Dear LPG,

Like most of us I am getting older and I am not as able to leave my home as I used to be, but I am grateful that I have learned how to make my own shopping choices in spite of this fact.  I have taken the advice in your news-post which featured on 23^rd of February this year and arranged to have a separate account that I use when I shop on line.

As more and more of us buy things over the internet I think that we can see the advantages and disadvantages of shopping in this way.  I think that one of the biggest advantages is that you don’t have to leave the house to get the things that you want anymore.   We see all those really interesting and ground-breaking creations that are always being invented and every now and then I can’t help but try one of those out although I really don’t need it.

I recently decided to invest in a microwave fat free fryer which claims to be able to make a cooked English breakfast with all the trimmings, but I found myself really disappointed to realise that you have to use skinless sausages; a fact that is not mentioned until you have already received the thing and get to the instructions that come with it.

I have not tried it yet but, in my mind, there is a definite difference between a sausage with skin and a skinless one. 

I think that there are two things that we can do to help us to be a little more sure of what we are actually getting if we cannot go out to a shop and ask an assistant to give us a demonstration. The first is to remember to read the ratings that are posted when you buy something.  Remember to check how many people have actually contributed to the rating (if it has only been rated by two people it is a lot less likely to be accurate) and it is also important to leave a rating of your own where the opportunity arises because your assessment of a product will help to sway and influence others when they prepare to buy the product in question. 

There is one last thing to say on the subject.  It is impossible to rate everything, you would be there all day, but please remember to write about the exceptionally good products as will as the ones with bad points.

MH, Brockley.

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