Having had a very bad internet week, I am appalled at the lack of service from some firms to whom I am consistently paying good money and then so pleasantly surprised by others.

The good: Sebo vacuum cleaners. I only heard of these because in despair I asked someone industrial what to do having consistently trashed vacuum after vacuum. After 24 hours with my new ‘Felix’ I thought ‘we’ had broken that too and in desperation rang the Sebo helpline. What a surprise, the lady who answered the phone told me exactly which button to press and all is now well again.

The bad: Vodafone. (Sorry Vodafone, I love you very much, but only when my gismo is working). Phone line (0870) engaged (only after listening to a load of options and paying for the privilege). E-mail – initial response after several days – please ring us on (same 0870 number). PC World (where I bought the gismo) we can only help you if you have bought absolutely EVERYTHING from us!

The almost as bad: Virgin Media. The web site has got all the obvious help on it for broadband going down and is really good, there is also a free number to ring to see if they have ‘dug up’ your area; sadly, the bloke reading the message out cannot speak so I never really understood which part of Leeds was affected. It is still only working occasionally, I have rebooted everything, done system restore back to before it went wrong, checked every setting known to man, wasted 5 hours…..

The amazing: The IT Support Club on Ecademy. Twice now I have personally received help from the guys on here. They reply on Sundays too. This is one of the few places you can get interactive help for those frustrating computer issues. I cannot recommend this club highly enough. It also means that if you are looking to buy something, look here first – if you are going to need support, you may as well buy your kit from someone who gives it!

Same with insurance and investments. If you arrange them through a firm that gives a service – like answering telephone and e-mail messages coherently for example – then when things are tough, you have someone to turn to. There are IFAs on Ecademy too!! Give poor service and they risk a big bad blog about themselves!