Category Archives: Reviews

Breville Blender & Cautionary Tale of Bad Customer Service

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Breville CBL25 blender jug with huge crack

I bought a Breville Blender back in umm I think it was 2006.  It’s been great – a powerful motor that met my needs and hasn’t conked out on me and it came with a quality glass jug.

All was great until a crack developed at the bottom of the jug, you may have seen it if you’ve watched any of my videos as I’ve pointed it out before.  Well recently it finally reached the top and voila – end of the jug’s life.  *Sobs*

I immediately went looking online for where to buy a replacement. Simple.

Ummm no.

It seems that although I have been able to easily buy parts in the past – I had to replace the lid once as the plastic bit accidentally got blended *cough* – it wasn’t going to be that easy this time.

Below is a copy of my correspondence with Breville.

I am NEVER going to buy another Breville product.

It is an interesting lesson for any business though on what bad customer service is, which is why I am sharing my correspondence with you here.

Key points of interest for me are:

  • Listen to what the customer is asking for – sometimes this is not immediately obvious
  • Acknowledge any concerns they have
  • Make it personal – USE THEIR NAME and your name
  • Be bothered. If you can’t give them what they want, offer alternatives.  This could be in the form of alternative products, contacts or information. And remember goodwill gestures such as discount vouchers can not only keep your customer but increase the chances of a new sale.
  • Be helpful. If they need to contact someone else, if you can, send all the information you have so far to the person they need to be speaking to and let the customer know you have done this so they don’t have to.

If you do all this, you could not only KEEP your existing customer but generate more business and new customers when they tell their network about their experience.

Now on with the Breville Blender jug cautionary tale…

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What do you use to juice your veggies?

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Ellie left a comment on the blog asking me ‘What do you use to juice your veggies?’ and I thought I’d share my answer in a blog post for you to read easily too.

Oscar Vitalmax Juicer

Hiya Ellie! I did a lot of research before finally choosing my juicer.  I bought it ooh way back in ummm 2005 I think it was and it was the best investment ever.  In fact, a few months ago I hauled it down to my friend Maggie’s in Devon with me and she was so impressed with it, she bought one too! *lol*

It’s a masticating juicer called an Oscar Vitalmax and you can buy them off Amazon – here’s my affiliate link if you want to go take a look – http://bit.ly/4oAcbB.

Why did I buy the Oscar Vitalmax?

  • Well its motor is guaranteed for 10 years so it meant it was sturdy – handy as frequently I’m juicing 4 or 5 times a day.
  • It juices wheatgrass.
  • Because it masticates i.e ‘chews’ the vegetables slowly instead of being whizzed round at high speed like a centrifugal juicer does, it doesn’t heat the fruits and veggies up therefore your juice has a lot more of the nutrients in it.  If you get a chance to see – take a look at the colour of juice from a centrifugal juicer next to one from a masticating juicer, it’s startling how much brighter the masticated juice is.
  • I find the juice from the Oscar is also a lot less frothy and it stays ‘good’ to drink for a lot longer because it hasn’t been heated – definitely 24 hrs if kept in a fridge or if you pour it into a thermos that has been chilled beforehand.  This is great if you need to go out for the day or weekend and are doing a juice feast – just make a huge batch and bung some ice cubes in the thermos and take your meals with you!

Any negatives?

  • The chute isn’t very wide, so you do have to spend some time cutting your fruit and veg to fit but that doesn’t take long.  I spend heaps longer prepping and cooking a ‘normal’ meal for my kids than doing a juice for me
  • It does struggle if you’re doing a lot of soft fruit or veg – pineapple I find challenging as the fibres clog the filter.  To help get round this, when I push the fruit and veg through the juicer, I alternate it all so i have some soft then hard to help push the mushy ones through.  Otherwise, I do have to stop it and give the filter a scrub with the brush to get it all moving again.

Would I buy the Oscar Vitalmax juicer again? Yes! Why?

  • I like the way it looks *lol*  I have it in chrome but I think it comes in other colours and am happy to have it sat on the worktop all the time
  • I find it easy to clean – alllll the time I hear people moaning about how time consuming or hard it is to clean their juicers.  This machine is made up of about 5 parts that slot together, the only ‘fiddly’ bit to clean is the filter and they give you a sturdy brush to clean it.  *TOP TIP* always, always, always, clean your juicer STRAIGHT AWAY.  If you can’t wait the two minutes it takes to clean it before drinking your juice, put the bits in a sink or bowl of water to soak in until you do it.  When I clean the filter, I do it with the brush under some running water.
  • The juice it produces is excellent quality and the pulp comes out nearly dry and apparently can be used in raw recipes but I’ve not done that yet
  • It’s not too noisy and very easy to use

There are a lot more juicers on the market now but please remember, any juicer is better than no juicer, so just buy the best you can afford now.  It may also be worth trawling classified ads for those people who had good intentions then never used their juicer and are selling them!  Always bargains around :)

If you have specific questions you need help with on getting started with either juicing or eating more raw, please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer.

RawRRR thought on raw foods and my life

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Having porked out on my raw food goodies that came in my GoodnessDirect.co.uk box,  I thought I’d share what I thought of them with you in this video.

In the spirit of speaking more my truth this year, I also share a bit about what was going through my head today in response to a comment…

Ummm what else has happened? Well I’ve picked up my mini which is all working again now and am grateful for every day I have her until I she gets sold, maybe sometime real soon – will be hard not having a car maybe – or maybe I’ll just end up with a great ass and toned legs.

Funnily enough, looking through my list of things, I have yet again put back starting on my vision board – why on earth is this? Why do I find it so hard to think about things I want?  Ok that is going to be the only thing on my list of what to do tomorrow.  I just KNOW it is important not sure why it’s so important yet, but I know it.

So what am I going to do this evening? Munch on some carrot and hummous – I just cooked bangers and mash for my son, Spud, and had to have a couple of mouthfuls of mash and gravy… which is pretty good for me to stop there as I love it so much and it IS so cold today.  Can’t understand how my daughter continues to walk to her friends with no proper coat on – teenagers *rolls eyes and pretends she’s grown up herself*

What’s in the GoodnessDirect box?

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Morrrrning :D

Well I started off today with a brief meditation, not as deep as yesterday – may listen to a cd later to go deeper.  I then went for a run – YES – two days on the trot! Well, maybe run is not quite correct a description.. I sometimes felt like I was travelling marginally faster than a speeding snail but hey, I did it despite all the frost on the pavements.

Got kids off to school – they had to use the bus as my mini is in the garage.  Dead battery and while it’s in there, getting the steering checked over after I had to do an emergency stop the other week and hit a curb… *cross fingers it’s not going to be anything major*.  They just rang me in fact to tell me that to replace the driving lamp that got nicked (ffs), will cost  me at least £50.  Errrmmmm… ok I shall look on the internet for that.

So, before I could think about it any more, I sat down and opened my post (after reading highly irritating email from soon-to-be-ex-husband).  Gawd, ignoring my post for most of December really was not a good idea – I’m being threatened with court action over non-payment of something.  ARSE.  Hey, I did say I was going to share everything with you this year… Hmmm.. ok I must face up to these things and phone them later.  Also need to check what’s happening with rent money before I end up homeless.  Mind you, the kids will have to go live with their Dad if that happens and he may appreciate what parental responsibility really means then… muhahahaha

Is it just me or does the fantasy of trying to run away from it all affect other people too?  Maybe it’s the time of year. And yes, I know, I know, it will all just follow me.

Anyway, I’ve decided to stop burying my head in the sand and sort myself out – new improved me for 2010 and all that.   And that means improved emotions, finances, confidence, body with an even greater spiritual connection.  The only way is UP baby!

So having devoured a smoothie, a bar of raw chocolate (maybe I was kidding myself when I said you can’t eat too much in one go) and also one of the nakd ‘premium raw fruit, nut & oat bar  (which was yummy) I’m just reviewing what I said I’d do yesterday to see what I’ve not done.   Making sense? Nah, I didn’t think so *lol*

Ok stuff I didn’t do yesterday that I have to do today:

  • One step to move my business forward – I want to start earning money from doing this – following my passion.  Hmmm.. make a plan?
  • Start my 2010 vision board
  • Go food shopping – plan meals and buy lots of fresh fruit and vegetables please!  The kids don’t know it yet, but they will be getting vegetarian meals from now on.

Plus I need to:

  • Phone creditors
  • Check rent situation / make payment / maybe give notice?
  • Go for a walk
  • Phone Maggie and thank her and Paul for the present
  • Respond to YouTube comments
  • Twitter
  • Smile!

Kyocera Ceramic Knife envy!

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I’ve just been chatting on msn with my friend Gary and the git said to me something along the lines of…. oooh, Sarah, guess what I’ve just ordered..

Hmmm, I thought, it’s obviously something that I would like and knowing he’s as bad as I am for researching something to the ‘nth degree before buying a new gadget, it’s gonna be sexy.

And guess what, I was right. He’s gone and bought one of the Kyocera cermaic knives: The 7-inch FK180 no less. Arrrgh! How jealous am I!!! As everyone will know who has either been round my home and actually seen me prepare food, or seen the juice video I’ve done, I have knives but they are not exactly sharp.. which is not only a bit dangerous but is also extremely annoying for someone who is now chopping up assorted vegetables every day for a raw food diet.

He kindly sent me a video link so I could really appreciate what his new knife will look like and is capable of… (I made careful mental notes) . I am grateful, REALLY, as he has saved me a ton of effort in researching ceramic knives and I can now add this on to my dream board! Thanks Gary! :D

By the way, if you are thinking of buying one, they are available on Amazon – click here to take a look at the Kyocera High Tech Ceramic FK Black Zirconia Chef’s Knife 18cm >>>

Four Fantastic Foods for Extraordinary Health

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I just read this great article by Ella Anderson as featured in on the Natural News website. I’ve done lots of research myself on coconut oil and raw milk but never explored the benefits of shea butter and raw honey – I’ll definitely be getting hold of some shea butter now and encouraging my teenage daughter to use it too. I hope you learn something new from Ella’s article too :)

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(NaturalNews) In these times, it can be very difficult to know what is good to eat and what is not good. As knowledge continues to expand concerning health and nutrition, more and more is being discovered about the effects of certain foods on the human body. This article will deal with four natural foods and how healthy these foods really are.

1. Raw Milk

This super food…

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How to get started with Raw Foods – a book review

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One dream that I have is something that has been bubbling on the surface for the past 3 months (after brewing below the surface for the past 9 years…). It all ties in with my own feelings of Self Love /
Worth.

I want to be fit and healthy and living my life at my ideal weight – whatever that turns out to be.

To do this I’ve been drawn increasingly to ‘eating raw’ as, not only will this stabilise my body weight to its natural state, it will also remove toxins from my body and clear my thoughts which will help me in my desire to work with the Universal Energy to live a life I love (also reiki / spiritual /angelic healing especially interest me and the clearer you are the better channel you can be).

I first started to ‘geddit’ about the difference between ‘going on a diet’ and ‘getting healthy’ when I bought (and followed religiously) the Fit For Life book after I had my daughter, Chloe, in 1994. And with a determination I’ve been striving to find again, I stopped stuffing my face with the wrong foods and got down to my pre-pregnancy weight (with some killer abs from doing Step Reebok video workouts no matter how bored I got), only to then fall pregnant again.

I’ve read with great delight the books by Jason ‘The Juicemaster’ Vale and this has had an impact on me to give juicing a go and I feel the benefits really quickly (when I do it) – loads more energy, clearer skin, sparkly eyes, no uncomfortable bloating, lowered body fat percentage, loss of unwanted fat and a desire to exercise as it suddenly seems like fun (bizarre !!!).

But as soon as people start to notice the changes in me I relax(?) and fall back into old habits. (I secretly wonder if I self sabotage myself as I have a fear that I’ll get pregnant again – even though I’ve been sterilised…)

Anyway, now I’ve acknowledged that fear (and my other biggy that popped out in a conversation with a friend – will my new self confidence end my marriage?), I’m telling myself that I have choices and that if I can love myself enough to treat myself well, what amazing things could I then do to help other people? After all – you can only give what you’ve got.

Inspired by Jason Vale, I read with great interest the posts of The Raw Food Coach, Karen Knowler, on my sister (Nicola Cairncross)’s support group for The Money Gym and Karen’s newsletter Successfully Raw (sign up to get it for free at Karen’s website www.TheRawFoodCoach.com). Karen is inspirational to me. She walks her talk and her enthusiasm for what she does and the energy she exudes makes me feel that ‘I want some of that!’ So when she told the group that she was launching her new ebook – How To Get Started With Raw Foods – I downloaded it immediately.

I’ve just finished reading it today and am amazed at …

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