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Maplins - Total RIP-OFF merchants!



S

Skint Gull

New member
Jul 27, 2003
2,980
Watchin the boats go by
Have used them for a couple of things before and remember thinking at the times 'that seems a bit pricey' but it was always easier than to go somewhere else.

Popped in the other night cos i needed a new adjustable power cable for my mums DAB radio, and a simple adaptor to plug 2 phones into one line. I checked with the assistant that i wasn't going mad because they wanted £20 for the power cable and £6 for adaptor.

Next day i phoned a local trade electrical outlet and picked up the power cable for 3.99 and the adaptor for 69p! :ohmy:

Just to recap:
Maplin - £26.00
TLC - £ 4.68

Like i say, i did expect to pay a little more in Maplin but thats takin the ****in piss, they must be making a 600-1000% mark up on some products!

Just thought i'd warn everyone cos i'm sure most people wouldn't expect that sort of difference!
 




F

Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,046
Truro
Same old story - you have to shop around. I've found Maplins cheap (and handy) for some stuff, like network cable kits.
 


K

KneeOn

Well-known member
Jun 4, 2009
4,695
Skint Gull said:
Have used them for a couple of things before and remember thinking at the times 'that seems a bit pricey' but it was always easier than to go somewhere else.

Popped in the other night cos i needed a new adjustable power cable for my mums DAB radio, and a simple adaptor to plug 2 phones into one line. I checked with the assistant that i wasn't going mad because they wanted £20 for the power cable and £6 for adaptor.

Next day i phoned a local trade electrical outlet and picked up the power cable for 3.99 and the adaptor for 69p! :ohmy:

Just to recap:
Maplin - £26.00
TLC - £ 4.68

Like i say, i did expect to pay a little more in Maplin but thats takin the fuckin piss, they must be making a 600-1000% mark up on some products!

Just thought i'd warn everyone cos i'm sure most people wouldn't expect that sort of difference!
Click to expand...

God they are awful. An ARM CPU 7 Inch netbook running WinCE. 200 quid. An 8 and a half hour battery life, 10 inch asus netbook running WinXP, 239.99 from amazon.

I've worked with the MIPS equivilent of that 7 incher, and thats 150 from there, 100 everywhere else. And its god awful.
 




beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,310
did you just compare a highstreet retailer to a trade supplier? and they make money:ohmy: this is how the economy works. you have the advantage of access to trade, most dont. compare what B&Q or Currys might charge, probably same or more.

agree above about their IT stuff, it is generally low spec for premium price, even PC World are probably better.
 














Psychobilly freakout

Psychobilly freakout

HellBilly
Feb 23, 2009
23,007
Brighton factually.....
Not keen on there sales staff uniform
 

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S

Skint Gull

New member
Jul 27, 2003
2,980
Watchin the boats go by
beorhthelm said:
did you just compare a highstreet retailer to a trade supplier? and they make money:ohmy: this is how the economy works. you have the advantage of access to trade, most dont. compare what B&Q or Currys might charge, probably same or more.

agree above about their IT stuff, it is generally low spec for premium price, even PC World are probably better.
Click to expand...

Errrrr...... no, thats pretty much my whole point! People don't realise that almost ALL trade places will do a cash sale to anyone, but unless you are in a trade and go into these places nobody knows it!

The other time we got that i forgot to mention was a HDMI cable that was £30 in Maplins but £8 at TLC. I own a retail showroom so fully understand the difference between a trade merchant and retail so don't appreciate the sarcasm, I was just pointing out that a 10x mark up is outrageous.
 


beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,310
maybe you need to speak to TLC about their promotion. the perception most trade places give is of trade only even if you do know of them. bring on the competition.
 


R

Rowdey

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
2,537
Herne Hill
Skint Gull said:
Errrrr...... no, thats pretty much my whole point! People don't realise that almost ALL trade places will do a cash sale to anyone, but unless you are in a trade and go into these places nobody knows it!
.
Click to expand...

..but most trade places will happily rip off Joe punter if they blunder through their door too.

Travis Perkins and CEF are two example's of whose marked price is outrageous.

I recently had a CEF invoice, that gave me 98.5% discount on some 10mm T+E cable..and that was still high..! :angry:
 


R

Rowdey

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
2,537
Herne Hill
beorhthelm said:
maybe you need to speak to TLC about their promotion. the perception most trade places give is of trade only even if you do know of them. bring on the competition.
Click to expand...

Think i've read this correctly, but from a trade perspective, we don't want trade outlets selling direct to consumer, and negotiating deals - too often it happens that they will offer my trade discount out to Joe Public, who will never use them again. Just undermines the whole point of supply and hits profits.
:shrug:
Just have to put up my day rate to cover it.. :clap2:
 


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