Oulu Best (Worst) Buy

"IF" saga continues

2010-09-26T08:35:00.000+02:00

As soon as my Oulu Best Buy input about the IF Insurance Company was released, they promptly paid me some small sum, thinking I would just keep quiet and go away.

The owe my € 5500 as compensation. They sent me a measly € 1400!

I let them know that I am not making any appeals about their absurd decisions as I do not have time to waste. They either pay the whole sum or give me a good explanation why they cannot. Nothing in their small print can be used in this instance!

I have also told them to remove the false advertisement from Finnish TV and advise me that they have done so.

My complaint to the Finnish Consumer Organisation is ready and will be sent in a few days if they do not take my complaints seriously.

As I have said many times, the Finnish Media is so corrupt that they will not publish such incidents. That is why our internet is so powerful and we get some relief as we have a way to air our grievances.

Thank God Annikki and I I started Oulu Best (Worst) Buy a long time ago as no one can say that I have done it just because of this incident.

Many will remember how I took the Instrumentarium company to bits and they smarted for a long time because of that.

But all of you will remember the kudos I have put out there.

I have had record hits for this entry about IF!

Worst Buy: Experience with a Finnish Insurance Company

2010-09-22T09:02:00.000+02:00

For many years I have been using Pohjola as my personal insurance company for all my vehicles and also my home insurance.

By God's grace, they have been very prompt in handling all my claims. They did go out of their way to see that the claims were handled correctly. This was especially so when they did not have any really good English speakers on their staff.

I remember when my iMac computer got fried due to a power out. They just asked me to buy a new one and I got my eMac which is still going strong. I paid just about € 100 for this new machine.

When Annikki's white scooter got stolen, the claim was handled promptly and I got almost 90% of the value as the speedometer had just clocked less than 500 kms. And they did not even ask for proof as the scooter had been burnt by some kids and the police had identified it from the number plate which was found at the side of the scooter.

I have had a couple of unfortunate accidents in the car and the compensation was paid without any questions.

In contrast, we have had insurance from IF for Raantel Oy, our serviced apartment company.

Without doubt, IF must be the worst insurance company in Finland.

They have a very expensive advertisement on TV telling us how they beautifully handle claims.

In my exoperience, IF is a company composed of liars and cheats. The ordinary employee is trained to lie and write false reports!

Strong words, but unfortunately true.

They try to find ways and clauses how not to pay legitimate claims.

In the last case, a pipe from the dishwasher to the exit broke.

According to their terms this is explicitly covered. I should have received loss of income as two apartments had to be vacated.

They sent me a decision which makes no sense as they declined responsibility even though the claim was absolutely legitimate. And they expect me to appeal!

They did not send any person to see the damage or even look at the report from the evaluation company, which said exactly how the leakage had taken place along with photographs showing the hole in the damaged pipe.

I will be lodging my complaint with the Finnish Consumer Organisation, changing my insurance to another company as soon as possible, and publicising their behaviour as widely as possible and exposing the false advertising and unhelpful attitude of the IF Insurance Company.

Hence, in my estimation, the insurance company IF gets my Finland Worst Buy label.

You have been warned.

Inks for your Desktop Printers

2010-07-19T06:37:00.000+02:00

I have a really good Canon PIMAX MP 550 which prints photo quality pictures. One of the good features is that it has individual colour cartridges, with a small and a large black cartridge as well. So I do not have to buy the composite cartridges.

However, I found the Canon Cartridges to be extremely expensive, almost € 12 per colour, so, even with some give aways, i was paying almost € 80 to reload my printer.

I visited the ink refill centre in Oulu and found that I could but a complete set for € 40, saving 50%.

Then I happened to visit a Lidl outölet and I saw on offer colour cartridges marked as usuable by the MP 550. I bought a set and they wwere about € 3 each and € 3.50 for the larger black cartridge. A total expenditure of € 15.50.

The quality of the print was excellent. So no problem with the ink, although I cannot yet vouch for long term stability.

The problem with Lidl is that they do not keep even good selling products on their shelves for long. A visit to 3 Lidls in Oulu and one in Tampere failed to turn up any more cartridges!

These cartridges are made in the Czech Republic, so i will try to get them directly from there.

Look around before you buy your cartridges or even refill your old ones. It is very likely there is a manufacturer making your type of cartridge far cheaper than what you are paying.

Strawberry season ending

2010-07-16T16:59:00.000+02:00

The strawberry season is fast coming to a close because of the intense heat all over Finland.

Annikki was pushing me to buy the strawberries,- I held off till I knew the bottom had been hit.

On Wednesady I got 5 kg of Strawberries at just €15.90 (Old Finnish Markka 96) per kilo from Halpa Halli. This is as low as I have been buying it all these 26 years.

Annikki was amazed how I had held on as she had read in the newspapers of how the season was rapidly ending.

I ate my fill as I drove home with the box next to me in the car. in the evening, Annikki dished up a huge plate of strawberries and ice cream, reviving mychildhood memories of the Nilgiris Hole in the wall on Brigade Road, Bangalore.

I am satisfied. I await the strawberry season of next year!

Cheapest Petrol Prices in Oulu and Finland

2010-07-11T13:30:00.001+02:00

When I put up the price of petrol at Hartola, the cheapest in Finland, on this my Oulu Best Buy Blog, a friend, now living in India, came back quick with a link to the daily cheapest prices in Oulu and the twenty cheapest locations all over Finland.

The Hartola ABC, which I recorded in my previous entry of Oulu Best Buy, is the cheapest of all.

But these other web sites are valuable if you are cost conscious!

Many thanks, Yuvarajan.

Petrol: An absolute BEST BUY

2010-07-11T09:13:00.000+02:00

While I was driving back from Helsinki a couple of weeks ago, I had just filled my petrol tank at an ABC near Lahti. As I approached Hartola, just after Lahti, I noticed a petrol station with the price of just € 1.34 for a litre of Grade 95, which was almost 11 cents cheaper than what I had paid just a few minutes earlier.

Aas I passed through Hartola, I noticed that almost all the pumps were selling petrol around this price.

Last week, when I went on my drive to Helsinki, I approached Hartola and saw that all of the pumps were offering a rate around € 1,33 whereas I had paid € 1,46 in Oulu earlier that morning. Having covered around 425 km, I stopped at an ABC, which had just the pump but no other services, and filled my tank at the rate of € 1,329 per litre.

Taking into account that I get a 5% bonus on ABC purchases, or almost 7 cents per litre, I was paying just € 1.25 per litre, 21 cents lower than what I had paid in the morning.

I consider this an absolute BEST BUY if you are driving to Helsinki.

You can fill up again on the return journey.

As my old jallopy gives me about 16 km per litre (6 litres per 100 km), and with a fuel tank of around 55 litres, this is a huge saving.

On my next trip I will have just enough fuel to reach Hartola, so I get the advantage of a full tank or almost € 7.

Let me know of other places where fuel is cheap as I do travel a lot and every cent does count!!

Remember to register your name if you want to cntinue reading this blog, as soon I will have to only allow registered readers to read all my blogs. And you have to register for each blog individually. (More in an earlier blog entry.)

An important request to ALL our readers

2010-07-10T13:36:00.000+02:00

Dear Readers of all our blogs,

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that we will now have to make all our major blogs accessible only to those who register with us.

The subjects we have covered over the years include the wrestler Dara Singh (probably the most popular and controversial blog entries, ever), St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, Bishop Cotton School, Bangalore, the UN, talk Shows in the USA, politics, the Kandathil and Maliyakal families, Kampitie, Vesaisentie, Annikki's creative art, achievements of our children and grandchildren, CHAFF (Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners), Findians, our numerous friends, relatives, our travels, recipes, and life in general. Above all, t they contained the nostalgia the people love.

Due to circumstances far beyond our control, which affect the lives of many of our loved ones, we have to create the SETTINGS of our blogs so that only those whom we invite can read them. This is very sad as our blogs have reunited many friends across the continents.

With over 120000 readers around the world, some reading more than one of our blogs, for a decrepit old blogger and his wife sitting near the North Pole, this will prove to be a Herculean task, but one which has to be done for the safety, security and well being of many of our loved ones.

Please take the time and effort to send us an email telling us which of our blogs you want to be added to so that you can access them freely.

Our sincere apologies to each and every one of you lovely readers who have kept us going for almost a decade and a half by your readership, your inputs and your outputs!

Yours in great sadness as technology besides being a positive aspect of life can also be a very negative one.

Annikki and Jacob Matthan

Oulu, Finland

Are you a sugar addict?

2010-07-06T09:35:00.000+02:00

In Finland there are certain times of the year when prices of some commodities come tumbling down.

Now is berry preserving time. Strawberries prices start to come down as the harvesting continues.

This means that the price of granulated white sugar comes down dramatically.

This week I have seen as low as € 0.65 per kg.

If you use a lot of sugar, like I used to, and I do find several of my friends consuming so much sugar in their coffee that the fluid is so thick that the spoon stands up in it, then this is the time to buy your sugar.

I noticed, as before, that if you buy a whole carton of this sugar, the prices is even lower. Look around for this best buy.

Also remember, that you can go to some strawberry fields and pick strawberries and pay for it directly to the farmer. Much lower price than what you pay in the shops. In my younger days, I used to go with Annikki, and while she plucked the strawbwerries, I crawled around finding the best ones and eating them - FREE. This is allowed!!!

The berries you find in the forest are free for picking, but not from cultivated fields. Cloudberries, Linganberries, Blackberries, Red berries, and many other types!

I am not a berry fan except absolutely fresh strawberries which reminds me of my boyhood days (early 1950s) when we used to go as a family to a small hole-in-the-wall shop at the bottom of Brigade Road in Bangalore and eat strawberries and cream or ice cream.

The name of that hole-in-the-wall shop was NILGIRIS!

Some Indian guys went around last year in Helsinki and plucked strawberries and did not pay for them, causing a great controversy!

Mushrooms are also free for picking but PLEASE GO WITH SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ABOUT MUSHROOMS. MANY ARE DEADLY POSIONOUS.

Have a great summer.

One Man Crusade

2010-06-02T07:33:00.001+02:00

There is an interesting article in the New York Times of 31st May 2010 about the power of the internet and the ability to publish one's personal opinions critical of a business.

Venting Online, Consumers Can Find Themselves in Court is about how a young man posted the story of his car was wrongfully towed away by a towing company from his parking slot.

“There’s no reason I should have to shut up because some guy doesn’t want his dirty laundry out,” Mr. Kurtz said. “It’s the power of the Internet, man.”

This subject has a very personal interest for Annikki and me. We have been internet activists for over 15 years.

When our company, Findians Oy, bought a portable computer from AST Inc. (Finland), the 5th largest computer company in the world in 1995, and we found it to be a total and complete dud, and when our grievances were not handled by the company, we started an international internet campaign. This brought in responses from across the globe and highlighted that we were not the only ones who had been conned by this company.

The Finnish legal system we found was weighted heavily against the small individual. We knew we would never get justice in the Finnish Courts - which situation exits even today.

Our internet campaign was an enormous success resulting in the closure of AST Inc..

They sold the brand name to SAMSUNG. But the public outrage we had created was so strong, the brand name never again saw the light of day.

When we started our "Oulu Best (Worst) Buy" blog and we exposed some of the practices of some Oulu businesses, we had enormous success.

We recently published the list of worst lawyers in Finland and especially Oulu. Recently, our blog was quoted in an application to the Finnish High Court when a plaintiff tried to get out of the clutches of Finland's worst lawyer.

Of course, the legal system is a complete farce in Finland. The Finnish Lawyer's Association (Suomen Asianajajaliito) has a process which is supposed to investigate any complaints from the public against lawyers. Our recent protracted experience showed that it does nothing of the kind. This organisation exists only to "look after their brother" and it has nothing to do with law or justice.

The main problem in Finland is that the media is also subservient to the authorities and those in power, so there is simply no recourse for the general public to get any justice from this twisted legal system.

We have many sleepy Ombudsmen all over Europe. In theory, the Ombudsman is an excellent system, but it has been usurped by those in power for their own ends.

The Police, especially the Oulu Police, are also extremely corrupt. We have seen this from our several personal experiences,. They go to great lengths to preserve their fear power base over the people. Legalities are not for them! And the rot is at the very top from where the orders come downwards!

But this corruption is different from the general corruption we have in India. That is for people to earn a wage to exist. Here, in Finland, it has nothing to do with the monetary return. It has to do with "POWER".

The local newspaper started "Free Speech Day".

From Jacob's Blog

My platform, from where I spoke on all the subjects that I had investigated the previous year, was a great success. So, last year, the newspaper changed the format so that I could not get a chance to speak! And this year it appears that they have decided against having the event altogether.

If it is not permitted to publicise the misdeeds of an individual, company, organisation or authority, then, by the same standards, it must also be illegal to publish "kudos" about them.

If this is so, it heralds the death of investigative journalism and also the end of democracy.

FREE SPEECH is already dead in Finland!

Customer service?

2010-05-26T16:31:00.000+02:00

On the 4th of May, I received a letter from one of my Internet Service Providers, that a deposit of € 500 that they had taken from me a couple of years was to be returned to me. They gave several alternatives for me to get my money back.

The first was to fill up a form and post it back to them. The second was to visit a web page and fill in the details. (I tried this but the page was so complicated that I did not get past filling in my name and address!) The third, and simplest, was to ring a Customer Care phone number provided in the letter.

I obviously chose the third alternative.

On Friday the 7th of May, in the afternoon, I rang the number. The girl who answered did not know the existence of such a service at this number. Then she said her computer was down. She took down the required details and then told me that she would send me a text message.

I waited, and I waited.

On Monday the 24th of May, I rang again. The immediate response of the lady who answered the phone was that he computer was down. I told her that it did not matter that the computer was down but I wanted to get an answer as to why something the Customer Care person had promised was not acted upon. With great reluctance, when I told her that it was me to get some money back, she took down all the details and said she would ring me back.

Guess whether I got a call back?

On Wednesday the 26th of May, I rang again. I spoke to a gentleman who spoke excellent English. I posed my problem and when he looked at the computer, which was obviously working, he did note that my call and notes of the 7th of May were in front of him, but he could provide me with no answer as to why nothing had happened in the intervening 20 days.

I asked him some basic questions as, if I did not pay a due to their company, what would be the action? I asked him whether his company would pay the penal interest for not paying my dues on time. I also told him that the letter I had received was most interesting that there was not even a name or signature attached to the letter. I told him if anyone received such a letter purporting to be from my company without a name and signature, it would probably be thrown in the dustbin!

He was most apologetic. As a gesture, within his powers, for the trouble I had been put too, cancelled my last bill, gave me an ad hoc credit of € 50 and then said he would follow the matter through his supervisor.

I also told him that his Customer Care Division of his company had recently gone on strike to get substantial service benefits. I asked what should the Customers who they harassed by the inefficiency of their Customer Care Division should do? He told me that he was not one who had gone on strike, but acknowledged that the handling of my situation was certainly not correct.

Let us wait and see what happens before I reveal the name of this service provider! Stay tuned!

Multifocal lens for € 1!!!

2010-04-15T19:37:00.000+02:00

An unbelieveable offer but with a slight catch.

Are you in need of a multifocal lens of reasonably good quality.

SpecSavers, a British firm now also operating a franchise in Finland, is offering multifocal leneses at € 1 a pair!

The CATCH, You must buy a frame of at least € 79.

That means you pay € 80 for a multifocal lens.

I bought a norml frame and lens in Ahmedabad in late November 2009. You will find the entry on my main blog, as the name of the shop had an interesting meaning in the Finnish Language.

I paid just Rs. 3500 for the pair, which worked out at € 60.

To get a multifocal lens at € 80 is certainly worthwhile.

There are a couple of SpecSaver shops in Oulu. I have found them to be courteous and helpful!

Great buy at a Flea Market

2010-04-13T21:46:00.000+02:00

This entry is posted on 2 blogs - my main Jacob's Blog and my Oulu Best (Worst) Buy Blog.

Annikki and I are Flea Market addicts. We have picked up some really great buys at the Flea Markets. Usually we find exactly what we need when we set out to find the item. Coincidence?

Last Sunday, as Joanna, who is visiting Oulu, had approritated my last adaptor for her English hair drier, I was desperate to get hold of an adaptor to use my Indian bought LG Computer screen.

When I said I was going to a Flea Market, Annikki, who has not been out for weeks, was ready to tag along.

We went to the closest Flea Market to our residenece.

We were shocked to see the number of cars parked around. It was as if all of Oulu had descended on this Flea Market.

From Oulu Best (Worst) Buy

As I wandered around, I saw this a really beautiful designed multipurpose adaptor set.

It was just the one I wanted.

And the cost, an unbeliveable, € 1.50!

I have bought less attractively designed adaptors for Euro 3 and 4 each!

This adaptor remain in my travel kit as it is suitable for most countries, even if I do not travel very often these days!

Certainly worth making a visit to a Flea Market near you if you want to get what you really need at a price that you can afford! (P.S. Annikki also got some good buys on this trip, including a flaming red coat!)

Wonderful offers at Antilla today

2010-03-25T17:09:00.000+02:00

Today we have some very good offers for fruits at Antilla in the centre of Oulu.

For example, mangoes for € 0.99 per kg.

Look into all the various fruits as watermelon and also many other different types of melons.

Good luck.

Some good buys today

2010-03-22T08:23:00.000+02:00

I don't know whether I am too late - but almost everything is going at 80% in all the Oulu Euromarkets. Fresh foods have a 20% discount. I will visit it shortly and let you know.

Some good buys at Halpa-Halli today. Butter at € 1.29 for 500 gm, cucumber (Spanish) at € 0.99 per kg, apples at € 0.49per kg and marianated chicken pieces at € 0.99 per kg.

Oranges and kiwi fruit

2010-03-19T07:58:00.000+02:00

Anttila K- Supermarket in the Oulu City centre is offering oranges and the kiwi fruit at € 0.69 per kg.

I used to eat a lot of kiwi as it was rated as one of the best fruit for vitamin C content.

I think these are good buys for this weekend.

Some good buys at Tokmanni

2010-03-09T07:43:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I informed you about Oranges at € 0.49 at Tokmanni. When I was shopping, I saw that potatoes were just € 0.20 per kg in a 5 kg sack and they were 1st quality Finnish potatoes. A great buy.

I also noted that some Polish apples were on offer at € 0.79 per kg. As they are loose, you can pick up the really good quality lot from them.

I bought 10 kg of potatoes and 5 kg of apples along with around 9 kg of oranges. All for under € 10!

The Tokmanni at Toppila does not sell fresh foodstuffs.

Cheapest breakfast in Oulu

2010-03-08T08:16:00.000+02:00

This morning, I went to my local Health Centre in Höyhtyä to have a blood test, for cholestrol, done. As I had to have the test done before I had my breakfast, my stomach was groaning!

Just before I went in, I saw a notice on the wall. The Health Centre Dining Hall was offering breakfast at € 1.50. This included porridge, bread, some filler slices, a drink of fruit juice or milk and either coffee or tea.

I have never seen anything as cheap as this anywhere in Finland. It is not restricted to anybody, so if you are hungry in the morning, go to the Health Centre and have a really good breakfast.

Maybe others can let us know whether this is a service only at my Health Centre, or the same service is available in the Health Centres around Oulu. They open at 07:30 am as the Laboratory is open for people like to me to hve our blood tests done.

One more thing.

Today we can buy Egyptian Oranges at € 0.49 per kg at the Tokmanni shops in Kaijonharju and in Jukkolankuja, the two extremities of the town. Kaijonharju Tokmanni is near the University, while the Jukkolankuja Tokmanni is on the way to the airport. Tokmanni is open from 7 am to 9 pm, Monday to Friday and 7 am to 6 pm on Saturdays.

Oranges on Saturday

2010-02-19T16:09:00.004+02:00

Wow, great price for Oranges this Satturday in the KKK Supermarkets.

The competition is hotting up. They will be just € 0.39 per kg compared to the already rock bottom price of € 0.59 at PRISMA.

Just to say that the potatoes in PRISMA at € 0.19 per kg are really good. The skin is clean and very thin. They are also € 0.19 in the KKK Supermarket, but the ones in PRISMA are better quality.

I usually eat my boiled potatoes with the skin as most of the nutrients are in that layer.

These potatoes are great tasting.

Oulu University Scholarship Application

2010-02-17T14:55:00.005+02:00

In today's University Student Union magazine are details of how to apply for a scholarship from Oulu University.

There are only 10 numbers awarded and it is not much, but worth making the an application if you have admission in the University.

Please take this opportunity and apply immediately giving all relevant data.

The application form is available at the University Student Union website.

Please do not send any applications to me as I am in no way connected with this process.

Oranges € 0.59 today

2010-02-17T11:35:00.002+02:00

Go to PRISMA (Raksila, Linnamaa or Heinäpää) for your oranges - Egyptian, which is just € 0.59 per kg.

I bought 20 kg today.

They also have 5 kg sacks of good potatoes at € 0.95 per sack or € 0.19 per kg.

Not as good as € 0.10 per kg which we had a fortnight ago, but certainly worth a buy if you use a lot of potatoes.

Advertisements in Kaleva

2010-02-16T13:08:00.005+02:00

The following two advertisements were in our local newspaper, Kaleva, last Sunday.

As the image files were to large to be handled by the O-India Google Group, I am uploading them here.

'

Both Electrobit and Powerwave are reasonably sound companies to work for.

Also remember to send me examples of your English written work if you want to be shortlisted for a job as a researcher cum editor in the Information Processing Department of Oulu University. It is a great deal.

Over 25 years ago I started in the same way in the Microelectronics Department in Oulu University and within two years I was the Laboratory Manager and within four years held the Chief Engineer post.

The world is in your hands. :-)

Oranges at Prisma

2010-02-06T14:30:00.001+02:00

The price of Oranges at Prisma this weekend is just € 0.59 per kg. I bought 10 kg yesterday evening.

Saturday best Buys

2010-01-30T09:21:00.002+02:00

Thank you for all the messages about the potatoes. It was indeed an excellent buy. Look around, as you may still find some available at that unbelieveable price of € 0.10 per kg!

Today, saturday, we have a couple of good buys.

Oranges at PRISMA are only € 0.59 per kg. We use about 5 kg a week. These oranges may last a couple of weeks, so it is certainly a good buy for us.

Bananas are just € 0.89 at Lidl. Worth a buy, although at most other shops they are just € 0.99 per kg. If you eat as many bananas as we do, then buying raw green ones so that they can ripen over the week would be a Best Buy.

Today at Halppa-Halli in Toppila you can get Chicken legs at € 0.99 per kg. An excellent buy if you are a non-vegetarian.

Do send me your comments.

Potatoes at rock bottom price

2010-01-25T00:07:00.003+02:00

Today, Sunday, I went out shopping, even though it was bitterly cold in the afternoon.

I went to PRISMA and I saw a sight that in all my life I have never seen before in Finland.

Potatoes are the staple food of Finns. They consume it in many ways - plain boiled potatoes, mashed, fried, roasted, grilled, sliced, curried, etc. Any way you think you can prepare potatoes - that is an accepted way.

So when I came across the price of Euro 0.99 for a 10 kg sack, it is a price I have never ever seen in my 26 years in Finland.

In our book "Handbook for Survival in Finland" published in 1994, the lowest price reported for a 10 kg sack of potatoes is 15.90 Finn marks, which is Euro 2.70. This price of today is almost a third of that lowest price which I had noted between 1984 and 1994!

The farmers must be having a real hard time, as this was a sack of Quality 1 potatoes which they must have harvested late summer or early autumn. Such a price would hardly give them the price of fertiliser they would have used to produce this crop,

Though I feel sad for the farmers, it is good for those on the hunt for value for money.

If you want to live like a Finn, then switch to potatoes, pick up a few bags, and enjoy the various delicious ways you can prepare this carbohydrate! At € 0.10 a kg, you can certainly experiment all you want.

Considering I earned a 10% bonus on my purchases of today using my PRISMA card, that wored out at € .90 for 10 kg or E 0.09 for a kg of potatoes)

Can anyone tell me whether you can pick up potatoes at this price (Rs. 5.85 per kg) in India?

Dilemma! What do I do?

2010-01-21T06:11:00.000+02:00

I was in this dilemma when I stated blogging in December 2004. I had one blog for all my different audiences. At that time I also had web pages devoted to different sectors of readers.

There was a clamour amongst my readers of the blog that I was out of tune with them as they were reading many items that they were not interested in as they pertained to my alma maters or something specific to Oulu, etc.

It was then I started breaking up my blogs - besides my primary Blog (Jacob's Blog), I started one on Politics, another related to my association with Cathedral School (Mumbai), another about St. Stephen's College (Delhi), another about finding goods and services in Oulu, etc.

Everybody was happy!

All went well till my recent trip to India, where I stopped all my auxiliary blogs and kept only my main blog going, with just a few very specific entries to my other blogs.

My readership shot up as it appeared that many were interested in all aspects of my trip around India - which I had termed as "Incredible India".

The readership more than doubled at one point. People were referring others to my blog and it just snow-balled into a massive readerfest. Old and young, relatives and friends, school and college mates, Findians, O-Indians, my professional colleagues, past and present, were all tuned in. And many strangers from around the world were liking my style!

Wherever I went I found I needed no introduction as people had been following my blog. As I recorded, at one stage it became highly embarrassing, as people would come up to me and ask whether I knew them!

On returning to Finland, I went back to my old system.

Now I am having a spate of complaints. Many say that I should only blog at one point.

That would be great for me but not fair on my diverse audience. For instance the Cathedral School Alumni Association have especially complimented me on my sustained effort to keep the school spirit at its height by my blogging.

That is definitely not possible as my Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs have very specific readerships. And not everyone likes my Politics. To burden all my regular readers with MY political views would be unfair. And my Oulu Best (Worst) Buy Blog is very specific to my Oulu Readers. Who in India or USA wants to read about the price of eggs in Oulu?

Is there any single solution, which is outside my very limited knowledge, which will help keep all my readers happy?

One way is that you could become a "Follower" of a specific blog. Whenever the one you are interested is updated, you will get a message from Google. No infringement of your privacy. You can always stop the "Follower" program whenever you want.

That way, it would stop my having to post important blog entries on my multiple blogs. (Possibly - as I have not yet looked into the ramifications of this alternative.)

If you have any suggestions, please email me or leave me a COMMENT. (Although my blogs are not exactly "Comment" blogs, I do read all the comments and reply them appropriately - also knocking off the spam that does come in.

This entry is being posted on all my major blogs, as it concerns all my readers in all categories.

Good prices at K-Citymarket

2010-01-18T08:52:00.013+02:00

The low prices for oranges, mangoes, and a few other vegetables, continue today at K-Citymarket. 5 kg of potatoes are available for € 0.99, which works at less than € 0.20 per kg.

Certainly worth a buy.

Bananas are still cheapest at Lidl, where they were € 0.89 per kg. Basmati rice is cheapest at Lidl at € 2.49 per kg. Both Prisma and K-Citymarket are selling Basmati rice closer to € 3 per kg.

I took an Indian friend to Lidl yesterday and he found the price of shower gel here to be the same as in India!

He also commented that the hand creams he has brought from India are not suited to this cold climate as they sort of crystallize because of the low temperature.

Back in business, Best Buys in Oulu

2010-01-17T00:38:00.003+02:00

Annikki and I are now back in Finland and you will find your best buy tips on this page regularly.

This Saturday's local newspaper, Kaleva had, what they thought was a new discovery. They reported that in many Finnish shops, prices of smaller packs are cheaper than the larger packs.

Those of you who are familiar with our book "Handbook for Survival" published in 1994, may remember what we wrote on page 152:

Some Quirks

During our years in Finland we have had some very interesting experiences which we feel you should always bear in mind.

The first is one practice that leads us to believe that Finns must be really poor in Mathematics. It is not unusual to witness this particular phenomena in most department stores. Anywhere else in the world, a large economy pack is always substantially cheaper than the smaller unit packs. Reasons as lower quantum of packaging costs, lower transportation costs per unit, etc. usually dictates this marketing philosophy. Not so in Finland. It is very often we see the large economy packs being offered at substantially higher prices than the smaller unit packs. Do not, therefore, just pick up the larger pack thinking it should be cheaper. Look carefully at the kg price or litre price for the pack and pick up the cheaper one. Several years ago we used to watch in amazement as Finns in large department stores picked up these larger packs at 40% higher prices than the smaller ones. Products where this was common was cooking oil, drinking chocolate and washing powder.

If you listen to advertisements on TV you will be led to believe that you would be saving money if you by refill packs of items such as washing powder - and this is as it is in the rest of the civilised world. Not so in Finland. If you wander around the supermarkets and compare the prices of the refill packs as against the prices of the same products in expensive plastic containers, you will find that the refill packs are MORE EXPENSIVE. Those doing marketing are utilising your natural instincts to pick up the refill pack as they have told you on TV that you would save money, and they expect you should not to query their dictum.

If you are conscious of the environment and tend to concentrate on purchasing products that are environmentally friendly, in Finland, you will be the target of racketeers who will charge you the hilt for you to follow your beliefs. Recycled paper or environmentally friendly washing powder cost much more than virgin paper or washing powders that pollute. There is no reason why they should, but the companies either do not want you to change your habits or they feel that you should be punished for holding these radical views on environment friendliness.

For your information, the past blog entries contain several pieces of useful information as where to find the Oulu Flea Markets, where to get your spectacles cheaper than you can find them in India, where not to buy certain items, the biggest fraudsters as lawyers, housing agents, and some shops which have good offers round the year.

We will try to keep this page up-to-date as we have several newcomers to Oulu. We find that they are wasting their money going to expensive shops as Stockmann, when they can get the same stuff at much lower prices.

This Sunday, if you are a fan of many sorts of nuts, as walnuts, etc, Antilla, in the centre of Oulu has a huge stock of Christmas nuts that arrived too late for the festive season. They are offering two packets of nuts for just € 1. This is a great offer if you have the paitence to crack open the nuts.

This Sunday you can get oranges at € 0.59 per kg (I believe some shiop may be offering them at € 0.49 per kg). Mangoes, no not any of the Indian varieties, are just € 0.99 per kg. These two offers are at the K-Supermarkets in different parts of the city, and possibly also in the Citymarkets.

The end of Christmas sale is continuing in many shops. Antilla has loads of stuff at 30 to 70% off, so it is worthwhile making a visit. They are open, like many shops, this Sunday from 12 till 18:00 hours. Annikki got some really expensive winter shoes at 30 - 50% their regular price.

The shops still selling lots of Christmas stuff are Kärkkainen and Halpa-Halli, but you will also find stuff on sale in Prisma and Citymarket.

Lidl still has the lowest prices for many items. So do not forget to take a look there before going to the other shops for your foodstuffs shopping.

Glad to be back with you, and we will try to keep you updated on the Best and Worst Buys in Oulu.

Next two months

2009-10-20T19:57:00.001+02:00

All our blog postings for the next two months will only be on our main blog - Jacob's Blog

Enjoy your trip to India with us.

How do you know you are effective?

2009-09-16T04:13:00.004+02:00

As a blogger it is important to know that your campaigns are effective. How do you gauge your success?

Our recent campaign to expose the worst lawyer and the worst real estate agency in Oulu has been an outstanding success. But two people (Kari Kantakoski of Kari Kantakoski Oy and Eva Pitkänen of Huoneistokeskus Oy) are totally oblivious of this as they live in their own make believe world trying to make a fast buck and cheat the owners of the property. They had banded together (as birds of a feather) to put "wrong" and "incomplete" information about a house on the internet, trying to get rid of it at a very low price. This was rejected by all the shareholders of that property.

Not only did the two of them illegally break into the house, change the locks and lock out the real owners, they tried to stop all the renovation which would have attracted the real buyers. In addition, not knowing anything about the history of the property, they put wrong and false information about the property on the internet, missing vital information which would have made the property a hot potato!

Reason - GREED!

Eeva Pitkänen of Huoneistokeskus Oy, rated by us as the Worst Real Esate Agency in Finland, sent an email to "her" client, the Worst Rated Lawyer in Finland, Kari Kantakoski, that the web page of house (Kampitie 6 B, Nokela, Oulu 90160), that they were illegally trying to sell as a dilapidated structure, had 2000 hits, of which only 3 people contacted them and only 1 person visited the site and went away seeing the situation!

Would anyone who took the time and trouble to maintain the garden in a pristine condition leave the inside of a house in a dilapidated condition, unless they were forced to?

What these two scamsters do not realise is that when people Google this particular site, not only does the page about the property appear, but also their ratings as the worst real estate agency and the worst lawyer appear alongside.

Who would want to do business with such a team of scoundrels!

Yes, the Oulu Best (Worst) Buy page can claim that it is making a difference!

Our web pages always come out at the very top in Google!

The Supreme Court rejoinder with the correct and legitimate enclosures exposing the trickster, Kari Kantakoski, is now in the hands of the Supreme Court as well as the Lawyer's Association of Finland!

Oulu buses and prices

2009-09-11T01:52:00.001+02:00

I had not travelled as a paying passenger in a bus for a long long time.

My first seven years in Oulu, when I was working at the University, I travelled by bus.

When I arrived here in 1984, the fare from the Kampitie doorstep to the University (route 33), right across town, was just 3 marks (about € 0,50). Then I started to use a bus pass and the cost per journey was hardly € 0,10 as I used the pass many times a day.

I was not very happy with the weekend service and wrote a blistering article about it way back in 1991.

When I started using the car, first a VW Beetle, then a great Opel and then several other wonderful cars till my latest 1992 VW Vento, I hardly used the bus.

I used the service extensively when grandson Samuel was a toddler (1998-2000). But, in Oulu, we have a great rule that when accompanying a toddler in a push chair, neither has to pay the fare. I used to criss cross the city with him looking at all sorts of things as machines, cement churners, road rollers, dump trucks, cranes, as he used to be fascinated by them.

Finally, the other day, I gave my car for some work. I realised the bus stand was just outside my favourite garage, and there is a direct bus home.

Once on board I paid the fare - € 2,90.

An increase from € 0,50 to € 2,90 in 25 years seemed a bit steep to me. My pension vis-á-vis my salary in 1984 has not gone up by the dame ratio!

I cannot say whether the bus service has improved or not based on a couple of trips.

I can say the new technologies that are in play - bus arrival schedules at major bus stops along the route, the RFID bus cards (I was the actor in the first video of BUSCOM, reading the Financial Times in the Technology Village Cafe), and the modern bus fleet, certainly seems to indicate that it is a good service.

But worth the € 2,90 for a trip. Certainly not!

Worst / worst communicate

2009-09-08T20:14:00.004+02:00

The worst real estate agency in Oulu, Houneistokeskus, communicated with the worst lawyer in Oulu, Kari Kantakoski, that although there were many hits to their page about the house in Nokela at Kampitie 6 B, NOT ONE person had bothered to communicate to Huoneistokeskus.

Would anyone in their right senses communicate with Huonesitokeskus when they see their rating as the worst real estate agency in Oulu and when they see they are associated with the worst lawyer in Oulu, Kari Kantakoski?

Go and see the web page describing the house at Kampitie 6 B. ALL the information about the house is WRONG.

I know, as I lived in that house for 24 years and was involved with all the major renovations over the years.

In addition, Kari Kantakoski is so desperate to sell the house to take the money into his own bank account, he is cutting all the corners to try to get the house sold.

Huoneistokeskus came up with a ridiculous offer, which all the members of the Death Estates rejected outright.

Kari Kantakoski has no right to sell the property. He also used the "Enforcement Act" to cheat Huoneistokeskus, the Oulu Police and a locksmith by the name of Securi Oulun Lukko to break into the house when he saw that the owners were in the process of renovating it. That the Oulu Police is the most corrupt force in Finland, led by a corrupt leader, Police Chief Veli-Erkki Ware, is well known.

It is also a hilarious Police Force, the laughing stock of the world, which test drivers for alcohol in their own bedrooms! I know, as I ( a complete teetotaler) was the one tested!

Kari Kantakoski ordered the renovation company to stop the work, which they rightfully refused. His intention was to show the outside and inside of the house in a dilapidated condition to sell the house at a low price.

As he has illegally locked out the owners, the inside cannot now be renovated.

Which real estate company, other than one with an agenda against the real owners, will show a house in a dilapidated condition saying that the buyers may want to renovate it differently?

That statement was made by Eeva Pitkanen of Huoneistokeskus! It really took the cake!

All the friends of the owners, who have expressed interest to buy the house will not conclude the deal with Huoneistokeskus and Kari Kantakoski as Kari Kantakoski has closed the bank account of the Death Estate and transferred it to his own name so that he could enjoy the proceeds of the sale of Kampitie 6 B by himself without giving a penny to the owners.

It is strange the Oulun Osuuspankki allowed this to happen. It must be that Kari Kantakoski is in league with the bank management for this to occur.

I have in my possession two statements from the Oulun Osuuspankki, one from the company banking section and another from the private customer banking section, that no account for the specific Death Estate is with the bank.

Kari Kantakoski is, however, writing to authorities that there is a bank account. Only it is in his own name with the Death Estate members having no access to the account!

Kari Kantakoski has falsified documents in both the Oulu Technical Centre and the Oulu Lower Court. This came to light only recently.

A rejoinder was filed yesterday in the Supreme Court of Finland which provides all the evidence of the malpractice of Kari Kantakoski as a lawyer.

Two complaints against Kari Kantakoski are also being looked into by the Lawyer's Association of Finland. But knowing the "brotherhood" attitude of such organisations not to take action against their fellow "brothers" not much can be expected out of that quarter.

The real justice will come when the court actions, two of them now in the Supreme Court, move to Europe as there are many violation of the Human Rights Convention!

In the meantime, "Inheritance Nightmare" is taking final shape. It is a great book, although I say it myself as an author.

ICE - In Case of Emergency

2009-09-01T05:32:00.001+02:00

I received this very important email from a dear friend, which I felt should have the widest publicity, so I am putting it on all my major blogs:

We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) Campaign

The concept of "ICE" is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name "ICE" ( In Case Of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose. In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and Hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as "ICE."

For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc. A great idea that will make a difference!

Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our Mobile phones today!

Please forward this. It won't take too many "forwards" before everybody will know about this It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest .

Remember:- ICE will speak for you when you are not able to.

Thank you, Naval, for this wonderful input.

Worst locksmith company in Oulu

2009-08-28T03:06:00.006+02:00

If you are looking for a locksmith, please stay away from Securi Oulun Lukko, which is a company that does not respect the rule of law and will stoop to underhand techniques to do the bidding of the power brokers. They break into houses, they break locks, and their staff lie!

In a recent case where they were caught red-handed, their staff member was leaving the premises they had broken into leaving the front door of the house wide open and lockless!

They break into houses illegally and fix insecure locks ignoring the insurance aspects of the house and the associated houses - just so that they can fulfill the wishes of their rich clients!

In fact, they are so thoughtless they endanger the lives of people and property, just to make a few quick bucks! They look at the law through their open fingers!

If you need more details, do read my book which is available in both English and Finnish. You can read the synopsis at:

Inheritance Nightmare
ISBN 978-952-67270-0-4

Perintöpainajainen
ISBN 978-952-67270-1-1

Worst House sales /Rental Agencies

2009-08-28T02:56:00.004+02:00

If you are planning to buy or sell your house, please avoid Huoneistokeskus, whose objective is not to look after the house owners or buyers but only to get the best return for themselves, ignoring all tenets of the law!

They will side with those who have "power" rather than look into the issues concerning the buying or selling of a property.

For more details do read my book which is available in both English and Finnish. the Synopsis is available at:

Inheritance Nightmare
ISBN 978-952-67270-0-4

Perintöpainajainen
ISBN 978-952-67270-1-1

So be prepared for trouble if you use their services.

Worst lawyers in Oulu

2009-08-28T02:18:00.003+02:00

Based on my experience of the last 25 years I rate these three as the WORST lawyers in Oulu. Please stay out of their clutches or you will have trouble - big time!

1. Kari Kantakoski / Asianajotoimisto Kari Kantakoski Oy
2. Jorma Herttuainen / Lakiasiaintoimisto Jorma Herttuainen
3. Timo Nikula / Asianajotoimisto Nikula Timo Ky

Before you go to any lawyer in Oulu, please call me as we have experiences with many and there is not much difference. Usually one is worse than the other.

It is a brotherhood, so do not expect much legal service from any of the lawyers in Finland!

For more details of these three lawyers and also others whom we came across, read my book which will be available soon in both English and Finnish languages.

Inheritance Nightmare
ISBN 978-952-67270-0-4

Perintöpainajainen
ISBN 978-952-67270-1-1

If you think you can get help from the Lawyer's Association, in case you have trouble with any lawyer, think again, as the Association appears to exist to cover the backsides of the lawyers and NOT to mete out justice. One complaint has now been "handled" for 9 months while the lawyer continues to rape his "client".

Another big problem is the Oikeusaputoimistos (Legal Help Service), which is in the main staffed with ignorant lawyers who just show their faces to collect their fees.

We have had experiences with this service from 1985 when Annikki and I had to prepare the brief and also appear in the Court in a case where the lawyer from this service did nothing but collect his fee! If she had not done this, a psychiatric patient would have been sent to prison rather than given psychiatric care!

But, as far as our worst three are concerned, the three we have listed above rate amongst the worst in the world!

Inheritance Nightmare / PERINTÖPAINAJAINEN

2009-08-25T13:44:00.001+02:00

My next book, which is being published simultaneously in English and Finnish (translation by Annikki), is going to be a blockbuster.

In 1994, I exposed the serious problems within the University of Oulu. That book, "Seven Years Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish Unversity" was the most pirate copied book in Finland that year.

The book jointly authored by Annikki and me in 1994, "Handbook for Survival in Finland", which was also only in English, was sold out within days of publication.

Both Annikki and I have been researching and writing on several subjects, but this book was always at the back of our minds from 1992 onwards.

Now is the opportune time. We decided to leap frog many other manuscripts to publish this one. It gives a deep insight into how corrupt the Finnish System has been and is, despite whatever Transparency International has been writing.

I give below the Synopsis and Contents in both Finnish and English.

Also the pre-ordering information is given at the end so you can save some money if your order is received before the books hit the shelves. The book is written, printed, published and sold directly by us so we can give you value for money instead of lining the pockets of publishers and booksellers. Authors get a measly 10% after several years!

We do hope you will enjoy this book. The sequel "Last Will and Testament" by me will follow soon thereafter. That is a momumental work. It will not be published in Finnish.

INHERITANCE NIGHTMARE
(ISBN 978-952-67270-0-4)
by
Jacob Matthan
Author of the 1994 brilliant exposé
“Seven Years Hard Labour
in a Finnish Holiday Camp
- A Finnish University”

Synopsis

Like all the author’s books so far, this book is NOT fiction. It is the recording of the modern day repetition of Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” in Finland in the 2000s!

The author comes from a country which is the home of corruption. According to Transparency International, Finland is supposedly one of the least corrupt countries in this world.

This intricate narration of this true story, covering almost 10 years, shows the extent of malaise in the Finnish System - the judiciary, the police, the bureaucrat, the media, the banks, and above all the lawyers, who are supposedly there to uphold the rights of the innocent. It is a brotherhood network!

Kari Kantakoski is supposedly “a leading lawyer” in Oulu. The intrigue that he has been involved in to get the lion’s share of the inheritance of the family of a carpenter and his wife is still an on-going saga.

The level of audacity increased with each passing day as this lawyer flaunted the law using his “friends” in high places.

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied!

The Lawyer’s Association, supposedly to root out people like Kari Kantakoski, appears to be just a big joke! Kantakoski laughs at this organisation as he knows they would not lift a finger to indict him! The Association has been “investigating” this matter for 9 months while Kari Kantakoski carries on his plundering!

In Finland, the only recourse to justice is publicity, the internet, in particular. Certainly not via the Finnish media, as it is also part of the corrupt establishment.

This book, which will be on the internet and the shelves (in English and Finnish) in a few weeks, highlights in the greatest detail (with every supporting document) each step of the process of having to fight a corrupt system in which the height of corruption is the legal profession in this country.

Lawyers may be the butt of many jokes. That is not without sound reason.

The author leaves it to the reader to draw one’s own conclusions as to what is right or wrong, what is corruption and what is not, what is legal and what is illegal.

It is a sad sad tale.

If Transparency International were to look at this and many thousands of similar cases, Finland would lie 180th in the 180 countries that are reported on by them!

Contents

PREFACE
Chapter 1: Background to the Nightmare
Chapter 2: Matti's Death Estate Inventory Meeting
Chapter 3: Hilja's Dementia
Chapter 4: Renovation of Kampitie
Chapter 5: Public Guardian for Hilja
Chapter 6: Administrator and Executor for Matti's Death Estate
Chapter 7: Financial Misuse of Hilja's Bank Account
Chapter 8: Settlement of Renovation Cost
Chapter 9: Appointment as Care Giver for Hilja
Chapter 10: Eviction of Hilja and Court Decision
Chapter 11: Corruption in Oulu Magistrate Guardianship Section Functioning
Chapter 12: Attempt to Remove the Public Guardian
Chapter 13: February 2004
Chapter 14: Dire Warnings Ignored - Wall Deterioration
Chapter 15: Lawyers Fees
Chapter 16: Minutes of Meetings
Chapter 17: Secret Deals
Chapter 18: Hilja Passes On
Chapter 19: Matti's Death Estate Administrator / Executor Greed Uncovered
Chapter 20: Accounts Examined
Chapter 21: Forced Sale of Kampitie
Chapter 21: Hilja's Death Estate Inventory
Chapter 22: Fraud and Cover Up in Osuuspankki
Chapter 23: Keskinäinen Vakuutusyhtiö Turva Mopo Scandal
Chapter 24: Control of Kampitie
Chapter 25: Huoneistokeskus: Money Rules the Day
Chapter 26: Complaint to the Lawyer's Association
Chapter 27: Complaints to the Oulu Police
Chapter 28: Complaints to the Finnish Courts
Chapter 29: Transparency International
Chapter 30: Who Gets What?

PERINTÖPAINAJAINEN
(ISBN 978-952-67270-1-1)
Jacob Matthan
“Seitsemän vuotta kovaa työtä suomalaisella loma leirillä
- Suomalainen Yliopisto”
loistavan palastuskirjan kirjoittaja 1994

Tiivistelmä

Kuten kaikki kirjailijan kirjat tähän mennessä, tämä kirja ei ole Fiktio. Se on Viktor Hugon kirjan “KURJAT!” kaltaisten tapahtumien toisto Suomessa 2000 luvulla!

Kirjailija tulee maasta, joka on korruption kotimaa. Transparency International’in mukaan Suomen oletetaan olevan yksi maailman vähiten korruptoituneita maita.

Tämä mutkikas tosi kertomus, kestoltaan melkein kymmenen vuotta osoittaa suomalaisen systeemin pahoinvoinnin laajuutta - oikeuslaitos, poliisi, byrokraatti, media, pankit ja ennen kaikkea asianajajat, joiden pitäisi olla viattomien oikeuksien puolustajia. Se on veljeskuntaverkosto!

Kari Kantakosken oletetaan olevaan “huomattava asainajaja” Oulussa. Sotku, jossa hän on mukana saadakseen leijonan osuuden kirvesmiehen ja hänen vaimonsa perheen perinnöstä on yhä meneillään oleva tapahtumaketju.

Röyhkeyden taso nousee päivä päivältä, kun tämä asianajaja lailla pöyhkeillen käyttää “ystävään” korkeilla paikoilla.

Viivytys oikeudessa kieltää oikeuden

Asianajajien Liitto, jonka oletetaan kitkevän juurineen Kari Kantakosken kaltaisia henkilöitä, näyttää olevan iso vitsi. Kantakoski nauraa tälle järjestölle tietäen etteivät he nostaisi sormeakaan syyttäkseen häntä mistään. Liitto on tutkinut tätä asiaa 9 kuukautta. Sillä välin Kari Kantakoski jatkaa ryöstelyä!

Suomessa ainoa oikeuden turva on julkisuus, internetti erityisesti, eikä varmasti suomalaisen median kautta, koska se on myös osa korruptia valtajärjestelmää.

Tämä kirja, joka tulee internettiin ja hyllyille (englanniksi ja suomeksi) muutamassa viikossa, korostaa mitä suurimmassa määrin (kaikkea tukevilla dokumenteilla) joka askelta prosessissa, jonka joutuu taistelemaan korruptiossa systeemissä, minkä korruption huippu on laillinen ammattikunta tässä maassa. Asianajajat voivat olla monen pilan kohde. Eikä syyttä.

Kirjoittaja jättää lukijalle tehdä omat johtopäätöksensä siitä mikä on oikein ja väärin, mikä on korruptiota mikä ei, mikä on laillista ja mikä on laitonta. Se on surullinen kertomus. Jos Transparency International näkisi tämän ja tuhansia muita samanlaisia tapauksia, joista he raportoivat, Suomi olisi sijalla 180 mukana olevista maista joita on 180!

SISÄLTÖ

Esipuhe
Kappale 1: Painajaisen tausta
Kappale 2: Matin kuolinpesäkokous
Kappale 3: Hiljan dementia
Kappale 4: Kampitie remontti
Kappale 5: Yleinen edunvalvoja
Kappale 6: Matin kuolinpesän pesänselvittäjä- ja jakaja
Kappale 7: Hiljan pankkitilin väärinkäyttö
Kappale 8: Remontti kulujen sopimus
Kappale 9: Hiljan omaishoitajan nimitys
Kappale 10: Hiljan häätö ja oikeuden päätös
Kappale 11: Korruptio Oulun Maistraatin yleisen edunvalvonnan osastolla
Kappale 12: Yritys erottaa edunvalvoja virasta
Kappale 13: Helmiku 2004
Kappale 14: Välinpitämättömyys vakavista varoituksista - ulkoseinän rapistuminen
Kappale 15: Asianajan palkat
Kappale 16: Kokousten päiväkirjat
Kappale 17: Salaisia sopimuksia
Kappale 18: Hiljan kuolema
Kappale 19: Matin kuolinpesän pesänselvittäjä/jakajan ahneus paljastuu
Kappale 20: Tilinpidon tarkastus
Kappale 21: Kampitie pakkomyynti
Kappale 22: Hiljan perukokous
Kappale 23: Petos ja peittely Osuuspankissa
Kappale 24: Keskinäinen vakuutusyhtiö Turva Moposkandaali
Kappale 25: Kampitien hallinta
Kappale 26: Valitus asianajajaliittoon
Kappale 27: Valituksia Oulun poliisille
Kappale 28: Valituksia suomalaisissa oikeuslaitoksissa
Kappale 29: Transpanency International
Kappale 30: Kuka saa mitä?

ORDERING INFORMATION:

PROJECTED SHELF PRICE: € 59 per hard copy

Orders received and paid for before Publication: € 49 ONLY (including postage)

Payment to: Jacob Matthan's Nordea Bank Account Nro.: 249818-69968

Write in Message Box: International Nightmare

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
SWIFT CODE: NDEAFIHHX
Account No: FI91 2498 1800 069968
Account Holder: Jacob Matthan

Strawberry prices down

2009-07-20T09:59:00.003+02:00

Today Tokmanni is offering fresh strawberry 5 kg boxes at € 18.90, the lowest yet.

The only way you get them cheaper would be to go to a nearby farm growing strawberries and collect them yourself. YOu can eat as much as you want while collecting and pay only for what you want to bring home.

These farms are scattered around Oulu, near Muhos, Rukki, etc.

Tomatoes are cheap today

2009-07-17T07:52:00.004+02:00

Look around for fresh Finnish tomatoes today. They are cheap in a couple of shops - € 0.89 per kg.

Those strawberries I bought yesterday at € 19.80 for a 5 kg box were delicious. No need for cream, ice cream or sugar. Was chomping on them for most of yesterday.

Some good buys today

2009-07-16T16:13:00.005+02:00

Strawberries came on sale about 10 days ago at a price of € 29.90 for 5 kg. The prices stayed up and then dropped to € 24.90 at most shops. Nobody seemed to be giving way.

Then came yesterday's advertising leaflet from Halpa-Halli. They have three shops in Oulu, but only one does foodstuffs, the one at Toppila. They lowered the price to € 19.80 for 5 kg.

I went across today and bought a 5 kg box. I started nibbling at it while I was driving home. They were particularly sweet and before I knew it, I had consumed half the box.

The offer will continue tomorrow, but expect a rather heavy demand. Stocks may be over before noon.

At Citymarket, Fazer chocolates are on offer at € 3.00 for 2 x 200 gm bars. € 0.50 saving per bar. A great buy.

You can get a kilo of Euroshopper sugar at € 0.69 per kg in Citymarket. This is the time Finns need sugar to preserve their strawberries. Sugar prices are usually near a Euro, so this is a excellent buy for sugar lovers.

VIP brand Apple and Orange juices (no water added) are being offered to PLUSSA card holders at 2.00 for 5 cartons, just € 0.40 per carton. This is € 0.35 cheaper than the usual cheapest variety of the same quality. If they run out of VIP, Pirkka, the K-Group label, juices are being offered as an alternate.

You can also buy 5 x 1.5 litres of fizzy drinks (various flavours) at Euro 1 per bottle which includes 0.20 for the bottle. A particularly good offer.

If you are a chicken eater, chicken filet, 400 gm pack, is on offer with the PLUSSA card at just € 1.99 per packet. The usual price is € 3.49, a saving of € 1.50!

Happy shopping.

Raantel OY IS a Best Buy!

2009-07-06T04:51:00.007+02:00

One of the tenants, a lady software engineer, who stayed in our Raantel Oy apartments in Oulu returned to India last Sunday after almost 6 months here. Before she left, she sent me this touching email:

"This is just a small note of thanks to you for all the help you have provided in these 8-9 months. Even though I might not have spent hours talking to you but your presence has always made me feel homely. I have never faced any problems as such, but if any, you were always there! It would have been difficult to thrive in a foreign country with lots of insecurity and lack of proper information. With you around nothing was difficult and out of reach. Thanks a lot for everything !"

Raantel Oy Headquarters and Community Centre at Ahmatie 16 in Oulu.

Another lady, who came with her one year old son to be in Oulu where her husband was on an assignment told me at the airport that she so enjoyed her stay with us that even if her husband comes for just a month, she and their son will come with them as they felt so much at home in our apartments and in our company.

Sunita, Karthik and Rajesh leave back for India.

These appreciations shows that Raantel Oy has achieved its objective as THE BEST BUY if you stay with us in our apartments in Oulu, Helsinki or Tampere.

Carom game at the Family Afternoon
at the Raantel Community Centre.

Raantel Oy is not just about giving you an apartment to live in. You become part of our community. With this I think I have achieved what I set out to do!

Reason for excitement

2009-05-31T15:26:00.001+02:00

(Also posted on all my major blogs.)

Many of you have emailed me to ask why I was so excited with the software "Cooliris".

There are many many reasons, but I will highlight the two major ones:

1. There is an old Chinese proverb which says: "A picture is worth a thousand words."
2. You can browse thousands of pictures in a couple of minutes, unlike text.

This is now the era of the photo-journalist. If he / she can succeed in capturing the truly great image that depicts an event and add a single one line caption to it, the number of hits one can get to that image or video, and subsequently the caption and then the text, even if the Google Search result was likely to be on the 50th page, is going to be amazing.

Just search for "Jacob, Oulu" on Google Search and you get 95,800 links. It will take months to through those links.

Search for it on "Cooliris" and see how much more you get and you can get to even the 5000th result in a jiffy!

Don't believe me - take any random name of a friend and see what you get!

Truly amazing results. And, you can go through all those tens and tens of results in a flash.

Beware of one problem with "Cooliris".

You can get motion sickness as you race through the thousands of images.

I tried various search combinations yesterday and was thrilled with the results.

But, when I got up from my office table, I was tottering as my eyes had been working overtime going through this huge bonanza of results.

Yes, there is a reason to be excited, but also a warning that this could seriously affect your brain!

Rarely am I so excited

2009-05-30T14:39:00.000+02:00

Also posted on the Seventh Heaven Blog, Kooler Talk Blog, CHAFF Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)

Rarely am I excited about new computer software. Today I came across one which sent shivers down my spine in what it can do.

I downloaded separate versions for SAFARI, the Mac only browser and for FIREFOX, probably the best browser online presently till Google comes up with its Chrome Browser for the mac.

The software is called "COOLIRIS" and it allows you to see many thousands of images and videos from your computer or the web in the blink of an eye.

My time is so limited that I hardly have time to go through all my pictures on the computer. But here I could see all of them in a 3-D type motion and I could see all the top story pictures before you could say "COOLIRIS"

I suggest you enter "Cooliris" in your Google Search facility and then download the version suitable for your browser.

I found a great video called "Slam Dunk Kitty" amongst the literally thousands that came up as I flew through the selection that came before me.

And you can use this software with Facebook, Google, UTube and also your computer images and videos!

What's the bet that Google will acquire this software - which is absolutely FREE, before the lamb shakes its tail!

Unbelievably Clean!

2009-05-17T20:28:00.004+02:00

(Also posted on Jacob's Blog and the CHAFF Blog.)

A friend of mine had let his mother's apartment to a couple of Finnish students. They behaved badly and hence were ejected.

In the process they had dirtied all the good sofas and carpets.

As my friend was adjusting the rent advance, he asked Kamutaza Tembo, the owner of Taza TMI, a suoer cleaning service in Oulu, to take and dispose all the furniture while at the same time as cleaning up the apartment. (Mobile Phone: TAZA TMI +358 400 596317). Among their many clients, Taza TMI cleans the big electronics stores as Gigantti and Markantalo, Sanifer Scooter Factory, all our furnished apartments in Oulu, a large vehicle repair workshop and they do a splendid job.)

Kamu called me and asked me to pick up the furniture.

Annikki and I went to pick it up in our trailer. When I looked at the sofas and carpets I was ready to write them off and take them to the dumping yard.

Kamu had other ideas.

Yesterday he came to our office where all the furniture was stocked in our trailer.

From Taza TMI

Sofa on the trailer with cleaning equipment in the foreground.

From Taza TMI

Kamu gets to work.

From Taza TMI

With all the skill of a graphic artist,
Kamu ekes out the result, cm by cm.

From Taza TMI

As good as new!

The cleaned carpet:

From Taza TMI

Kamu worked on them with some special equipment .

The cleaning equipment is like a vacuum cleaner, except that it pumps out a fine spray of a non-toxic cleaning fluid onto the surface and then sucks it back again with all the dirt and muck.

I was amazed to see the results he achieved, first on two single seater sofas and then on the three seater. They were as good as new.

Kamu changed the head on the machine and worked on a filthy carpet, restoring it to much of its original beauty.

I would recommend using this service, not only for cleaning sofas and carpets, but also doing a complete cleanout of your car.

The charges are very reasonable.

Cleaning a single seater sofa costs Euro 40, a double seater will cost Euro 60 and a threeseater will cost Euro 80. The cost of cleaning a carpet will be dependent on the size and how dirty the carpet is.

Complete cleaning of a car, seats, dashboard, all carpets, dicky (boot), will cost you about Euro 150. The car will smell as fresh as roses as Kamu uses a fragrance when cleaning cars.

VAT at 22% os applicable. You can claim 60% of the cleaning charges from your taxes, so it is really cheap.

I have no hesitation in recommending this Carpet, Sofa and Car Cleaning Service and its results as an OULU BEST BUY!

My iMac died, Viva la Mac Mini!

2009-04-25T14:37:00.001+02:00

(Also posted on my Jacob's Blog and my Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs.)

My 10 year old iMac finally died. I tried to revive it. Failed.

I went back to my older macs, the Performa 6400 and tried to use that, but it was tooooo slooow.

I decided to splurge and get a new Mac.

I have a perfectly good Samsung SyncMaster 900 SL Monitor. I have many USB Keyboards and Mice, all in good condition. I have USB headphones, a dlink wireless USB adaptor, a La Cie Firewire / USB DVD / CD station, so I decided to buy the Mac Mini.

A difficult decision whether to buy the basic version mac Mini costing Euro 599 with a 120 GB Hard Disk or a 320 GB Hard Disk with 2 GB of memory.

As most of my work will be network computing, the extra hard disk was not important. Also I have many hard disks lying around, from 1 GB up to 60 GB.

I checked the memory prices and found that a 1 GB memory costs just Euro 30 while a 3 GB costs just Euro 60. I will have to determine whether it is user installable and then upgrade. So I spent just Euro 599.

Considering I got the new Leopard system, which costs Euro 128 and also the latest iLife software, which costs Euro 78, Thew Mac Mini actually cost me just Euro 400. Foor a 2 GHZ Core 2 Duo, with a 8 x Superdrive station which is a DVD±R, DL DVD±RW / CD RW, and with a NVDIDIA GeForce 9400M video card with 128 main memory with a DDR3 SDRAM, etc., etc., this must be one of the best buys that I have made in a decade.

On my way to the office I picked up Annikki from home to drop her at church. She was amazed to see the size of my new computer - 16.5 cm by 16.5 cm by 5 cm.

The whole computer set up was done in less than an hour, upgraded to the latest system and it is working just fine. The speaker system is a bit tinny, but as I usually used head phones, this is not a drawback for me. The Mac Mini recognised all the hardware I connected and went to the internet without any problem through the dlink adaptor!

Sunil, who has been commenting on my attachment, sentimental, to my iMac and eMac boxes which occupy almost all the space under my office table, may be quite pleased with the size the new Mac Mini box!! :-)

Where did I buy it from?

It does not matter as all Apple products, wherever you buyi it from are Apple fail safe products and the seller is not important!

Indian Grapes at Euro 1.18 per kg

2009-04-17T06:09:00.005+02:00

It may be a long drive to Kempele, but certainly worth the effort if you are a grape lover.

This new K- Supermarket is in the centre of Kempele, and you should take the old road to Kempele (not the E4 highway).

As this is a brand new K- Supermarket, look around as you may find several over good offers.

It was a bit crowded yesterday as everyone flocks to a new shop. Will not be so bad today.

Indian grapes, green, are just Euro 0.59 for a 500 gm plastic container (Euro 1.18 per kg!!). The offer is open today and tomorrow as well. A 24 can carton of KOFF beer is only Euro 17.90, one of the best offers this year for beer drinkers.

Three bars of Fazer chocolate for Euro 4 (Euro 1.33 per bar) is also a great buy. This offer is also in the Citymarkets and the other K-Supermarkets (in Joutsensilta and Välivainio).

Citymarket is offering oranges at Euro 0.59 per kg - a great offer. Four 1.5 litre Cokes are also available at Euro 4, which is another great offer.

There is cake ice cream and also normal ice cream blocks at Euro 0.99, both of which are good offers.

Chinese fast food in Oulu

2009-04-12T07:44:00.000+02:00

(Also posted on Jacob's Blog.)

There are literally dozens of Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai Restaurants in Oulu serving very nearly the same food and of approximately the same quality. Noodle House was an exception, but due to a paucity of demand for Chinese noodle preparations, it closed down.

What has sprung up in its place is something quite unique. (AWing Restaurant, Kauppurienkatu 5, 90100 Oulu; Tel: 08 333839<; Mobile: 044 544 0880; Managing Director: BILLY LU.)

The Chef is a Master Cook. His dream is to start a school for Chinese cooking in Oulu. Seeing his talents and verstaility, plus a quiet dynamism, he will succeed.,

Billy Lu's Fast Food Restaurant (AWing) was featured in the latest Kaleva Peto Edition. When he called me on Thursday morning; I told him about it. He was thrilled. He now has it proudly displayed in his small and neat restaurant.

When I first walked into his restaurant, I was not captured by his menu or his food, but the beautiful nature of the the owner. He wanted to talk, and he did. I soon discovered much about this young man. I knew I could try a few of his preparations.

On the next visit I asked him to make me a super hot chicken noodle. Boy, it was good. He then prepared a series of dishes for some of the German residents in India House. The sweet and sour chicken with noodle was exceptionally good.

One Saturday evening I visiited the restaurant to be served a special health soup he cooks for himself. It was truly invigorating.

Billy Lu will go far.

If you want anything special, and he has a huge repertoire of dishes at his command, please call him at 044 544 0880. And if you want it spiced - just tell him that you want it as spiced as "JACOB". You will not be disappointed!

Where am I going? What am I doing?

2009-03-31T21:55:00.001+02:00

(Also posted on all my major blogs.)

Ubi does not believe that I have writer's block. Naval is meticulously letting me of intrusions into my own cyberspace. People are calling me and telling me they are my fans!

And what am I doing?

With the explosion of networking sites - LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Orkut, Plaxo Pulse, My World in Flock, all my blogs, Google Groups, a plethora of calendars, I am getting terribly lost in Cyberspace.

Where should I do first thing in the morning? Which place should I update first to reach the widest spread of my audience. 80000 people worldwide is quite a reach!

What should I write about? Politics, the economy, nostalgic thoughts about school and college, life in Finland?

There certainly is an inexhaustible list of topics.

It is this explosion which is numbing my mind. Everything I want to do seems to be the wrong step - or is it the right step?

I am searching for someone out there with experience to guide me - but it appears that when you are the trend setter . no one wants to proffer their advice!

So I will have to work this out by myself.

All of you out there will continue to get angry with me as no one is satisfied going to a site which just refuses to be updated!

Maybe tomorrow morning the answer will hit me - but maybe not!!!

Happy 90th birthday, Nelson Mandela

2008-07-18T04:18:00.000+02:00

Happy 90th birthday to the world's greatest politician, leader EVER - Nelson Mandela. May he have very many more.

Copyright: Photograph from Dismantling Apartheid

He has taught mankind through his sincerity to his cause - the people of Africa.

Thank you Nelson Mandela.

Further LYING and DECEPTION by DNA Finland Oy

2008-07-15T20:01:00.009+02:00

Earlier Blog Entries about DNA Finland Oy on the Oulu Best (Worst) Buy Blog

Sunday, April 06, 2008: Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA

Sunday, May 18, 2008: DNA Finland Oy continues to DEFRAUD customer

Speedtest.Net Results 213.139.166.91 : Sheet1 from 31.03.2008 to 15.07.2008)

Sunday, July 06, 2008: DNA Finland Oy Standards!!!!!

Sunday, July 06, 2008: Ping Pong - DNA Finland Oy Style

Monday, July 07, 2008: Would you trust YOUR BUSINESS with this COMPANY?

Tuesday, July 08, 2008: Was that a FREAK One-Day Occasion?

Enter "DNA Finland Oy" in the Google Search Engine and you will see these results in the red boxes relating to my Blog entries come on the FIRST Search Page. Both my major Blogs (Jacob's Blog and Oulu Best (Worst) Buy,are being spidered daily by all Major Search Engines and my Blog Entries are already in 3rd and 5th position. Soon they will be at the TOP! And, MY CAMPAIGN TO EXPOSE A DISHONEST COMPANY HAS NOT EVEN STARTED.):

And now on with the SAGA.

Those of you who have been following my nightmare encounter with DNA Finland Oy, be prepared for another series of important revelations given below.

In short: DNA Finland Oy CONTINUES to deceive and lie to their customer.

Those of you who read one of my previous inputs DNA Finland Oy Standards!!!!! would have thought that my nightmare had ended. I was getting Download Speeds of around 6000 kbps (6 Mbps). When I moved to a random IP DHCP connection, I was getting speeds in EXCESS of 8000 kbps, my contracted value. Indeed, I was a bit surprised, but quite happy that the issue had been resolved TILL YESTERDAY EVENING!

My internet connection packed up completely after 6 pm. As my computer would try to reconnect, as I have the PPPoE feature “Connect when required” turned on, a connection would be established, the process taking over a minute or two. Then, by the time I counted to 10, the connection would be dropped.

I tried the DHCP connection and, by golly, it connected. But by 8 pm, even that connection started showing the same problem. Now I was dead to the world! My work had come to a CRASHING HALT.

As the DNA Finland Oy Customer Service phone support closes at 8 pm, I was left without my internet connection for the night. I optimistically hoped that when I resumed my work at 4 am, this problem would have been sorted out.

As I have tons of work to catch up on, I was up at already 3:30 am. When I got to my computer at 4 am, I found there was no change in the situation - 10 seconds online followed by collapse!

I waited till 8 am and rang the number given to me as the Customer Service phone number, only to discover that DNA Finland Oy had changed its Customer Service Number. I was directed to ring another number. (I had received no notification of this change showing the attitude of the company - "Customer be damned!")

When I dialed the new number and explained the problem, I was asked to dial yet another number, the Technical Service Support Number.

I finally got through to a human being and informed the person on the phone about the problem. He kept asking me whether I was on some "Campaign". I could not understand his question. I told him that only "Campaign" I knew about was that DNA Finland Oy was playing games with me. When he said he would investigate and try to solve the problem, I challenged him that I would probably not hear from him again!!

However, by 11:30 am I had a call from a person by the name of Ville Hyttinen. He explained the issues to me.

I had been included in a “Campaign”. I had been given an ADSL connection which worked at 24 Mbps and worked of some protocol called ADSL 2.

Yesterday evening I had been taken OFF that "Campaign". My speed had been put back to 8 Mbps. I was back on some other ADSL protocol mode. My modem was, therefore, unable to use that connection mode. That was why as soon as the connection was obtained, it was dropped.

Things now fell into place in my mind. I double checked the facts with Ville Hyttinen. I thanked him by saying he was only the 2nd person in DNA Finland Oy who was truthful! (I was soon to discover otherwise!)

As I was away from home, I rushed back to get to work as things were piling up. As soon as I got home, I found the internet was indeed connected. So I did a Speedtest and found the speed to be 250 kbps instead of 8000 kbps!

My gmail accounts were reporting that “Your Internet connection is experiencing problems or your network administrator has blocked Gmail chat.” See the yellow text in picture below.

I realised I was at the start of another nightmarish stint.

I rang the lady who had visited me, Ms. Ulla Kentta, who must be some senior person in DNA Finland Oy. Luckily, as she had given me her direct number, I was not put on the never-ending hold!

The first thing I told her was that I was not angry with her per se, but that I was certainly very very angry.

I explained the situation and how DNA Finland Oy had deliberately lied to me and deceived me in saying that my problem had been fixed. All DNA Finland Oy had done was put me on some short term "Campaign" which was to increase my connection speed to 24 Mbps. As this also only worked at 25% efficiency, I had been getting a speed of 6 Mbps.

Yesterday, they had taken me off this “Campaign” (which had been to keep me quiet while the team went on the "earned" holiday to play Ping Pong) putting me back to my contracted value of 8 Mbps.

Hence I was back to the old story.

In addition, they had lied to me about my SMC Router being broken. My router is not meant for the second ADSL system which they were using.

To hide their incompetence, they were forcing me to buy another router to accommodate their "temporary" fix.

I asked Ms. Kentta whether she was proud to belong to an organisation which practiced fraud, deceived and lied to its customer? She refused to answer!

I asked Ms. Kentta to tell me whether I was the only customer who was having to go through this nightmare. She refused to answer!

She was unable to deny any of my accusations. She asked me whether I had received a reply about my reclamation - which obviously I had not, as they have not sent it to me!

When I told her it was Mr. Ville Hyyttinen who had told me the facts behind the present situation, she was unable to recognise the name.

Then she admitted that this gentleman was NOT a DNA Finland Oy employee.

That was obviously why Ville had told me the TRUTH!

Now let us come to the reclamation agreement the Customer Service offered me via their email:

from asiakaspalvelu
to jmatthan@gmail.com
cc Tuomas Helander , Jari Tuovinen
date 2 July 2008 15:58
subject Broadband at Kampitie 6 B

Dear Mr Matthan

With reference to your letter dated 27 June 2008.

We are sorry for the difficulties that you have endured with the broadband connection at Kampitie 6 B.

We have carried out some technical changes and adjustments and the connection seems to be working perfectly when tested earlier today.

We will credit you for the downtime of the connection and the slowdowns our standard compensation in max 120 EUR + 100 EUR for the travelling expenses related to filing a complaint.

You will be credited 220 EUR as a total compensation. In practice this means that we will not charge You your Kampitie 6 B -broadband monthly fee for the following 5 months.

From our point of view we see these actions as a full compensation for this particular case.

Yours sincerely

DNA Palvelut Oy
Asiakaspalvelu

Please read the BOLD TEXT - where it clearly says that there will be no “broadband monthly fee for the following 5 months”.

Now look at the scan of the bill I received just last Friday. the text in the Red Square relates to the particular connection where DNA Finland Oy are not supposed to charge me for the next 5 months.

DNA Finland Oy promise something in what they call is an agreement and the very next day they forget what they have offered, hoping the customer will overlook the detail and pay the bill, regardless!

And now finally about the DNA Website. The picture below shows the situation as of yesterday - 15th July 2008.

This company has been unable to fix its OWN Server to allow people to reach their web site. Even as I write this, the Firefox browser has been trying to connect the the server for the past 35 minutes. Unlike the Safari there is no time out feature in Firefox!

Is this the way an “honest company” does business.

In my 24 years in Finland I have never met such a dishonest company as DNA Finland Oy. Not only is it dishonest, but as mentioned earlier, it is inefficient and incompetent.

Are these the DNA STANDARDS that this company, DNA Finland Oy, is so proud about? Is it by these standards that I must accept the reclamation? Are their staff coming to work and being paid only commuting money? (I think even that would be TOO MUCH payment for most of the DNA Staff considering this case.)

I ask YET again - Is this the company, DNA Finland Oy, with whom you want to do Business?

Name Wanted! New Flea Market in Oulu

2008-07-09T04:13:00.009+02:00

Quite a few Flea Markets in Oulu have closed down, moved or become not so attractive as they have changed their policy of what they are showing. Many have shifted over to more expensive antique furniture, trying to increase value turnover to meet their overhead costs.

The foreign community of Oulu and cost-conscious Oulu residents are prime users of Flea Markets, second only to my better half, who has picked up literally hundreds of great items from her visits to her favourite Flea Markets. Annikki is the ultimate Flea Market expert.

I have put up several web pages in the past on the Oulu Best Buy Blog telling people where the main Flea Markets are located, and I have visited all the Flea Markets regularly to see which ones have good offers.

Väliväiniö Ahmatie 16
Flea Market at Ahmatie 16 Flat 3.

After much soul searching I decided to start my own Flea Market, where the prices are really Flea Market prices. A small refreshment bar will also operate in the Flea Market.

I have finalised the name for the Flea Market or the daily opening times, nor have I employed anyone as yet. Presently, it operate between 09:00 am and 11:00 am on all weekdays, except Wednesday (07:45 am till 09:45 am). Timings for Saturdays and Sundays have not yet been finalised.

But you can get me out there by calling 041 706 7788.

I have a policy that if you purchase stuff more than € 30 I will organise free delivery to the front door of your building. I do not have staff to help you take it to your apartment and my age and back problem does not permit me to help with the really heavy stuff.

Last Sunday, as a launch, advertised in the Kaleva newspaper, I held a Courtyard Flea Market, supposed to open at 12 noon. People turned up already at 11:00 am. Because of the rush I was unable to move a lot of stuff from my godowns to the Flea Market. The weather held up till 17:00 hours when we had to close as a drizzle started.

This Sunday we will continue to have a Courtyard Flea Market, but we are not weather sensitive as we will have the indoor Flea Market open simultaneously. So no one will go away disappointed.

Welcome and hope you get some good buys!

Was that a FREAK One-Day Occasion?

2008-07-08T07:44:00.004+02:00

UPDATE: I had posted in my earlier Blog entry the messages I got when trying to reach the pages of DNA Finland Oy, which was "Server not responding"!

Many of the calls I had were asking whether that was a Freak One-Day occasion, where for some reason, the lines were overloaded.

It is now 08:46 on Tuesday 8th July 2008. Given below is the page that I reached JUST 10 minutes ago TODAY.

This message is irrespective of the browser or operating system. I have received the same message in Firefox, Flock, Internet Explorer, Opera, and on both PCs and Macs.

Let me assure you that this a DNA Finland Oy related problem and not a browser or platform related problem.

I ask again - Would you trust your business with THIS COMPANY?

This is a company which tells lies to its customers, is incompetent, inefficient, and refuses to acknowledge the problems and costs it has made its customers suffer BECAUSE of its Business Ethics.

I ask again - Would you trust your business with THIS COMPANY?

Would you trust YOUR BUSINESS with this COMPANY?

2008-07-07T19:09:00.006+02:00

I certainly have my personal grouses against several companies, and of late I have been focusing on my problems with DNA Finland Oy. (See a few earlier blog entries about this sitaution.)

I decided to visit the DNA Finland Oy web page to determine "who was who".

I did a Google Search and I got this result:

Great that when you search for DNA Finland Oy, you actually get the Default DNA Finland Oy web page as the top return on Google.

You will notice that in this first return there are six links to the various web pages of DNA Finland Oy.

Have you tried reaching DNA Finland Oy through any of these links?

Here are the six returns I got when trying to reach DNA Finland Oy!

Cannot read what it says - well here it is in a NUTSHELL:

Safari can't open this page

Safari could not open the page
.......URL.......... because the
server is not responding.

If an Internet Service Provider is unable to keep his own server, which is supposed to his web page up and running, can you imagine the nightmare their customers will go through.

What it shows besides incompetence is the lack of concern of DNA Finland Oy customers.

Would you trust YOUR CRITICAL BUSINESS with THIS COMPANY?

Ping Pong - DNA Finland Oy Style

2008-07-06T20:06:00.006+02:00

I addressed and email to Jari Tuovinen of DNA Finland Oy (see the previous Oulu Best Buy Blog entry) and back came an Out of Office Reply:

from Jari Tuovinen
to Jacob Matthan
date 6 July 2008 04:47
subject Out of Office AutoReply: Broadband at Kampitie 6 B

Hei,

olen kesälomalla 7.7.-2.8.

Sijaiseni on aluemyyntijohtaja Kari Putkonen, puh. 08-3134560, mailto:etunimi.sukunimi@dnaoy.fi

Luen sähköpostia loman aikana harvakseltaan. Tämä viesti ei välity sijaiselle, joten lähetä se tarvittaessa uudelleen hänelle. Muussa tapauksessa palataan asiaan elokuussa.

Kiiretapauksessa minut tavoittaa parhaiten tekstiviestillä numeroon 044-3134505.

Hauskaa kesää!

trv.jari
****
Jari P. Tuovinen
aluejohtaja
DNA Palvelut Oy/Pohjois-Suomi
puh +358 8 313 4505
gsm +358 44 313 4505
fax +358 8 371 057
mailto:jari.tuovinen@dnaoy.fi
PL 30 (Arkistokatu 4)
90101 OULU
http://www.dnaoy.fi

I promptly sent an email to this Kari Putkonen as indiacted by Jari Tuovinen, and guess what, this was the immediate reply I got:

from Kari Heikki Putkonen
to Jacob Matthan
date 6 July 2008 21:01
subject Out of Office AutoReply: Broadband at Kampitie 6 B

Tervehdys,

Olen lomalla 6.7.2008 saakka. En lue postejani säännöllisesti. Sijaisenani toimii Jari Tuovinen, p. +358 44 313 4505, e-mail. jari.tuovinen@dnaoy.fi

Terveisin,

Kari Putkonen

Aluemyyntijohtaja
DNA Palvelut Oy/ Pohjois-Suomi
p. +358 8313 4560
m. +358 44 313 4560
f. + 358 8313 4565
kari.putkonen@dnaoy.fi
PL 30, 90101 OULU
www.dnaoy.fi

Is that not marvellous indication as to what a great and efficient organisation DNA Finland Oy is!

I have sent this text message to both of them.

Suggest you read: "Ping Pong - DNA Finland Oy Style" and "DNA Finland Oy Standards!!!!" at Oulu Best Buy http://OuluBestBuy.blogspot.com.

Wonder what miracles of DNA Finland Oy STANDARD telecommunications technology will result from this!

Superb co-ordination in the interest of DNA Finland Oy customers.....

DNA Finland Oy Standards!!!!!

2008-07-06T01:29:00.006+02:00

I am averse to putting so many exclamation marks at the end of a title or sentence, but this one has taken the cake!

After almost four and a half months of a nightmarish episode with DNA Finland Oy as is described in my blog entries Sunday, April 06, 2008: Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA and Sunday, May 18, 2008: DNA Finland Oy continues to DEFRAUD customer and my email to the Marketing Manager Pekka Väisänen of DNA Finland OY based in Oulu with the subject line "Fraud, Petos?" which remained unacknowledged and unanswered:

from Jacob Matthan
to Pekka Väisänen , Risto Siivola , Heikki Nykänen , Raimo Kuismin , Pekka Väisänen
date 18 May 2008 16:34
subject Fraud? Petos?

Dear Pekka,

I do not know whether you remember me from the old days.

I am sorry to say that after DNA Finland Oy has taken over Oulu Puhelin activities they are practising FRAUD.

I do not know whether you are in charge of Sales and Marketing of DNA Finland Oy and also Oulu Puhelin.

Kindly look at these two Blog entries. The situation is tragic and comic!

Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA

DNA Finland Oy continues to DEFRAUD customer

You will also find the same entries on my popular blog whttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhich also lists the WORST BUYS!

I hope you are not responsible for these jokers!!

I do not intend to leave this matter as it is as it has caused me untold misery for the past 3 months and upset all my schedules - and because of total neglect, incompetence and inefficiency!

By the way, have you ever tried to enter any of the sites on your website such as clicking on the button "DNA-Konserni"? That is a joke as well!!!

My next step will be to start a Group on Facebook about DNA Finland Oy Service or rather "lack of it"!

Regards

Jacob

--
Jacob Matthan
(NEW - Now on FACEBOOK)
Kampitie 6 B
90150 Oulu, Finland

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I was forced to send this hard copy letter to the Managing Director of DNA Finland Oy, but not even knowing his name or address, I hand delivered it to my friend in DNA Finland Oy Oulu Office, Tuomas Helander, along with my bill for the direct cost of my time wasted in handling this matter over the four and a half months (I made no claim for the loss of face in the international world with the collapse of my special services using the internet or any other indirect losses incurred by me!):

Jacob Matthan
Kampitie 6 B
90150 Oulu
Email: jmatthan@gmail.com
Phone: 08 - 33 6939; 041 706 7788

Ref: Jacob Matthan/Hilja Reinikka; Customer Nro.: 355218
Date: 27th June 2008

Managing Director
DNA Finland Oy

(This letter will appear on my blog next week.)

Dear Sir,

Subject: DNA Finland Oy, Reclamation and compensation

It is with a great deal of sadness that I am forced to address this letter to you. It is because of the sheer desperation of the situation.

On my Oulu Best Buy Blog page (Enclosure 1: Sunday, April 06, 2008: Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA) I describe my nightmare of almost a month and a half (21st February to 30th March 2008) where I was denied access to my internet because of the total incompetence, inefficiency and neglect of your staff. I was told lies and given false promises, while being made to go from pillar to post to try to re-establish my internet connection.

Of course, your billing during the period did not stop!

On my blog page (Enclosure 2: Sunday, May 18, 2008: DNA Finland Oy continues to DEFRAUD customer:) I further describe a situation of DNA defrauding the customer which situation continues even till today.

I am being billed, month in and month out for an 8 MB/s ADSL connection, whereas almost during the entire period of 3 months I have been getting connection speeds in the order of 5 - 10% of the contracted value.

And, of course, your billing for the full rate continues.

I have visited your offices on the average every two days during the four and a half months spending my time to apprise your staff to the problems. Each time I carried documentary proof of the situation.

Till date no one has contacted me in response to my visits.

Not only have I visited your offices, I have informed my issue to the Marketing Manager of DNA, Mr. Pekka Väisänen, (Enclosure 3 dated 18th May 2008) and he has not even bothered to send a word in reply to my email.

Even as of today, my connection speeds, as can be seen from the internet blog entry (Enclosure 4: Speedtest.Net Results 213.139.166.91 : Sheet1 from 31.03.2008 to 26.06.2008) are nowhere near the contracted value and no effort is being made by your organisation to correct this totally unacceptable situation. (Results from two different test services are provided so that you can see that it is not just one source result that are being used.)

I am enclosing a bill for the wasted time and other incidentals as well as the reclamation for breaking the contract (between 21st February and 30th June 2008) that DNA is required to settle within 7 days, failing which I will proceed legally to obtain payment of these dues.

I have also addressed this matter to the Kuluttaja Riitalautakunta in Oulu and a copy of this letter and the enclosures are being sent to them for their further action.

When the Kuluttaja Riitalautakunta tried to reach your office by telephone, they were put on hold for over 15 minutes and unable to get through. It appears that your organisation is deliberately ensuring that no one is able to reach anyone to get any response, and at the same time no one bothers to answer the written demands for explanations.

I am addressing a copy of this to Mr. Tuomas Helander of your DNA front office in Oulu who has been involved with my visits and is fully aware of the situation as it stands today.

If you are unable to provide me with a suitable explanation and make the necessary compensation as demanded, and also make corrective action to the problem, there is no alternative but to file a criminal complaint with the Oulu Police for your defrauding me, your customer.

Yours faithfully,

Jacob Matthan

cc. Tuomas Helander, DNA Palvelut Oy, Oulu

This was on the Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, just before Tuomas went on his annual holiday, he told me that the matter was being handled pronto.

The situation did not improve over the weekend and there was no improvement on the Monday.

So, on Tuesday I made my visit to the DNA Finland Oy Oulu Office and met a lady (who was aware of the case as it had obviously been discussed in their circles on Friday) who told me she would immediately alert the person concerned.

I had a call late on Tuesday from a DNA representative Ulla Kentta, who said she would like to come and see the situation and do some tests inside my home. She turned up with another lady who was from Realcom, the international telecommunications company.

They did some tests and said they had changed my routing and they found that using their equipment the speed was now over 6.71 Mbps for doewnload and 650 kpbs for upload.

However, my computer was still showing a connection speed of only just over 1000 kb/s.

There was also the unresolved issue that although I had been using the DHCP mode to connect to the internet for 8 long years, they now said the with my Fixed IP (which I have had all along) I was now going to have to use PPPoE. With the DHCP I was getting only a random assigned IP which was quite unacceptable to me and the work I do on the internet.

I explained the nightmarish scenario to Ulla Kentta that I had faced with DNA Finland Oy and gave the lady the entire correspondence, printouts of the blog pages, etc.

The next day two technicians turned up at the house, one from Realcom, the other from where I am not certain.

The first stand they took was I had never been on the internet using my Fixed IP and DHCP. It just so happens, sadly for these "EXPERTS", that I maintain a detailed log of all the connection details. When this "EXPERT" saw that his bluff was not going to work with me, he was forced to admit that I was getting a DHCP connection with my Fixed IP for all these years.

Now came the question of why my computer was not able to work at the speed.

The two of them played around a lot (over 2 hours). They changed the new ADSL modem provided by DNA Finland Oy for another of the same make. They tried to set up my SMC router, but failed miserably, then suggesting that my router was defective.

(Subsequent tests by me have shown that there is no problem with my SMC Router but it is unable to function with their PPPoE connection, whereas it will work with a DHCP Fixed IP Connection.)

Finally, they managed to get my connection up and running, without the router, however only using PPPoE mode and the speed was up to the what is expected, around at least 80% of the contracted value.

The test results from 30th March till 5th July 2008 can be seen at this link.

Speedtest.Net Results 213.139.166.91 : Sheet1 from 31.03.2008 to 05.07.2008)

They went away and before the day was over I received this email from their faceless "Customer Service Department"

from asiakaspalvelu
to jmatthan@gmail.com
cc Tuomas Helander , Jari Tuovinen
date 2 July 2008 15:58
subject Broadband at Kampitie 6 B

Dear Mr Matthan

With reference to your letter dated 27 June 2008.

We are sorry for the difficulties that you have endured with the broadband connection at Kampitie 6 B.

We have carried out some technical changes and adjustments and the connection seems to be working perfectly when tested earlier today.

We will credit you for the downtime of the connection and the slowdowns our standard compensation in max 120 EUR + 100 EUR for the travelling expenses related to filing a complaint.

You will be credited 220 EUR as a total compensation. In practice this means that we will not charge You your Kampitie 6 B -broadband monthly fee for the following 5 months.

From our point of view we see these actions as a full compensation for this particular case.

Yours sincerely

DNA Palvelut Oy
Asiakaspalvelu

My reply was swift:

from Jacob Matthan
to asiakaspalvelu
cc Tuomas Helander , Jari Tuovinen , Ulla Kentta , Pekka Väisänen
date 2 July 2008 17:56
subject Re: Broadband at Kampitie 6 B

Dear Sirs,

I thank you for your communication and state that the connection is working but not yet according to the contract or as specified in our agreement.

Unfortunately, as claimed by you, this is not a standard case.

To leave a customer for almost 4 and half months without any attention - is that what you think merits a STANDARD COMPENSATION?

You will be the laughing stock of the world, and especially FINLAND, when this STANDARD CLAIM BY YOU hits the internet.

This is a case of incompetence, negligence, indifference, supply of defective equipment, lying to the customer, and causing severe loss of one's face in the international world, as well as much much more.

Further the DHCP connection is still not working. I am still able to use only PPOE and my other computers are not able to function.

I may have to invest in additional equipment and yet do not know whether these will function as your representatives were unable to get the DHCP and the router working, claiming the the router, which has worked without any problem earlier, was defective.

I am having the router tested. If it is not found defective you will be in for additional claims for providing misleading information and additional costs will incur.

I suggest you rethink your compensation package in the light of my bill to you which is due on 3rd June 2008.

Do you work for free?

Failing which, not only will legal action for recovery be initiated but I intend to make the further saga public, (especially the STANDARD claim) on a much broader scale than has already been done.

I think I need no better witness in the case than your own Mr. Tuomas Helander!

Yours faithfully

Jacob Matthan

--
Jacob Matthan
Kampitie 6 B
90150 Oulu, Finland

Google Groups:
Oulu Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners (CHAFF)
O-India
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Seventh Heaven - Mumbai Cathedralites Alma Mater Blog
Kooler Talk - Delhi Stephanians Alma Mater Blog
World's First Mobile Snowman Blog <---- NEW

The deadline for the bill has come and gone without payment. I will wait the one week grace period for the payment of the bill, send the reminder and after that deadline passes, it will go to the collection agency and then the legal battle will begin should they still fail to pay this bill.

What DNA Finland does not realise is that I will not give up without a fight to get justice.

I would only ask them to look back in history when AST was the sixth largest computer company in the world. They sold me dud equipment.

I took the battle to them on the internet.

The internet is a great leveler of people and corporations.

Within six months AST Finland was shut down.

But the battle did not stop there.

Within a year AST Worldwide was shut down as I had assembled all the people worldwide who had been defrauded by AST. This forced them to quit the field altogether. AST sold out to Samsung. But Samsung soon realised that the AST Brand Name was tainted. They never relaunched that brand name again.

The sixth largest computer company in the world went into oblivion with a battle waged from here in Oulu. Those who want proof of this need only look for the documents on the internet!

I hit AST in every international newsgroup and it was not long before we had assembled the evidence for all in the computer world to see!

So DNA Finland Oy, be warned I will not give up till justice is done in this case.

DNA Finland Oy were so gracious to offer me Euro 100 as my travelling expenses and Euro 120 as compensation for my defective connection.

I have only one question to ask them publicly:

Are they paying the Realcom person who came to fix my connection just the tarvelling expenses?

I may not get justice in the Finnish Courts, as Finnish justice is flawed in favour of the corporate lobby.

However, I will get justice in the Public Forum, and DNA Finland Oy better watch out as I start to organise the forces to see that their losses will far exceed the paltry sum that I have charged them to force them to correct my nightmare of FOUR and a HALF MONTHS!!!!

Fed up: Furnished Apartments for Rent in Oulu

2008-06-17T15:23:00.004+02:00

Annikki and I have been pestered with problems of those who have rented directly from various house agents in Oulu. On the other hand, all the houses we have organised for rent to Indian professionals who have come to Oulu have only received the highest praise from the occupants.

Shilpa (of Patni) was specific in her praise as to how she had been able to settle in beautifully in Oulu because she moved to "India House". Srinivas (of L&T Infotech) told us that we had saved them all a small fortune by helping them with their accommodation and other matters. Ramesh and his 3 friends (from Nokia) were so happy with the apartment we got them that they hope that when they come back we will have apartments for them again. Sumit (of Aricent) and his wife got a beautiful apartment just suited to their needs right in the heart of the city.

Seeing how several Indians and their families have set themselves up in difficult and sometimes quite dangerous situations, we decided to formalise the work we have been doing.

One person living in the centre of Oulu told me that there was no place for his six year old very active son to play outside. Others are staying in locations which are dangerous (according to the Oulu Police) especially on the weekends.

On the other hand, those staying at, what is now being called as, "India House" have even a cricket field at their disposal!

Our simple question is "Why ask for trouble when there are much better solutions to your living arrangements?" Our solutions are considerably cheaper and better as it takes into account the needs of the individuals and their families concerned.

The new blog we have set up Oulu Furnished Apartments is to help those people coming to Oulu to settle in in comfortable surroundings, especially those with families, and also single ladies.

All the apartments we have in our books are with water and electricity charges included and also, in most cases, with a convenient internet connection at no extra cost. No running around buying furniture or crockery or cutlery that you are burdened with at the end of your stay. No need to buy carpets or bed linen. And we also have a cleaning service for those who have no time to clean their apartments.

We hope that Human Resource Departments of all the companies bringing foreign professionals to Oulu will use our BUDGET Furnished Apartments Service - no, not one which have Flat TV and a host of other features not required by professionals who just want a convenient yet economic stay in Oulu. At present, besides the City Centre, we have flats at the Tuira Riverside and the best place in Oulu - Väliväiniö.

Enjoy your stay in Oulu and let us help you make that happen!

Ali Baba's Grotto in Oulu

2008-06-02T21:10:00.001+02:00

A friend of mine had tried to call me a few days ago, but my phone was not working.

Aku, Master Rulla Kebab Maker

I enquired his whereabouts from another friend and learnt that Aku was in the process of acquiring a new Pizzeria in Maikkula, a southern suburb of Oulu. It is located on Riihitie.

Samu had his football practice at a school football pitch in the area, so while he was busy, I thought to drop in on my friend.

From the frontage it looks like a very ordinary small pizzeria like one would find in almost every suburb of Oulu. But when I stepped in, I knew that the name was a gross misnomer!

Aku was not in, as Monday is his day off. I was hosted by Serbest, another young man from Iraq. Very courteous and friendly.

As I admired the small room, he pointed to a small archway at the end of the room and asked me to step in and see the larger room inside.

I was surprised to see such a world of treasures adorning a pizzeria . The children's corner was spectacular.

The next time Samu had football practice, we decided to stop and meet Aku. He made us a pizza and offered us a drink, but refused to accept any payment. The pizza was delicious reflecting the many years experience in Goreme, Finland's finest pizzeria, run by two other dear friends, Hasim and Kasim from Turkey.

I told Aku that he needs to rename the pizzeria as Ali Baba’s Grotto!

DNA Finland Oy continues to DEFRAUD customer

2008-05-18T12:03:00.007+02:00

On April 6th 2008, over a month ago, I drew your attention in my Oulu Best Buy blog entry Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA to how, for over a month and a half, I was denied internet access by DNA Finland Oy by their pure incompetence and inefficiency.

Now it is May 18th 2008, and for over another month and a half, my Fixed IP, Full Rate ADSL internet connection has been running at less that 50%, and usually at below 10% of the Agreed Download rate.

You can view the entire download and upload test results from Speedtest.Net from 31st March 2008 to date 18th May 2008 on this Web page Speedtest.Net Results for IP Address 213.139.166.91

(Click on image to see the latest updated results.)

Even while I was discussing the problem and the question of refund of the huge telephone bills I had to incur in using my 56 kbps modem to keep my internet connection alive, DNA has been putting punitive costs on me for holding back a few days in paying my bills, while they have not bothered to make the refund which I extracted as a promise for thanks to Tuomas Helander, a DNA Finland Oy Oulu employee.

As DNA Finland Oy continues to defraud me, I want to know how many other of their customers is this company similarly defrauding?

The latest insult was when I went to the DNA Office in Oulu and talked to one young man who refused to give me his name.

First, he told me he could do nothing about this matter. When I was forced to raise my voice, he rang someone and said that someone would attend to my problem in 3 days, something that Leena Jokela had said would be done a week earlier and which Tuomas Helander (the only one in DNA Finland Oy Oulu Office who has made a real effort to help resolve this problem) had taken to trouble to contact the person in ELTEL who was to attend to this defect.

This young man who was totally non-co-operative when I went in with the figures showing my 8000 kpbs download connection was running at 731 kbps. He said that DNA had nothing to do with this as all aspects of online work was the responsibility of ELTEL and I should contact them.

I do not have any contract with ELTEL. My contract is with DNA Finland Oy. This young man could not get it into his thick skull that it is the responsibility of DNA Finland Oy to get in touch with whomsoever they have entered into a contract with - NOT ME!!!!

This young man was insistent as I was living in an old house the connection was bad. He refused to see the results that on 5th April with Miikka Parikka resetting the connection a blip connection speed of 6233 kbps was seen.

When you have such ignorant and incompetent persons manning the desks in DNA, then you have this type of fraud and rape of customers taking place.

Such lack of dedication to handle a customers real problem for over 3 months seems indicative of every single person that I have talked to in DNA (except Tuomas Helander). It is also the incompetent people who refuse to give their name as they do not want their incompetence to be exposed!

The sooner this irresponsible and incompetent Internet Service Provider is punished for fraud and closed down, the better for Finland.

The Humble but Super Onion

2008-04-23T10:00:00.001+02:00

Normal onions available in Oulu shops are between 30 and 50 gms a piece. That is the one on the right. The Super Onion which is normally sold only to the restaurants is the one on the left and each one weighs around 225 - 250 gms.

The price of onions in most shops is over € 1 per kg. The price of the super onion fluctuates seasonally. Presently it is at € 0.80 - 90 per kg.

If you want deliveries of the Super Onion (if they are available), it will be sold only to those who are ordering at least one 4.5 kg bag of the best quality Basmati (€ 1.90 per kg) or unbroken Jasmine Rice (€ 1.80 per kg) from the Rice Express.

You must inform Jacob by email at jmatthan@gmail.com or by text message at 041 7067788 latest by Thursday afternoon.

Remember when ordering to give your address and phone number so that the delivery person can ring you when he reaches your door.

Deliveries come in on Friday morning. Home delivery is late on Friday evening or on Saturday.

Annikki prefers the Super Onion not only for Indian cooking but as we eat a lot of fresh salad, she uses a whole Super Onion for a salad for 3 people!

Worst Satellite TV Service Provider

2008-04-07T22:45:00.001+02:00

Wow! A second WORST posting in just 2 days!

It does not mean that I am in a vile mode, but I was greatly annoyed by the arrogance of the company which goes under the label - VIASAT.

We contracted a satellite input for our TV about 5 years ago and obtained a service known as VIASAT.

Over the years I have been quite disillusioned by the service this company provides. I carried on as we were only using this during the winter months. During the summer months the service is unavailable. Our antenna is in such a place that as soon as the green leaves arrive on our neighbour's garden, we lose all signal strength and reception.

Finland went Digital a few months ago. We continued to receive some Finnish channels via satellite. We paid our satellite dues to Viasat during the month of December 2007, the fee being the same as before and the package being the same as earlier years.

Before I continue further, let me put this in context via the use of a simile.

Assume you go a shop with your little daughter. She buys a bag of sweets - a tasty selection of chocolate, toffee, gum and licquorice sweets and much more. You weigh the package, see it is exactly € 10 and pay for the sweets at the Cash Counter.

As you approach the door to leave the shop, a Security Guard stops you, asks you to open the bag of sweets and then proceeds to take out many of the sweets that your daughter likes. He closes the bag and gives it back to you before allowing you to leave the shop.

What would you do?

This is exactly what VIASAT has done.

I signed up for the Silver Package which contained a selection of programmes that both Annikki and I could watch. However, on the 31st of March a range of channels was removed and from 1st April these channels are no longer even listed in the Menu!

If I paid € 201.32 for the 178 channels and then 10 channels are removed - do I sit quietly by and accept that over the next few years the company can strip me of all the channels and yet charge me the € 201,32?

When I called their Service Line, they were unable to answer under what law they acted this way. To reach an Operator on their Service Line, I had to hold on for 45 minutes, as the Operator was probably watching the channels that had been cut off from my package!

The Operator asked me to address my complaint to their email address: info@viasat.fi

I told the Operator that I was not going to do that as the last time I sent a complaint to them, it was in December 2007 and to this day there has not even been an acknowledgement of my complaint.

I demanded to speak to a person.

I was told the boss was one Petri Linnankivi whose phone number was 09 - 251 30111.

I rang the number and found it was their telephone exchange. The Operator refused to put me through to this gentleman, stating he was away in Viro. I was told that he would be back in 2 days.

On the day that he was back I rang but was informed that he was on another telephone line. I said I would wait online for him. The Operator would have none of it.

I gave my name and phone number and asked her to get him to call me back!!

Guess what, 5 days later I am still waiting for his call!!!!!

What would you like to call this sort of service - Extortion and Fraud by the Worst Satellite TV Service provider?

That is exactly what I would call it.

Worst Internet Service Provider - DNA

2008-04-06T10:30:00.000+02:00

(Posted on Jacob's Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)

It is rarely that I post a Worst Buy Report but this is one which certainly deserves mention.

In November 2007 I informed DNA, my phone and Internet Service Provider (ISP) that there was something seriously wrong with my fixed phone line as it appeared that someone else was using it. There would be a regular tinkle many times a day, as if someone was putting the phone down.

DNA did not even register this complaint. This problem continued till, finally, on the 21st of February 2008, my fixed IP (full rate) internet connection stopped working.

I immediately contacted the Help Desk (0600 39 6900) and spoke with one of the Operators on duty. He tried to fix the connection but failed.

I was asked to take the Cisco ADSL Modem provided by Oulu Telephone Company (Oulun Puhelin OY) and have it tested at the DNA Shop on Torikatu.

They tested it and gave me a replacement, a Siemens Speedstream 4100.

I hooked this up and found the same problems persisted in that I could see I was online but was unable to reach the internet.

On Monday 25th 2008 I spoke with a Help Desk Pperator, Mr. Miikka Parikka. He went through various procedures with me and finally decided that he would have to tell the Service Engineers to take a look at the line as he was unable to resolve the issue.

Despite my protestations that from 2001 onwards I had been using the DHCP protocol to connect to the internet, Mr. Parikka insisted that I use the PPPoE. No doubt we always arrived at the same result as we had over the previous 7 years, “PPPoE Server not found”.

All the time since 2001 I have been using DHCP as I have had a fixed IP number. I reported that what was happening was that when I used the DHCP protocol I was being assigned a dynamic IP, and even with that the internet connection was not working.

I spoke to Help Desk Operators every single day that week, each time a different one, and each time they said they would call back.

Not one of them ever bothered to call back.

Then came the first shock when I spoke the Help Desk to a operator named Ms. Leena Nissonen on 3rd March 2008. She revealed to me that no work request had even been sent to the Service Department by any of the operators that I had talked to during the previous 10 days. This included Miikka Parikka, Jarkko Koivunen, Petri Savonen, Petri Salonen, Jari Anttila, Tuominen, Tony Munto and Jari Tuovinen.

This showed the callaous and irresponsible behaviour among those who man the Help Desk at DNA.

Leena Nissonen gave me a different phone number to contact, 0800 500 5000, which was the direct line to the Service Department to verify that they were doing the job.

I dialed the next day to find out what was happening. The lady operator who took the call said the work order had just been received and they were designating THEIR service engineer to look at the line.

I asked for this lady’s name, but she refused to give it to me.

For the next week I rang this number daily and they said that THEIR service engineer was on the job and they would call me back.

They never did call back - not even once.

Finally, on Monday 10th March 2008 I received a call from a service engineer I knew. He had handled a similar incident in 2003.

“Eric” told me he had been testing the line and he had found several major errors. After a few hours he rang me to tell me that he had found numerous problems with the line and he had corrected them. He suggested that I should try the connection when I got back to my computer.

When I tried the computer, however, I found that exactly the same problems continued. There had been no improvement.

So it was back to the Help Desk and several attempts to get the computer connected to the internet.

In the process I was referred to the Customer Service Section at the phone number 0800 300 400 where my original my user id and the password were changed as they thought that could have been the problem.

Even with this there was still no internet!

Again it was referred to the Service Group.

On Thursday 20th March, I spoke with a lady who said she would handle the matter before the Easter weekend and call me back. When nothing happened all day, I called again and spoke with the same lady who said she was on the job and she would call me back!

No call materialized, so again the entire Easter weekend I was without the internet connection.

On the Tuesday, when they were back at work after the long Easter recess, I got to the Service Group again. The guy who answered got a bit of an earful from me, especially as he refused to give his name. I really let fly accusing the Service Department of hiding behind anonymity because they were just an inefficient bunch of guys who did no work to solve anyone problems.

That really hit the mark as “Eric” turned up with his computer and tried the internet connection with HIS laptop to find the connection just was not working.

So Eric went back to the switch-box. He located the major problem (in the Gateway) and finally got the internet working, but...

The connection worked only using PPPoE. The IP was not static, which is what I have contracted for. It was a dynamically generated IP. Also the speed of the connection was not what I had contracted for but a measly 400 kbps. on download and about 160 kbps for upload. My contract is for the full rate ADSL connection which I was told is 8 Mbps and 1 Mbps, respectively. I was getting 1 / 5th to 1 / 20th of what I was paying for.

In the month of February I had to revert to my internal modem (56 kbps) and an alternate telephone line which cost me an additional € 55 to keep the internet for just 10 days for my essential work! In March I bought a wireless modem from Elisa at a cost of € 199 and with that and my 56 kbps internal modem I have been able to keep my essential work alive. (I have not yet received the bill for my modem access for the month of March!)

It is interesting that Eric is not an employee of DNA but of ELTEL, which DNA uses to rectify problems online.

In short, the DNA organisation could do nothing for the last one and a half months to rectify any problem as they have no one who is competent to handle this problem and they depend on an outsourced service too fix problems.

There have been letters to the Editor in the local newspaper giving more incidents like mine.

Finally, I got the internet connection working, not as a DHCP connection but only as a PPPoE service and with that I have been unable to use my router with which all my computers could access the internet.

I used several services to check my internet speed and it remained low, but also surprisingly the IP address was not my Fixed IP but a dynamically accessed one.

When I contacted the Help Desk they could give me no answer but asked me to contact Customer Service. When I contacted them I found they had given me the new user ID and password but failed to transfer this to my Fixed IP!

At long last they did that and using PPPoE I was then able to access the internet but only at the slow speed.

It should be noted that EVERY TIME I spoke to the Help Desk I had told them to inform the Billing Section of this problem. I even physically visited the DNA Bills Section and lodged my complaint, whereupon a guy there asked me to make my complaint online, which I had promptly done!

Then on 1st April 2008 (almost a mointh and a half since the problem originated) I got this email from one Ms. Aspa Pohjoinen as follows:

from "aspa.pohjoinen@dnaoy.fi"
to jmatthan@gmail.com
date 1 Apr 2008 16:29
subject internetconnection

Hyvä asiakkaamme.

Ohessa linkki, jolla tähän palautteeseen voi vastata. Älä käytä sähköpostin vastaa-painiketta,
sillä se ei ohjaa vastaustasi perille.

https://palaute.opoy.fi/r?aw=2008-03-14_16X07X37.511201&p=13QP01c

Vastaus palautteeseenne

Thank You for Your feedback. Yesterday You phoned and I repaired Your dynamic ip username.

There have been some troubles at the gate during the time 19.3 to 25.3. Installing man has
repaired it at the 25th of March.

We give You 50% back of Your monthly broadbands fee (24,50€) on Your next fee, which You will get
on April.

Ystävällisin terveisin,

Asiakaspalvelu

DNA Palvelut / Pohjois-Suomi
Arkistokatu 4, PL 30
FIN-90101 OULU
p. 0800 300400

http://www.dnaoy.fi

The fact that my internet connection was DEAD for over a month and a half was most conveniently ignored.

This blog entry is to show you without doubt that the worst Internet Service Provider in Finland must certainly be DNA. They have no competent persons in any department, they hide behind a screen of anonymity and when it comes to servicing the faulty line they do not even have their own service engineers but depend on outsourced persons!

Hopefully back on line

2008-03-26T23:00:00.000+02:00

(Posted on all my major blogs)

Yesterday, after some 33 days of being without my internet connection, I was put back on line. Several errors were found at the connections outside our premises and also in the Gateway.

The first thing I did after getting back my connection was test my speed. I pay for a 8 M line, but I was shocked to find my upload and download speeds were less than 500 kbps.

Additionally, I have a fixed IP and I found that the IP that I was using was not mine.

Thirdly, all my computers are connected to the internet through a Router. i found that if I went on to connect my router, I lost the internet connection.

Lastly, during the last 7 years I have used DHCP to connect to the internet. I have not used PPPoE. I found that I was unable to connect using DHCP and my own Fixed IP but only through the PPPoE which was assigning me the random IP.

All these problems has made life continue to be difficult as I am using just a single computer to connect to the internet.

I have a backload of about 6 weeks of work. With this situation I will only be able to catch up by the end of April.

I have lodged my complaint with my ISP .- and hopefully I will get some action by the end of this week.

Please bear with me till I get back into full swing.

Seedless Indian Grapes

2008-03-20T07:15:00.001+02:00

Seedless Indian Thomson Green Grapes are € 1.99 for a half kg container at PRISMA. Make sure that you do not see any over-ripe grapes in the plastic container. You can get cheaper Chilean Green Grapes at a couple of other shops at € 1.69 for half a kg.

PRISMA also has oranges at € 0.89 per kg. You should choose your oranges carefully, making sure they are firm and not squashy or squashed. I picked up about 4 kg yesterday, but I had to choose each orange carefully.

Halpa Halli in Toppila has small Ingman Yoghurt tubs at € 0.18 per tub, but you are limited to buying 10 tubs per person. Normal price for this is € 0.29 per tub, so this offer is well worthwhile. You can also pick up the Turkey Metrilenkki sausages at € 2.25 per packet (€ 2.39 at PRISMA) and there is new small broiler frankfurter type sausage (8 per pack) at € 1.55 per 400 gm. The same type of turkey frankfurters are € 1.75 per 400 gm pack in PRISMA. The VIP Orange Juice at Halpa Halli is € 0.59 per litre, about 20 cents cheaper than most other so.

The Valio Mango Juice at Tokmanni is still € 1.99 per litre, about 6 cents cheaper than at PRISMA and 26 cents cheaper than at Citymarket. But I noted that the Tokmanni at Kaijonharju (near the University) is not stocking this product, but it is only available at their Jukkolankuja in south Oulu. I usually buy the entire stock on display when I visit the shop in the morning, so do not be surprised if you do not see any on their shelves.

The finest quality Dehra Dun Basmati Rice that I am offering is till the best and cheapest on the market - at € 1.90 per kg delivered at your home. The smallest size bag is 4.5 kg. You have to email me your requirement along with your address. Deliveries are either on Friday evening or Saturday mornings.

Tomatoes, Green Grapes, Mango Juice,....

2008-03-07T07:30:00.001+02:00

There are some good offers this weekend.

Tokmanni which has shops in Kaijonharju (Sammonkatu 5, 90570 Oul) near the University and also in South Oulu (Jukolankuja 3, 90420 Oulu), on the route to the Airport has these special offers:

Moroccan tomatoes: € 0.99 per kg
South African Green Grapes: € 2.49 per kg
Mango Juice: € 1.99 per kg

PRISMA (shops in Oulu at Linnanmaa, Raksila and Limingantulli) has these good offers this weekend:

Bananas: € 0.99 per kg
Oranges: € 0.99 per kg
Mandarins: € 1.29 per kg

Those of you are fans of Turkey Metre sausages (called in Finnish as Kalkuna Metrilenkki) should go to Halpa Halli in Toppila (Paakakatu 2, 90520 OULU) where it is € 2.25 per packet compared with € 2.35 in Prisma and higher in Citymarket. Also you can get 7 small flavoured yoghurt tubs for € 2.00, considerably cheaper than from other supermarkets. Although a kilo of cashewnuts is labelled at € 8.90 per kg, unfortunately it has been out of stock for almost two weeks.

There are great second hand furniture offers from some Indians who are shortly leaving Oulu. Beds, mattresses, leather sofas, tables both side and dining, and many more items. For details call 041 - 706 7788. Free delivery will be organised within Oulu but you have to provide the labour at both ends.

Even cheaper than in India

2008-03-03T07:30:00.005+02:00

During the past 23 years of our stay in Finland, Annikki and I have used the opportunity, whenever we visited India, to get our specs made there. This was because a visit to an optician in Finland was really expensive.

This was one of the several reasons cited in our book, "Handbook for Survival in Finland", to make frequent holiday visits to Third World countries!

Not having visited India for the last 8 years, both our eyesights have been failing. We had our eyes tested a couple of times, but neither of us felt the need to get new specs.

However, last year, my eyes started giving trouble. A visit to the optician suggested possible development of cataract in one eye. So I was referred to the Oulu University Research Hospital for a complete eye check up.

I finally went through this last month. The specialist cleared me of any cataract but said that I had severe myopia which suggested that instead of the multifocal lenses I had been using, I should use separate reading glasses and an other for normal vision.

In Finland, multifocal lenses cost over € 200, while single focal lenses are considerably cheaper. I had paid Rs 12000 for my multifocals in India in 1999, so even there the specs were not cheap.

A few issues ago, on the Oulu Best Buy Blog, I had covered the new guys in town, Specsavers. So I thought I would give them a try as these specs were going to be a test as to whether I could revert away from multifocals.

What a shock I got!

I was offered two pairs for just € 18, one for reading and another for normal vision. In Rupee terms this works out as less than Rs. 1200, including the frames!

This was cheaper than I had ever paid for my specs in India during the last 40 years.

I now intend to get another 4 pairs of reading glasses - one for the bedroom, another for the living room, another for the kitchen and the fourth for my office in the cellar. The fifth pair will remain in my pocket for general use when out of the home. maybe I will also get another pair of normal vision specs to keep in the car!

Thank you Specsavers for arriving in Oulu!

Friendship Day - Two-for-One

2008-02-13T10:30:00.000+02:00

In Finland, 14th February (tomorrow) Valentine's Day is called as Friendship Day.

Here is my special tip for this years's Friendship Day.

The Ravintola Marrakech, the Moroccan restaurant on Kirkkokatu (No. 55), is offering two for the price of one. If you order two of the same dish, they will only charge you for one! Please reserve a table and keep your time as this is going to be a very popular offer.

The food at Ravintola Marrakech is great and the atmosphere is also wonderful.

Remember to tell the owners, Miriam and Said, that you read about this on the Oulu Best Buy Blog!

The great offer for fruits at the K-Supermarket will continue till 16th February.

Super Monday for fruits

2008-02-11T13:15:00.000+02:00

This Monday is a great day, a Super Monday, for buying several fruits at the several K-Supermarkets around town. Choose the fruit very carefully as they have dumped them in large heaps (hence several arte squashed, etc.

There is a common number for weighing these cheaper fruits which are being offered on a kg basis.

They are selling several fruits at just € 1 (per kg or pack).

Imagine Sharon fruit (which usually costs €2 -3 per kg) for just € 1 per kg. Some items are being sold as kg and some as packs.

There are really good seedless green grapes (Nasik type but from Argentina) for just € 1 for 500 gms. I bought really good plums for € 1 per pack, Apple / Pears combination fruit for € 1 per kg, really large Pears for € 1 per kg. There are many more items so make a visit and enjoy cheap fruits when you can.

At the K-Citymarket you can get really good oranges for € 69 per kg. This is the lowest price for today for oranges.

I also found curtains, brand new, at the Pentecostal Flea market, behind the Pentecostal Church on Uusikatu for € 6 for 2 pieces of 45 cm x 220 cm in a pack, and € 6 for a pack of 2 pieces of size 120 cm x 170 cm. You d get such prices very rarely, sometime at Kodin Antilla or Antilla.

The Pentecostal Church Flea Market also has many second hand curtains. Today the prices for these are off 50% the marked price. Already cheap, (usually € 2 - 4), they cut off 50% from this price when you pay. Remember to measure your windows size and check the correct measurement of the curtains when you are buying them.

I am glad so many of you could take the opportunity to get the 40% cash discount at JESS!.

I usually report such special offers (after Annikki and I have had our fill of buying) here as many shops close down and have such sales offers. One of my friends who visited JESS! looked at the empty shelf where the tinned coconut milk had been - and rang me to say that he knew I had been there. I had bought the entire stock in the shop!

If you find any good offers that you want to share with the Oulu Best Buy community, either text me at 041 7067788 or email me and I will put it up for our regular readers.

This page is as much yours as mine!

Genuine 30% OFF!

2008-02-02T13:30:00.000+02:00

JESSE is a general home hardware store in Maikkula (Kangaskontiontie 12) about 6 km from the City Centre. They appear to be closing down and they have 30% OFF on the bill price.

They have many products at reduced price and the 30% applies even to those purchases - so you are able to get some very good bargains. Electrical goods, tools, kitchenware, cutlery, crockery, plastics goods, bathroom stuff, and many more items are available.

I bought a car steering wheel cover for just € 6, a great 40 part tool set for € 6, and many many more great bargains.

The reduced price items are going very fast.

The sale will continue till the shop is emptied of all its stock.

Oranges, Bananas, Ice Cream

2008-01-09T22:00:00.000+02:00

The best buys of today are 1.5 kg bags of Oranges for just € 0.99 (or € 0.66 per kg) from Citymarket (with a PLUSSA cards) and two great buys at the Euromarkets. Check each orange in the bags when you buy them as I noted some with mould formation. Throw away that bag immediately as there is no good reason to bring home unwanted bacteria!

The good buys at the Euronarkets Include:

a. Eldorado vanilla ice cream 2 x 1 litre blocks for just € 0.99 and
b. Good small slightly green bananas for € 0.99 per kg.

In the last one week I have bought well over 15 kg of oranges at this low price from Citymarket. Annikki has been sitting in front of the juicer making delicious fresh orange juice for everyone.

There are plenty of post Christmas sales going on now including some closing down sales. Look at the local newspaper and you will find some extraordinary bargains. (Good way to start leaning the Finnish language!)

Some good buys this weekend

2008-01-04T07:20:00.000+02:00

Sunday shopping is over as this Sunday is known as Loppiainen, the public holiday which officially brings an end to the Christmas season. This weekend means Friday and Saturday shopping.

Citymarkets in Oulu are our focus today. Some of these offers listed below may also be available at the KKK markets also known as the K Supermarkets (not the Klu Klux Klan!).

The real best buy is a bag of 1.5 kg of Oranges for just € 0.99 which works out at € 0.66 per kg. Since Annikki makes fresh orange juice at home, we will be buying over 6 kg of this.

Carrots and cabbage at Citymarkets are just € 0.49 per kg, while Spanish tomatoes are available at € 1.49 per kg. Mango juice is € 1.95 per litre.

Most of these may require the PLUSSA card which you get at most K Group outlets. If you are desperate, please contact us and we can lend you our PLUSSA Card.

This is important if you are intending to make some large value purchases, such as digital cameras, laptop computers, shoes, vacuum cleaner, winter clothes, etc. as Citymarket is offering an additional cash discount starting at 1% on purchases of € 40 to 5% for purchases over € 200. Since many products also are at cut prices for those holding the PLUSSA card, this additional discount may make some products really worthwhile buys at the Citymarkets.

Cheap Pairs of Spectacles

2007-12-21T22:30:00.000+02:00

A recent report, out a couple of days ago, rates Finland as the SEVENTH (7th) most expensive country in the world.

This must be because the compilers of that report have not read the book by Annikki and me, published in 1994, called "Handbook For Survival in Finland" and because they are not readimg this blog - Oulu Best Buy!

We have beaten inflation continuously for the last 23 years and the cost of living for us has gone down, even though with Finland joining the European Union, many vendors have just replaced the "markka" sign with the € sign - a six time increase in prices.

In our book we had recommended that if you needed a pair of spectacles, you should take a holiday to a third world country - such as India.

A few days ago, a couple of people have asked about getting pairs of spectacles in Finland.

Today, it is possible to get your pair of spectacles cheaper than any third world country!

Take a look at the web site called SpecsSavers

Specsavers was founded in 1984 by Doug and Mary Perkins, who started the business in their spare bedroom on a table-tennis table. The couple had moved to Guernsey after selling a small chain of West Country opticians. ....

..... It hit the milestone of 100 stores in July 1988, 200 in 1993, 300 in 1995, 400 in 2000, 500 in 2003, 600 in 2004 and 700 in 2005. The first Netherlands store opened in 1997, the first Swedish in 2004, and 2005 saw the first in Denmark and Norway. In 2006 the first store was opened in Spain and in 2007 the company began supplying in Australia and opened the first store in Finland. ....

Presently, there are two Specsavers shops in Oulu, one on the walking street (Rotuari) across the road from Stockmann, and one at the corner of Hallituskatu and Uusikatu, across the road from Instrumentarium - the shop to avoid at all costs!

A single power pair of spectacles is available from just € 9, while a multipower (varifocals) pair is available from € 109, almost half that of any other optician in Finland.

Considering that I paid € 218 almost 8 years ago in Madras (Chennai) for my varifocals, this means the price is half what I paid then!

All Specsavers frames come with free Single Vision Pentax lenses as standard.

Stay tuned to this web site for more interesting price information to help you live cheaply in this expensive country.

This weekend's BEST BUYS

2007-12-15T21:00:00.000+02:00

This weekend has a few best buys for fruits, mainly.

Red Delicious Apples are € 0.99 per kg at both Citymarkets and at Prismas around the town.

The Golden Delicious Apples (green) are also € 0.99 per kg in the Prismas.

Clementine oranges are € 0.99 per kg at the Prismas.

Bananas are € 0.99 per kg at the Citymarkets.

Sharon fruit are € 1.79 per kg at the Lidls.

Shop around as tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beetroots, cucumber are some of the vegetables with wildly fluctuating prices at this time of the year.

Best Buys this week

2007-12-10T11:15:00.000+02:00

I have found some really good buys this week (till Wednesday) at Lidl. Bananas are € 0,69 per kg, Oranges € 0.79 per kg, Honey Melon are € 0.70 per kg and Cauliflower is just € 0.99 per kg.

There are a few items which are always cheapest at Lidl. Rape seed cooking oil, which is what we use is always €1.09 per litre, Vitamin C soluble tablets are € 0.99 for a tube of 10, the Orange and Apple juices with no water or sugar added are € 0.59 per litre.

There are several Lidl shops in and around Oulu, so there will be one quite near you. You can check out their web page to find the one nearest to you.

Tokmanni has two shops in Oulu where they sell groceries, one in north Oulu at Kaijonharju and the other at Jukkolankuja in south Oulu. Today they have red paprika at € 1.99 per kg and large fresh tomatoes at € 1.99 per kg.

Flea markets with cycles

2007-12-09T06:30:00.000+02:00

There are two main flea markets that have many second hand cycles:

The Alppila Kirppis on Kaarnatie (No. ? - 17 or 19) has many cycles standing in the shed outside in the garden.

Pohjolan Kirppis at Kempeleentie 4, Limingantulli, has many cycles in the cellar.

Many of the cycle stores have reconditioned cycles for sale.

Best Buys of Friday and maybe the weekend

2007-12-07T16:42:00.000+02:00

Some superb offers this Friday and maybe for the weekend.

K-Citymarket has excellent oranges in 1.5 kg string bags for just € 0.99 which works out at just € 0.66 per kg. This gets a Super STAR.

K-Supermarkey has Spanish Tomatoes at € 1.39 per kg and Dutch pears at € 1.39 per kg, both very good offers.

Lidl has Bananas at € 0.89 per kg which is a very good buy.

If you want to buy Orange or Apple Juice, the prices at Lidl are presently the cheapest at € 0.59 per litre. These are juices with no water or sugar added.

Online Spice Shop from Oulu

2007-12-06T15:00:00.000+02:00

Posted on Oulu Best Buy, Oulu Chaff and Jacob's Blog.

About six months ago a long standing Indian resident of Oulu, Atul, informed me that he was planning a Spice Centre in Oulu. There were a couple of physical Spice Centres in Oulu in the late eighties and early nineties, but Indian food was not so popular then and there were just a handful of clients as us.

Sadly, Atul did not let me know about the progress.

Findian couple Helena and Atul, who are behind Maustekauppa.fi

Last night, when we had a meeting to set up a new Indian Group in Oulu, Atul mentioned that his Spice Centre was up and running and that it was on the internet.

The online shopping experience, which is offered in both Finnish and English, is simple as Atul has the alternate option of using a post or bank account besides a credit card.

I, for one, do not use credit cards, so this means I can happily shop online using my direct online banking facility.

The pages are clean and neat and quite unusual in the way the spices are offered. Atul is also attempting to promote Indian cooking as he has started a recipe page, but at the moment there are only two recipes online.

I tried to log in, but found all buttons related to this process inactive. But it is not necessary to log in to shop!

Hope you have a great shopping experience in Maustekauppa.fi.

Let us wish Helena and Atul all the very best in this venture.

NOODLE HOUSE Opens

2007-12-01T15:00:00.000+02:00

Posted on the Oulu Best Buy Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

At the stroke of midnight heralding a new December, NOODLE HOUSE opened its doors to the public. They did brisk business right until the last customer left at 04:30 am.

Not being a night bird, I visited the fast food counter an hour before they opened this Saturday afternoon. I was fortunate not to be swallowed up in the rush as I tasted their premium dish.

I then took 3 of their 8 selections for the family to get a taste of this new Chinese food centre. Their take away boxes can be used directly in the microwave oven. Unusual containers with an interesting colour combination - red and black!

In my earlier blog entry I was wrong with the prices. It is € 8 for the meal with 2 vegetable spring rolls, a Chinese salad and a drink of Pepsi. Without the drink, the cost is € 7.50.

The common level of spice is medium. But they add a very spicy chilli fish oil concoction if you want the dish spiced up.

Remember, the ingredients are not listed on their board, so if you do not eat octopus, prawns or pork, please tell them when you are ordering!

Verdict: Good food and very courteous service - vital ingredients for success!

Are you a Noodle Fan?

2007-11-29T08:00:00.000+02:00

Posted on the Oulu Best Buy Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

Starting on Friday is a small Chinese fast food restaurant called NOODLE HOUSE. It is located at Kauppurienkatu 5 (on the right hand side when you walk from Stockmann down to the Kauppahalli fat Policeman statue) and has a selection of 8 noodle dishes - made from either wheat or rice noodle. There is one vegetarian noodle selection.

The price including two vegetable spring rolls, salad and a drink will be € 8.50. The dish by itself will cost € 8.

If you are a noodle fan and also a fan of good Chinese noodle preparations, this is going to be a favourite haunt. On Friday night and Saturday night the place will remain open between midnight and 5 am!

And do not forget to tell Sally that Jacob sent you!

Sunday shopping is on again

2007-11-23T07:00:00.000+02:00

Christmas shopping has started and Sunday shopping from 12 noon to 9 pm is back with this.

This weekend there are a few good buys.

Bananas are cheap at € 0.99 per kg at Tokmanni, Prisma and Euromarket. If you are buying reasonably large quantities, as we do, look for small green ones as they will ripen over a few days.

Spanish persimon fruits are € 1.49 per kg at the K Supermarkets and also at the Citymarkets.

Mango juice is cheapest at Prisma. the best is the Valio Mango and Orange juice which also has milk and is almost like the mango phool we make in India. It costs € 1.95 whereas at other shops it is € 2.05.

The best fresh fruit salad you can make is to serve the sliced bananas, persimon laced with the mango juice! Delicious!!

Tomatoes are just € 1.59 per kg at Prisma.

Although I am not a fan of Mangoes from any western country, if you feel desperate to taste a mango, Citymarkets are offering Brazilian mangoes at € 1.49 per kg. They are large, nit very juicy and do not taste anything like the many tens of great varieties we get in India, but when one is desperate, this may do!

Bombay Mix in Oulu

2007-10-31T06:15:00.001+02:00

Posted on Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Best Buy Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

Last Sunday, after our CHAFF get.together at the Coffee House, I dropped in to see Indu, Ashesh and little Karthik. Indu served me two varieties of Bombay Mix, one that she had brought from India and the other that Ashesh had picked up from London.

I have a great love for Bombay Mix and I had located that the Secondhand Shop on Isokatu (next to the Hai Long Chinese Restaurant) has a wide selection of nuts and other delicacies, including Bombay Mix at € 7.50 per kg, Pecan Nuts at € 25 per kg and Brazil Nuts at € 20 per kg. Annikki loves all the three, while I confine myself to the Bombay Mix.

Another shop which also has this great selection of nuts is Herkku Rosa next to the Oriental Shop on Rautatienkatu (the road on which the Oulu Railway Station is located). However, prices here are higher here. They have two types of Bombay Mix, spiced and normal, both at € 9,90 per kg, Pecan Nuts is € 29.90 per kg and Brazil Nuts at € 19.90 per kg.

Do remember that at the Secondhand Shop that whenever you buy € 15 at one time, you can get a stamp on the Customer Card so that on the 10th time you get € 15 back, an effective 10% discount on every € 150 of purchase.

As this is also being posted on the Oulu Best Buy Blog, the best buys of today are at the Tokmanni shop, one of which is at Kaijonharju Shopping Centre (near the University) and at Jukkolankuja on the south side of Oulu. Oranges are €0.89 per kg, Bravo ice cream is just € 0,50 per litre when you buy 2 packets, and Beef Mince is € 1.99 for 400 gm which works out at less than € 5 per kg.

On a sad note I have to inform CHAFF participants that the Pailin Restaurant where we used to meet with the wonderful cooking of authentic Thai food by Pornpailin Weber, has finally closed its doors on the 25th of October. We will all miss the wonderful friendship of Pornpailin and also her superb cooking.

The next CHAFF meeting will be on Sunday at 13:00 hours at the Coffee House with entrances on both Isokatu and also the Rotuari Square. Last week the bulk of the meeting was about "Arctic Syndrome" which I had written about on the blog.

Bananas at € 0.95

2007-10-30T00:45:00.000+02:00

You can tell that Annikki and I are great banana fans. Today and tomorrow, Euromarket has bananas at € 0.95 per kg.

I usually buy them green and small as we have different stages of taste levels. I like them just turning ripe. Annikki loves them ripe and to give to Hilja, Annikki likes them slightly overripe. The have made a great fruit salad these last few days with diced persimons that I got for less than a Euro per kg last week and served with orange/mango juice blend.

Last week I found a Pirkka brand Orange-Mango juice with no water and also not requiring refrigeration at around € 1.50 per litre. Pirkka is a K-Group brand. So look on the shelves which have the normal orange and apple juices. (There are Orange-Mango juices at around € 1 per litre but these contain water and sugar, plus other preservatives.) The best tasting one is still the Orange - Mango juice blend with milk, which is the closest we have found to Mango Phool!

At Halppa-Halli, I found Metrilenkki Turkey sausages at € 2 per packet. At Tokmanni it is € 2.20 per packet, at PRISMA it is € 2.25 per packet while at Citymarket it is € 2.40 per packet.

Similarly I found Broiler sausage at € 1.50 per packet at Halppa-Halli which is € 1.65 at PRISMA and € 1.69 at Citymarket.

Autumn sales

2007-10-26T18:40:00.001+02:00

Posted on the Oulu Best Buy Blog and also on Jacob's Blog.

This weekend has lots of great offers as the autumn sale season has started. And this is not just on clothes.

Stockman, the big department store in Oulu, has 30% discount on many items. PRISMA, which has many outlets in Oulu has a 15% discount on many non-food items.

These are some other great offers for this weekend:

K - Supermarket:
Carrots, Beetroot, € 0.99 for 2 kg
Onions € 0.99 for kg
Leaf Salad € 0.69 for a bunch

K - Citymarket:
Clementine, Honey Melon. Green Paprika € 0.99 per kg
Arctic Salad € 0.79 for a bunch
Whole Rainbow Trout Fish € 3.99 per kg (these fish are usually 4 to 6 kg)

Euromareket:
Polish Apples € 0.99 per kg
Tyrnävä Potatoes € 2.99 for 10 kg
First Price Jam € 0.99 for a 900 g, container

Säästö-kouppa in Haukipudas (about 20 km north of Oulu):
16 rolls of Serla Toilet paper and 8 Rolls of Household Paper Rolls € 7.90 (and you also get a free Hand Tissue box of value € 1.00 when you buy this)
Brazilian watermelon € 0.99 per kg

PRISMA:
Bananas € 0.99 per kg

Tokmanni:
Sea Salmon € 3.98 per kg (these fish are between 4 and 6 kg)

Great buys today

2007-10-18T18:30:00.000+02:00

Go straight to any of the K-Supermarkets today as South African Oranges are just € 0.49 per kg. This is the lowest it has hit this year. I bought over 4 kg and if the offer is still there tomorrow, I will probably buy another 4 kg.

Annikki makes great orange juice with that, better than what you can buy in those packets as she serves it with the pulp.

Also, at the K-Supermarket today, the Spanish Persimon, which is very much like the Sharon Fruit from Israel, which is usually over € 3.00 kg. The Persimon is only € 1.99 per kg.

The Mango-Orange, which also contains milk, drink which is an excellent ready drink is € 1.95 for a litre at the PRISMA shops, while at K-Supermarkets it is € 2.05. This drink is very close to what we call Mango Phiool.

I noted that there is an 85% Orange Juice with 15% Mango, without any Milk, and it costs € 2.75. If Mango Phool can be made from this it could work out cheaper than the ready "Mango Phool".

Antiques and Migrating Birds

2007-10-09T06:00:00.000+02:00

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.

Sunday before last I met Ilari's aunt, Lizzy, at the CHAFF meeting.

Victor and Lizzy

Lizzy told me that she and her Dutch / English husband, Victor Glazer, had moved from Pudasjarvi to a neighbouring county south of Oulu, Liminka, and they had opened an Antique Shop, Viliga Oy (Address: Kauppakatu 6, 91900 Limika; Mobile: 050 5566069; 040 7608503; Fax: 08 3113151).

Ilari Sohlo was Joanna's colleague when studying for their Masters in English Philology at Oulu University. Ilari then became a close friend of Jaakko, our elder son. Subsequently, Ilari and his now wife, Ildikó and Annikki and myself have become good friends, bridging the generations!

Annikki and I are looking for some old fashioned chairs for our old fashioned dining table. Our present set does not have all the characteristics we desire.

Last Sunday, after the CHAFF meeting, we headed out to Liminka, for a dual purpose. To see the new antique shop and then to visit the reputed Liminka Bird Park where migrating birds are said to stop over on their way south.

An interesting signboard

Room filled with antiques

Annikki browses for her interests

Dolls galore

More antiques

The antique shop rambles through three large rooms and some connecting spaces. You look and you may find what you want. There is no one pressuring you. There is no one making a hard sales pitch. If you want clarification, ask Victor, who will tell you what he knows.

As this building was also used to serve as a bank, it has an enormous safe vault. Victor is using it to store some antique deactivated guns.

The concept of Lizzy and Victor is not just to have the run of the mill antique shop. They intend to make it a cultural centre which will host the work of artists, have performances by musicians and make the experience of visiting their centre a real experience.

Lizzy and Victor are visionaries. Annikki was taken by this effervescent couple. They could bring much character to the County of Liminka.

If the County authorities can stretch out their hand to help them develop their unusual ideas, we can predict that this small venture could make history. For instance, the dairy opposite the shop is lying unused. They want to use this for their cultural centre.

Annikki suggested to Lizzy that it may be interesting to leave all the dairy machinery intact, putting the exhibits in that setting, making the atmosphere unique and unusual!

The shop was well filled with customers on this Sunday afternoon. What was surprising was that people were also ringing in to ask about various antiques they have.

The shop has its own web page. Victor told me that this is undergoing a major upheaval.

Beautiful metal candle holders find their place at Kampitie.

Annikki found these really beautiful metal candle holders and they were quickly in their right place at Kampitie when we returned home!

Well done Lizzy and Victor.

Annikki and I wish you very well and we give it high marks on our Oulu Best Buy Blog.

After the visit to the antique shop we set out to visit the Bird Park. We found a large signboard pointing to the Bird Park. I drove in that direction. About 5 minutes later, we turned up at the main road again, where there was a sign for the Bird Park pointing back along the road we had come.

We thought we must have missed the turning to the Bird Park.

On this road there were two side roads, but both turned up blank - no Bird Park to be found.

Finally, after about a half hour of driving around we came across a young lady out for a brisk afternoon walk. Annikki told her our dilemma that we were looking for 200 swans who were supposedly in the Bird Park and we could not find this Bird Park despite the signs.

I do not know whether this young lady thought we were drunk.

She said we were driving in the Bird Park which is a residential colony and some migratory birds do settle down somewhere in this area. However, she had never seen any swans around here!

We gave up our attempt to find the Bird Park and swans and laughed all the way back to Oulu thinking about what that lady would be thinking about us!

Oranges and mandarins

2007-10-04T05:00:00.000+02:00

Oranges are € 0.99 per kg at Valintatalo and € 1.00 per kg at the all the K Supermarkets in Oulu.

Yesterday, Mandarins were still € 0.79 per kg at PRISMA, but select them carefully. Hopefully they are the same price today. Look for firm ones rather than ones with a loose skin.

The Turkey Metrilenkki sausage is € 2.25 per piece at PRISMA. Look for ones with the longer Best Before date if you intend to buy a few to keep in the fridge or deep freeze.

Annikki got a large candle which was in a coconut shell for just € 1.00 at Halpa-Halli. Great buy as a decorative item, even if you are not intending to burn it.

Air Heat Pumps? In Oulu?

2007-09-21T23:45:00.000+02:00

Besides looking at purchasing provisions for your home in Oulu, I will be looking at systems for the home which may influence your cost of living. the first of these is the Air Heat Pump which is becoming popular in Finnish homes.

This is a product making much headway in Finland. It is known as the Air Heat Pump (In Finnish: Ilmalämpöpumppu).

Benefits of a Heat Pump System
Because a heat pump does not burn fuel, it is safer and cleaner to run than a gas powered furnace.

A heat pump provides a more uniform temperature throughout a building. It does not produce a sudden blast of hot air as traditional furnaces do each time they kick on.

In the heat mode, heat pumps do not dry out the air the way traditional heaters do. The higher humidity maintained by heat pumps during cold weather provides healthier environment.

Heat pumps are more efficient and cost less to run than electric furnaces.

Because heat pumps are used year round (for cooling as well as heating needs), they cost less per hour of use (cost of purchase and installation divided by total number of hours used per year) than do individual heating and cooling systems, which each sit idle for a good part of the year.

Record sales are being reported in Sweden where the Government is helping to install these pumps so as to reduce the amount energy utilised for home heating in summer and air-conditioning in summer.

When I received a call a couple of days ago, I asked them to speak to Annikki, who set up for a representative to visit Kampitie to explain it to me.

A young sales representative, Sami Kiventerä, representing the company Pumppumestarit was on time. We spent about an hour going through the system.

Diagrammatic representations from HEAT PUMPS

Cooling Mode

The compressor (1) pumps the refrigerant to the reversing valve (2).

The reversing valve directs the flow to the outside coil (condenser) where the fan (3) cools and condenses the refrigerant to liquid.

The air flowing across the coil removes heat (4) from the refrigerant

The liquid refrigerant bypasses the first metering device and flows to the second metering device (6) at the inside coil (evaporator) where it is metered.

Here it picks up heat energy from the air blowing (3) across the inside coil (evaporator) and the air comes out cooler (7). This is the air that blows into the home.

The refrigerant vapor (8) then travels back to the reversing valve (9) to be directed to the compressor to start the cycle all over again (1).

Heating Mode

The difference in the two diagrams is the reversing valve (2) directs the compressed refrigerant to the inside coil first. This makes the inside coil the condenser and releases the heat energy (3-4). This heated air is ducted to the home. The outside coil is used to collect the heat energy (3-7). This now becomes the evaporator.

From what I know of heat pumps, it is generally efficient in countries which have average temperatures between -5 C and + 30 C. So the claim that it was useful in Oulu which has winter temperatures as low as -40 C and summer temperatures as high as +30 C, was of great interest to me.

The air heat pump works on the principle that it has a low temperature fluid which absorbs heat from the air and expands to be a gas, thereby cooling the air. In reverse it exchanges heat from the liquid to the air and can be liquefied again using a compressor.

The Finnish company is offering units from Sanyo and from Mitsubishi, both Japanese companies. Unlike most units, these work right down to -24 C and shut off at -25 C. At +7 C the efficiency is rated at 4.35 kw while at -24 C it is just 1.5 kw after which makes it no longer viable as a heat exchanger.

The main unit is located just outside the house and piping brings the liquid to the wall unit mounted inside the house. The unit inside the house has a fan which causes the air to be forced out at a rate of up to 5 cum / minute. It also has a thermostat unit which can be set to the temperature required.

By careful balancing of this along with the main home heating system, the company claims a reduction of 30 to 40 % in energy utilisation.

The sound generated by the fan is a maximum of 21 decibels, which is just a little more than a hum.

The humidity in the home is greatly reduced with this unit, so one must be careful with use of alternate humidity control systems. Also condensation on the pipes in winter and defrosting of the pipes is absolutely essential.

The filters have to be cleaned every couple of weeks using a vacuum cleaner or some such device.

The guarantees are 1 year for the installation work, 3 years for the unit and 5 years for the compressor. The various units are suited from areas as low as 50 sqm to 140 sqm.

When I looked at the aspect of Kampitie which has a cellar, the ground floor and the upper floor, and our need to keep the temperature at +27 C as Annikki's mother at the age of 87 needs to have this temperature, this unit would never be efficient as an alternate heating and cooling system with our low cost night energy heating system. If we were to use it only on one floor mainly to control the air quality and not the temperature, it could have some potential. But I have looked at the economics and it does not quite suit our present needs.

However, if anyone in a home suffers from allergies to dust and, say, cat fur, then this would certainly be a good investment.

Our daughter Joanna, in whose family a couple are plagued with allergies, this could be useful, although one would have to look whether there would be a significant impact in oil consumption as they have an oil heating system.

With oil prices sky-rocketing and expected to hit $ 100 per barrel early next year, such economies would certainly be worthwhile, as has been realised by the Swedish Government.

Single floor houses or apartments, where heating cost is not included in the rent or is the owner responsibility would certainly be the best market for this system.

Good buys at Tokmani today

2007-09-20T14:45:00.000+02:00

Visit Tokmani today.

In Oulu there are three Tokmanis. The one near the University at Kaijonharju and the one on the south side of the city at Jukolantie have foodstuffs as well as hardware, clothes, etc. The one at Topila only has non food products.

I got two XL sweaters for just € 10. I also got two winter long johns also for € 10. There were also cotton long johns at just € 1 per piece, but unfortunately they did not have my size.

On the food front butter was just € 1.69 for half a kg, both normal salt and with extra salt. Oven ready chicken pieces, spiced, is available at just € 0.99 per kg.

The oranges are still only € 0.99 per kg at Citymarket. Fresh cucumber is also just 0.99 per kg.

Wednesday good offers

2007-09-19T12:30:00.000+02:00

At Citymarket today, oranges are € 0.99 per kg, Costa Rica bananas are € 0,99 per kg, good quality carrots are € 1 for 2 x 1 kg plastic bags, washed potatoes are € 1 for a 3 kg sack. Good quality Italian seedless green grapes are € 1.49 for plastic containers of 0.5 kg. Check carefully that the bottom layers are not damaged and brown.

At Lidl today crushed tinned tomato are € 1 for 3 tines, each of 400 gms.

Monday's Best Buys

2007-09-17T09:15:00.000+02:00

Not many offers today, but the Citymarkets are offering Bananas and Oranges at € 0.99 per kg.

Lidl is offering Ocean Trader prawns at an attractive price of € 3.49 per 500 gm as also Alaskan breadcrumb covered frozen fish at € 3.29 per 800 gm. Party stick Gherkins are on offer at € 0.99 per bottle. Cucumber is also available at € 0.99 per kg. Another good buy from Lidl is 3 tins of crushed tomatoes for € 1.

The turkey sausages (Metrilenkki) at Prisma at € 2.29 are still a good buy for those who do not eat pork sausages.

Destroying a valuable Best Buy outlet

2007-09-16T22:45:00.000+02:00

I have been wanting to write this blog entry for a long time. I have held back for various reasons.

I saw the cards on the table as long as 2 years ago. Slowly and surely, one of the outstanding Best Buy identified outlets was taken over and destroyed by the Kesko Group.

CASSA in Rajakylä, a suburb on the north of Oulu had great prices for many products. It had a range of products not seen in many other shops.

I used to enjoy driving the 10 km to shop at this store as I could save quite a bundle (usually up to 18% on a trip).

Many Best Buy Blog readers used to take the trouble to go out to this CASSA to do their shopping.

The first signs of the destruction of this economy store took place when the good range of Euroshopper frozen vegetables was taken out of the freezers. They were replaced by the considerably more expensive PIRKKA branded frozen vegetables. PIRKKA ia a brand belonging to the Kesko Group.

This was followed by rise of prices, product after product - French Fries (€0.79 per kg was raised to €0.99 per kg), Rape Seed Cooking Oil (€0.89 per litre was raised to €1.09), Europshopper Instant Coffee (€2.39 for 200 gm was raised to € 2.99), Eggs (€ 0.79 for 10 was raised to €1.09), Fruit Juices (€0.33 per litre was raised to €0.69), Chicken Wings (€2.29 for 900 gm was raised to €2.99), till finally not only were the prices not on par with other similar K Shops but made even more expensive then them.

I did tell the shop assistants time and time again that they were driving regular customers, like me, away. They reassured me that they would tell the franchisee. Obviously they were too scared to broach the subject.

And now the process is complete and CASSA, Rajakylä, is no longer worth going anywhere near.

I would normally have assigned the blame to a franchisee who was in financial trouble.

But that it was the considered policy of the Kesko Group is obvious from the evidence I have unearthed. There is a similar CASSA shop in Haukipudas, the next county north of Oulu. It has been similarly destroyed by the Kesko takeover.

If you shop at either of these shops, take a few minutes to tell the franchisee that they have lost your custom. Move on to more reliable shops that will ensure that you get good buys across the board.

Do stay tuned to this page where we will identify best buys regularly so that you continue to beat inflation, year after year.

Shopping expedition....

2007-09-12T23:04:00.000+02:00

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.

Annikki rearranged the living room at Kampitie.

The sofa sets have gone to the far end of the room. The higher dining table has come between the sofas and the tv. (Not that we can watch tv these days as we have not invested in a DigiBox.)

The solution was to raise the tv to a level above the dining table.

We decided to search for a strong table (as we have an old and heavy tv set) and then work out how to place the satellite receiver and the video player (which has never been used by us!).

We went to the major Finnish furniture shops selling new design furniture and also to the antique furniture shop which has great furniture from different parts of Europe. The best priced ones were around € 250, more around € 300 for the ones we liked.

Annikki we suggested that we visit the Flea Markets.

Yesterday we started a round of the Flea Markets around 5 pm. By 6 pm we had visited 10 Flea Markets, found the table we liked and bought it, by 6 pm, for € 25!

I installed it and the tv. Annikki put up a shelf just above it for the satellite receiver and the video player, which I then connected to the tv with a minimum of loose wires showing. Under the tv table she put an old stool type table that we had for keeping newspapers and magazines. Quite modern looking!

We saved € 275 for this bit of creative thinking by Annikki and a bit driving around.

And both of us are happy with the new set up.

Now all we have to do is wait till the leaves fall off the birch trees. Then we can watch satellite tv (Sirus at 5 degrees E) till the new leaves are back on the tree next may! (I'm not joking!!!!) :-)

Oranges and Tomatoes

2007-09-10T22:45:00.000+02:00

The Best Buy for those with the PLUSSA card this week from the Kesko Group are Oranges at € 1 per kg and tomatoes at € 0.99 per kg.

These two offers are available from the KKK Shop at Joutsensilta (Paljatie 4-8, 90150 Oulu) and possibly also other KKK Shops in Oulu.

The Lidl Group is offering watermelons at € 0.79 per kg at all its shops. Great buy even as summer is on its way out.

If you do not eat pork, then the Turkey Metrilenkki sausages available from PRISMA could be of special interest to you. There are also Turkey Frankfurters and Broiler Grilling Sausages available at PRISMA which may be of special interest to this crowd.

Ink cartridges for printers

2007-09-10T10:30:00.000+02:00

Many years ago, when I was working at the University of Oulu, I had encouraged a young man to start a laser cartridge refilling service. It became quite successful. He secured a large share of the the Univerirty Business. When I left the University in 1992 I lost touch with him.

When I started my own company in Oulu, I had a Canon inkjet printer. I started filling the ink myself based on a refill kit that I obtained from England. It was quite efficient, although it was a bit messy. But the results were excellent.

About a year ago, a refilling service, Musteasema, opened in the centre of Oulu at Kansankatu 60, 90120 Oulu ((Tel: 044 4400164). I have been using it for the past year and saving a lot of money.

I got a real bargain Lexmark printer the other day (see previous blog post). As I had a lot of printing to complete I already finished my first cartridge in a day.

I rushed across to this refilling service with this new cartridge and it was refilled for me in 5 minutes flat.

I tested it immediately, and it functioned just fine.

Considering a new cartridge costs around € 23, the € 10 I paid was really a bargain.

The service refills cartridges from almost any major printer, both inkjet as well as laser.

Well worth your effort to use this service if you are cost conscious about your printing. The owner informed me that from 15th September the shop will also be open for half a day on Saturdays.

Printer for less than €15!

2007-09-04T23:34:00.001+02:00

This week Markantalo in Oulu advertised a Lexmark printer for € 39.

I went to have a look.

The first thing I looked for was the cost of a cartridge which is used with the printer. This printer on offer uses a single four colour cartridge and that costs € 24.90.

As one cartridge is provided with the printer, the cost of the printer is just € 14.10.

I presently have 2 Lexmark printers, both of which use a 2 cartridge system. The lowest cost for 2 cartridges is €42. Even if I go for refilling these cartridges, it would cost me € 24.

Hence, this is my BEST BUY for this week. (But remember there are several hangups with single cartridge systems!)

The only problem is that the stocks of these printers have not been received as yet.

I went to the main outlet of Markantalo in Limingatuli. The had not received stocks as yet.

They checked whether their outlet in Euromarket had received supplies. Sadly, the answer was NO.

So check out if you are really interested in getting a cheap throwaway printer. It may serve its purposel for the maximum of a year.

Philosophy behind my multiple entry blogging

2007-09-03T19:33:00.001+02:00

Posted on Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Best Buy Blog, the Oulu CHAFF Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog, the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog, the Jacob's Politics Blog, the Move the UN Blog, and the Talk Show Ratings Blog.

Many diverse groups of people with multiple interests are reading my blogs.

Some of you are reading more than one of my blogs.

It is very annoying to see the same posting on more than one blog.

I apologise.

I have, therefore, to introduce a strategy till such time as I can get all or most of my 120 000+ readers to install a policy of being updated whenever there is a new blog entry on the blogs of their specific interest.

If they do this registration, then I need only post any entry to a single blog. The blog info service should inform you if that particular blog has been updated.

If you subscribe to getting this info for three blogs, then I need not post an entry to all three blogs!

Till the recording service is fully operational, at the top of each entry I will include a list of the other blogs that the entry will be found.

For instance, this entry will be found on ALL my blogs.

If any of you have a better solution, I am all ears.

Remember, I am a computer idiot and know nothing about the art of designing things for the computer. :-) That's because I use a Mac!

A second "bad experience" at PRISMA

2007-05-30T23:00:00.000+02:00

PRISMA is one of the Big Three retail outlets in Finland.

A few weeks ago, while I was checking out at PRISMA in Limingantulli, Oulu, I used the BONUS Card which is in Annikki's name, as mine is old and does not swipe clean. The details on both cards are the same, except that one is in Annikki's name and the other is in mine.

The rather officious young lad at the check out counter was adamant that I could not use Annikki's card. Rather than have an unnecessary argument, I went home, picked up my card and then came and checked out my shopping.

This was a total lack of understanding of customer service. This is not a case of trying to take something from someone!

Why would I give my earned points to someone else?

I made a complaint, but it did no good as the boy was still doing the same thing a few days later.

Last week, Hilja's (Annikki's mother) old refrigerator gave up the ghost. Luckily, she was in the Old People's Home so we had some time to sort things out and find a suitable replacement. We found what the call an Jenkki (Yankee?) refrigerator at PRISMA for a reasonable price of €299.

As this is Hilja's fridge, Anniikki contacted the person who manages Hilja's finances, the Public Guardian working for the City of Oulu. On Monday, at about 15:30, she got the OK to go and buy the one we had seen. The Public Guardian informed the Office of PRISMA that we would be coming to get the fridge and that the bill could be sent to her.

By 16:00 hours we reached PRISMA. We went directly to the Home Equipment Department counter where there were a couple of young shop assistants manning it.

Annikki explained the situation. They seemed totally disinterested with what we, the customer, wanted to be done. The attitude was as if we had come there to commit fraud and steal a fridge. The language used by them was most unladylike or ungentlemanly. They refused to call the controlling office concerned, refused to look in their files if there was an agreement between the City Department concerned with this transaction, they refused to give me a telephone directory and the situation was only getting worse by the minute.

I have encountered bad service many times, but this was the rudest that Annikki and I had ever encountered.

I went quickly to the main counter to get a copy of the Oulu City Telephone Directory. There was a queue there for service. By the time I dialed the number, the officers had already left the office, maybe a couple of minutes earlier.

I went back and told Annikki that it was not worth wasting time there as the behaviour of these two counter people was absolutely obnoxious.

Annikki was prepared to take the custom to another shop, But, I said I would handle it MY WAY.

This morning I went directly to the City Public Guardian who looks after Hilja's money matters. I got a letter authorising me to buy the refrigerator and to forward the bill to be sent to her. Then I went to the same PRISMA and asked to see the supervisor.

As I am clearer in explaining problems in English, I asked to see a supervisor who understood English. One appeared and I explained the situation. It was apparent my English was not getting through, so I reverted to Finnish and I then got a reaction.

We decided to go and complete the deal while I told him in greater detail that it was not the fact that we did not get the refrigerator yesterday that mattered, but it was the sttitude and language used by the shop assistants that had made us angry.

When we went to counter, he wanted to get hold of the Agreement between the City of Oulu and PRISMA about forwarding bills. He could not find it. He called to his assistant - and the same (lady?) shop assistant appeared.

Within a few seconds she produced the paper she had said she had no knowledge of the previous day.

I waited patiently till the paper work was finished, not saying a word. It was obvious that she was avoiding looking at me.

Finally, once all the papers and bills were ready, she needed my signature.

I put my driving license in front of her and asked her to look at it and verify whether the person authorised to buy the refrigerator was in fact me. She was forced to pick up my driving license and then look at me. I....

I spoke strongly and let her have a piece of my mind. I told her that in my 23 years in Finland and as a customer of PRISMA, I had never experienced such bad behaviour as we had experienced at her and her colleagues hands the previous day.

One customer, whom she had been dealing with just then, cut in on hearing me to tell me that this lady was dong a fine job today.

I lashed back that yesterday was another day and told her what Annikki and I had really felt when we had been publicly humiliated by this lady shop assistant and her colleague for just wanting to buy a refrigerator.

At the moment, the shop assistant broke down and started to cry.

I did not, even at that moment, show any sympathy. I told her to cry all she wanted, as that was what she had made an innocent customer do the previous day!

I am not a vindictive person. But when there is arrogant and rude behaviour without cause, the only way to show the person concerned what they do to others can happen to them.

I will do it to ensure no one else is humiliated in future like we were.

Be warned or die

2007-05-28T10:15:00.000+02:00

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

One of my alumni friends sent me this post which I think is very important.

Coke cans stacked in a warehouse.
Not all warehouses are so clean and tidy!

Leptospirosis -- VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ

This incident happened recently in North Texas.

A woman went boating one Sunday, taking with her some cans of coke which she put into the refrigerator of the boat. On Monday she was taken to the hospital and placed in the Intensive Care Unit. She died on Wednesday.

The autopsy concluded she died of Leptospirosis. This was traced to the can of coke she drank from, not using a glass. Tests showed that the can was infected by dried rat urine and hence the disease Leptospirosis.

Rat urine contains toxic and dangerous substances. It is highly recommended to thoroughly wash the upper part of Soda cans before drinking out of them. The cans are typically stocked in warehouses and transported straight to the shops without being cleaned.

A study at NYCU showed that the tops of soda cans are more contaminated than public toilets (i.e).. full of germs and bacteria. So wash them with water before putting them to the mouth to avoid any kind of fatal accident.

Same goes for the envelopes, do not lick it.

I do not know how many times I have drunk directly from cans. I have been lucky but may not be next time.

In an article which appeared in an English online paper Milton Keynes Citizen dated 22nd May 2007Rat infestations on the increase this was stated:

Among the 70 diseases that rats are known to carry are cholera, typhus, bubonic plague and leptospirosis, a bacterial illness spread by their urine contaminating water or food.

Leptospirosis is also known to infect anglers who can come in contact with rats' urine when fishing on the riverbank.

Council environmental health officer Simon Teesdale warned that bird feeding is one of the top causes for attracting rats to residential properties.

I am not an angler, so I need not worry about that. Annikki is planning on feeding the beautiful birds that visit our garden. We will now follow rules that will endure that no rats come to eat at the same bird house.

My thanks to my good friend 55er Bunny Rao of the Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, for sending me this message. He may have saved many a life, including mine, with this one.

Taste buds explode" Real MANGOES in Oulu!

2007-04-28T08:00:00.000+02:00

(Cross-posted on my major blogs.)
I was at the Pailin Restaurant early yesterday waiting for the postman. Around midday, he arrived, bearing two packages.

I waited patiently while Unnop and Pailin opened them - and then came that delicious aroma of fresh mango.

The name of this fruit comes from the Tamil and Malayalam word, manga.

They packed 5 of them them in a plastic bag and I "literally" scooted home. :-)

Annikki was up reading the newspaper. Before she could ask me where I had been, I was in the kitchen, ripping open the plastic bag and attacking one of the delicious mangoes.

This mango, although looking like what is referred to in India as the traditional Polymango, had the taste of a good Malgova.

The Polymango is what every school child in India knows. At the gates of schools all around the countrty used to sit that old man or woman with a basket of green mangoes, unripe ones. For one anna( less than Euro 0.04), they would cut one open, sprinkle in chilli powder mixed with salt. The kids would walk home eating this delicious spicy salt sour mango!

Even thinking of this makes my mouth water.

But this is not what the mango has been come to be known for around the world. The famous varieties in the western world are "Tommy Atkins", "Kent", "Keitt", "Madame Francis", and "Champagne".

In my humble opinion, all these are quite tasteless compared to the varieties we get in India.

The king of all mangoes, for taste, is considered to be the Ratnagiri Alphonso. As a small boy I used to wait for the day they hit the market in Bombay (Mumbai) in May My mother would get baskets of them.

Not many people in India can probably afford Alphonsos today!

But there are many tens of varieties which are actually considerably tastiers than the Alphonso - Bangalora (Kilimooku), Banaganapalle or Banganapalli (also called 'Banesha' or 'Began), Dusserli or Dasheri, Imampasand, Khaderpasand, Langra, Maldah, Malgova, Neelam, Peethar, Rasalu, Rumani, Suvarnarekha, and many more. each one has his or her own favourite and their favourite way of eating their "mango".

The sweetest mango that I have ever had grew in our garden in Defence Officers Colony in a suburb of Madras (Chennai). This used to be an old mango grove before ot was acqyuired by the army to build houses for retiring army personnel. we were lucky to be able to rent a house for a couple of years in this colony.

It was an old tree and the mangoes that it produced was probably a cross between a Rumani and an Alphonso. Each mango, which was bright yellow when ripe, weighed about a kilo and there was just the right blend of juicy content with fleshy content. I used to be offered a lot of money by the professional pickers for the fruit from this tree - but we never gave them up as they were so delicious.

Our daughter, Joanna, was just a few months old when we had the first crop. This was to the horror of the older folks. They considered the mango to be too "heaty" for a small child - whatever that may mean!

Joanna was brought up on the juice of thee mangoes, and I think there were no ill effects!

I digress.

The mangoes we received from Thailand were really delicious. There were 5 and together they weighed 650 gms.

As the photographs below depict, I consumed mine, traditional style, with juice dripping down my palm, in less than a couple of minutes!

I sliced it open and to smaller pieces the way I had been taught as a child.

I cleaned the pieces to the skin, hardly leaving anything on the skin or the seed!

I cannot wait till next week when our next consignment arrives. Hopefully a nice ripe Papaya will also be there.

Yes, we can get anything we like to eat here now in this small town of Oulu!

Thank you Unnop and Pailin for this great service.

SPAR, Kaukovainio

2007-04-26T18:30:00.000+02:00

I missed the announcement yesterday that the SPAR in Kaukovainio was closing down and was offering its products at 30% off.
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When Annikki and I went there at noon today, most of the shelves had been cleaned out.

We still managed to get about Euro 50 worth of worthwhile stuff.

It is possible that the "50% off" day will be tomorrow, but there is not much available.

Some great offers

2007-04-26T09:15:00.000+02:00

I am sorry that I have not been informing you of the Best Buys in Oulu for some time.

Yesterday was a great day as I went to Tokmani, which are the old Säästokauppa shops. I got large lemons, Spanish, at just Euro 0.10 per kg. Also Egyptian Oranges were Euro 0.89 per kg as they had made a mistake in their newspaper ad. It was supposed to be Euro 0.99 per kg. And one more great buy yesterday from the same shop was 5 small tins of either Sliced or Chunk Del Monte Pineapple for just Euro 1. The newspaper ad had said it was 5 tins for Euro 2, which was a mistake!

Over the past few months I have had several great buys. I got a 250 GB La Cie Hard Disk for back up purposes for just Euro 69.

If you are to buying a washing machine just now, go to Citymarket which has a great offer if you have a PLUSSA card. A Zanssui washing machine costing normally over Euro 400 is being offered at Euro 289.

Today Bananas are just Euro 0.99 per kg at Citymarket.

If you want absolutely fresh herbs and vegetables from Thailand, place an order with the Pailin Restaurant (Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area; Tel: 08 - 3116919) by Sunday and you will get your order on the following Friday when they are flown in from Thailand.

Last week I bought fresh coriander leaves and basil - and the curry that Annikki made with these was just out of this world.

This week I have ordered fresh ripe papaya and also ripe mangoes, besides the herbs.

But you can get almost any vegetable you fancy through this service.

I have been enjoying fresh Indian seedless Thompson grapes at just Euro 1.69 for 500 gm from Euromarket. They cost Euro 1.99 at the KKK market at Joutsensilta.

I hope to keep this page up-to-date in future - so stay tuned.

Finest leather products in Oulu

2007-03-02T10:30:00.000+02:00

(Cross-posted on the Oulu CHAFF Blog and Jacob's Blog.)

It is quite a long time since we put up anything significant on the Oulu Best Buy Blog. We have recently put up one very negative entry, and another one is due shortly. All of a sudden Jacob was called to see what he thought needed to be a Oulu Best Buy entry.

Kasim, the football star in full flow.

Hasim with grandkids, Asha and Samu.

Kasim and Hasim, the owners of the Göreme Pizzeria in Ranta-Kastelli shopping center, Oulu, the best pizzeria in Oulu and probably Finland, have been Jacob's dear friends for many years. They are like his own children.

They have set up and built a fabulous reputation for their pizzeria over the years and that is because of their very personal involvement in the way the pizzeria is run. They are what we term "hands-on" owners who can cook, clean, serve and know every customer on a very personal basis.

Location map for both the Pizzeria and Leather Products Shop.

It is interesting to see that they have diversified their activities. They have started a fine leather products shop in Oulu, next to the Pizzeria, where they can make sure their personal involvement will keep their customers happy.

The leather products like jackets, coats, overcoats, handbags, etc. are designed by a top Finnish designing team in Vantaa, Finland. The designs are sent to Turkey where they produce the finest of soft leather from the goats. The goats are specially selected because there is no blemish on the surface and large hides are used.

Then the skill of the Turkish craftsmen produce the range of products which is being offered for the first time in Finland in Oulu.

Jacob was astounded by the quality of the leather products. But if one remembers that the Finnish word for fur id "turkis" which is because of the first fur traders to Finland came from Turkey, Hasim and Kasim are going to redefine the word "turkis" to mean the finest of Turkish leather products.

There is a 40% introductory discount on the products till tomorrow, Saturday, so make sure you rush there and see what they have to offer. Do tell them that Jacob sent you there.

You will get the same service which their pizzeria is famous for!