OK what has brought this on?

I was driving to work thios morning, feeling pretty sore that I have had to BUY another Back Box for my car because of a "technicality" in a "Lifetime" warranty issue.
I was trying to justify the suppliers stance on the matter and I thought "..well they can't be going handing out replacement back boxes ***** nilly, especially cos they are £300 a piece" then I thought, hang on a minute £300 for a bit of rolled and welded steel with a bit of wadding in it and mine was a CHEAP one We get told about the hours of research and development that goes into these things but lets be right about it, they buy a common brand, take it apart and build a copy with different materials and sound characteristics. Not hard really!

Lets say they employ a bod (Generally they don't) to do the research and pay him £25 per hour and it takes him 60hrs to do what ever he needs to thats £1500. Materials and prototype building (4 of) £2,000 getting it right and getting ten made for stock £1,000 so £4,500 tops agreed?

£300 each means that they nedd to sell 15 back boxes to be in profit. One would imagine from a business plan that they intend to sell alot more than 15 lets say they plan to sell 75 in the first year that's £22,500 less initial investment, thats £18,000 less £50 per backbox in manufacturing costs thats £14,250 profit and the TIGHT GITS can't afford to replace my back box with a new one [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] they wanna FIX my old one [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] (Wrong forum for that bit, sorry )

Then I thought about other areas of the car, Spoiler £350,(Moulded plastic) Painting £100 (2 hr job actually painting, not the baking etc, just the painting) Servicing £120 for a cheap one (Oil change) £500 for a nasty one (Fluid changes and a few bolts being tightened) Brake Pads £145 (Important but still daft money for what they are, mind you research can be proven here) Discs £175,(Machined metal discs) The car £18,000. (Leave it )

Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that the scoob is bloody expensive, I knew that before i bought it, it's the individual items and thier relative costs. It doesn't stop at cars, petrol, girlfriend hairdresser bills, 60p for 330ml of pop Come on!! Service station bills, solicitors charging £250 per hour Vets bills, people happily pay this money for over priced stuff, yet when i sell a photocopier, the first thing buyers generally say to me is "bloody hell, that's expensive" (Amatures ) I know that they are after a bargain and indeed ultimatley it becomes thier undoing and they end up buying for more
The only thing that I possess that I can look at and think, yep, that item is REALLY worth the money is my 99p calculator. Even my pen cost me more than a fiver! It's a *******' pen

Anyways, what have you got that is REALLY worth the money you paid for it. No good saying that you have a widget that only cost 10p 30 years ago either i mean recently bought and thought, yep, that was worth it.

Mikey

 

Mate, if its got t1ts or wheels its gonna cost you money and give you aggro.
The sooner you accept the above the happier you'll be.
astraboy.

 

Cheers dude, feelin better already

Mikey

 

You think too much Mikey!

 

LOL @ Astraboy:
As usual, the alternative view.
Alcazar

 

Ask yourself why your photocopier is so expensive, then. There's your answer as to why everything else is so expensive too. (Hint: it probably has something to do with tax).

 

ah, post gone.

Sorry puff you get the money?

 

Yep, agree with you Wurzel old boy.
Havign been over to Germany recently I was amazed at how cheap it was, (or rather how damn expensive the UK is).

A swift comparison - Lynx shower gel, UK = £2, Germany 1.5 Euros! Unreal. Food is also cheaper as are clothes!! (Just things I have bought out there so far). The Bang and Olufsen shop was looking v tempting!

Mossman

 

Paul - NP

Dunno - I'll check...

 

My clippers were well worth the investment, I shave my head once a week at least and the hairdressers up the road (Farringdon Street) charge 7.50 for a clipper cut, but amazingly between 12pm and 2pm it's a tenner! Let's assume I'd go there, and I've had these clippers for 18 months (= 78 weeks), that's 780 quids worth of haircuts for 40 quid.

Shave your head and save money at the same time

 

With regard to fuel prices... well lets see - in brisbane australia I was paying a little over 60 Aus cents (30 euro cents) per litre for super 95. Now here in germany I am paying 1,10 euro for the same litre! Almost 3 times as much!!! Now figure that out... the fuel has to be dug up and SENT BY BARGE half way around the world and then distributed then sold!. How is it that it is so cheap there and so expensive here - ?? ! People earn more here, the taxes are more and people HAVE to buy it regardless of how expensive it is.

The same goes for loads of items - take a Big MAC from macdonalds - on its´ own it costs 2 Aus dollars (again about 1 euro), but here if you found one for less than 2 or 3 euro you are doing well... WHY????

 

This is the land of the great Rip-Off Mikey, from manufacturers through to the government. Only way to change it is to stop buying anything, difficult isn't it? [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Les

 

Talking of rip off government did you see the news the other night about the govenment treasury stashing 3.5bn GBP of national lottery money in a high interest account. Wonder when they were going to tell everyone and give everyone a tax rebate and reduction.

 

Agree with StevenCotton on the clippers - Mine cost £18 and have saved me a packet (though I look like a psycho now )


Other than that - Bic biros? errr. Personal calls from work
Joolz

 

rip off britain indeed, have any of you remembered the 1% increase in National Insurance contributions at the end of April. 30 quid a month worse of now. **** me talk about giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

cheers

big sinky

 

The original thread referred to solicitors charging £250 an hour. That's a bargain. I cost £475 plus VAT and I'm worth every penny.

None Prouder

 

My boots from the Army Surplus

Bought in 1989 for 15 quid, still going strong without a repair needed. Works out at nearly a quid a year for a pair of boots

That was value for money in my book.

Also, hair clippers for 20 quid from argos. Saved me a fortune in time and money at hairdressers Cost me in sunburn though

Other than that, it's all a rip off

 

army boots and a shaven head??


Paints a lovely picture.... have you got the obligatory green/black waist length jacket with a union jack sewn across the shoulders?

 

Hang on a minute, if everything was cheaper then we’d all get paid less and going abroad would not seem such good value

And of course the exhaust manufacturer would still stiff u

Having said that I’m trying to buy house (sorry get on the property escalator!) at the mo grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

LOL @ Buzz

No mate, my missus had the jacket

They never did suit me I have the obligatory combats though

 

astraboy: Your right, the government is full of t1ts and they cost us dearly!!

 

Buzz, Hanslow is a big ***** really, if you ever met his missus, you'd see who really wears the combats

Mikey

PS he does know his stuff with computers though

 

ssshhhhhhhhh people will think I'm under the thumb (or living in fear...or both!)

 

Bacon and egg sandwich with ketchup on white.
£2 and I'd pay twice that for it.
Fantastic.

 

But really:

2 slices of bread has to be less than 10p
2 eggs are less than 30p
ketchup is about 5p
Toasing it all? About 3p

Total = 48p

JOY!!! Sarnies for less than 50p (if it wasnt all a big rip off)

 

My time for making the sandwich £5
it's a bargain.
Don't even start on the washing up

 

Coffee for £2 per cup.

Now that's a bargain...!!!!

 

LOL £2 and you don't mind

I suppose there's my answer, as long as people are "prepared" to pay, then the prices will remain up there.

So what else is good value, you know REALLY good value? not sure that the Sarnie is.....It costs bugger all if you made it yaself and as for £5 to wash up See you think that it's worth it because you are prepared to pay the price (Twice as much you said infact) Now because of you (Easy now ) I cannot enjoy the same sandwich unless I pay the same as you. Surely it would be better if you only had to pay 50p for the same thing, and then I could enjoy it too, indeed we'd probably have 2

Mikey Off to make a Bacon Sarnie

 

Let's face it, we'd all pay pretty much what we were asked for;

Petrol

Beer

Lap dances ()

**** (for those inclined)

Curry

As you say, "value" is a relative concept!

 

0.5 litre bottle of Becks Beer in Germany 65p

5.0 litre can of Becks Beers in Germanyabout €5

0.33 litre bottle of Becks Beer in the UK 2.50p

so who can work out the tax on that then???

infact you can't even get a 0.5 litre bottle of becks in the UK can you