I hope the answer to this one is obvious.

A gentleman contacted me recently, annoyed that he couldn’t get his equipment in for immediate attention. He went on to tell me that he would no longer support local businesses and that he would instead send his equipment away for service. OK.

Nobody likes waiting, but I think most people would rather wait for a booking with an excellent, busy, specialist local repairer, than send their equipment overseas, to an unknown fate, with the costs of shipping and insurance and all the risks that shipping entails.

Getting angry about local businesses being busy is perhaps one of the more unreasonable positions I’ve come across in a long time, and I don’t mind saying so. Good repairers are busy for a reason and I would be worried if someone wasn’t busy!