The Digital Plumber
Apple Macintosh® consultancy, networking
storage & support for the discerning
creative
Live
Tech Support: 0911 752 0700
Enquiries: +44 7930
312554
Click
to send email to me
The Plumber is on
holiday until August 9th. Please save routine
enquiries until then. I can still be contacted for
emergencies. Thank you.
- New on the site: Privacy, Part 1
- The Shop is CLOSED
I write a bi-monthly column on all
things Macintosh in The Association of
Photographers' IMAGE Magazine, and an
occasional column in The British Institute of
Professional Photography's 'The Photographer'
Magazine.
- IMAGE magazine articles
- The Photographer Magazine articles
- Surviving Breakdowns
- The List: software I find useful
- The Sites: websites and blogs of interest
The Plumber's Shop
IMPORTANT: The importer and distributor
from whom I obtained the products featured in this
Shop, A M Micro Distribution Ltd., appears to have
ceased trading. This happened without warning
towards the end of April 2010. I will make my best
endeavours to honour warranties on goods I have
sold.
Some advice: the Sonnet D400Q, while in every other
respect an excellent unit, can suffer from fragile
FireWire ports. The ports seem to stop working, or
only work in certain configurations. I have found
it difficult to get the fault repaired. If your
D400Q displays these symptoms I suggest you use its
eSATA or USB connections until I can arrange
alternative sources of repair.
Sonnet remains an excellent brand and can be had at
good prices from www.span.com. Unfortunately
the D400Q is no longer available new, having
been replaced by the less useful RAID-only
D400QR5.
RocStor
hard disk enclosures
Sonnet
Fusion
hard disk enclosures
Wiebetech
RTX
hard disk
enclosures
Books
Calls to tech support
cost £1 per minute from a BT phone. Charges from
other operators may vary. Line open 9am - 6pm
weekdays. Macintosh and iPhone are registered trade
marks of Apple,
Inc.
Straightforward, knowledgeable, experienced,
jargon-free, affordable, quick response. London
& South-East England.
HOW I WORK
• I'm an Apple Macintosh® consultant. I have over
20 years of experience working with Macintosh
computers and bring that experience and knowledge
to bear on every system I specify and problem I
troubleshoot. For quality of life reasons I'm
afraid I don't do Windows PC's. Sorry.
• I'm also a working photographer and AoP member, which gives me a
deep insight into how photographers use their
Macintoshes and enables me to optimise their
systems to best serve their needs.
• Consequently, my client base is largely composed
of commercial and advertising photographers, who
represent my preferred type of client:
high-turnover sole traders and micro-businesses. I
understand their world and they understand mine. I
don't tender for work or offer support contracts,
bulk discounts, "guaranteed service levels" or work
for medium or large companies. If you are one of
these, Google will offer a choice of
more suitable IT service providers for you.
• I work by appointment and make my best efforts to
be punctual. Nonetheless I respond as soon as I
possibly can to emergencies and, in so doing, may
be forced to delay a previously-scheduled visit. I
ask you to be understanding, on the basis that
should you have a similar crisis, you in turn will
move to the head of the queue.
FEES
• I charge a flat rate of £65 per hour for
consultancy on-site, with a £35 callout charge
within the area of London bounded by the North and
South Circular roads. Outside of this area my
callout charge varies according to mileage and/or
journey time. My minimum on-site consultancy charge
is for one hour. I use remote control and
diagnostic software whenever I can to minimise
callouts, and for this service I bill in 15-minute
increments.
• My premium rate technical support number will
cost you £1 per minute from a BT landline, of which
I receive about 70p. This number is only available
within the UK: if you are calling from outside the
UK, please dial +44 7930 312554 and I will time and
invoice your call in my usual 15-minute increments.
Please be aware of time zone differences.
• I offer 30 days credit for consultancy to
established clients with a good payment record. New
clients must settle my bill at the end of my work
session for them. I offer a 10% discount on my fees
for electronic payment of my invoice within 10 days
of its date of issue. "Electronic" means Bank
Transfer of any kind.
• Invoices for equipment sales must be settled on
receipt. All product descriptions and prices
E&OE.
AND FINALLY...
• Computers are complex. Despite it being very
reliable, there are an almost infinite number of
ways in which your Macintosh can misbehave. Nearly
all software has bugs. Despite my best endeavours I
can never guarantee to be able to fix your problem,
simply because its underlying cause may turn out to
be beyond my control and influence. That is why I
don't offer a "no fix, no fee" service.
Links to software, sites, blogs and
organisations that I find useful.
- Site Map: find what you're looking for here
- The List: software
- The Sites: websites and blogs
- The Association of Photographers: I'm also a commercial photographer and this is my professional association
