Currency symbol scam. How can we stop it?

ian_H_2

Over the years, more and more US companies, are charging the British public, the same prices as the US public, for the exact same product, by simply changing the currency symbol from $ to £. Regardless of the currency exchange at the time, these companies, are making a huge profit from this simple currency symbol change.

For examples (taken off their websites),
• Apple - Their latest flagship phone (the iPhone X) is advertised for $999 on their US website and for the same specification phone in the UK, it is selling for £999.
• Spotify – their premium monthly package in the US is $9.99pm and in the UK for the same package is £9.99pm
• Sanos Speakers – US, Play 1 $199, Play 3 $299, Play 5 $499. UK, Play 1 £199, Play 3 £299 Play 5 £499
• Go-Pro Hero Black 5 – US $399, UK £399

The above, is just a small example of companies and their products.

Take the Spotify Premium package as an example. At todays (28/09/17) exchange rate of £1 = $1.34, a $9.99 premium subscription should equal to £7.44. That’s a difference of £2.55 per month, per subscriber. With an estimated 1.43M UK subscribers in 2015 (Spotify are yet to disclose its UK subscriber numbers), 1.43M x £2.55 = £3.64M per month (£43.68M per year), Spotify are getting extra for selling the same premium package between the UK and US. Calculating the VAT from this figure, £3.64M x 20% = £728,000 per month (£8.73M per year) that is not being inputted to our VAT system.

How can we stop companies from doing this? If we were to pay the correct prices for these products, then everyone will have a financial gain. Therefore, more money to spend on other products and in turn, boosting the VAT contributions. The country is losing millions and i dare say it, billions of pounds per month because of this currency symbol change scam. Because at the end of the day, that's what it is, a scam to get us Brits to pay more money for a product that is sold at a cheaper price elsewhere.

ssparks2003

Don't buy their products? Move the the US? Complain on internet forums? your choice

glentoran99

ian_H wrote: »

Over the years, more and more US companies, are charging the British public, the same prices as the US public, for the exact same product, by simply changing the currency symbol from $ to £. Regardless of the currency exchange at the time, these companies, are making a huge profit from this simple currency symbol change.

For examples (taken off their websites),
• Apple - Their latest flagship phone (the iPhone X) is advertised for $999 on their US website and for the same specification phone in the UK, it is selling for £999.
• Spotify – their premium monthly package in the US is $9.99pm and in the UK for the same package is £9.99pm
• Sanos Speakers – US, Play 1 $199, Play 3 $299, Play 5 $499. UK, Play 1 £199, Play 3 £299 Play 5 £499
• Go-Pro Hero Black 5 – US $399, UK £399

The above, is just a small example of companies and their products.

Take the Spotify Premium package as an example. At todays (28/09/17) exchange rate of £1 = $1.34, a $9.99 premium subscription should equal to £7.44. That’s a difference of £2.55 per month, per subscriber. With an estimated 1.43M UK subscribers in 2015 (Spotify are yet to disclose its UK subscriber numbers), 1.43M x £2.55 = £3.64M per month (£43.68M per year), Spotify are getting extra for selling the same premium package between the UK and US. Calculating the VAT from this figure, £3.64M x 20% = £728,000 per month (£8.73M per year) that is not being inputted to our VAT system.

How can we stop companies from doing this? If we were to pay the correct prices for these products, then everyone will have a financial gain. Therefore, more money to spend on other products and in turn, boosting the VAT contributions. The country is losing millions and i dare say it, billions of pounds per month because of this currency symbol change scam. Because at the end of the day, that's what it is, a scam to get us Brits to pay more money for a product that is sold at a cheaper price elsewhere.

Flawed logic there, VAT is the same on one product costing £1000 or two costing £500

ian_H_2

ssparks2003 wrote: »

Don't buy their products? Move the the US? Complain on internet forums? your choice

so your advice is, either live like a hermit, move to a different country, or troll the internet forums. :think:
thats great advice....thanks

ian_H_2

glentoran99 wrote: »

Flawed logic there, VAT is the same on one product costing £1000 or two costing £500

yeah i know that. what i am saying, with the money that we'll save, we'll be able to save better, buy more products etc etc. therefore, we will be inputting more tax/vat into this country and in the long run, we all will be better off.

agrinnall

There are no consumer rights issues here, I suggest you take this to Discussion Time.

Pollycat

ian_H wrote: »

so your advice is, either live like a hermit, move to a different country, or troll the internet forums. :think:
thats great advice....thanks

I really don't think that choosing to not buy a i-phone X or subscribe to Spotify can be classed as living like a hermit.

You could always start an e-petition.

DCFC79

If you want to do something about it then give change.org a go.

Complain to each individual company concerned.

k3lvc

ian_H wrote: »

so your advice is, either live like a hermit, move to a different country, or troll the internet forums. :think:
thats great advice....thanks

You're doing at least one of the three at the moment - and the one that's least effective in addressing your concerns

ian_H_2

agrinnall wrote: »

There are no consumer rights issues here, I suggest you take this to Discussion Time.

im sorry, but i beg to differ. is it not my "consumer right" not to be overcharged for a product?

ian_H_2

Pollycat wrote: »

I really don't think that choosing to not buy a i-phone X or subscribe to Spotify can be classed as living like a hermit.

You could always start an e-petition.

those three products are just examples, of the thousands of products that we buy each and every day.