I once said on here (I think, maybe the old place?) that it winds me up when electrical stores sell a product exclusive to them (identical to another on the market) and over-inflate the RRP massively to make it look like a bargain. I was told by that person who worked for such a store that this didnt happen. Well I found another example yesterday and it's really been winding me up!

In a Comet flyer they have a Lumix DMC-FS9 camera for £89.99 slashed from the RRP of £239.99. WOW! Amazing price reduction.

Now look for the FS9 and you wont find it anywhere as it's exclusive to Comet. It's not even listed on the model page of the Panasonic website. The thing is though the FS9 is IDENTICAL to the £90ish Lumix DMC-FS10! So in truth the FS9 is worth £90 anyway.

How do they get away with this? Ok, it's probably not illegal but I find it disgusting. They make the (uninformed) customer believe they're getting a camera worth many pounds more when in fact they're not.

I think it's the same with anything at all. So long as you have it selling at a high price for a number of days (14/30?? can't remember) you can then legally "slash" it to maybe half or a third of the price which was going to be your original selling point anyways.

When I was looking for the best price on a video camera last year, I found huge discrepancies between the RRP and the offered price. At times, I even found differences in the RRP from site to site. I just took the manufacturer’s online price as a guide and sought out to better that.

This camera is not listed on the manufacturers website though. They do have the identical FS10 with an RRP of £132.99.

I care not a jot that an item has a RRP - bottom line is that I search around and try and find the cheapest actual price. A saving of £150 is not an actual saving if you can get the item £20 cheaper elsewhere, even if there's only £5 difference from the RRP.

Al

Hmm. Knowing this requires more knowledge than the average punter is equipped with, which makes comparisons difficult.

Sneaky gits.

Yep. Me too. It drives Nicola mad that I research and shop around before buying stuff.

It's a shame not everyone does though and will simply be blinded by the £239.99 RRP lie and consider themselves to be getting something of that worth.

It's amazing how many people (women especially) will insist on telling you 'It was 50% off!', when it was a rip-off* in the first place, and you're sat there thinking I could have gotten that off the net a lot cheaper

* Maybe an RRP-off?

Same with SWMBO - personally doing the research, looking at different models, prices etc is half the fun - often think that once I have actually bought it its a bit of an anti-climax

The worst one is slightly different though and one my brother has to deal with on a regular basis:

Man: Why are there three new pairs of shoes on the bed?
Woman: Oh I bought them in the sales
Man: So how much did you spend?
Woman: Well they were 2/3 off so I actually saved £300

--Man quickly does mental arithmetic--

Man: You spent £150 on three pairs of shoes?!?
Woman: Yeah.... ...but I saved £300
Man: What are you on about? You didn't save anything - you spent £150
Woman: Yeah but I saved £300
Man: NO YOU DIDN'T!!!!! YOU SPENT £150. YOU SAVED BUGGER ALL. IF YOU WANTED TO SAVE MONEY WHILST IN THE SHOE SHOP, YOUR ONLY CHOICE WAS TO SAVE £450
Woman: But I saved £300
Man: F***'s sake. I'm going down the pub.

At which point, she lets him to go the pub and declares victory.

They probably declare victory the moment you agree to a joint account.

As above, I ignore RRP and look at the actual price.

In my experience, professional power tools and building materials are among the worst.

If you were to look at the RRP for most professional power tools, you will see even standard drills listed at massive prices when compared to the kinds of DIY tools that you can get. In fact, you will only pay around half the price and even then I see offers from time to time that slash that to a third.

Case in point: http://www.my-tool-shed.co.uk/p1012317/ ... 4Qod1lAqnQ

I got one of these (not this exact model) and I got it for around £150 with a 9" diamond cutting disk as well- which can cost upwards of £50!

As for offers, I bought a Makita cordless drill with a massive accessory kit and TWO batteries for only £100. The drill/battery/charger alone was more than that so it was well worth buying. Although I have bought a cheap cordless drill in the past, which was more than adequate for what I wanted, the batteries didn't last at all and less than two years later, it was useless.

As for electrical stuff, I remember B&Q making a big thing of selling cable cheaply some years ago. Compared to the really good stuff, It was cheap, but the good stuff is discounted in wholesalers by 70% on the list price! I know, because when my company had some stuff stolen from a site, they claimed at the full RRP.

This business of having their own models also gets these companies out of the "If you can find this model cheaper elsewhere" claims. You CAN'T find this model elsewhere, because no other model has a Z on the end of it's model number.

I can't say I ever look at RRP TBH. It's only saving me money (relatively) if it's cheaper than everywhere else.

I feel ripped off if I can't find a discount voucher nowadays.