Category Archives: Service plan

28 
Sep

Rational Service and Maintenance

service and maintenance for a full house

 

English is a difficult language to learn. Why? Because we repeatedly use the same word said in the same way to mean completely different things. Take the word ‘service’ for example. Or rather don’t; because when we did this around the office, colleagues were coming back the next day with even more meanings.

Generally, at A C Services Southern we talk about 3 main types of service. Of which service and maintenance of Rational ovens is the core of what we do. This doesn’t stop us having to clarify what others mean when they use the term service.

Food Service

We work with colleagues across the catering sector. For virtually everyone food and drink service is what they are about. Before service comes prep, but everyone knows when the rush will begin as customers come to the restaurant, bar, café or mass catering outlet.

Whether those rushes are greater than commuters using train and bus services is difficult to say. Some colleagues might even use a dinner service of crockery to highlight the formality of the meal and an older meaning of the word. What is simply true that without prepared food and drink there would be no business for the sector.

Good Service

Most are driven by the need to give and be recognised for giving good service; not just simply delivering the food to the counter or table. This service is about attending to the clients’ needs and surpassing their expectations. Is this why tips are often call service charges?

We, of course, in the last year have been recognised by Rational as being the best customer service partner in the UK. It means that we ensure we understand our clients’ needs and then fulfil them as effectively and professionally as possible.

Service and Maintenance

For us, this is another way of saying protection and prevention. Service and maintenance is all about the little things that prevent the bigger problems. Like using the appropriate tablets and cleaning materials for your Rational oven at the recommended times. Or the regular visit we have with many clients. Like a car service that fixes stuff or keeps an eye on things to advise on likely forthcoming issues.

What service is not, is repair. Repair is when disaster happens and the oven is broken. It requires an early fix, ideally today and is completely unplanned. The opposite is thinking now when to book your Rational service for the Christmas peak season and ordering your cleaning materials today.

As a company wit put it; not asking for service and maintenance is asking for the later emergency breakdown call for a broken oven. A repair means no food service, which is poor customer service adversely affecting the company’s debt service and probably leading to language not suitable for a religious service!

Talk to our team today, as we’re always at your service on 01454 322222!

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Published Date: 28th September 2023
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News, Ovens, Rational, Service plan
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26 
Feb

A Day in the Life of an AC Services Engineer

Rational Oven Service and RepairAC Services Southern’s business is all about keeping catering’s Rational ovens going through maintenance and repair. We have a group of trained engineers out on the road for almost 365 days a year. We’re often asked what do they do? So, here’s Jon’s day on a Monday at the end of January.

Monday Morning

Preparations for the first calls of the week are always done on a Friday with phone calls to confirm it’s still ok to attend. (The rest of the week, it’s the afternoon before.) This allowed Jon to collect late on Friday afternoon, the required spare parts for his first two jobs. These had both previously been estimated.

Jon lives in Weston. So a 40-mile drive to JD Wetherspoons William Dampier to complete 2 different estimates at the same time. One had been made in December and a second fault occurred in January. Combining reduces the inconvenience and interruptions on the kitchen; as it typically continues to work around our engineer. It’s also more cost effective given third party maintenance contractors often need a visit to fault find and a second to repair. Having arrived at 9.30, Jon was away by 11.45 with both ovens fully back in service.

His next job was in South Petherton some 9 miles away at the Lopen Raj. They had become a customer of ACS in September 2022, when they called us to service one of their ovens. At the beginning of January in a deep clean, they had moved the oven. Unfortunately they caught the dial and pulse generator, which had snapped off. We’d called the next day to repair only to discover after calling Rational to confirm, that the Raj had a unique pulse generator. This needed to be ordered. With the proximity to the William Dampier it was convenient for all to slot this job in next. Jon completed the job by 12.30; not bad given the travelling time.

Monday Afternoon

At the start of the day, Monday afternoon was clear of appointments; but Jon has been an ACS engineer for 24 years and knows that will never be the case. Overnight Wagamama Trowbridge had placed a service call via their app requiring an urgent visit on Monday. Two of their ovens, a combi duo stack and another oven, had no function. Jon headed 50 miles North to thoroughly test the ovens. As a result, he upgraded their software to the latest settings and identified that the cause of the issue was an electrical supply fault. This required an electrician to correctly rate the circuit breaker in the fuse box.

Day over you might think as gone 3.00, but no. We’d had a call from a school with a report that the oven was not getting hot enough. The visit needed to be after the lunch break. Sadly, the cause of the fault was operator error, with oven temperatures set to Fahrenheit not Centigrade. On the plus side Jon also resolved a software update problem on the same machine.

Only Half the Story

With Jon home by 6.00, you might think that was a busy day, but it doesn’t explain the half of it. Engineers have to:

  • Do a mental health and safety risk assessment when on site particularly with other staff working around them in small spaces
  • Write out job sheets and explain them to chefs or maintenance contractors about what they’ve done or found
  • Take HACCP and service data from the ovens, ensure software is up to date and upload new software where appropriate from the Rational portal.
  • Fill out mileage forms and ensure vans have fuel. Then there’s the part numbers for the estimates and job sheets. And reporting on parts fitted for the bill.

We could go on, because added to all of this is the customer service and back-office staff that get the engineers efficiently to our catering colleagues in need. But we’ll leave that to another time, while we thank Jon and our other engineers for their greatly appreciated hard work.

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Published Date: 26th February 2023
Category: Blog, News, Rational, Service plan
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31 
May

Saving Cash and Service

ServiceWith the Jubilee celebrations, you can imagine the week of service phone calls AC Services had last week!

But to be honest being prepared is good. What we’re not looking forward to are the crisis calls during the celebrations. Those times when with the peak number of paying customers, a machine fails.

Sometimes it’s the result of a small fault ignored, that then has expensive consequences. And with everyone trying to save money after Covid, the number of those type of calls is increasing.

Small faults can become big problems

Running a catering business today is stressful enough without people adding to that stress with scare stories. But the ones below are real examples that have happened to catering colleagues recently:

  • Door gaskets over time wear or become damaged and so need replacing. Stacking ovens increases the chances of knock-on effects. The top oven leaks from a worn gasket onto the oven below. This takes out the control PCB and other components. Depending on the model, prices for a replacement PCB costs from £1080 upwards; while door gaskets start from £60.
  • Another result of worn door gaskets is that steam escapes. One effect of this is the ovens don’t cook correctly interrupting the smooth flow of service. Another is putting the oven on overnight clean, can end up coming back to a flooded floor.
  • Steam can cause no end of damage to various components and PCBs. An easy way in is through the overlooked cracked glass on a light bulb fitting. Or it could be a steam or drain hose failing that takes out the fan motor starting at £560.

Servicing is the cost-saving answer

Staying in business is about balancing cost with risk. Regular Rational servicing reduces the risks of fault repairs in mid-service that create lost revenue and unhappy customers. Don’t let the maintenance niggle grow into a costly fault from lack of servicing.

When servicing, we check multiple parts. To see what we cover please check out our May 2022 service checklist. A booked service call allows us to spend up to 2 hours on your oven. Servicing prices start from £195 plus VAT, dependant on model and avoids potential untimely costly repairs.

After the weekend is over, just check when you last had your Rational ovens serviced or whether there is a small fault that needs fixing. Then give our friendly team a call on 01454 322222.

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Published Date: 31st May 2022
Category: Blog, Catering Business, News, Rational, Service plan
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26 
Nov

Last Service Call for Christmas

Black Friday kickoff for Christmas countdown for Rational oven servicing

In the good old days, we used to all be aware of the number of shopping days till Christmas. But now every day is a shopping day. On-line and in the real world, we’re able to get most things within 24 hours of ordering them. Increasingly we have become reliant upon that.

Problems arise when that last-minute expectation cannot be met for perfectly valid reasons. Like a finite number of service engineers and everyone suddenly needing their expertise. This is the problem we face every year at AC Services Southern; when catering businesses suddenly realise in December they need their Rational oven servicing before peak Christmas use.

Black Friday Reminder

Black Friday sales seem to be launched earlier each year. One UK retailer started theirs in October this year! Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is the last Thursday in November. Thanksgiving is the big American turkey dinner with all the trimmings followed by pumpkin pie for the whole family; while Black Friday signifies the start of the countdown to Christmas not the biggest sales.

Indeed it’s called Black Friday from all the heavy and disruptive vehicle and pedestrian traffic. This caused gridlock on the streets of Philadelphia, as the whole family went shopping on their free day. It sounds a bit like a cross between a Boxing Day walk and the start of New Year sales!

For AC Services, it’s almost become a tradition that on the Tuesday nearest Thanksgiving, we blog our gentle reminder to Rational oven users in South West England and South Wales. This is to not delay and book your pre-Christmas Rational service today on 01454 322 222.

This way both of us can tick your equipment off our to do list early and concentrate on the real Christmas dramas later in December. We can guarantee that up until Christmas Eve, our engineers will be working flat out to cope with the inevitable panicked last-minute rush of breakdowns and servicing!

Buy On-line

Now is also a good time to check that you have all the cleaning products you need to ensure that your Rational ovens continue to function at their highest efficiency. Rational Self-Cooking-Centers have automatic cleaning programmes built into their software. When used with the right cleaning materials you get cosmetic and hygienic cleanliness.

Our on-line shop enables you to purchase these at whatever time of day you remember or have free in the forthcoming rush. But please be aware as these are delivered by delivery firms and they may be affected by their delays caused by volume of parcels and weather. Again earlier purchase enables greater peace of mind.

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Published Date: 26th November 2019
Category: Catering Business, Cleaning Products, News, Ovens, Rational, Self Cooking Centre, Service plan
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12 
Nov

Rational Cleaning Routine

Ensuring service through Rational oven cleaning products

It might be mid-November but it’s getting perilously close to Xmas. Which means you should start making lists of everything you need to make the season progress as smoothly as possible.

If you are in charge of catering, then remember to add Rational cleaning products to the list. They may not be as glamorous as some of your requests to Santa, but they are an oft-overlooked necessity.

Rational Cleaning Products Save Time

Your Rational oven needs to be cleaned regularly in order to perform to its optimal capacity. And you need to ensure that the correct cleaning products are used.

At AC Services, we supply all the assistance you need to service and maintain your oven, from Rational Grill Cleaner, Rational Rinse Aid, Rational Oven Cleaning Tablets for the SCC (SelfCooking Center®) range and for those with Care Control, Rational Care Control Tablets and accessories.

If you have more than one oven, then you may need different cleaning product combinations. As a reminder, we supply:

  • Rational Oven Cleaner Tab (x100): highly concentrated tablets specially developed with a complex set of active ingredients designed to guarantee maximum cleaning power.
  • Rational Oven Care Tablets (x150) with special scale-dissolving ingredients contained to prevent limescale building up. These give reliability without a water softener and the need for separate time-consuming descaling.
  • Rational Rinse Tablets (x50) highly effective care products ensuring active protection.
  • The Rational Grill Cleaner (10 litres) for use with a hand spray gun.
  • Rational Rinse Aid (10 litres).
  • For water filtration, the products are either the Brita Purity 1200 Quell ST Filter Cartridge or the Brita Purity 600 Quell ST Filter Cartridge.

Be Prepared

You may think you have plenty of time but it never hurts to be prepared. And that means BOOKING A SERVICE now if you haven’t already to avoid the inevitable last-minute panic rush. We would be delighted to come out and check your oven over and pre-empt any problems that might arise.

Otherwise to order your Rational cleaning products, simply go to our on-line shop. Or call us on 01454 322222 for more advice of how to keep on top of your Rational oven cleaning.

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Published Date: 12th November 2019
Category: Blog, Cleaning Products, News, Ovens, Rational, Self Cooking Centre, Service plan
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05 
Nov

Don’t Delay Service Today

Don't delay service today

We were rather hoping to bring good news this week, if not about Brexit then about the Rugby World Cup. Instead, we have a runners-up medal and a delay. But fear not, we also have a pre-Christmas general election to look forward to.

And unless you have taken a break from reality this weekend, you will notice that the Christmas and New Year countdown is beginning in earnest.

It’s time to start planning and where better than the annual service for your Rational appliances.

Spiralling Costs

There are two issues for all catering businesses to remember:

  1. you want to keep your oven in pristine condition for maximum and reliable performance.
  2. you don’t want to spend any more money over the festive period than you have already budgeted for.

The cost element can be far-reaching. It’s not just the expense in downtime if you have an oven failure, but also the cost of calling out an engineer if you don’t have a contract in place. Emergency call outs for one of AC Services’ engineers can be 1.5 times or double the normal rate if it has to be the weekend.

Not having a service contract is not cost efficient. Servicing is the key to optimum performance. Here at AC Services, we constantly reiterate this point. Simply put, don’t delay service today!

As an example, we had a customer last Friday with a problem. Unfortunately, the oven had not been serviced for a few years and as we couldn’t get to them on Friday, we dispatched an engineer on Saturday. The bill for an out-of-hours call out an unwelcome £500. A problem with the steam hose and subsequently the drain hose affected the cleanjet pump. This expensive crisis could have easily been averted with a service, which would have pinpointed any problem with the steam hose.

Don’t Delay Service Today

Helen Hagger, MD of ACS offers some friendly advice. “Even though some ovens may still be in warranty, you should still organise a twice-yearly service because we know from experience that a lot can go wrong in six months,” she explains. “We often see where one small thing goes wrong, if it is not put right, it has a knock-on effect. Don’t forget that our engineers have immediate access to the majority of parts which minimises any delay. It’s all about peace of mind and pre-empting potential problems.

For further details and a no obligation quote for your Rational oven maintenance contract telephone 01454 322222 or email us today on service@acservicessouthern.co.uk.

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Published Date: 5th November 2019
Category: Blog, News, Ovens, Rational, Service plan
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22 
Oct

Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort

Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort

Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort is located in the heart of Wiltshire nestled within the Bowood Estate. The luxurious hotel is surrounded by parkland landscaped by the famous Capability Brown.

It provides an idyllic retreat, whether for weekend breaks, golfing escapes, spa pampering, weddings or simply to savour the first-class cuisine. The Estate also contains Bowood House & Gardens, home of the Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne.

The hotel, itself, contains 43 beautifully furnished contemporary bedrooms and suites. Guests can enjoy the luxury spa with its infinity swimming pool, gym and pampering spa treatments. The golf course is particularly popular, with a full championship PGA 18-hole golf course.

Weddings, celebrations and conferences are fully catered for, with the backdrop of the surroundings adding to the ambience.

Dining Experience

The hotel is open all day for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea. It also caters for corporate events which means that the kitchens are always busy.

Replacing the old ovens over four years ago, Rational supplied two 201E SCC WE units for the main banqueting and conference kitchen, and a 101E SCC WE model for the brasserie. After the initial two-year warranty scheme, the hotel chose a maintenance contract package from AC Services (Southern) which, according to Steve Foster, Maintenance Manager at the hotel, is working perfectly.

The Rational ovens serve their purpose perfectly,” he comments. “They are not only reliable but robust and we have them serviced twice a year, once before the seasonal rush at Christmas.

Because we invested heavily in the ovens, we are determined to keep them maintained and extract the maximum amount of performance so apart from ensuring they are regularly and properly cleaned on our part, we can rely on AC Services to provide back-up at all times, not only with regular servicing but in case there are any problems. An engineer is sent out within 24-48 hours and the issue is always resolved with no disruption to our daily operation.”

This is vital to the chefs at the Bowood Hotel who provide the very best in cuisine using where possible, local suppliers. The hotel is dedicated to understanding and appreciating the importance of provenance, believing that the secret to crafting seasonally exceptional cuisine begins with the careful selection of only the freshest, sustainably reared meat, fish and fruit and vegetables.

Oven Ready

According to Steve, “the catering team is always striving to create both dynamic and contemporary menus for our guests to relish and savour during their stay no matter what the occasion might be.

This requires a reliable and capable oven, and the Rational ovens, supported by the maintenance package from AC Services, provide exactly what is required.

The Shelburne Restaurant serves daily delicious food from seasonal menus every day “prepared with passion and served with flair”. The Clubhouse Brasserie offers a menu ranging from traditional fish and chips to a Club sandwich. Weddings and conferences give the kitchen staff the creativity to provide the best cuisine possible, with the Rational ovens helping with this aim.

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Published Date: 22nd October 2019
Category: Blog, Case Study, News, Rational, Service plan
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11 
Dec

AC Services Christmas Opening Times

AC Services Christmas Opening Times 2018So the big day is not far away, for which the country stocks up on totally unnecessary items for the festive period just in case they are needed. It’s amazing what you find on your shelves in February.

But rejoice, it’s at least another year before we hear those dreaded words again – Black Friday – and to put it in a political context, it’s only two more Brexit ministers till Christmas.

Shops have initiated Operation Santa Claus Frenzy and kids are busy writing lists using the Argos catalogue as a template.

If you followed my advice, you will have ordered the necessary cleaning accessories and booked to have your oven checked over before the holidays begin. If you haven’t, then get on to it today. Put it on that list! For those who live by the chaos theory, although the offices are closed on the key dates, we will still have engineers on call on the days in between because we know that sometimes bad things happen at the worst possible time. But just in case you are in any doubt, see below for clarification of our Christmas working hours.

AC Services Christmas Opening Times 2018

Here are AC Services Christmas opening times for 2018:

  • Thursday 20th December – normal opening hours – 8.15 a.m. to 5.15 p.m
  • Friday 21st December – normal opening hours – 8.15 a.m. to 5.15 p.m
  • Saturday 22nd December – office closed – Engineer on call for emergencies
  • Sunday 23rd December – office closed – Engineer on call for emergencies
  • Monday 24th December – Christmas Eve – office open – 8.15am to 3 p.m
  • Tuesday 25th December – Christmas Day, CLOSED
  • Wednesday 26th December – Boxing Day, CLOSED
  • Thursday 27th December – office open 8.30 a.m. – 5 p.m. (engineers available)
  • Friday 28th December – office open 8.30 a.m. – 5 p.m. (engineers available)
  • Saturday 29th December – office closed – Engineer on call for emergencies
  • Sunday 30th December – office closed – Engineer on call for emergencies
  • Monday 31st December – office open – 8.30am to 3 p.m
  • Tuesday 1st January – CLOSED

It’s back to normal working hours on Wednesday 2nd January.

If you have an emergency with your appliance telephone 01454 322222 and press the appropriate option so we can help you as quickly as we can. If you have a non-urgent issue, leave a message for when the office is next open.

LAST CHANCE

Importantly, don’t forget to order stock parts and cleaning products. The VERY LAST DATE for guaranteed Christmas delivery for an order to be placed is Wednesday 19th December at 5 p.m. We recommend that you CHECK your stock now, to make sure that you have everything you need.

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Published Date: 11th December 2018
Category: Blog, Cleaning Products, News, Ovens, Rational, Service plan
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13 
Nov

Christmas Catastrophe or Planned Perfection

AC Services keeping chefs using Rational ovens happyThe countdown is on. We’ve had Halloween and Armistice Day, not to mention a mid-term election in America plus a spate of excellent TV dramas, so now thoughts turn to the Christmas season.

When does the party season start for you? And when does it finish? New Year’s Day? What’s on all the menus? Turkey? Goose? Beef? Vegan platters? These are all pressing decisions! And let’s not forget the most important one – is your Rational oven Christmas-ready?

For those in catering, the oven is the most important gift over the festive season. If it breaks down, no amount of batteries or prayers will put it right. And few will be willing to sacrifice their own Christmas spirit to rush over to fix it.

There you have it, best case scenario – Christmas dinner ruined. Worst case scenario – frustrated and angry diners, potential court cases and an establishment with a very bad reputation. For restaurants and eateries who are planning to serve sumptuous banquets on and before the day, this could be catastrophic.

There is a solution: get your oven serviced now. Don’t wait for December, call AC Services (Southern) and avoid any last minute rush. We can guarantee that up until Christmas Eve, our engineers will be working flat out to cope with the inevitable panicked last minute rush!

Moreover, why not consider setting up a regular contract so that you can have peace of mind that your oven is looked after all year round? We have a number of options that suit both budget and business.

Value for money

What will you get for your money? Typically engineers will sort any of those annoying little faults that can compromise performance, if left unchecked. We keep our vans fully stocked so we can deliver a fix on the first visit in more than 95% of call-outs whilst we are with you.

Servicing comprises:

  • function testing and commissioning of elements
  • checking the operational mode of water, gas and electrical connections
  • testing electrical components, gas specific parts and steam generation.

You don’t even have to fret about forgetting the date of your scheduled Rational oven service. Every customer who gets their oven serviced will be issued with a reminder the month before it is due next year. So there’s no reason for you to conveniently forget!

Order Now

Finally, make sure that you have plenty of oven cleaning materials in stock. Rational Self-Cooking-Centers have automatic cleaning programmes built into their software. When used with the right cleaning materials you get cosmetic and hygienic cleanliness.

Be prepared and make sure your Rational oven is in working order for Christmas service. Call us now and we can calmly talk you through the options available on 01454 322 222. Then you’ll have peace of mind that the Christmas season will go ahead as planned.

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Published Date: 13th November 2018
Category: Blog, Catering Business, Cleaning, Ovens, Rational, Self Cooking Centre, Service plan
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16 
Jan

Seize the Day! Enjoy 2018

Rational Oven Service and RepairFirstly we would like to wish all of our customers the greetings of the season. Let’s hope that 2018 is prosperous and profitable for all.

We are now back at work having had a busy but successful Christmas period. Although we had plenty of call-outs, no client had to take the drastic step of cancelling bookings due to an inoperable oven!

However, there were numerous calls to us regarding last minute breakdowns preceding and following Christmas. The majority of these calls were for replacement parts: luckily all of our engineers carry the necessary parts so the majority of ovens were fixed quickly and efficiently.

New Year New Start

The message this week is simple – New Year, new start so get your ovens serviced now. Although we obviously coped with the inevitable last minute rush before the end of last year, it makes better sense to arrange a service package with us. Customers that do find it suits everyone’s calendars and budgets.

A Rational Oven service starts from £185 plus VAT depending on model and age. During the visit we will sort any of those annoying little faults that, left unchecked can compromise performance. Remember that our policy is to keep our vans fully stocked so we can deliver a fix on the first visit in more than 95% of call-outs whilst we are with you.

Servicing comprises:

  • function testing and commissioning of elements, 
  • checking the operational mode of water, gas and electrical connections,
  • testing electrical components, gas specific parts and steam generation.

Every part of the oven is tested and checked for total peace of mind and should any faults be detected, then they will be dealt with as a priority.

And don’t worry about forgetting the date of your scheduled Rational oven service. Every customer who gets their oven serviced will get a reminder the month before it is due next year. We prefer not to give you any excuse to forget!

Coming Up Fast

The next three months will see some significant annual events loved by the catering industry. Valentine’s Day is the major event of February followed swiftly by Mother’s Day then Easter. Before we know it, silly season including the FIFA World Cup will be upon us.

So take advantage of the down season and book a service with us today. Don’t procrastinate!

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Published Date: 16th January 2018
Category: Blog, News, Service plan
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