Re: It's a wasteland
A digression, but many years ago - in the era in the UK where colour TVs were not owned by all - my parents rented. I don't think it was Rediffusion, but another one whose name escapes me.
When the TV blew a valve for the last time, the engineer told me it had just about had it and this was likely to keep happening. I fully appreciate what he was up to next, but he told me HE could rent me a TV and fix it as part of the rental agreement with him whenever I called. And he was cheaper than whoever we were renting from.
I was wary, but I took the bait and rented for my parents. And it was a brilliant arrangement. He supplied a good TV, better than the first, and he was excellent on repairs. He replaced the set once as I recall, when it failed, for a larger screen. His TVs were far more reliable than the original rental company's and I only had to contact him once every 1-2 years at worst for the ubiquitous 'blown valves' CRT TVs were famed for. Sometimes it could be 3-4 years before the TV failed. We rented quite happily for at least another 10 years.
Here's the link in. I only found out he had retired when the TV blew on the last time, and I phoned him, his wife answered, and she told me he wasn't in business anymore. I regret not asking if he was OK - for all I know, he might have passed away. But I agreed with her that I would stop the direct debit rental I'd been paying quite happily until then, and dispose of the defunct item (she didn't want it).
That must have been 30 years ago.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
