Brighthouse, conspiracy? Surely not...

[Lefty]

Question:

What are the big hot christmas must-have electrical items this year?

Answer:

XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii

(I'm sure there are a few other must-haves, but let's just focus on these two for a minute)...

Don't you find it interesting that both of these products (particularly the Nintendo Wii) are like gold dust, and virtually impossible to find? Amazon have sold out... HMV sold out... (my son is a manager at one HMV store, and he tells me they had their delivery of 15 units which were all sold by lunchtime!)

Guess where you can get them? In stock and available... Yep. BRIGHTHOUSE!

Now then, does that not strike you as strange? Let's look a little closer at just one example...

XBOX 360 Elite

Amazon (and most others) price £299.00 - but out of stock.

Brighthouse price £446.77 - in stock and available - but "selling fast!" - now that price is their "cash" price! The total cost (over 12 months of weekly payments) becomes a mind boggling total of £844.48!!!

Let me break this down for you...

The (already inflated) "cash" price of £446.77 is spread over 52 weekly payments of £9.74 (at 29.9APR) making a total of £506.48. Then add 52 weekly payments of £5.25 (total £273.00) for "optional service cover" (optional, but applied automatically unless you are savvy enough to know you DON'T have to have it), and 52 weekly payments of £1.16 (total £60.00) for "damage Liability Cover" (again, applied automatically unless you can show proof of home contents insurance that SPECIFICALLY includes items on hire purchase). Total £844.48

This must SURELY go down as rip-off of the year!

Also, I would like to know how Brighthouse appear to have plentiful stocks when every other high street retailer has either very limited stocks or none at all.

Conspiracy?

Surely not...


Cheers
Lefty

[Conniff]

Nintendo has already warned of a shortage of wii. They have started extra production line and are now making 1.8 million per week and have warned that production will not be able to keep up with demand.
Brighthouse probably saw the prices that these were fetching on ebay before last Christmas and saved them especially for sale before Christmas this year, knowing full well that some people 'will' pay the extortionate price for them.

If Nintendo has genuinely got the popularity figures wrong and can't make enough then this will play right into the hands of Microsoft with the Xbox 360 and maybe even help the flagging sales of the PS3.

[gyzmo]

Could be that they ordered some and no-one has bought them because of their ripoff prices?

[MATTYFEZ]

Who even cares? pay your money and make your choice.

buying low value items on credit is absurd.

This time next year, you will be able to pick one up for £100 at you local car boot sale.

probly get some games thrown in also,.

[gyzmo]

That's what I do (well not at car boot sales). Just wait a few months and the prices will be half of what they are now.

[MATTYFEZ]

not a car boot sale as such, but, you catch my drift...

a friend of mine actually pre-ordered a bunch of wii's a fair while ago,
and made a <200% profit re-selling them.

[Lefty]

What a surprise!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ice-cover.html

Cheers
Lefty