MSE News: MoneySaving at its most extreme

Slinky

Bitsy_Beans wrote: »

So you did all read this important bit at the bottom of the article "Methods are not necessarily endorsed by MoneySavingExpert.com."
It's a news article not a how-to on ethical money saving.

Yes I read that. I still don't think it should have been included.

Reaper

bylromarha wrote: »

Article should be renamed "MoneySaving by lying".

Gift card, drinks into concerts and gym membership all obtained by deceit. Using the word pretending doesn't make it less of a lie.

I agree. If it's OK to scam shops does the same go for individuals? If so shouldn't those who trick OAPs out of their savings be included in the list? I can put forward some cowboy builders.

edinburgher

Here comes the bride: jacand and her husband wangled a £50 gift card for about-to-be-wedded couples from a major department store by pretending to be planning their wedding, when they were already married.

The worst sort of British people - out for what they can get (even if it involves actively lying to get it).

Distinct lack of ethical integrity with some of the content on MSE of late.

john_s_2

I was shocked to read this article - condoning lying and arguably fraud. I don't give a hoot that the article isn't necessarily endorsed by MSE. It appears on their main news section - in my book that's endorsing it. They can use that excuse for stuff that gets posted on here, but not on their official news stories.

I'm pleased to see I'm not alone in feeling like this. Hopefully this article will be pulled sooner rather than later. Or at least, edited.

ceridwen

Unfortunately - there are a noticeable number of people subscribed to MSE who dont care (at least not very much....) about ethics when it comes to moneysaving.

Witness the large responses from people when it came to a recent thing about Tesc* mistakenly charging the level of price reduction as the price for the goods (or summat along those lines anyway) at the checkout. Loads of people knew perfectly well it wasnt ethical to take advantage of this - but did so anyway....

I could go into a LONG list of various things that many MSE subscribers (AND others) do to save money and/or make money that arent very ethical - but I'd be here till midnight listing them all....:(

HariboJunkie

I think if MSE have put a disclaimer in then fair enough.

I read lots of posts on here that shock me and ethics is a minefield anyway. Who decides what is ethical and what isn't? Where do you draw the line?

Just the other day I saw a post which recommended that another poster lure an animal to it's death to shut it up . She clearly thought that that was acceptable and perfectly ethical by her standards.

MJDAWSON

I guess this is also linked to comping. Do I like companies on facebook and share their page because I'm interested in bettering their company? No, I want the prize, and If i dont win I unlike their facebook page.

If people want to chuck good stuff out and in skips and let other have it sure!

If a department store is willing to give away a £50 voucher then the means behind obtaining the voucher are fine. It's not as if its stolen!

Ida_Notion

The £50 thing doesn't bother me, mostly because I find it hard to believe that in this day and age a company is really serious in discriminating between couples who are planning to marry, couples who are already married and couples who are unwed and content to stay that way. It genuinely seems ludicrous to me to launch a promotional attempt to attract the custom of a minority when the same campaign can attract the attention of all, and I'm not sure why the company wouldn't see it the same way. I do have lines of my own that I won't cross though - it's always felt kind of cheap to me to 'like' a company on Facebook just for the sake of a competition and so I don't do it, probably because I keep my 'friends' list to people I really know and care about and would hate to think they took these 'likes' as personal recommendations. I have nothing against the people that do do it though - I know of at least one of my cherished Facebook friends who is probably hitting 'Like' right now as if it's going out of fashion As has been pointed out, everyone has different limits.

To be truthful, what does bother me a bit about the article is that the discussion linked to it was posted in the Old Style forum rather than somewhere like The Arms. It seems as misplaced to me as it seems ill-advised to other people. I doubt my granny worried much about scoring herself cheap gym membership, and I've always thought of Old Style as more about common sense than about extremism.

Bitsy_Beans

ceridwen wrote: »

Unfortunately - there are a noticeable number of people subscribed to MSE who dont care (at least not very much....) about ethics when it comes to moneysaving.

Witness the large responses from people when it came to a recent thing about Tesc* mistakenly charging the level of price reduction as the price for the goods (or summat along those lines anyway) at the checkout. Loads of people knew perfectly well it wasnt ethical to take advantage of this - but did so anyway....

I could go into a LONG list of various things that many MSE subscribers (AND others) do to save money and/or make money that arent very ethical - but I'd be here till midnight listing them all....:(

Given the way Tesco run their company I suspect people felt they are fair game. Of course you'll no doubt suggest that two wrongs don't make a right BUT that's the reality of it. People would take advantage of a huge store like Tesco but how many would do the same of their local little corner shop. Not many because it would put them out of business. However this price glitches are not even a dent in the vast profits of Tesco.
Personally I think ethics is down to your own conscience and that differs for every man.

The_Enforcer

I think ideas like these would have been more appropriate for the article:

1. Re-use teabags - a washing line of them pegged up drying out in the kitchen.

2. Cheap wedding cake - use cardboard from toilet rolls wrapped in tin foil to build the supports between tiers.

3. When dungarees wear out at the knees - start wearing them back to front.

4. Check energy-saving applicances work - turn off everything else and have one person monitor the meter output when the appliance (e.g. new kettle) is switched on.