All Dear Jac articles – Page 52
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Don’t bank on any help from the lender
NatWest appears to be getting very tough. Two retailers have contacted me in the past fortnight to say that the bank was calling in the overdraft and demanding full payment of loans. Neither had defaulted on payments, but somewhere in the fine print...
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Dear Jac
Penalties you can ill afford to pay
I had a call from an anonymous retailer trading on a tough estate, who has taken great exception to Costcutter charging him £300 for a failed direct debit. He is not disagreeing with the principle, but with the amount. He accuses...
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Dear Jac
Free advice: Book your consultation today
A strong line-up of industry experts will be on call for visitors to the NCS later this month
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Advice Guide
Think tank: Frequent fliers
Georgina Wild of HIM has some advice to attract shoppers to your store more often
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: They’re not rating you right
You would think that, when you install £5k-worth of CCTV to help control crime and add air-conditioning for the comfort of customers and staff, that it shouldn't be penalised by increased business rates. The reality in Paul Fryer's case...
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Dear JacDear Jac: No such thing as a free lunch
It's a favourite expression among journalists and now it's one of Hartal Rai's. His cryptic message on my answerphone said the problem concerned the Italian football team, South Africa and pasta. Hartal, who runs the award-winning Rai's...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: A postscript on Lanwall
The feedback I'm getting from my column two issues back on whether anyone has ever actually been taken to court over Lanwall by leasing companies such as Bank of Scotland has been almost universally positive. The bottom line is, aside from a couple...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: How was this crime perpetrated?
Man goes into Kiran Patel's store, (Coulsdon News in Surrey) and asks for a £100 Ukash voucher, which Kiran put through his Payzone terminal. The customer didn't touch the voucher (neither did he have a mobile with which to photograph it), but then...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Tuning in on being tuned out:
Jim Perry, who runs Areley Kings Village Supermarket and Post Office, Worcestershire, uses TV screens to display his special-offer slide shows, rather than computer screens (the former are far cheaper). He says: "The screens have never been...
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Dear Jac
Distinct lack of communication
There are very few textbook cases and this certainly isn't one of them. Life is seldom so simple that you can apply a blueprint to solve a problem. Raja Razzaq, who trades as Alif Self Service in Shipley, West Yorkshire, ordered a photo...
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Dear Jac
The rules on proxy sales of cigs to kids
David Warne sent me a query via his iPhone. (I'm always impressed by new technology, but email/iPhone doesn't give me a clue as to the whereabouts of my correspondent.) Anyroad, David asked: "Could you tell me if the law has been changed...
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Dear Jac
The changing face of your local councils
I'm going to advise everyone to keep a close watch on their local councils now that they are to become more powerful. It might result in some good news. On January 3 the government announced it was scrapping parking charge guidance to local...
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Dear Jac
Dodgy notes - you’re better at it than most
My Northern correspondent, Glyn Reece (Penny's in Chester), writes that a "respectable matron of the village" tried to pass a 'dodgy' £20 a while ago. He automatically rejected it and she cried: "How do you KNOW it's not real?" "Well,"...
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Dear Jac
When insult is added to injury
Illa Patel and her husband Jitendra are victims twice over. In 2009 Jitendra was alone on the till when a man came in to their Supamac Store in Melton Mowbray, ostensibly for a packet of crisps. As Jitendra opened the till the guy stabbed him twice...
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Dear Jac
When news suppliers fail to deliver
Jonathan James, who runs five petrol c-store sites in Cambridgeshire, wants to vent his frustration with a monopolistic supplier who took far too long to supply. Jonathan opened a new site recently in Littleport and contacted Smiths News for...
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Dear Jac
Luck of the draw? Camelot’s decisions raise a few hackles
I've had three complaints about Camelot in the past month. Not many, I grant, in the great scheme of things, but to the individual retailers concerned, obviously important. Two fell into the most common complaint category. They want the...
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Dear JacPhone-y business back in town
Cowboy ratings companies are back in town and they have absolutely no scruples. I'll give you an old example first. When twin companies Oldfields and Strattons, the biggest of the baddies, were at their height in the 1990s, they duped thousands of...
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Dear Jac
Threats over bad debts may just be all hot air
Does anyone know if anybody has been taken to court by any of the debt collectors working on behalf of finance companies (such as Bank of Scotland) in the case of defunct photocopy company Lanwall? I haven't heard of a single one, despite there...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Doing the supermarket shop
I'm getting yet more feedback on buying from the supers (featured in the past two columns). Here are two interesting, rather more 'remote' responses. Mollie emailed: "We visit supermarkets as well as using the C&Cs. We are a very small...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Computer says no to VAT upgrade
Our website had a 'name can be supplied on request' comment from a retailer who is an ex-systems programmer and who had a complaint regarding the cost of updating his Point 4 Epos system to handle the imminent VAT increase in January. He...