People more talented than me: Julian Beever

The world has about six-and-a-half-billion people more talented than me. One of them is Julian Beever, an artist.

Now the really amazing thing he does is anamorphic illusions drawn on the pavement. Respect.

New projector on its way

Martin at Superfi Head Office confirmed today that Panasonic have authorised a replacement unit and that it should arrive at Superfi Coventry with their next Panasonic delivery. As the previous projector arrived on a Thursday I should get a phone call on the 1st February to confirm collection.

To be honest I think it is a bit of a poor show that the projector wasn't here this Thursday as Martin had arranged this on Monday but as long as it's here next Thursday I shall be adequately satisfied.

Let's just hope it works!

Facial Hair of the Month: John Howard of FASA Interactive

John Howard is FASA Interactive's Lead Designer on their ambitious Xbox 360 / Windows Live-enabled first person shooter Shadowrun.

In this interview for Gamespot.com a previously unsuspected chin-beard of near miraculous sturdiness is revealed. One suspects one could tell the time simply by looking at the shadow he casts on the ground.

Superfi Nottingham get back to me

Superfi Head Office got back to me today without being chased. This is pleasing as this is what Martin said he would do. He said he would be trying to secure a replacement unit for me from Panasonic. Hopefully, the next call will be to tell me I can pick it up.

Panasonic Customer Support in single working day response shock!

A pleasant surprise in my Inbox today (Monday) as Jill Farrar from Panasonic customer support has replied to my Friday message confirming that Panasonic have picked up my projector from Superfi (at last). She also made the following pleasing comment:

It will now be brought to Panasonic for inspection, and we will try to expedite this for you.

Chasing the light: 'my' Panasonic AX100 projector remains in the ether

A mere six days after my previous customer support request from Panasonic (good these 24-hour replies, aren't they?), Panasonic reply with a "it's nothing to do with us" and "there's nothing wrong with our projector" e-mail. They state, quite rightly (as I understand the Sales of Goods Act 1974), that Superfi are the ones who authorise replacements, refunds and repairs because that is where I bought it. Yet Superfi Coventry keep shifting the blame to Panasonic for their tardy service. Superfi Coventry also claim no knowledge of their legal obligations with Jameela repeatedly stating "I don't know anything about that." Jameela being the store manager. Hmm.

I also contacted Superfi Coventry today to see if I would be able to get my projector back next week as they initially suggested. Would it surprise you to learn that the answer was "No"? In fact, my projector had been sitting in their service centre for seven working days "waiting for Panasonic to collect it."

However, they did give me their Head Office number and suggested I call them. A helpful chap named Martin answered and seemed surprised that the projector was faulty (which is odd) and that I had reported this fault over a month ago. I guess he hadn't seen that detailed sheet of fault information I placed with the projector as he was simply moving the projector directly to Panasonic. He was unable to contact the person at Panasonic he was looking for this afternoon and promised to get back to me on Monday.

Now on Xbox Live

Just got myself up and running on Xbox Live (on the old Xbox). Love the additional content idea but tended to get somewhat caned while attempting to beat other people's best times on Rallisport Challenge 2.

Took out a year's subscription so that if Microsoft release a HD-DVD version of their console and improve the pitiful backwards compatibility (only about one-fifth of my games are 360 compatible and by the time they get the majority of games done another Xbox will be out) I must just be tempted to upgrade.

The projector goes back

This is regarding my Panasonic AX100 with its fluctuating brightness problem also known as the Eco-Mode flicker. My blog entry.

Apparently Panasonic only swap out projectors within 28 days. Thanks to a four week delay by Panasonic's hilariously titled Customer Support department and a weekend-spanning delay by Superfi, I missed the 28 days. Despite having reported the problem 8 days after receiving the projector.

Still the projector has been returned to Superfi with an estimated resolution time of two weeks. That'll be the 23rd January 2007.

Amazingly, two days after returning the projector to Superfi, Panasonic Customer Support replied to my original email requesting, well, customer support. Here is what they wrote:

ISSUE RESOLUTION: Dear Mr Champion,

Thank you for your e-mail enquiry. Firstly, please accept my sincere apologies for the uncharacteristic delay in our response. Due to an unexpected increase in the number of contacts we have recently received, we have been unable to provide as speedy a response as we would normally.

If you still require assistance, I would be grateful if you would confirm.

Firstly, I believe my understanding of the term "issue resolution" may differ somewhat from Panasonic's.

Secondly, the response delay is not uncharacteristic from my standpoint. I also owned a Panasonic AE200 (which I was very very very happy with) but an enquiry regarding this projector took months to materialise. So long that I had forgotten I had asked them about it. So long that I had sold the projector.

Thirdly, I replied within minutes. This was on Wednesday, 11th January 2007. It is now Saturday and I still haven't heard. The Panasonic website says that they aim to reply to all customer support emails with 24 hours. They might aim. They miss.