My brand new lawnmower that I purchased a few months ago from Bunnings stopped working (it wouldn't start anymore). The manufacturer told me to take it to Mower Power, for it to be repaired under warranty.

So I dropped it in and a few days later they called me up and told me it was ready. They said it had something wrong with the spark plug and they replaced it, and then they said it needed a service, which they had done. They then handed me a bill for the service work. They had never contacted me and asked me to authorize the work. It's a 4 month old lawnmower which had been used for not more than 1 hour in its life. In my opinion it shouldn't need a service.

Needless to say I was very unhappy and definitely won't use them again.

Bumps Snow Surf and Skate mounted some bindings to my ski boots. I'd had these skis for a while and bought some bindings for them on ebay for a great price and needed someone to fit them. Bumps were able to do this for me, and the bindings worked fine on the slopes.

I don't have ski boots, so I hired a pair from Bumps too and these were OK.

Approximate cost: $30

A little bit of Tuscany 15 minutes from Warrandyte.

We called into this winery based on a recommendation from friends and were not let down. The place is set on a hill overlooking the vines and surrounding bushland and all the buildings are all made from local sandstone and physically built by the owner. As we got out of our car and walked toward the wine tasting area these lovely smells were wafting over to us from a nearby building. It turns out that they were running an Italian cooking course (its a related business called Amore Cucina). The food smelt lovely.

In the main tasting room was one of the biggest log fires I have ever seen, surrounded by huge reclaimed timber tables. We ordered some antipasto plates and whilst these were pretty good it's definately the surrounds that make this place really special. I tried a couple of their wines too, and they were very nice.

Well worth a visit. Check out their website for photos of the place.

Approximate cost: $12

I have been seeing Dr. Lu for a couple of years and I am happy with the service that he and the clinic provides. The Durrant St Medical clinic is a Bulk Billing clinic (is in the only one in Brighton?), so you would think that it would be difficult to get an appointment, or that you would have to wait, but I haven't found this to be the case. I always ring up ahead and make an appointment (sometimes with only an hours notice), and they honour it, even if there are people in the waiting room who have been waiting longer than me.

I have also used Dr. Lu for travel vaccinations, and its certainly a lot cheaper than going to one of the Travelers Medical Clinics. When I had one of the Hepatitis injections which requires a follow up injection 12 months later, the clinic sent me a script for it in the mail without me prompting them for it. This is good service.

Approximate cost: $Free

I lost my wedding ring whilst gardening and my insurer (AAMI - who are great btw) arranged Camerons to replace it. A representative from Camerons come out to our house and took down the details of my lost ring. I also asked about getting another ring made identical to another one I had. I showed him the ring (plain band) and he measured it and noted all the details. A few days later, the owner (Rob) called me with a quote of $680. I said that this sounded fine and I would drop in the other ring to them later in the week. You can imagine my surprise when I came into the store, handed Rob the ring and he said, actually it will be $750. Whatever happened to the quote? Well that was now an 'estimate' as he said that the ring was a little heavier than had been calculated on its measurements. This annoyed me a little, so I decided to take my business elsewhere.

In my book a quote is a quote and you stick with it.

We spent an enjoyable lunch here today after a long walk along the beach with our dogs. This is a nice little cafe on The Esplanade away from the rest of the shops of Torquay. There was some good outdoors seating, but we ate inside at it was pretty cold weather. The menu was limited, but what they had was very good. I had the lamb turkish pide and my wife had the cajun chicken. Both were very tasty, as were the coffees - not bad at $3. It's clear that this place prides itself on quality ingredients and food. There looked like a reasonable selection of cakes and other deserts if you were so inclined.

Approximate cost: $12

Skip a meal before you come to Mosskito, because the serving sizes are huge. And the food & prices aren't too bad either. Its a pretty big place, with a few regions - a funky bar, open fireplace with lounge chairs and TV screens and then a dining area. Every time I have been here it's packed, but I think this is for a pretty good reason, as it's perfect for a group of friends. There is a large range of dishes, from Greek to Asian, pastas, pizzas and parmagianas and seemingly most things in between. Sometimes the service has been a little slow, but they do pretty well considering how busy it is.

Approximate cost: $22

Not the place for an intimate dinner, but a good place to catch up with friends in a bustling cafe atmosphere. We had a nice long lunch here on Saturday - I shared a couple of toasted foccacias which had fetta cheese and a nice gourmet ham, and another which had roast chicken. This one was quite boring. The coffee was good though and the bread (served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar) was excellent. I am very particular about my bread!
Other people had a pumpkin based salad and gnocci, which looked ok, but nothing special.

Approximate cost: $18.00

We often go to the Hampton Fruit Market and also the butcher next door for good, but expensive meat. But the main reason we go to the Hampton Fruit Market is not for the fruit or vegetables, it's for the yogurt. If you haven't tried it - definitely go there and get yourself a tub. And not the one with fruit on top; just get the plain stuff. I challenge anyone not to like it!!!

I had a leaking upstairs shower, which was dripping down into the room below - serious! Don (the owner) came out a short notice to inspect and he showed me that the tiling grout was the problem. He suggested re-grouting it or else getting someone in to seal the shower. I also had Don look at an area of our front garden which was always soggy and Don did some tests and worked out that it was a broken pipe from the down pipe - to save money he suggested that I dig it up and then they would come out and replace the broken section. He also provided some advice on installing a water tank.

Approximate cost: $60