My new know-it-all mate can’t mend a mower

A FEW months ago I bought a new lawnmower, used it once before winter and when I tried to cut the grass this week it wouldn’t start. My own fault as it happened, but it taught me to be a little warier on the web. And it also meant I’ve made a new friend.

His name is Andy. We haven’t actually met but he’s introduced me to his beautiful wife Sarah, who is pregnant with their second child, and their two-year-old daughter, giggling for the camera as she patted her mummy’s bare baby bump. A charming video, you will agree. All posted on Andy’s website.

Oh yes… Andy has set up a company. In an oh-so-chummy way, his video confided in me (and a few million others) that Sarah had so many questions when she first became pregnant he’d decided what the world needed was a website that answers everyone’s questions about pretty much everything. It’s called JustAnswer and it’s where the search engine on my computer led me.

I had typed in ‘Bosch mower problems’ and it took me to the Bosch website. At least that’s what it appeared to be.

A bit odd, I thought, that it wanted my card details and a £5 fee (for starters), but the grass wasn’t going to cut itself so I paid up.

And anyway Andy had promised me a ‘great answer’ in only a few seconds.

Or, as he put it, ‘You’ve done your job… now we’ll do ours’.

Six hours later one of the experts, Tom, texted me to tell me I should check that I’d switched the power on.

As it happened I had (I’m not that technically incompetent) but by then I had tracked down Bosch’s real website. Which is what I should have done at the start. Lesson learned.

But thanks anyway Andy … and give my love to Sarah and the kids.