What's the crappest thing you've had to spend money on?

[rico]

Council Tax

[Bellend Sebastian]

27 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

In this vein this christmas. Boiler packed up on the 17th of December. Part of the "British Gas care plan" which we pay some £23/month for to cover this crappy old boiler. Rang them on the 17th, first appointment 24th. Clear everything for the 24th, get a phone call at 11am to tell us they can't make it. Next available appointment is 18 days away. Talk about waste of money.

 

28th today still no heating or hot water. Luckily it's just me and the missus and it's been a mild as hell winter so we've made do. Hate to think what some old folk must be going through with shite service like that from (one of?) the biggest providers.

My plumber's biased I'm sure but he's always told me to put the money aside for the next boiler rather than pay for insurance, which would be a great plan if I didn't piss it away on something else.

 

That's about as long as my mate had to wait for his regular plumber when his packed in last winter.  It was b*stard freezing at the time but at least he's got a wood burner

 

 

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, Wolfox said:

£570 repair to my cooker 4 days before Christmas 

To FIX it? How much did it cost?

[SpacedX]

£70 charge by UPS on a 3kg parcel from Germany under the guise of VAT, customs duty and 'brokerage' - over a third of the outright cost of the goods. If you don't pay, the driver it instructed not to deliver, if you query it they are unable to offer an explanation. 

[Alf Bentley]

Divorce lawyer: £20 + VAT per 6 minutes - or £200 + VAT per hour, if you prefer (and this was 4-5 years ago).

 

I'm not sure which grated more.....

- The bit at meetings where, very - very - slowly, he read out every single word of every document so as to take absolutely ages and to maximise his fee

- The bit where he charged more than £50 for a 1-line email confirming receipt of a message: £20 + VAT for reading my email and £20 + VAT for replying "I confirm receipt of your email of 3rd June". 

[Buce]

19 minutes ago, Line-X said:

£70 charge by UPS on a 3kg parcel from Germany under the guise of VAT, customs duty and 'brokerage' - over a third of the outright cost of the goods. If you don't pay, the driver it instructed not to deliver, if you query it they are unable to offer an explanation. 

 

#Takingbackcontrol

[dsr-burnley]

New roof on my house.  Over £7k, and what's worse, it hadn't even been there 200 years and my builder won't promise this one will last 200 years either.  

[BKLFox]

2 hours ago, Wolfox said:

£570 repair to my cooker 4 days before Christmas 

I had a very similar experience 2yrs ago, a few of the touch screen buttons had stopped working typically 1 of the most used as it controlled the fan.

I got a company round the engineer took it a part and showed me the issue, which was just the small plastic clips securing the motherboard to the touch plates had snapped but it meant replacing the actual motherboard despite having no problem itself due to the clips being part of the bracket the board was fixed in.

It was 1 of those companies where the engineer did the job and rings in to say what the issue was, a part was ordered with next day fitting I still didn’t know how much it would be, next day after fitting and engineer left I get an invoice for £280 was not happy.

 

Weighing up the problem and cost of new oven I rang the company and said no thanks get the guy back and take the new part back (I had kept the old board) which they did and charged me a £30 labour cost only.

I then used the knowledge passed on by the engineer to just put the old board back on and secure it in place by gluing some matchsticks against the plastic points where the old clips had been & job done, I just couldn’t believe the initial cost for such a simple fix all be it a work around as the brackets don’t come separately.

Its gone on a few other buttons since but same issue which I knew how to fix so in the end £30 well spent.

 

[Buce]

 

Toilet tissue.

 

Seriously, you work out how much you'll spend in a lifetime of wiping shit.

[BKLFox]

1 hour ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

My plumber's biased I'm sure but he's always told me to put the money aside for the next boiler rather than pay for insurance, which would be a great plan if I didn't piss it away on something else.

 

That's about as long as my mate had to wait for his regular plumber when his packed in last winter.  It was b*stard freezing at the time but at least he's got a wood burner

 

 

Same with pet insurance, £30+ per month then once pet 9yrs old insurance quadruples although this is reduced via compare sites but still, and then there’s no guarantee they cover what your pet suffers from like all insurance companies it’s about trying to get out of paying than just pay.

So £30+ for 9yrs and not a single need to use, thankfully, then larger monthly cost now she is 9 let’s say £50 for another 8yrs that’s best part £10k ,more likely more, over her lifetime just in insurance which probably / hopefully won’t be needed but paid.

 

 

[Wolfox]

33 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

I had a very similar experience 2yrs ago, a few of the touch screen buttons had stopped working typically 1 of the most used as it controlled the fan.

I got a company round the engineer took it a part and showed me the issue, which was just the small plastic clips securing the motherboard to the touch plates had snapped but it meant replacing the actual motherboard despite having no problem itself due to the clips being part of the bracket the board was fixed in.

It was 1 of those companies where the engineer did the job and rings in to say what the issue was, a part was ordered with next day fitting I still didn’t know how much it would be, next day after fitting and engineer left I get an invoice for £280 was not happy.

 

Weighing up the problem and cost of new oven I rang the company and said no thanks get the guy back and take the new part back (I had kept the old board) which they did and charged me a £30 labour cost only.

I then used the knowledge passed on by the engineer to just put the old board back on and secure it in place by gluing some matchsticks against the plastic points where the old clips had been & job done, I just couldn’t believe the initial cost for such a simple fix all be it a work around as the brackets don’t come separately.

Its gone on a few other buttons since but same issue which I knew how to fix so in the end £30 well spent.

 

 

All 5 elements had gone as it had got damp into it (I am doing renovations)…. I could have shopped about, but, even on eBay each element was around £80 each and I was desperate to get it working just before Xmas…. So, took it on the chin and it should be good for years to come now as it has now other modern fandangled bits to go wrong 
 

2 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

To FIX it? How much did it cost?

More than that…. It’s a range cooker thing with two ovens…. Came in handy Christmas Day!

[whoareyaaa]

How long we got?

[FoxesDeb]

47 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

Toilet tissue.

 

Seriously, you work out how much you'll spend in a lifetime of wiping shit.

Get a bidet and you'll never look back, literally. 

[Otis]

2 hours ago, Line-X said:

£70 charge by UPS on a 3kg parcel from Germany under the guise of VAT, customs duty and 'brokerage' - over a third of the outright cost of the goods. If you don't pay, the driver it instructed not to deliver, if you query it they are unable to offer an explanation. 

VAT at 20 %

Duty? Ask to see the commercial invoice to see the tariff code.  Probably be zero % as per the European trade agreement. 

Then the brokerage charge £10 ish & that will have VAT.

So sounds about right.

[FoxesDeb]

2 hours ago, Line-X said:

£70 charge by UPS on a 3kg parcel from Germany under the guise of VAT, customs duty and 'brokerage' - over a third of the outright cost of the goods. If you don't pay, the driver it instructed not to deliver, if you query it they are unable to offer an explanation. 

This is the problem we have with ordering things from the UK now, it's just not worth it. We get charged import duty, customs charges and handling fees, it is often far more than the value of the item. Everything we order now is from within the EU, as at least then the price we see is the price we'll pay. 

[BKLFox]

1 hour ago, Wolfox said:

 

All 5 elements had gone as it had got damp into it (I am doing renovations)…. I could have shopped about, but, even on eBay each element was around £80 each and I was desperate to get it working just before Xmas…. So, took it on the chin and it should be good for years to come now as it has now other modern fandangled bits to go wrong 
 

More than that…. It’s a range cooker thing with two ovens…. Came in handy Christmas Day!

I feel ya pain, me mate has a smeg range oven and just to replace a gas hob ring, just the bit the pan sat on was £80-100 but yeah lovely cooker mind as I’m fighting for turkey space in my single oven 😖 

[surrifox]

COVID tests and paperwork for a short trip to the states in January ( given that I’m  fully vaxxed and also signed up to a COVID survey with PCR testing every 3 weeks )

[orangecity23]

5 hours ago, Nalis said:

I see your solicitor fees and raise with estate agent fees.

 

Estate agent fees are usually far more expensive with little to no liability whereas solicitors are the ones who take all the risk and can be sued if things go wrong while accepting a fraction of the fee.  Apart from pictures, placing ads and chasing solicitors when pushed by buyers and sellers, I struggle to see what estate agents actually do to earn the commission they get.

 

Granted there are crap and/or overworked solicitors out there but estate agents have by far the easiest yet most profitable ride in the whole conveyancing process. Believe or not but the profit margins for solicitors are incredibly small for the work put in compared to other areas of law.

 

Overall though the whole process is way too expensive all round for consumers and needs a total revamp.

One house I lived a few years back in with a friend, when we went to rent it one of the (many) fees at the start was an "inventory fee" - that they charged per applicant. It's the same list of stuff that is in the (UNFIRNISHED) house, why is it charged per person? Reason given: "err, well, err, you see, err, it just is". Grasping scum. Was very pleased to see that particular estate/letting agents had gone out of business.

 

When I've taken over the world as the new benign dictator, they'll all be going in the gulag - it'll be easy too. I'll just ring them up to get a valuation for the gulag, and their little eyes will be lighting up as they think of the commission as the door slowly shuts behind on them

[grobyfox1990]

The £1.50 admin charge they put on when you buy away tickets. I do the buying and only get £30 ticket cost back in return from those who owe me

[Parafox]

7 hours ago, Izzy said:

Around 4 grand on intensive therapy for my daughters OCD and Borderline Personality Disorder which has made fvck all difference.

Sorry pal.

Those of that have kids with such issues are prepared to go to any lengths to help them which, in turn, helps us too. We've tried a number of things over the years if/when our daughter would accept intervention, which has been rare. Nothing apart from prescribed meds (including the most dangerous, Lithium, which she took an overdose on) made any difference.

[Parafox]

5 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

Divorce lawyer: £20 + VAT per 6 minutes - or £200 + VAT per hour, if you prefer (and this was 4-5 years ago).

 

I'm not sure which grated more.....

- The bit at meetings where, very - very - slowly, he read out every single word of every document so as to take absolutely ages and to maximise his fee

- The bit where he charged more than £50 for a 1-line email confirming receipt of a message: £20 + VAT for reading my email and £20 + VAT for replying "I confirm receipt of your email of 3rd June". 

I sometimes wonder if solicitors operate within a cartel.

[Parafox]

3 hours ago, BKLFox said:

Same with pet insurance, £30+ per month then once pet 9yrs old insurance quadruples although this is reduced via compare sites but still, and then there’s no guarantee they cover what your pet suffers from like all insurance companies it’s about trying to get out of paying than just pay.

So £30+ for 9yrs and not a single need to use, thankfully, then larger monthly cost now she is 9 let’s say £50 for another 8yrs that’s best part £10k ,more likely more, over her lifetime just in insurance which probably / hopefully won’t be needed but paid.

 

 

Our cat recently had to have both upper incisors removed due to infection. The vet's bill came to £1050!! Included in that was anaesthetic, the op, x-rays and post op care. The post op meds needed came to another £80. I still think that's less than pet insurance would have cost but when it all comes in one big hit... ouch.

It's a bit like HP. Spread the cost but it is ultimately more expensive than a one off payment.

 

[Parafox]

3 hours ago, FoxesDeb said:

Get a bidet and you'll never look back, literally. 

I don't like the idea of washing off my shit in a sink

[BKLFox]

2 minutes ago, Parafox said:

Our cat recently had to have both upper incisors removed due to infection. The vet's bill came to £1050!! Included in that was anaesthetic, the op, x-rays and post op care. The post op meds needed came to another £80. I still think that's less than pet insurance would have cost but when it all comes in one big hit... ouch.

It's a bit like HP. Spread the cost but it is ultimately more expensive than a one off payment.

 

Yep ouch if needed and you take the chance of no insurance although the idea was to try and put that insurance money aside for any pet issues but we know that would be seen as a fair game slush fund 😂 

Hope the puss is back on form now Para 👍 

[yorkie1999]

4 hours ago, BKLFox said:

I had a very similar experience 2yrs ago, a few of the touch screen buttons had stopped working typically 1 of the most used as it controlled the fan.

I got a company round the engineer took it a part and showed me the issue, which was just the small plastic clips securing the motherboard to the touch plates had snapped but it meant replacing the actual motherboard despite having no problem itself due to the clips being part of the bracket the board was fixed in.

It was 1 of those companies where the engineer did the job and rings in to say what the issue was, a part was ordered with next day fitting I still didn’t know how much it would be, next day after fitting and engineer left I get an invoice for £280 was not happy.

 

Weighing up the problem and cost of new oven I rang the company and said no thanks get the guy back and take the new part back (I had kept the old board) which they did and charged me a £30 labour cost only.

I then used the knowledge passed on by the engineer to just put the old board back on and secure it in place by gluing some matchsticks against the plastic points where the old clips had been & job done, I just couldn’t believe the initial cost for such a simple fix all be it a work around as the brackets don’t come separately.

Its gone on a few other buttons since but same issue which I knew how to fix so in the end £30 well spent.

 

But you didn’t know how to fix it before the engineer came round, you’re basically paying for his knowledge.