Free Computer & Internet Access for Children aged 7-14 of Low Income Families

metalligazza

I was awarded the home access grant for my son who is 9.
And i am very gratefull for the free laptop, after i had trawled around looking in all the designated retailers i came to the conclusion that all (not just the odd one or two but every one of them) is ripping off the scheme.
the scheme allowes you £400.00 for just the laptop only (if you already have internet access) this is fantastic untill you find out that you can only have specific laptops.
I chose comet as the retailer (does not really matter which you choose they all have the same deal and i use the term "deal" very loosely) they herded me off to a little corner in the shop where there was one lonely laptop and informed me that that is it.
the laptop is the acer extensa 5235 15.6
the spec is
proccessor intel celeron 990
ram memory 1gb
hard drive 160gb

now here is the thing for that kind of spec you would probably pay around £300.00 (see martins page on cheap laptops) comet themselves have a far superior laptop (also made by acer) for less money at £379.99.
ACER AS5738-653G25MN
the spec is
proccessor Intel Core 2 Duo
ram memory 3gb
hard drive 250gb


I know all this sounds ungrateful but honestly i am not, the home access scheme is a fantastic scheme, but if companys such as comet carry on selling £300 laptops for £400 then the scheme will not survive too much longer.

I just dont like to see anyone get ripped off (even the goverment)

only_mee

tina1980 wrote: »

Just received my child benefit letter today after requesting it last week. I told the man on the phone what it was for, but am a bit worried because the letter didn't have my children's names on. Will this make any difference to my application?

I can't recall best phone them to be sure

metalligazza wrote: »

then the scheme will not survive too much longer.

The scheme is coming to a close and we got the samsung with dual core and 2gb a far better machine than the acer but like you say still under the value of the scheme.

Marv02

IS there anyway to find out how many grants there are left? When I called up the first time they told me the sum, but when I wanted to double check today to see what the count was, they said they don't keep that infomation so they wouldn't know, which ticked me off becuase I know they do know, and it just puts presure on people.

Does anyone know of a way of finding this out? I feel gutted that I filled out the wrong infomation to begin with and now I need to wait 2 weeks for another app...

only_mee

If you are in the system you should be fine, i messed ours up, you just send in the corrected form.

Marv02

only_mee wrote: »

If you are in the system you should be fine, i messed ours up, you just send in the corrected form.

I'm only sad that not many is left, as when I called up they said that "first come first serve"

margymuggins

hi got my card today been to comet but they only have 1gb heard you can get 2gb from misco tried on there but cant find it anyone know how to get the 2gb please

only_mee

margymuggins wrote: »

hi got my card today been to comet but they only have 1gb heard you can get 2gb from misco tried on there but cant find it anyone know how to get the 2gb please

Positive it we got ours with 2gb

Addy

tina1980 wrote: »

Just received my child benefit letter today after requesting it last week. I told the man on the phone what it was for, but am a bit worried because the letter didn't have my children's names on. Will this make any difference to my application?

Look on the back of the letter, my children's names were listed there!

LondonIrish

Hi,

I want to apply for a laptop (I've filled in the form), but when I called them about the evidence required I came unstuck.

Up until September 2009 I was earning too much and working over 16 hours / week. In September 2009 I went down to 12 hours / week and I now get child tax credit / housing and CT benefit. The problem is that the scheme only works on tax credits info which is over a year old. Although my children qualify for free school meals, again they can't get that as they work on tax credit awards from 09/10 when I earned too much and not on my current award when I qualify for free meals and the laptop.

When I called I asked them what I could do to prove my salary. I've only been on housing / council tax benefit since March and they said there was nothing they could do. If I get free school meals I could get the laptop, but they both work on the same system.

Help! Just as I find myself with way less money I'm losing out on the laptop for my daughter (let alone havnig to pay £40 per month for school meals as their system can't cope with change).

Any advice would be most gratefully received. Thank you.

derbylady

LondonIrish wrote: »

Hi,

I want to apply for a laptop (I've filled in the form), but when I called them about the evidence required I came unstuck.

Up until September 2009 I was earning too much and working over 16 hours / week. In September 2009 I went down to 12 hours / week and I now get child tax credit / housing and CT benefit. The problem is that the scheme only works on tax credits info which is over a year old. Although my children qualify for free school meals, again they can't get that as they work on tax credit awards from 09/10 when I earned too much and not on my current award when I qualify for free meals and the laptop.

When I called I asked them what I could do to prove my salary. I've only been on housing / council tax benefit since March and they said there was nothing they could do. If I get free school meals I could get the laptop, but they both work on the same system.

Help! Just as I find myself with way less money I'm losing out on the laptop for my daughter (let alone havnig to pay £40 per month for school meals as their system can't cope with change).

Any advice would be most gratefully received. Thank you.

This happened to me, i earned to much the year b4 so waited until i renewed my tax credit about a month ago and sent my new award notice which made me fall in the right criteria, and i got it new laptop arriving thursday.