Fondly remembering bulletin boards

Your ‘Whatever happened to…?’ piece on bulletin boards in Issue 501 (page 69) brought back some very happy and expensive memories. After teaching myself programming in Basic on my first computer, the Sharp MZ-80A, I moved on to the Amstrad CPC 6128, and then got involved in the wonderful world of bulletin boards. I remember the thrill of setting up my first acoustic coupler (pictured) and then figuring out how to suppress the noise of my typing from entering it – two soft, folded towels under it solved that problem.

Once I was set up I couldn’t get enough. I spent hours every night working through different boards. In your article you said that the operating hours being after midnight were so that the system operators could get some sleep. Well, in the days of dial-up and the BT monopoly the cost of phone calls also had a lot to do with it. It was so much cheaper to call at night. Even so, my first quarterly bill was around £250!

Of course, as time moved on I changed my allegiance to Prestel Micronet and then eventually to the internet, but the exciting early days were gone. Now I just have happy memories of my first stumbling steps into the world of long-distance communication with my computer. Sigh.

AWe’ll try. Kaz realises that she’s missed the 180-day deadline to claim a refund through Paypal’s Buyer Protection. But she was right to expect that the PC would last longer than 10 months, notwithstanding that it cost only £50 and was refurbished.

Kaz has six years to seek redress in another way, possibly by taking the company to the small claims court under the Consumer Rights Act. But she may decide that it’s not worth it for £50, particularly because a judge will take into account the age of the PC and its condition. Until Tradetrading responds with a definitive answer, she’s in limbo. This is poor customer service, so we’ll contact the company.