My wif'e's new Toshiba Laptop recently suffered an unexpected and catastrophic data loss which caused the loss of all her Thunderbird emails, address book, eBooks, PDF Files etc. When the computer had been turned off everything was fine but when it was turned on again the Windows 7 desktop had lost most of its icons and numerous other items. I took one look at it and my heart sank. As we had some data recovery software I set about trying to get the lost data back. Not only was this a complete waste of time but very risky, with the highly probable outcome of things being made even worse. But we were desperate because years of work had completely disappeared.
Realising that my efforts were futile I turned to the Internet to try and find someone who could help us. From experience, I knew that such services don't come cheap and even worse, there were so many rogues out there that our crisis could become a complete disaster. A desperate yet inspired search led us to Craig Veness at Data Retriever. The testimonials read rather well and genuine, and were from a wide-ranging catchment.
I rang Craig and described our predicament. His manner was very professional, pleasant and soothing which was an enormous boost to our shattered nerves. Craig advised us to shut down the computer to avoid any further problems and promised to collect the Laptop and take it away to his workshop to see what he could retrieve of the missing data.
The computer was away for a few days and Craig kept us informed of his progress. To our great relief he was able to recover a vast amount of data, perform a complete check of the computer to ensure that it was in good order, and return it to us.
He then spent almost an entire day with us working to ensure that we were entirely satisfied with the end result. Naturally, there was some data loss as we expected but we were over the moon with the miracle Craig had performed. His fee was exceptionally reasonable and his service was of the highest standard. And he is an honest man.
We've always done regular backups but, as the Laptop has only one hard drive, we could only backup to another partition on the same drive and I accept full responsibility for not having bought an external backup drive. So if you're not backing up your irreplaceable data on a regular basis to an external drive, please give the matter some very serious consideration.
However, if the worst does happen without any warning, ring Craig because if the data can be retrieved, he will get it back for you.
We can't thank Craig enough for his wonderful work.

Gary Hoobin came highly recommended by a cousin of ours after we desperately asked around about a good accountant who was trustworthy and not a rip-off merchant. We'd been ripped off for years by a crowd in Richmond whose last quote was $200 and we were billed $860. They would not respond to emails or phone calls. So now we wanted someone we could trust.
Gary was a breath of fresh air who went to a lot of trouble for us regarding some overseas income as well as local income. He is very approachable, listens and takes on challenges. We cannot recommend Gary highly enough. He's well worth the trip from Coburg and further. Gary can be contacted by Mobile 0411 543 600 and Fax: 03 9431 4428 in addition to his office phone 03 9431 5309.

Approximate cost: $110

We had the great misfortune to place our trust in Hilles of Glass Street, Essendon when we decided to have our home extended 5 years ago. Initially, they appeared to be quite impressive and nothing at the planning stage was too much trouble. Everything we asked for would be
provided, no problems. Such empty promises. It didn't take long once the project began for things to start going wrong. Fortunately for us, we were living close by and so we kept an eye on progress every day, cleaned up the mess and safety problems, and brought anything we were not happy with to the project foreman's notice. We must say that the core building team of 2 carpenters and an apprentice (all subbies) was very good and obliging; the same cannot be said of anyone else. I won't go into the list of errors that were made and the considerable additional costs that were incurred due to Hilles ineptitude. However, I will say that their warranty is worthless. We have just had to replace the rear deck because, among other things, the stumps had rotted - and this occurred during our long drought. Our builders told us that the timber used by Hilles to construct the deck was not appropriate for outside use. So, if you decide to extend your home, be very careful about who you choose to do the job, and ask for references from other clients before you commit yourselves. And allow an additional 30% for your budget.

Approximate cost: $300K +

Ian and Shane are absolute gems who can turn their hands to anything. The quality of their work is very good and leaves others way out of the ball-park. Their charges are very reasonable and they are a couple of really good blokes who work very hard to ensure complete customer satisfaction. The reverse of many others, I must say.
If you're looking for someone you can trust to do an excellent job on your home or office, do yourself a favour and call Shane or Ian of Homemate. They are real tradesmen.

15 years of doing business with them. Buying very reliable computers, receiving great service and back up and courtesy. They've become good friends of mine and I trust them without reservation.

My wife, who has a recently established web site for her business, received a notification from Domain Register Pty Ltd stating in large bold print "Domain Name Available" beneath which were listed her name and domain name. This document had been deliberately designed to look like an invoice to trap the unwary or busy person into paying for something they have already paid for. As my wife's web site is fairly new she thought that this "invoice" was part of the set-up costs and sent off a cheque for $249 for 2 years' registration, FREE email and web forwarding. As a bonus for paying by a certain date Domain Register offered a *Free iPod shuffle. A few days after paying the $249 my wife mentioned the matter and showed me the "invoice" because she had a feeling that something was fishy. A quick glance revealed that it was not an invoice at all. Underneath the bold-printed details showing Price, what the service Includes, the Special Offer of the iPod and Customer Support information, Domain Register have protected themselves by advising in much paler grey print "this is an invitation to register, disregard this letter if you are not the proprietor or if you do not wish to register..." A quick search on the 'Net reveals that there are a lot of victims of this scam, and not only in Victoria. So, if you receive anything from Domain Registry Pty Ltd please treat it with a great deal of suspicion. Apart from anyting else, the normal cost for registering a Domain is between $20 and $40 I'm advised. As for the iPod, we don't even know what it does but at $249 it seems pretty expensive.

Approximate cost: $249