Dear LPG

I suspect that some of what I am about to write may well have elements that some readers might have heard before, but I would like to tell you a story that started about three years ago.  

Once upon a time, I visited my uncle, who is now in his mid-eighties.  He is a dedicated gardener, but reaching those bits that he insists need pruning from some of those taller tree branches presented him with a problem.   He does not see it that way, but last summer, I was visiting when I noticed him at the top of a ladder trying to reach a leaf that needed lopping and even though he felt safe, the more he reached for the twig that he wanted to cut, the more worried I became about his avoiding a swift and painful unexpected journey back to terra firma.  

Not long after that, we found the perfect solution: an electronically chargeable pruner that can be extended, giving him no reason to leave the safety of the grass below his feet while doing the pruning.  

Later that day, we browsed some of his mail, and there it was—in one of those many little catalogue books that get sent to older people, at just under £100. While both he and I thought it a little expensive for a pruner, we ordered one, having agreed that you cannot put a price limit on safety. You would think that is where the story ends, but that is just the beginning…

It worked well for about two and a half years, but while pruning is an essential aspect of gardening, they only get used in summer. So, when the charger stopped charging, we decided to get a replacement. We phoned the senders of the catalogue we got it from, but they told us that they did not stock it anymore.

We asked about the people who made it, but the retailers had no information to offer, so we did our best to decipher the instructions and the really small print on the pruner itself. We found sparse details of a Chinese company and an email address, but no reply resulted from using that. There was no phone number, and even an internet search did not provide one. I suspect that even if we had found one, anything we said on the phone to them would have been lost in translation.

We took it to one of those electrical shops that try to do the job that Maplin’s used to do before their demise, and they told us that the odd-shaped charging port would make getting any replacement difficult. So we gave up…

That is part one of the story, and though the ending appears rather sad, it does have a moral…

We are all so often told that if it looks too good to be true, it most probably is, but this was a pretty expensive purchase in our estimation, and my uncle has bought other things from the same people on many occasions before, which he has been happy with.  

The moral so far has to be: if what you are looking for is relatively expensive, it is a good idea to learn more about the people who made it and how contactable they are before you send off for it from a catalogue and part with your money.  

There is a part two to this story, but I think I have written enough for one post…  

GN, Penge