Great Isn’t it Obvious MoneySaving Hunt: Tell us the secrets you didn't know you had

gillette147

Ferris wrote: »

i hope it goes smoothly for you! unfortunately, the problem is, often the companies do not even pay attention to their own t&c's, so you may well have to be tenacious. i sometimes think the hassle isn't worth it. that's the only reason i posted - they can be good moneysaving, but if you end up having to spend days on the phone and worrying about when your cashback is going to arrive then it can prove to be a false economy in the long run, especially if your budget is such that you simply couldn't afford the deal without the cashback. but i'm sure you'll be fine

may i ask which retailer you went with?

It depends on how much you value your time.

She WILL have to spend 30mins eaxh cashback time to get the money...guarantee it. So 4 x 30mins....2hrs.....to save £360.
So £180 p/hr........

How much do you earn at work per hour?
So......is it worth the hassle?

Ferris

gillette147 wrote: »

It depends on how much you value your time.

She WILL have to spend 30mins eaxh cashback time to get the money...guarantee it. So 4 x 30mins....2hrs.....to save £360.
So £180 p/hr........

How much do you earn at work per hour?
So......is it worth the hassle?

ha ha, very droll, i'm sure. all i'm saying is, go to the mobile phones forum and read what people HAVE been through, with retailers that are "part of carphone warehouse" as well as smaller retailers (the fact that retailers that are part of cpw are amongst the worst for obfuscation is another issue altogether...). if you do everything to the letter (even when the letter is their letter, and they haven't told you what letter it is), then legally you will get your money in the end, but it more often than not involves considerably more than 30 minutes each time. it is far from "isn't it obvious" moneysaving...

selling this to people like some kind of easy guaranteed bargain in a thread for moneysaving tips, when really it is more of a calculated risk is, i feel, a bit misleading. if someone has never done a cashback deal and makes ONE mistake, for example, then often they will get no more cashback for the rest of the contract. when people are looking to save small amounts using some of the ingenious tips in this thread, taking on £400 of unexpected line rental is not really helpful, especially if they're the sort of people who you took such pains to mock earlier in the thread - those who take care to budget themselves to just £20 in PAYG topups every few months or whatever.

so yeah, £180 an hour seems fair enough, far more than i make. but if/when it gets complicated, you have to deal with call-centre cretins, being told you're an idiot or an illiterate who didn't read the tandc's properly even though they've switched them in the meantime, endless correspondence full of lies, threatening legal action to get your money... well that's hassle some people can probably do without. and if i hadn't done cashback deals before, i certainly wouldn't want it, even for £180 an hour.

can we go back to proper moneysaving now, please? there's a whole forum for talking about cashback deals

Knonie

Mine's_a_guinness wrote: »

My bold. I haven't read the whole of this thread (yet) and apologise for picking on this post in particular, as there were other posts in a similar vein. Although I always try to save money I would never, EVER, think of doing anything like this. It's no different to stealing in my eyes. Why do some people think it's okay to do something at the expense of someone else just to save a few bob? Save money, yes, but please have some morals.

I would hope that members here have enough principles that they would ensure that their managers are aware of what they do rather than blatently taking what clearly isn't their's...

I for one know the consequences of these actions as a very dear friend of mine had the view that resources at work were for her to take and sadly ended up not only being sacked but being prosecuted for theft. She was employed by a smaller business which could not afford the loss. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

BigMummaF

Me muvva still buys bread in a plakkie bag so when she's finished a loaf, saves them for me.

They are used for sandwich &/or freezer bags first then if still sound, are used in a final capacity as doggie doodoo/rubbish bags.

How's that for recycling:p

Sarah.A_4

We get inundated with charity donation bags (about 2 per week). I have tried to give them back to the distributer or to the colections team, but they don't want them back.
I used to just chuck them, but have now started to turn them inside out and use as bin liners for bathroom and bedroom bins.
Feel a bit bad as they are for charity use - but they don't want them back, so I may as well re-cycle them!

muymalestado

Hand / body lotion plastic bottles have a multitude of screw or snap open tops which impede draining out the last drops.

When the bottle is empty stand upright in a warm place to allow the expensive lotion to drain down; cut the bottle about midway up and marvel at how much you were about to throw away. I usually get 4 or 6 days use from whats left.

muymalestado

Toothpaste: when travelling you will want low volume so get a sample tube or similar just for trips / camping, etc. When empty it is easy to refill from a big tube and should be good for 10 refillings, maybe more.

JimmyTheWig

muymalestado wrote: »

Toothpaste ... When empty it is easy to refill from a big tube

Really? How?

Mine's_a_guinness

If you have a freestanding fridge / freezer pull it out periodically and vacuum the back. Ashamed to say I did this for the first time in ages (daren't admit how long but it's a large fridge and difficult to move). There was a (very) large build up of dust on the heat exchange coil and once this was cleaned the fridge started working much more efficiently. Before I had the temperature dial set on 5 and I have now been able to reduce this to 3.

muymalestado

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Really? How?

Put the heads together. Squeeze.