A frugal life is an easy life!

Direct line car insurance - not just direct line, but all insurance companies.
(I have chosen direct line as they do our car insurance)
Why is it that what ever I do always ends up costing me more money?
I changed our vehicle today, went through all the information with a woman on the phone - after about 12 options selected first - took me 15 minutes, told them the old car, told them the new car, only to find that I was incredibly lucky and that the policy on the new car would remain the same price!

Hold on a moment... the old car was almost brand new and direct line informed us to insure it would be more expensive than our previous car as it was "newer and parts for it were more expensive!" (previously they increased the cost of the insurance every year as "it is getting older and parts are harder to find should it need repair!")
Our old car was newer, more efficient, same engine size, kept at the same premises, etc, yet still the insurance increased every year.

So back to this "new" car, which is a lot smaller engine (from a 1600cc down to a 1200cc) same place kept, same mileage used per year etc.
Why is it more expensive to insure?
The lady didn't know, she could only tell me "that's how the system works!" - yeh bet it does!
I was informed everything was sorted out and the new car was on the insurance policy. I could be transferred, if I wanted to, to a department that deals with discounting policies and adjusting the prices. OK lets have a word with them and see what they can do. (I wasn't holding my breath)

I was greeted with "hello?" - not very professional - I gave all my details yet again and confirmed my identity for a second time.
I was told the price would be the same, as I was at the midway point in the policy. There was a £15 "admin charge" for changing the vehicle which was not being applied - whoopy! - so why not just cancel the policy and start a new one?
There is a £26 admin charge for ending a policy!

Queue the wild rant at the advisor...
- You are a bunch of crooks, why is there an £11 higher charge for cancelling a policy and starting a new one, over the cost of changing a vehicle, when the exact same paperwork (which is computer generated) is sent out automatically?
* I don't know sir
- Is the vehicle we have just had put on the insurance cheaper to insure than our former vehicle?
* It is listed as being around £48 cheaper should you be a new customer sir
- You cannot transfer this over so I get the discount?
* No sir, the system will not let me do this
- So I can cancel the policy and start a new one?
* Yes sir, but you will incur a £26 admin charge for ending the policy
- Do you value your customers? As we have two vehicles insured with you!
* Yes we do value your custom sir
- Show it then by transfering the discount across that a new customer would get?
* I am sorry I can't do that sir

I was then told I could write in and complain to their head office. blah blah blah.
It then transpired that despite all the discussions with the previous advisor lady, nothing had been changed and the old car remained on the policy! (What was the point of telling her all my information then?)

How many times have you been into Argos (for example) and ordered or returned goods for a refund and been told at the counter, "that's x amount sir/madam, plus a £10 admin fee?" - No I haven't either.
No matter what you do, insurance companies sting you all ends up, it's a blatent rip off and legally, something should be done about it.

Don't get me started on the price of my insurance increasing because they have had more claims over the previous 12 months, of which I have not claimed a single penny piece!

As a child, I had a pro biotic everyday of my life during the 1970s, it was called unpasteurised milk and I had it in my brews and on my breakfast.

Of course, it would never be given to a child under two years old or to an elderly person, much the same as the various "pro biotics" that we are sold in supermarkets today. They are still available today, but the laws have been changed of course, so that unpasteurised milk can only come direct from a farm in your local area and not be on a supermarket shelf.
The only differences with todays products are:

• They didn't cost any extra - coming directly from our milkman and in with our milk
• They didn't generate any carbon emmissions or affect any carbon footprint, as unlike todays probiotics, they were not shipped in from countries as far away as New Zealand!
• They were completely natural in origin, nothing added to them.

Just another way that industry has taken a product that contained something good for people, stopped providing it for free and now charges us an absolute fortune for.
Not to mention what damage it is doing to the environment that governments and business care so much about (yeh right!) with all the exporting and importing, when it used to come from round the corner from where we lived!

FACT - The world of retail loves nothing more than confusion for it's customer base.

The more clouded an issue for customers the more money it can edge out of our pockets without the customers realising!
With the impending return of VAT, from 15% to 17.5% - confusion is abound and people are being mislead!
I would dispute that the reduction in VAT to 15% in December 2008, actually happened at all.
Companies have been claiming all year, that importing costs against a weak pound forced prices upwards, they also imported products at 17.5% VAT (as this wasn't included in the tax office reduction).
As one commentor on a news website asked: "Did anyone witness newspapers reducing in price by 2p or a bar of chocolate?" - I witnessed prices going up instead of down.
In the confusion created by the reduction, I have no doubts at all that overall prices of everyday things increased, whilst many were advertising "VAT reduced prices!"

Exactly the same thing has already happened for all of us, as prices have increased in the two months up to Christmas - it gets worse for the UK consumer, as now we are witnessing major high street retailers saying one thing and doing another!
Before we go any further, let me give you an example about how easy it is for our imaginary store to mislead you: If I had a pencil on the till of our shop, that has been priced at £1.00 for 28 days and I reduce this to say 20p, I can now legally advertise in my shop window an "Up to 80% off sale instore now!"

TESCO:
At the beginning of December 2009, in an interview with the retail magazines, one of their finance people would not speculate or give any information regarding how the company would change its prices as regards the VAT increase due on January 1st 2010.
By late December 2009 this had changed to them claiming that they were helping their customers by having a "£12 million VAT freeze on thousands of products!"

As always, the devil is in the detail - the VAT freeze will not cover all products, the VAT freeze will not be happening in all of their stores.
The most alarming (and disappointing) thing for me, is once again finding that big business on the high street is treating customers with scant regard - by increasing prices prior to an advertising claims of helping customers.

Industry data, seen by a competitor to Tesco and leaked to the media, reveals that businesses have been increasing prices prior to Christmas and in the run up to the VAT return to 17.5%
"Tesco claimed yesterday to be freezing the price of Fairy non-biological at £4.50 as part of a “£12 million VAT freeze” on thousands of products. However the data shows that the non-biological washing powder was selling for £4 in October" (Source Daily Telegraph)

Tesco increased 500 prices, earlier in December, in bedding, cooking equipment, crockery and other items that are subject to VAT by similar amounts to the increases due on January 1st 2010.
It is not only Tesco that have been doing this.
The data also shows that Boots increased the prices of over 1,500 product lines by an average of 2 per cent in the last 12 weeks. Morrisons, the supermarket, increased the prices of 400 products earlier this month by an average of 2 per cent, raising the price of pet food, health and beauty items and cleaning products.

Sadly, it would appear that official bodies are once again, doing little or nothing, to protect the individual, who, as we are seeing more and more, are being bombarded with half truths and mislead by not being told the full facts.
Confusion means increased profits for businesses.
Be careful out there gang....

 

To the tune of "Here come the girls," experian (along with other "footfall" information gathering companies reporting) have announced 17% & 18% increases for Boxing day and Sunday trading, after Christmas 2009.

Here are my Top five reasons for not believing a word the "experts" say:

1. Figures are based on "Footfall" - footfall figures count you when you enter a shop/store. They are no proof of any purchases made at all.
2. The figures are provided by firms whose business is marketing - these companies are masters in the art of self promotion, if they have nothing to "report" then they cannot make any profits! Anyone with half a brain can see that they have a vested interest.
3. Experian (who put out the report) state, "shoppers maybe racing to beat the VAT increases that are due in January 2010" - On a £200 purchase, the VAT increase would be just £5.00 - record numbers of shoppers are making purchases now because of the 2.5% increase in VAT on items? Utter rubbish!
4. A more than 17% increase in "footfall" figures can be seen as exceptional as pre-Christmas performance was a lot slower paced - Meadowhall shopping centre (Near Sheffield) reported a 38% increase on customer numbers before Christmas, Waitrose reported sales were up £4.4 Million on last year and experian themselves said that, "consumers were making the most of this year's final few shopping days" (Christmas eve, BBC website), now experian are telling us before Christmas that footfall was slower paced - it doesn't sound like experian know what they are talking about to me!
5. BBC reports "Millions spent on Christmas eve shopping!" - they based the entire story on Sainsbury's credit card staff telling them that 19% of the adult population of the UK intended to shop on Christmas eve, "More than 13m people were expected to do Christmas Eve shopping, spending the equivalent of £57m an hour" - for starters their sums are wrong, if 19% of the adult population is equal to 13 Million people, then the population of the UK would be a fraction under 70 Million, which it is not.
   Secondly, I am amazed that Sainsbury's credit cards can speak for any one of their customers, about what they will do in the future.
   I'm assuming here that Sainsbury's credit card have 13 Million customer's on their books, as they speak about this number with great authority?
   Of course, they do not have 13 Million customers on their books - MBNA credit cards are the biggest credit card in the UK, having around 7 Million customers - blowing Sainsbury's out of the proverbial water.

Why the BBC and others in the media continue to peddle these non stories, is anyone's guess. They are not based on fact, they are based on nothing more than vague guessing and opinions of self proclaimed "experts" - who have a vested interest in growing their business and making more profits.
How many more, vested interest stories are we all being fed by the media?

Do you rent any appliances?
A few people I know rent washing machines, tumble dryers, TV and freeview recorder boxes, etc. (I rent my TV/recorder box equipment)

Did you know for the price of a phone call, you can reduce the monthly cost of these at least twice a year?

Every 6 months or so, I ring up my rental company and get them to check on the list prices of my rental equipment, more often than not, the prices have fallen by around £4 a month, so my prices are reduced and I pay less.
Doesn't sound much I agree, but that £4 a month equals £48 a year extra in my family's pocket per year!

That's almost half my TV license, two and a half weeks free fresh meat from our farmer butcher, almost 4 weeks free fruit and veg, a months free milk from our local farmer milkman, etc.
The rental companies do not get many people phoning them up asking for a price check for existing customers, so make good profits off their customers.
Little victories = big savings!