Reviews by Graham

This review is for Giardino Cafe, Ballard QLD

verified email - 17 Jun 2010

Giardino's is set out in the country with a nice, rural ambience. It is a big place and caters for weddings and other occasions. I like to take the family there for special occasions. The food is as good as any restaurant I have eaten in in Sydney or Brisbane - really excellent - but at amazingly low prices (a 2-course meal for three adults, with good local wine, the other day cost me under $100!) The owners are friendly, the service is good, and I always enjoy it when we go.

Approximate cost: $20

This review is for WebPrice, Camberwell VIC

verified email - 17 Jun 2010

I was shopping online for a new TV and found WebPrice. They were cheaper than all my local stores and all the online stores I could fine, they had a good range, and looked reputable. I placed my order and they delivered the Sony TV as promised. But the TV had a small software fault. Sony's support were useless and took so long to work out that the TV was really broken that we went past their 21-day return policy. At which point, Sony lost interest. So I contacted WebPrice again and they bent over backwards to help us. They dealt directly with Sony and got us a replacement TV in no time flat. Their customer support was friendly, knowledgeable, very willing to help, and very effective at solving our problem. I don't think I've ever encountered an online business with better customer service.

Approximate cost: $2,000

This review is for Tesselaar Bulbs, Silvan VIC

verified email - 13 Feb 2008

We're planting up a new garden at the moment and needed a couple of hundred bulbs of various sorts. We found a mail-order supplier of bulbs and perennials called Tesselaar online and put in our order. The website was easy to use and lavishly illustrated. The order form was also easy to use and worked without a hitch. The bulbs arrived just a few days later, well packed, well labelled and every last one of them looking fresh and healthy. What's more, they came with and excellent booklet explaining how to care for the bulbs, plant them, grow them and keep them healthy.

Approximate cost: $200

This review is for Alpha Solar Technology, The Summit QLD

verified email - 13 Feb 2008

We bought a house with an enormous, custom-built water tank recently installed by Alpha One but the huge roof of the tank was sagging and filling with water because it hadn't been properly maintained. We went to Alpha One to see what could be done to fix it and they sent two people out immediately to work on it. These two guys couldn't fix it using the usual techniques and they were stumped for a while. The sagging was so extensive it had broken some internal struts. I could see myself needing to buy a new roof for the tank but they had an inspration. One of the guys climbed inside the tank (so deep, by the way, his feet didn't touch the bottom and so cold he was shaking and barely able to breath after he'd been in just a very short while) and used lengths of plastic drainpipe to prop up and support the roof. The guy had to make this plunge three or four times in all to finish the job, after which the roof of the tank looked fine and it's still doing well after heavy rain. It wasn't just the promptness of the service, the ingenuity of the repair, or even the fact that it was done for free, that impressed me so much but the determination to get the job done and the personal sacrifice of the guy who got into that tank.

Approximate cost: $free

This review is for Mister Minit, Warwick QLD

verified email - 27 Jan 2008

I have an old pair of walking boots that has been with me for about 35 years. I hadn't used them for a while and when I did recently, both soles fell off!! I think this was partly because of a dodgy repair some years ago when I had the soles replaced. The soles didn't even fit the boots any more and they looked prety much irreparable to me. I took them to Mister Minit in the Rose City mall in Warwick and the guy there did a great job on them. He showed me some of the things he'd done to ensure the soles stayed on this time and it was definitely above and beyond a simple quick fix. What's more the boots look better than ever and feel great on.

Approximate cost: $25

This review is for Reece, Warwick QLD

verified email - 26 Jan 2008

I bought a couple of toilet seats from Reece Plumbing Centre last time I was in Ipswich and when I got them home realised they were the wrong type. Not wanting to go all the way back to Ipswich, I took them back to Reece Plumbing Centre in Warwick, hoping they could handle the exchange. Not only did they do this but they did it with no fuss and a lot of helpful advice on this and all kinds of other plumbing matters we discussed with them.

Approximate cost: $no cost

This review is for Morris Carpet Cleaning, Stanthorpe QLD

verified email - 26 Jan 2008

We moved into a new house recently and the previous owners - who had a dog and two young boys - left the carpets in such a terrible state we were seriously considering recarpeting the whole place. So we called a local carpet cleaner - Morris Carpet Cleaning - to see if they could do anything and we were absolutely astonished at how well the carpets came up. Morris got them so clean we are no longer considering replacing them and the roughly $150 we paid for the service is astounding value when you think of the thousands that new carpets would have cost us. What's more, Mr. Morris was a very easy man to deal with - friendly and experienced and very puntillious about getting every last spot out of our carpets.

Approximate cost: $150 - for five rooms

This review is for Minidisc Australia, Sydney NSW

verified email - 30 Oct 2007

I do a lot of online shopping so it's good to dicover a quick, reliable service like Minidisc Australia. I bought a Creative Zen multimedia player from them the other day. Their website was easy to use, I got a good price, their delivery was fast and they kept me updated by email on the order progress. Altogether a smooth, fault-free process that meant I would definitely shop with them again.

Approximate cost: $210

This review is for Anna's Restaurant, Stanthorpe QLD

verified email - 22 Oct 2007

Possibly the best Italian restaurant I have found in Australia. The food is excellent, the service is excellent and there is a good ambience. There is also a good wine menu, much of which can be had by the glass.

Approximate cost: $20

This review is for Telstra BigPond, Sydney NSW

verified email - 11 Oct 2007

As the only broadband ISP that covers my area, I have had to take a contract with Telstra BigPond's NextG wireless broadband service. The service itself is OK although it's slow by ADSL standards, has very low download limits, the software that comes with it is pretty flaky, and it is extremely expensive. However, what's been frustrating me even more than all this is that I can't network the service around my house so that my wife can use it on her computer too. It just isn't possible. This is a deliberate design strategy according to Telstra - I suppose so that each person in a household who wants broadband has to buy a separate contract! To hobble the system on purpose this way is the kind of thing big monopolies are notorious for so it is no surprise that Telstra is charging large fees for a limited service that can't even be networked (like any other broadband service). So I'd like to warn people about taking a NextG contract - don't do it unless you absolutely have to. It really is very poor value for money.

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