pub anymore, the expense has almost pushed me into drink driving home, but I often walk it now. And we know there are too many as the drivers complain of lack of work and over saturation. Take a look at Asda where the taxi rank is jammed and at least 3x more taxi's block the rest of the car park on the Kindle end.

I thought you might all enjoy this; Man who created own credit card sues bank for not sticking to terms http://topinfopost.com/2013/08/12/man-who-created-own-credit-card-sues-bank-for-not-sticking-to-terms Summary; He renegotiated the contract on a credit card (junk mail) proposal, sent it back with his terms, they didn't check it, signed it and sent him the card 0%, unlimited. Then he fined them nearly £60,000 every time they tried to fine him for late payments etc. Went to court, the judge found in his favour. He's now looking to take them to the cleaners for breach of contract. The banks defence... "We didn't read the small print". They don't like it when the shoes on the other foot do they!

Basically what I said. Also, you might enjoy: http://photographernotaterrorist.org/

The article is slightly incorrect, however. You can take photos of anyone in any public space for non commercial use - that is correct. There are a few exceptions such as military installations, power stations, etc. The grey area for many people is "public space", a school is not, neither are things like shopping complexes. While it isn't illegal to take photos on these grounds, the owners are within their rights to restrict photography, again you COULD take a photo legally, but the owners (or agents there of) would be within their rights to ask you to leave, failure to do so would be grounds for trespass. It's a common misconception that you can't take photos of people in public. It's also a common misconception that the person you take a photograph of have the rights to the image. The copyright belongs to and stays with the creator of the image... in essence, the one who presses the button.

Unless you're a women. I have a friend who's husband was publically branded a paedophile for taking a photo of his daughter at the park. Needless to say, there were many mothers do the same thing and not an eyelid was bat.

heh, thanks for the bump Colin. I don't by papers, but if I did, I'd pay 45p for it, I find it far superior than the trash that the HT put out. The HT that's what, £1.40 now? and 90% housing and car adverts. I find the advertising rates at the HJ much better and the staff more pleasant to speak with. How about the old admag, everytime it appears on my floor, with it's 5 pages or so, I always wonder what it is :P

So you'll be getting our money back then? Excellent.

In all honesty Bobbachu, it's likely to change with each instance :P

Jesus Christ. Can someone tell me how I can get to the level where I give everyone bad service and still get work? bobbina took the words straight out of my mouth;

Indeed, I really don't understand how the council can sign contracts with nothing in place for shoddy or lack of work on the part of the contractor. It's business studies 101. Really, do the members of the council just decide one day do leave their job flipping burgers or stacking shelves and "have a go" and running a city? I'm sure if they hired in a plumber to fit their new bathroom and they did a bad job, took 6 months to fit a bath panel or didn't turn up at all... that they would be demanding their money back - and well within their rights under Trading Standards. Where's the ombudsman for councils? I've said it many times, if the council was run as a business, it would have been written off years ago. Run it like a business NOT as a "pot of make it up as you go along." It really is infuriating that they lack such basic common sense in so many matters.

Seriously, there must be some kind of reimbursement for services not provided?

I was quite surprised when they announced (6-12 months ago) that we'd have to start buying our own black bin bags... when the news broke, I had been buying my own for years and hadn't had any left by the bin men since I was a kid.

For a paper that demands its users don't discuss details of news, they're very quick to sensationalise and name people who commit crimes - such as that guy who was sentenced for "Raping a child". Whilst lacking any details, now that could have been the 19 year having consensual sex with a 15 year old the day before her 16 birthday, which would certainly be frowned upon, but they come in guns blazing with "raping a child". I mean it could have been an horrific attack or consensual and "statutory rape", the thing is - we don't know the circumstances because they never published any details. If that were a user who commented such things they would be deleted and threatened. The HT clearly gets emotionally involved with certain posts and we know for a fact that they have a history of writing articles, that readers feel are pointless, about their friends. The Hereford Times is very clearly a biased publication and an emotionally involved, biased news source is not something I'm a particular fan of. (ever notice how the TV news readers go from serious, child beaten to death news to smiley happy news in an instant? - professionalism and emotional detachment)

Am I mistaken or do Amey not work for you? As a member of the council you outrank them right? You have given them the contract. This could go on forever, are there any measures in place to hold Amey accountable for when they don't do the work they have been contracted to do? My guess is that this won't be resolved and then the other guys will take over. I think I speak for everyone hear when I say that Amey should be held accountable for not doing the work and/or not doing the work to a suitable standard. We want our money back Surely Amey falls under the umbrella of trading standards? They are not providing the service for which we are paying and that they agreed to to a satisfactory level.,