Hervey Bay Gossip

It’s hard to believe but Kentucky Fried Chicken in Hervey Bay will close at the end of trade on August 29. It will re-open in a new location on Boat Harbour Drive … but not until sometime next year.

A Hervey Bay real estate agent has been banned for life after he failed to declare he was director of a company that bought a property from one of his employer’s clients.

Fair Trading Minister, Margaret Keech, said Philip John Dickins, of Uraween, committed a serious breach of trust resulting in financial gain.

“When handing down its decision the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal described him as ‘devious’,” Mrs Keech said.

“The penalty handed to Mr Dickins should be a warning to others in the industry that agents will not get away with deceiving their clients.

“Mr Dickins was the director of Caltowie Nominees Pty Ltd when the company bought a Point Vernon house for $200,000.

“As the director of the purchasing company, he illegally charged the vendor commission on the sale. The company sold the property less than a month later for $230,000.

“He knew it was illegal for a person acting as a real estate agent or sales person to gain a beneficial interest from the sale of property on their books, unless full disclosure of the interest was first made clear to the vendor.

“Vendors should not be out of pocket as a result of this kind of deal. The client should certainly not have to pay commission to the person or company who is buying the property.

“Mr Dickins was prosecuted under the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000, losing his registration certificate and paying more than $3,000 in fines and costs.

“Mr Dickins withheld the details of his dealings from his employer, who was the licensee of the real estate office.

“His employer became aware of the suspect dealings during an internal audit, and lodged a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading.

“Laws are in place to protect consumers from this kind of unprofessional conduct.”

There’s a new real estate agency about to open its doors in Hervey Bay. Aquamarine Reality will soon be opening next to the Scarness Newsagency on The Esplanade at Scarness.

If you live in Hervey Bay or surrounding areas and your computer needs repairs but you can’t get out to take it to our recommended computer shop in Hervey Bay then check out Computer Assist.

Computer Assist comes right to you to look after your computer needs in your own home.

It’s fully imported, it’s easier to operate than driving a car, it’s more fun on the water than any other wind-powered vessel and it’s right here in Hervey Bay.

The Windkart is a unique craft that’s now making it’s debut in Australia and Aquavue Cafewatersports down on the Esplanade at Torquay has four of them available for hire as part of their jet ski and beach equipment hire inventory.

These four vessels are just the start of an exciting new business venture for Larry and the crew at Aquavue because Larry has been appointed as the sole distributor for Windkart here in Australia.

It looks so simple to operate that even I might be tempted to venture out in one (and she-who-must-be-obeyed even said I could).

… ripe pickings for carpet baggers and snake oil salesmen in Hervey Bay

If you’re a small business owner here in Hervey Bay and you’re thinking of launching your business onto the Internet - whether to sell online or just have a marketing presence online - be very wary.

As web designers here in Hervey Bay we’ve seen some interesting cases of other small businesses being sold on expensive websites that are never going to achieve what the small business had hoped for.

We’ve also seen some other disturbing situations arise and control of your domain name is one of them. It’s important that you have complete control of your domain name yourself and if you don’t know how to do that then How to Protect Your Domain Name will provide you with all the information you need to know.

Yesterday she who must be obeyed decreed that we might spend some time looking at furniture … and so it came to pass.

But we didn’t just look at furniture stores in Hervey Bay … oh no … we took the short drive out to Torbanlea and discovered Widebay Import Clearance Warehouse in Robertson Street.

Seriously though, I have to tell you that if you’re looking for good quality furniture in Hervey Bay then take the drive out to Torbanlea - it is definitely well worth the trip and the savings that the guys out at Widebay Import Clearance Warehouse will surprise you.

Oh, I’m now told that we’re going back on the weekend because they’re expecting around 2000 imported garden pots to be delivered some time today and the boss has been told to expect big savings there as well.

I did hear that the last time Widebay Import Cleartance Warehouse got a delivery customers were parked in the street waiting for the container to be unloaded.

If you’re thinking of taking a drive out there just look for the signs - you can’t miss it (although we did on the first trip round the block:) )

I’ve just finished writing a small piece for another website on web design for small business and my partner suggested that I should post it here too. We’ve been involved in web design since 1996 and still operate a web design business here in Hervey Bay that specialises in work for small business. You can find us at Copy Text Online.

So here are five tips that we would give anyone who is looking to have a web site developed by a professional web designer. There are plenty of other things we could suggest but here are five fundamentals.

1. If he wants you to agree to a splash page full of Flash run away as fast as you can. Splash pages are so last year. Besides splash pages are slow to load, annoy the crap out of prospective clients, do nothing for search  optimisation and cost lots of money.

2. If he wants to include music run away almost as quickly as you would in point 1. Occasionally there is a good reason to have music on a web page but it’s rare and should never be played over and over again.

3. Ask your designer if he sees all surfers arriving at your site via the index page or arriving on your site via any of the pages on your site. If he tries to tell you that all your visitors will arrive via the index page find a new designer immediately. The one you’re talking to believes the earth is flat.

4. Ask you’re designer what he plans to do about search engine optimisation. If he tells you that it’s all about getting links or the only way to get traffic is by pay-per-click then you’re talking to another guy who believes the world is flat.

5. If your designer is going to arrange the purchase of your domain name make sure that it is registered in you’re name. Some designers will want to register it in their name and that means they have complete control over it. You might find that they never give it back to you.

Running a fast food outlet or a cafe in Hervey Bay may not be as easy as you might think.

In just a short stretch of the Esplanade at Pialba one has closed, one cafe is on the market and two fast food shops are also up for sale. Bayaroma is currently for sale through Elders Hervey Bay and the two fast food outlets are for sale through Fraser Coast Business Brokers

Being open 7 days a week, even in somewhere as nice as Hervey Bay, would certainly takes its toll.

An arson attack on Favourite Pets in Torquay Road Pialba destroyed a shed that housed 60 pets behind the main shop. None of the pets housed in the shed could be saved from the fire that was lit around midnight last night.