Sometimes I really want to swear LOUDLY!

General Discussion
1

Just returned from a rare trip to the old country. I took my new old car - a Volvo V70 so had plenty of room to bring stuff back. Trouble is, I've been here long enough to have just about all I need but I am a bit like a magpie, or a woman with her lover's wallet & can be drawn to buy things "because they are there".


Finding myself lost in Bournemouth with a non funcioning satnav on my phone I elected to buy a map. However, a map requires you to stop in order to read it, an impossible action on the city's busy roads so I eventually found a shop selling second hand goods (I think the correct expression is "fencing"). An old Tom-Tom was bought for £19. While I was there I asked about a sound bar for my TV as the little speakers provided with it do not really work very well. I was shown a system hooked up to a 42 inch plasma 3D TV - mine for £340! It did look good but could I do better?


Some research on the internet soon gave me some answers. It seems that plasma is on the way out & led TV quality today is very good. I decided against 3D as I don't watch TV enough, but HD would be nice.


A quick search online produced a Bush 50 inch TV - 50/211f - for £329! Wow, I thought, thats cheaper than the used 42 inch & will be huge! I could not find anything cheaper new which did not also involve a trip north but I could find plenty that offered the same for more money! My mind made up, I visited Argos. Overnight the price had risen to £349. Time for some more research.


Currys/PC world, Asda, Tesco et al were all visited & had no 50 inch TVs that cheap. A quick look online at BUT & Leclerc also showed nothing as cheap. I know!, I shall buy two & sell one when I get home!


The problem with these spur of the moment ideas is that one does not always factor in all the facts, such as the cost of buying pounds at the Post Office. I was given a rate of 1.44 to the pound, no mask or gun, making these TVs just over 500 euros each, around the price of the cheaper TVs here. However, these are fairly good quality items for the price so I'm sure somebody will buy one, still sealed in its box.


With this in mind I posted an advert on a local network with a price of 495 euros. It wasn't long before a reply came in asking for the model number. This would help a potential buyer to look the TV up online & see the specifications so i duly replied.


When you google the TV all the details naturally come up on Argos' website, including the price so the next email informed me that these are only £349 in Argos, or 436 euros. My response was perhaps a little harsh, pointing out that a visit to Argos might add a few quid to the overall cost as would using a bureau de change rather than the general bank rate figure. Then someone else let me know that they had bought a similar sized TV in Angouleme for 469 euros. What can you say? You know that they are not trying to help so what IS the purpose of these sort of replies?


There are a few TVs of a similar size that are a bit cheaper & there are more than a few that are more expensive, too. This is true for almost everything!! I DON'T BLOODY CARE! If you don't want to buy the thing don't respond to the advert! Is this a troll thing? I quite often see cars being offered for sale at well above my idea of their value, sometimes for months, & I'm sure that the seller will figure out the reason for the lack of a sale without any sarcastic comments from me!


As it happens I have just sold the TV to someone who knows exactly what he is buying - a Sky installer!

2

I am one who knows the proverbial two things about technology - nothing and bugger-all!

Typically and elsewhere I put on my status (why?) that I was looking for advice about putting a seriously non-tech TV set-up in my studio, wher I have now set up a small but cosy hideaway from SWBO, apart from a place to do my paintings and pretend I am an 'artist'. At my age, I find that if there is a not a place to rest my head within a few paces in the afternoon, I am usually to be found asleep at the computer. I am not at all sure the wife isn't a bit peeved to find I am still alive when she sees me thus arranged. Hey-ho, one day she will get lucky as I keep telling her!

So a friend has been telling me about FreeSat, Freeview etc., which I duly looked up and didn't understand a word, except 'free' seems to cover anything between '€50-€200' which seems a bit against the Trade Descriptions Act, but then again what isn't these days?

I want really to watch more sport - notably Rugby which has been hijacked here by Canal+, but I rather suspect the same applies in the UK with Sky? Otherwise I will buy a smaller version Le Bon Coin TV and simply attach my VHS and DVD players and live with the library I have. I do know that we can get Internationals here in France via Orange (Barbarians v Australia this afternoon on Channel 21 if anyone is interested, and USA v New Zealand at 20.45 for those who enjoy massacres).

Any and all advice would be appreciated. I don't want a Home Cinema, and a 50 inch screen seems a bit excessive to me but I have worked it out that a 50cm one would be about right in the space. (see pic).

The TV would go on the white shelf unit.

3

This is what I am finding out, Doreen!

Fortunately there are a few of us who don't think that way & I can take a little comfort in that those who do miss out on the odd bargain.

I do disagree with you on what qualifies as secondhand, though. To me a secondhand item is one which as been used - even once. If a product is still sealed in its box a shop will allow it to be returned for a refund knowing that it can be resold as new. Otherwise we would never be allowed to return goods bought in error.

4

People buy goods in the UK for others who live here so in theory having agreed to do the favour I would not then expect to be told that, despite laying out the money, taking time out of my precious schedule, increasing my work load, fuel consumption & wear & tear on the car, to be told that the requested item is now second hand & not worth what I paid for it!

I know that in this instance I pre empted a request but a bargain is a bargain & I would not be looking the gift horse in the mouth. Using your thinking, Doreen , everything you buy from abroad must therefore be secondhand - Amazon purchases, Ebay items, gifts sent to you by friends etc.

I get your point about warranty issues but I have the receipt & the warranty card is still inside so it is only the distance to return the goods which would be an issue. I would have the same problem with mine (I bought 2) but with modern TVs being generally reliable it is a chance I am prepared to make & with similar TVs costing almost twice as much here it is still a bargain.

Compare the price with similar goods here, not in the UK & then decide. Just look at the price of Heinz Beans. I could sell my supply for a euro a can, much cheaper than Intermarche but much more than the 38p they cost in the UK. Given the choice, where would you buy from?

5

That's a shame, My husband said had we known, we would have been straight up to collect it from you at the price you wanted. Don't understand why people would quibble at the price you wanted. After all you still can't really get them here at that price generally and we know, we have looked for ages now AND you paid for the transport. More than a fair deal I would have said.

6

And that's just one TV, imagine having stock and being a shop, the internet whilst being good can also be a curse to small retailers. Oh of course the lowest cost still means buyers expect the service offered by more expensive sellers. Really tough market. I get products offered to me by major swimming pool wholesalers but sometimes I can buy retail cheaper than they can supply so only placing a huge order will get them lower cost but I don't have the space or desire to have 24 tons of something sitting around for a while.

7

Wise move!

8

No, Jane, it wasn't. It seems that even when you are just trying to give someone else an opportunity to benefit from cheaper prices there is someone who is convinced that you are only doing it for reward.

Next time I come back with room in my car to bring something large back it will remain empty & some other person can sod about filling their car!

9

Was it really worth it?