Dear LPG,

I want to tell you a story with a moral…

A few months ago I bought a hair dryer and there is nothing very remarkable about that.  It worked perfectly for a while then one day it didn’t.   I am sure, like me, there are readers out there who think that something they bought just the other day is a lot older than they remember but this was quite an expensive item and I wanted to be sure that it had outlived its statutory guarantee period so I set about finding the bill.  I know that most people just throw them away after a while, but I am very particular when it comes to keeping the ones that show when I bought bigger items, and it took a while but I did find it in the end.  I have a habit of writing what they are for on the back but the front of the bill had faded quite badly and I could not see the date.

I went to you tube and found some interesting tips about restoring the details and, I was right, my hairdryer was still in warrantee and a bit of heat made all the difference in finding the all-important date that proved it.  I learned that the bills that are most likely to fade the quickest are produced on thermal paper and one of the secrets of getting them legible again is somewhat thermal as well. The secret is not fool proof but either heating the faded bills or using what is called a black light seem to be the way to go.   I found a few videos which show just what to do.

For anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation, I have asked LPG to put some links at the bottom of my message.   Every time I think that there is no solution to a problem it appears that Google has got it sorted.

While this is one way to go, I now follow some LPG advice that I read on these pages (►►►) and take a picture of all the important bills with my mobile phone at the shop before I leave, but failing that, this solution could come in handy.  

GD, Beckenham

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