Here’s a new one for me – a rant on someone else’s behalf (although I have had this happen to me in the past hence why it’s got my back up)

I spotted the following tweet from fellow affiliate Purple on Friday:

Now, it’s perfectly acceptable for a merchant to ask an affiliate where they are being promoted (although IMO there shouldn’t be any need for them to do so as their network should provide full transparency so they can SEE where traffic is coming from with the need to ask each affiliate), but is there really any need to accompany said request with a threat of reversed commissions?

Fair enough if you’ve asked politely and said affiliate has ignored your request to send a strongly-worded follow up mail, but to go straight in with “tell me where you’re promoting us or we’ll decline all your commissions” shows a distinct lack of respect for affiliates, and ruins all the good work the previous account manager did in building up a relationship with Purple. My advice to him was as follows:

It doesn’t cost anything to be polite and show some respect to an affiliate, and when it’s the first contact you have with them, it’s even more important that you remember your manners and realise that whilst there are a lot of bad apples out there, not EVERY affiliate is trying to rip you off, and if you speak like this to all the ones you don’t know, then they’ll soon decide they’d rather work with people who don’t treat them like shit.

It’s always nice to end a rant with a happy ending though, so here’s the end result from Purple himself:

So well done Mr or Mrs Account Manager – you’ve confirmed that those £3 of commission were indeed genuine (which of course you could have seen for yourself by following the link from your referral report!), and pissed off a true content affiliate. Job Well Done.

ps. I should point out that Purple hasn’t asked me to post this on his behalf.. I took it upon myself after feeling the need to vent (140 characters just won’t cut it), and you’ll also note that I haven’t named and shamed the merchant (or network) involved – I’ll leave that up to Purple to decide if he wants to.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dear Merchants, not EVERY affiliate is trying to rip you off

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A couple of years ago I posted a rant on here about the problem Er Indoors was having finding emergency NHS dentist treatment, a problem that eventually escalated to such an extent that she was taken into A&E and admitted into Hospital before anyone would attempt a wisdom tooth extraction. Now at the time I was registered at a private practice and so could take the moral high ground that if I had a similar problem, I’d be able to get an appointment within 24 hours and have the treatment completed within 72 hours. Sure it would cost me an arm and a leg, but hey, you can’t buy peace of mind, right?

Fast forward a couple of years, and I’ve now abandoned my private dentist in favour of an NHS one. Why? Because the private practice were taking the piss out of me, that’s why.

Despite the recommended advice that you should have a check-up at least every two years, my practice’s policy is that everyone has one every six months, or they get struck off the register. OK, that promotes good dental health, I can live with that. But now let’s look at the costs. Everytime I go for a checkup, we follow the same procedure:

Dentist: Any problems?
Me: Nope, all’s fine.
Dentist: There’s a couple of fillings that need replacing. (I’m sure they’re usually the same ones too)
Me: Really? Oh, OK then.
Dentist’s receptionist: That’ll be £150 please.

And thinking back now, that’s happened the last 10 times that I can remember.. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a check up and they said “all’s fine, see you in six months”.

£300 a year on dentistry! However my last visit in May of this year took a turn that finally persuaded me to get myself registered with an NHS dentist..

Dentist: Any problems?
Me: Nope, all’s fine.
Dentist: There’s a couple of fillings that need replacing. (the usual ones)
Me: Really? Oh, OK then.
Dentist: Hmm, one of those was a little bigger than expected. You’re also going to need a root filling soon on one of those teeth.
Me: Ouch!!
Dentist’s receptionist: That’ll be £250 please. Oh, and the root filling will cost you around £1,500 to £2,000.
Me: Ouch!!!!!!!!

So I set about finding myself an NHS dentist.. a hard task but not impossible. I wrote to the Primary Healthcare Trust asking for a place when one became available.. and waited. My name finally came to the top of the list, and I saw my new NHS dentist on Wednesday. To say it was a different experience to my private dentist is saying something else:

Dentist: Any problems?
Me: Nope, all’s fine.
Dentist: I’ve done an x-ray, scale and polish, and everything’s fine. See you in 6 months.
Me: Sorry? No fillings?
Dentist: No, everything’s fine.
Me: No root filling required?
Dentist: No, take a look at the x-ray – you’ve got at least 20 years left in that tooth!
Me: Great! See you in 6 months!!
Dentist’s receptionist: That’ll be £16.50 please.
Me: [BIG SMILE]

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

NHS Dentist v Private Dentist

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I can’t work without music during the day, and normally listen to the radio as I like the randomness of tunes, finding new artists and music and a bit of banter/comedy/news (otherwise I’d just whack on some playlists from my downloaded music or Napster). However I’m having trouble finding a radio station that I can stick with for more than a week. Here’s my problems:

Radio 1: Too much dance music and crappy pop.

Radio 2: Michael Buble and Celine Dion. Need I say more?

Radios 3 and 4:Err, no.

5 Live: No music!

6music: George Lamb is a knob. music ok, but a bit too random

Local Radio: Please, no – listening to local radio is a fate worse than death. Some “Smashie and Nicey” type DJ who thinks they’re hilarious introducing the latest xfactor type sh*t surrounded by 30 minutes of adverts every hour.

Absolute Radio: The reason I got a DAB radio years ago was to listen to Virgin without the crackling of mediumwave. They started to annoy me by playing Scouting for Girls 20 times a day. Then they re-branded to “Absolute” and they’ve gone so MOR it’s unbelieveable – I even heard Elton John on there the other day. It’s like Radio 2 with adverts.

xfm – The station I probably listen to more than any other at the moment, and they’ve served me very well for almost a year now. However, they’re starting to bug me – Granted I’m listening to The Who now, and you get the joys of Muse, Wombats, Doves and Kasabian on a regular basis. But then they’ve also started playing Lily Allen, and employed Richard Skinner to do four hours a day – Nothing against Skinner, but he’s just not a good fit with xfm – stick him playing some cheesy 80′s “anthem” on Absolute and he’d be right at home – “bigging up” the Last Shadow Puppets and Airborne Toxic Event he sounds like your dad reading NME. Oh, and stop playing Green Day twenty times a day!!

So, anyone got any suggestions for a decent radio station to listen to? My criteria:

Decent sized playlist, so no relying on Green day every hour or so.
Good indie/rock music – no pop/xfactor crap or anything that might make it onto a “Now 159″ CD
Down to earth DJs that have good banter and love the music they play, but nothing too cheesy.
Preferably no adverts – though I can just about stand them if the station is good enough.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Find me a Radio Station!

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Er Indoors arrived home from work two weeks ago in excrutiating pain around one of her wisdom teeth – Her NHS dentist had closed for the evening, and as she was in so much pain, she rang the “Emergency Dentist” service, only to be told that there was not a single dentist to be found in the whole of Devon at 6pm on a Tuesday, and that she would have to wait and see her dentist the following day (if she could get an appointment). A further call to NHS Direct sent us round in circles before finally telling us to ring the Emergency Dentist. If only we could find one!

One sleepless night later, after trying a succession of “Internet remedies” including biting down on hot teabags, rinsing with salt water, and holding an ice pack over the jaw, she managed to get an appointment at her NHS dentist for 2:30 (at least they had a sense of humour) in the afternoon, at which she was advised that there was an abcess around the area, and was prescribed a course of antibiotics, which did nothing at all, so much so that by the weekend she was forced to try and find an “Emergency Dentist” again – This time she did manage to find one, who took one look and told her that the wisdom tooth would need to be removed. However as she would need to be sedated for the removal, her NHS Dentist would be unable to perform the procedure, and so Er Indoors would need to have it removed at Derriford Hospital under a general anaesthetic, which meant joining a 12-week waiting list. “count yourself lucky”, said the Emergency dentist. “Last year the waiting list was over a year!”

Unable to cope with the pain for 3 months, Er Indoors asked if it was possible to have the tooth removed privately – “Perhaps” was the answer – and she was referred to a private practice where she would need to pay £55 for an inital consultation to find out whether it could come out. Thankfully, the answer was yes (at a further cost of £231), but it couldn’t be done for a further 9 days due to “staff training”. By now we’d both hardly slept for a week, and the pain was getting steadily worse, so Er Indoors made an appointment to see her GP for some stronger painkillers and antibiotics.

By last Saturday (Day 12 of constant excruciating pain), Er Indoors was not sleeping at all, was being sick every few hours due to lack of sleep and the strong antibitoics, and her jaw had now swelled to the size of a tennis ball. As she was still 6 days away from her private dentists appointment, we were left with no alternative but to take her to A&E. Initially, the nurse told her that there was nothing they would be able to do, as “A&E don’t deal with dentistry”. However, as soon as she was seen by the Maxillofacial doctor, she was diagnosed with Periconitis and immediately admitted to a ward, where she was placed on Intravenous antibiotics and nil by mouth from midnight, with a view to removing the wisdom tooth the following day. At last – the end was in sight.. or was it?

After night 12 of little/no sleep, Er Indoors was visited by a Doctor the following morning, who confirmed the diagnosis of periconitis, and agreed that the tooth would need extracting. He did not however agree that he should have to do it on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon when he could be out on the golf course. His prognosis was to keep Er Indoors on the IV antibiotics for a few days and then send her home! She could then choose to either sit on the waiting list for 12 weeks to have treatment on the NHS, or pay £231 to have it done privately. When asked why it could not be done that day as promised the previous day, his response was “you have to go back onto the waiting list, else I don’t get paid”. Needless to say, Er Indoors was gobsmacked (I’d imagine if that Doctor gave that level of “patient care” to all his patients, he would find himself gobsmacked quite often).

Finally, on Day 13 (yesterday), the Doctor doing the morning rounds (different one from Day 12) actually gave a **** about his patients, and whisked her down to theatre under a local anaesthetic and removed the wisdom tooth – a procedure that took less than five minutes (I think it was trying to escape the infection by itself by this point!), and she was allowed home today (Day 14) – She’s still very unwell, and is now only being sick 2 or 3 times a day. The swelling has reduced greatly, and she’s not in so much pain. I just can’t believe that the NHS Dentistry system let it get to this stage – and at what cost to the taxpayer?

What was required was a five minute procedure that a private dentist can do (at a profit) for £67.90, as sedation was not required. If the procedure had been done on Day 1 or Day 2, it’s quite likely that Er Indoors could have been back at work the following day – As it stands now, she will have missed at least 10 working days. As a Primary School Teacher, that means the school have to find a supply teacher (at a cost of approx £180 per day) for those days. A hospital bed in an NHS Hospital costs the taxpayer approximately £450 per night, so by the time we factor in the cost of manning NHS Direct, the GP’s time, the NHS Dentists time, the A&E staff’s time, and the various drugs that she was prescribed, a £67.90 procedure has cost the taxpayer more than £3,000 on the NHS.

I must stress that apart from the one Doctor more concerned with getting paid than getting his patients better, all the staff we came across at the hospital were absolutely first class, and can’t be faulted in any way. It’s just a shame that the whole system of dentistry on the NHS is so shambolic, that all of this could have been sorted out easily, and at very little cost to the taxpayer. It’s all very well to say “we’re spending £xbillion on the NHS”, but it’s easy to spend that sort of money when you’re wasting money in this manner. It’d be far better to spend half as much, on a system that actually works, and then the nurses could be paid a fair wage too.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Need an Emergency Dentist? “Wait three months, else I don’t get paid!”

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