Mark Stammers's blog

Bye bye Sky bundle deal
Sky customers with a phone line rental as part of their package got the unpleasant news in the beginning of October of yet another rise in charges. The monthly fee rose from £12.25 a month to a whopping £14.50 a month. This was the second rise in charges in three months, but I’m happy to say that for me it was a blessing in disguise.

Is a degree worth the cost if it doesn't lead to a better job?
Pretty soon I’m going to have to start admitting to myself that my little girl isn’t so little anymore. Most dads seem to struggle with the concept that their daughters are growing up. My ‘little girl’ is in fact 17 and heading into her second year of sixth-form college to complete her A-levels.

When it comes to PPI you should always DIY
Every advert you see these days seems to be from a company urging you to use their services to reclaim money from missold PPI policies (payment protection insurance).

Why I chose to buy my new iPhone off contract
Yes I like my gadgets. I make no apologies for lusting after the latest and greatest technology, and the new iPhone 4s is very definitely high on my must-have list.

Why train companies should serve their customers, not their investors
I travel into London each weekday morning from the South Coast of England. A journey that should take and hour and a half. I've been making the journey now for over eight years so I'm pretty used to the routine, but the recent levels of service of my train operator Southeastern has caused me to see red.

Are you in a school daze
This week thousands of parents and children faced the elation or the despair of receiving their secondary school allocations.

Shareholders stuck between the Rock and a hard place
The Northern Rock debacle has finally led to the UK's first true nationalisation in 30 years or so.
So what are the real consequences of this move by Alistair Darling?

Getting the hardsell on mobile phone insurance
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!
That just about sums up my annoyance at the high-pressure cold-calling I am suffering since buying my iPhone.
I have mentioned in previous blogs that I am somewhat of gadget geek, so when O2 recently improved the minutes package that comes with the eponymous device I took the plunge an signed up.
I may have thought twice if I had known the barrage of calls I would suffer from a telesales company flogging mobile phone insurance.

The price of everything, the value of nothing
Last week I had ‘the conversation’ my 11-year-old son.
No, no that one, the one about money.
