Please let me know which companies have not passed on the new lower VAT

retsil

DaveF327 wrote: »

MAPLIN ELECTRONICS are VAT scrooges too.

Checking the pre-VAT price in the catalogue, I was hoping to save about £1 on my purchases when VAT was added, but at the till the assistant rung up the old full price.

When I queried it and asked if they'd put the prices up to keep the same post-VAT price, he flatly denied it and told me some c0ck-and-bull story about Maplin only reducing the prices of the really expensive gear costing hundreds. His exact words, "for the cheaper stuff where you'd only be saving pennies, we haven't made any adjustments."

Pennies, my @rse.. it was nearly a pound and every pound makes a difference to me. :mad:

Having denied the increase in price, I asked them how they'd kept the price the same and whether they're still somehow charging the old 17.5%. He referred me to his equally clueless colleague who said they were.

I told them to give me the VAT receipt and I'd take it up with Revenue and Customs. The receipt showed the correct VAT rate at 15% and the ex-VAT price was higher than in their published catalogue.

I won't be shopping at Maplin again.

Small minded people like you really get my goat. :mad:

Take a store like Maplin that stocks more products than I'd care to count and work out the cost to that business to re-ticket every store in it's chain and then the man hours to do that work, now go figure why they choose not to adjust their actual retail prices.

If it keeps people in a job and stops companies going under then not passing on VAT cuts makes perfect sense to me. With most stores posting like for like results down by 1-8% this quarter anything extra would be a bonus.

If I had my own retail business I'd rather keep the VAT increase to myself, knowing that the extra revenue could go to paying my staff more (so they could spend/save more) when it comes round to the yearly payrise, or I could bank the cash and make sure my cash flow doesn't go tits up during the credit crunch and it all ends up a bit like Woolworths!

Rant over.

3XsAlady

£STRETCHER are refusing to pass on the new rate.

kazzieg

Au naturelle too.
Just bought two baskets to make xmas hampers in said £7 each on the tags and went through the till at £7 each.

keith99_2

retsil wrote: »

Small minded people like you really get my goat. :mad:

Take a store like Maplin that stocks more products than I'd care to count and work out the cost to that business to re-ticket every store in it's chain and then the man hours to do that work, now go figure why they choose not to adjust their actual retail prices.

If it keeps people in a job and stops companies going under then not passing on VAT cuts makes perfect sense to me. With most stores posting like for like results down by 1-8% this quarter anything extra would be a bonus.

If I had my own retail business I'd rather keep the VAT increase to myself, knowing that the extra revenue could go to paying my staff more (so they could spend/save more) when it comes round to the yearly payrise, or I could bank the cash and make sure my cash flow doesn't go tits up during the credit crunch and it all ends up a bit like Woolworths!

Rant over.

And what gets my goat is people who back companies that dont pass it on by using the rubbish about it keeping people in a job. A 2.5% VAT reduction is not going to save any jobs. Get real.
If some companies (big and small) can do it, they all can. Its not about ticketing, its all about the adjusted price in the till.

By the way, its taken you 2 years to make a post and the the first thing you do is be rude to a poster, and you call the poster small minded!

DaveF327

retsil wrote: »

Small minded people like you really get my goat. :mad:

Take a store like Maplin that stocks more products than I'd care to count and work out the cost to that business to re-ticket every store in it's chain and then the man hours to do that work, now go figure why they choose not to adjust their actual retail prices.

I'll overlook the personal insult on this occasion.

If you bothered to read my post properly, you'll see that the catalogue prices were already pre-VAT. There would be no need to re-ticket every single item. Every price in most big stores are on a database which is called up by the barcode scanner, then the VAT is added at the end.

Rather than simply changing the VAT rate or programming the tills to perform a simple arithmetical adjustment, it appears that Maplin actually went to the trouble of adding the OLD VAT, removing the NEW VAT, recalculating the net price, then re-adding the new VAT again to show the price hasn't changed. Surely this has caused somebody more work than simply changing the VAT rate on all the tills and saving us some money.

That's only part of the problem, my biggest gripe was what the cocky sales assistants had been programmed to say, which was totally inaccurate to say the least. If they had admitted their policy, I would have accepted it and just on with things.

Finally, the whole point of this thread was to name the companies who haven't passed on the VAT saving. My post was only in the spirit of the thread. Besides, isn't this whole site about money saving?. If it really bothers you that much, please read another thread.

retsil

keith99 wrote: »

And what gets my goat is people who back companies that dont pass it on by using the rubbish about it keeping people in a job. A 2.5% VAT reduction is not going to save any jobs. Get real.
If some companies (big and small) can do it, they all can. Its not about ticketing, its all about the adjusted price in the till.

By the way, its taken you 2 years to make a post and the the first thing you do is be rude to a poster, and you call the poster small minded!

So you'd not want a 2.5% payrise this year cause it's not going to make any difference???

It's not the VAT reduction that'll save jobs, it's the ex-vat price increase to counter the VAT reduction that will enable any retailer to make more revenue, thus protectiong jobs.

It's alright having a money saving website and I'm all for saving a few quid, but if paying the same price for an item as before the VAT reduction came in to effect can help any retailer avoid getting into trouble, i'd rather not have the extra 2.5p per pound!

Oh and I'm sorry for making my first ever post! It's nice to have a friendly welcome!

FairyElephant_2

VIRGIN MEDIA do not appear to have done so, if our latest bill is anything to go by....

But on the plus side, we booked a boating holiday with ANGLO WELSH WATERWAY HOLIDAYS back in Oct, for next Easter, and they just sent us a lovely letter telling us that our holiday cost has been reduced due to the VAT cut - so WELL DONE TO THEM!

retsil

DaveF327 wrote: »

I'll overlook the personal insult on this occasion.

If you bothered to read my post properly, you'll see that the catalogue prices were already pre-VAT. There would be no need to re-ticket every single item. Every price in most big stores are on a database which is called up by the barcode scanner, then the VAT is added at the end.

Rather than simply changing the VAT rate or programming the tills to perform a simple arithmetical adjustment, it appears that Maplin actually went to the trouble of adding the OLD VAT, removing the NEW VAT, recalculating the net price, then re-adding the new VAT again to show the price hasn't changed. Surely this has caused somebody more work than simply changing the VAT rate on all the tills and saving us some money.

That's only part of the problem, my biggest gripe was what the cocky sales assistants had been programmed to say, which was totally inaccurate to say the least. If they had admitted their policy, I would have accepted it and just on with things.

Finally, the whole point of this thread was to name the companies who haven't passed on the VAT saving. My post was only in the spirit of the thread. Besides, isn't this whole site about money saving?. If it really bothers you that much, please read another thread.

Thanks for overlooking the personal insult, i'll sleeply soundly tonight.

DaveF327

Virgin Mobile haven't passed on the VAT reduction either.

Just had my December bill which has totalled up the call and text charges which are itemised as inclusive of VAT and are still the same as they ever were.

Dustangle

DaveF327 wrote: »

I'll overlook the personal insult on this occasion.

Out of interest, what would have happened if you hadn't overlooked the personal insult? We need to know!