Rip-off Britain
February 11th, 2008 by 
gddik
Rip-off Britain - Not a new allegation, I know, but the ante seems to be being upped again just now, very subtly.
The social scene in most towns these days seems to be pretty vibrant. Even on a mid-week evening in the middle of winter, pubs and bars seem to be doing a roaring trade.
If I go to any of these dens of iniquity, other than in my home village, I have to drive, and so I drink non-alcoholic beverages, usually diet coke or similar health-bestowing elixirs. Most of them half fill the glass with ice before the drink goes in, so you end up getting about a thimble-full of the drink you’ve ordered, for which you are then charged a king’s ransom - over £2 isn’t uncommon. I try to remember to ask for no ice, but sometimes I forget…
Value for money? Not in my book.
I’ve just bought a new DVD rewriter for my PC to replace the one that I stupidly wrecked last week (don’t ask…). The drive itself was cheap enough, but, predictably perhaps, it didn’t work. It seems I need an 80-pin IDE cable to replace the old 40-pin job that I have now. Onto the web go I, and locate a suitable cable - a bargain at only 80-odd pence each. “I’ll go nuts, and buy two, so that I can improve my hard-discs’ performance too”, I think to myself. They’re cheap enough. I place the order, only to discover that I’ve been charged £11.69 - yes, £11.69 - for delivery. Not “same-day, gift-wrapped in gold-leaf, by Keira Knightly in person” delivery. No, it’s the “2-5 working days, second-class post, in-a-standard-Jiffy-bag-if-I’m-lucky” delivery.
Cunningly, their delivery charges aren’t detailed in the shopping cart bit of the order process. You only find that out after the order is placed. They’re taking the mickey; their order-confirming e-mail concludes with “Thanks again for your order. Please visit us again.” I don’t think so…
I do like a good film every now and again. It’s even better, somehow, if I have some good old-fashioned popcorn to accompany the flick. Not at today’s prices, though. It won’t be long before the comestibles counter at the average cinema has a financial advisor offering mortgage facilities to potential buyers. They’ll have specially-small tubs of popcorn for first-time buyers, too.
They usually have the nerve to display a sign declaring that it’s against house rules to take your own food and drinks in. Stuff that - if they’re going to try and rob me, I have very little guilt about taking my own stuff in. (I’m a rebel, me.)
Haven’t they twigged that if they charged reasonable prices for the same stuff that you can get in the nearest Tesco, people might actually just buy it without smuggling it in?
These are just a few examples, of course, but the list goes on and on. We really do get taken for mugs in this country.
Posted in Stream of Semi-Consciousness | 
2 consumers were consumed with rage
