Great 'what costs more for if you're poor?' Hunt revisited

callum9999

egarobar wrote: »

We live in rural Wales, where we are obliged to get in the car to do any kind of shopping (until I get myself a pushbike :j!) - and petrol/diesel costs a lot more than it does in urban areas - so we are double-whammied by this . That is, apart from internet shopping, which usually costs extra because of delivery charges. When we lived in London, we were able to pop down to the corner store (on foot) whenever we felt like it.

The "local" shops - a 40-minute drive away!! - do not have the range of choice and price that shops in cities have; and if I want to visit bigger shops I have to drive further, which again costs more.

We live at the far end of a telephone cable, on an exchange that is still stuck in the 20th Century (no LLU), so we are limited to less than 0.5Mb broadband speeds, and we are not allowed to change supplier from good old BT, who charge the earth. (BTW it took me 3 months of phonecalls and emotional aggro to get BT to provide us with broadband in the first place, some 3 years ago.)

We are unable to get mobile phone signals without climbing to the top of the hill; and Freeview TV is impossible, so I had to buy a satellite dish and go with Freesat, costing £300.

Luckily we're not in the outer Hebrides, and so when I order something on the internet I still only pay the standard UK delivery charge, and we don't pay extra to Royal Mail for deliveries or collection; but whereas most deliveries reach urban dwellers the next day, we're lucky if it's two days for us.

Some wise guy on this thread might say 'all this isn't about being poor', but let me explain - one of the chief reasons we moved here (in 1999) was because we couldn't afford to buy a house anywhere else. I do enjoy the country lifestyle, and I wouldn't (now) want to go back to London, but I object to the penalties superimposed by unfair practices - especially institutionalised ones, like being charged more for petrol because we live further away from the main cities when they know we are more reliant upon it. (That's crazy - one of the main entry ports for fuel into Britain is in West Wales.)

As one person wrote above, it's about limited choice just as much as it is about extra expense. But limiting choice just about comes to the same thing - try asking a starving child in Africa if they would prefer to live anywhere else...

I find it pretty hard to believe that Rural Wales is the cheapest place to live in the country. And you don't have to either stay in rural Wales or move back to London. There are other places in the country...

You CHOSE to isolate yourself in the countryside. You can't then moan that you don't get the benefits that those of us who live in a city get... It's common sense. Petrol is more because they can't sell as much of it as in a city, broadband is slow because a handful of customers isn't enough to fund running fibre or building new exchanges. It's not worth the mobile networks spending loads plastering the countryside in masts for the few people who live there, or for TV companies to do the same with TV masts. You live in the middle of nowhere, of course it takes longer for post to get there...

It has nothing to do with companies and people punishing you - YOU have chosen to live in an area that isn't financially viable for them to offer a decent service, which is YOUR fault... You can't take the benefits of a country lifestyle while moaning they aren't providing you with the benefits of a city lifestyle...

callum9999

umpity wrote: »

If you have to use public ffone to make calls to government big business and have to call 0845 number, you are finished: the machine slurps up your money so fast and you have to feed it so fast you haven't got time to interact with the necessary servic on the other end. this is a tax on the poor and also a waste of time and your/my/our scant resorces. I do not kno the answer to this but i wish i did. British telecom undoubtedly make a lot of money from this legal con-trick. I had a mainline ffone once, and paid Bt a small premium to pay bill by check, but they increased that, i objected and they threatened to take tme to coort (for about £4). They and the other commercial scammers act like corporate robber barons knowing that i will never get the ca £20k i need to bring a suit against them for extortion.

Nothing to do with the poor...

It's not a "con-trick" - they tell you that they will charge you for paying by cheque. There is absolutely nothing about it that "cons" you.

Yes, BT are so evil for threatening you with legal action because you refuse to pay your bill (regardless of the amount)... I'm sure if you were deprived of £4 (a month/quarter presumably?) you would continue lending them money and wouldn't complain at all...

Extortion for what exactly...

Mouseboy007

@umpity (and anyone else really), you might find it's cheaper to save up and buy a mobile phone handset and get a SIM from GiffGaff. 0800 calls are free, GiffGaff to GiffGaff calls are free and if you have an Android based phone you can get free apps that will let you call 0845 numbers for a local rate call which are inclusive in minutes on any package you get OR 10p/min if you don't have a 'goodybag'.

Someone has a Samsung GALAXY Y GT-S5360 phone on eBay for example for £22+£5delivery. So £27 and a few quid for credit on GiffGaff (or similar PAYG Networks) and you'll save the monthly BT Line Rental and/or save money on the expensive 0845 numbers. There may be cheaper handsets, I haven't looked, but it could be a worthwhile consideration.

https://www.giffgaff.com

I know someone earlier said something along the lines of everyone can afford to save £1, but I was seriously in a position a few years back where I really couldn't. If £1 was there I would have used it. I was walking 5miles to work each day and 'borrowing' milk and bread from my girlfriend's mum. Admittedly it was a very short term issue of a few months and I had a car I could have sold instead of not-use, but I sympathise with people for whom every penny counts!

Except for smokers, or people with vices that eat into disposable money. I know it's hard for smokers etc to give up, but you can hardly complain about the expense of things when you make a lifestyle choice that costs £30, £40 + per week..... (I'll await the grumpy replies!)

John_Pierpoint

callum9999 wrote: »

Nothing to do with the poor...

It's not a "con-trick" - they tell you that they will charge you for paying by cheque. There is absolutely nothing about it that "cons" you.

Yes, BT are so evil for threatening you with legal action because you refuse to pay your bill (regardless of the amount)... I'm sure if you were deprived of £4 (a month/quarter presumably?) you would continue lending them money and wouldn't complain at all...

Extortion for what exactly...

That is a bit tough on the "poor".
Poor people are a nuisance, their accounts cost more to manage, certainly on a £ by £ basis.
You won't be able to get the best value bank accounts unless there is something like £1,000 a month going through it.
Similarly BT does not want to provide a vandalised phone box to anyone, but is forced to do so by legislation.
The 0848 rip off is partly a method for our bankrupt government to get modern switchboards installed as someone else's "investment".

The BT woman went apoplectic, when I phoned up to get my late uncle's telephone disconnected. The purchasers of his home wanted to go Virgin cable.

JimmyTheWig

mouseboy007 wrote: »

@umpity (and anyone else really), you might find it's cheaper to save up and buy a mobile phone handset and get a SIM from GiffGaff...

Just to let you know that posting your own affiliate links here is considered spam. I suggest you remove the link before the post gets removed.

callum9999

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

That is a bit tough on the "poor".
Poor people are a nuisance, their accounts cost more to manage, certainly on a £ by £ basis.
You won't be able to get the best value bank accounts unless there is something like £1,000 a month going through it.
Similarly BT does not want to provide a vandalised phone box to anyone, but is forced to do so by legislation.
The 0848 rip off is partly a method for our bankrupt government to get modern switchboards installed as someone else's "investment".

The BT woman went apoplectic, when I phoned up to get my late uncle's telephone disconnected. The purchasers of his home wanted to go Virgin cable.

What exactly is a "best value bank account"? They are all much of a muchness. Poor people can get a fully functioning bank account perfectly fine - it's people who have wrecked their credit reports who can't.

What on earth are you going on about? Your post is just gibberish and I can barely decipher the rest. But hilarious, 0848 (0845???) numbers are a government scam to pay for modern switchboards. Ha!

tattycath

Devonian_Rodders wrote: »

Can be nothing worse than going to Supermarkets with a limited budget, and finding a single item (such as bread) costs £1.25 EACH or TWO for £2:huh: Yes pay 25% more for ONE.
There are other essential items which are priced in the same way.

The solution to the problem is for families of similar means to get together and list their requiurements, have one big shop and share out the benefits. Yes does take time, but when money is tight...............

My experience of shopping comes from childhood days, when I had a list of items to get, each item had a price alongside it, and a total at the bottom. This list included such things as fresh meat (which varied in those days) but whatever I purchased, the total had to add up to the sum of money i was given, AND above all I had to get all items listed.

Something i have never forgotten and i shall be for ever grateful to my late Mum for teaching me how to manage in difficult times.

My mum used to give us a list every saturday morning and 2 of us would go to the local shop with 3 strong re-useable shopping bags and we had to get everything on the list with limited budget given. We also used to take back empty pop bottles-as we got money back on returns.

minicooper272

skivenov wrote: »

If you're in a deprived area, your local cashpoint probably charges, or it costs you to get to a free one.

Car insurance is higher if you're unemployed.

If you can't get a contract phone, Pay as you go is really expensive.

I actually gave up on contract and opted for a gift gaff sim, it's pay as you go, but you can 'top up' goody bags- urge you to look into it as it's only 6p a text it you don't get a goody bag (plus I got about 2 quid cash back when I ordered the sim through cash back site).

I agree with lots of people, it's also very expensive trying to eat when you're skint and single. Shopping at cheaper end supermarkets like Ald1 means you have to buy big bags of veg, costing much less than the same volume in one of the big 4, but you find it really difficult to get through the whole lot in time. But buying individually means you spend almost as much, just don't have the same waste.

John_Pierpoint

callum9999 wrote: »

What exactly is a "best value bank account"? They are all much of a muchness. Poor people can get a fully functioning bank account perfectly fine - it's people who have wrecked their credit reports who can't.

What on earth are you going on about? Your post is just gibberish and I can barely decipher the rest. But hilarious, 0848 (0845???) numbers are a government scam to pay for modern switchboards. Ha!

The BT woman went apoplectic, when I phoned up to get my late uncle's telephone disconnected. The purchasers of his home wanted to go Virgin cable.

For the period of probate, after a previous unfortunate experience with BT, I "forgot" to mention to BT that he had died, according to their rules this is technically fraud, because he was on the "poor pensioners" low cost/low use tariff. I wanted to keep the phone "connected", as it would help any future purchaser.

All bank accounts are the same?
No they are not.
This one pays you £5 a month just for using it.
Its credit card does the same.
The Halifax Reward account pays £100 to switch, then gives a flat £5 each month you deposit £1,000. Yet don’t get this account if you sometimes go overdrawn (even occasionally) as the charges are huge.

The catch is that you have to put £1,000 a month into it (If you have an income of £1,500 a better deal is available).

A poor person might find an extra £10 a month quite useful.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts

On the subject of 0845 numbers, I too noticed the typo but decided not to correct it as I had already been thanked for the posting;)

Here is a video of MPs trying to get to the bottom of why, when I telephone the tax man about a small anomaly in the £100,000 I had recently calculated and collected on his behalf it took 3 days and 5 phone calls to get a half satisfactory explanation.

A tax for calculating tax and paying the tax man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f6zBiWiC7Y

At one point the MPs get close to an explanation.
"Who is getting the 2p a minute?"
"Why can you not give me an undertaking to use low cost numbers in future?"

Well I would not want to pass on "hearsay" - Mc Alpine is hard at work trying to sue every one on the internet.

So do you think it is possible that someone is getting that 2p and they have a contract with HMRC that they will continue to receive the 2p in exchange for services rendered? **

I will leave you to ask the freedom of information questions in an attempt to get to the bottom of government finances.

** What I can tell you is that a lot of GP's have availed themselves of a similar arrangement in exchange for a new electronic switchboard - a tax for using the NHS.

A bit more background stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHqhVSwmdkg

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3794249&highlight=triage

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=43346640&highlight=triage#post43346640

alfielibby

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I don't understand. Plenty of things that people have said (e.g. pre-pay electric meters) are more expensive if you are poor.

I think the point is that the ACTUAL cost of things is the same irrespective of whether the person buying it is rich or poor: it wouldn't matter if you earnt £100 pounds a week or £10000, if you buy pre-pay electric it will be the same price per unit for everyone.

To my knowledge there is no company that bases it's prices on the income of it's customers and charges lower income people more that higher income people for EXACTLY the same service.