I happened to catch a very successful BBC TV programme this morning called Don’t Get Done, Get Dom. It’s a consumer champion type programme in which Dominic Littlewood shows people how to get some great discounts from various retailers. It’s a good show, but are we being done?
In the programme, Dominic Littlewood, wired up with a hidden camera and microphone, visits unsuspecting retailers, to show us how easy it is to barter a discount. He makes it seem fun and easy and always seems to walk away with a decent discount, even if it is achieved in the end by the toss of a coin.
I’m all for teaching consumers that discounts are often there for the asking, however I feel a bit uneasy about how simple Dom makes bartering seem. It takes confidence, tact and charm to convince a wary salesperson to part with some of their profit to achieve a sale.
Unfortunately we Brits are often too reserved to ask for a discount and are too embarrassed to barter when a sales person tells us the price.
What I would like to know, though, is how many retailers Dom visits that turn him down. We never see his unsuccessful attempts where the shop assistant digs their heels in and flatly refuses to give any money off.
It would be so helpful to us all to see how he deals with that rejection in a charming and dignified way. In fact, the ability to handle that rejection would probably give Brits more confidence to negotiate and barter in the future as it would show that there is no shame in asking for a discount and being refused.
So come on Dom, let’s see some snippets where you were failed to get any discount, no matter how hard you bartered and how many times you tossed a coin.
This item I am so mad about is holiday cancellation.l sent a medical certificate £50 I am only claiming expenses amounting to £680,fortunately I did not pay the balance.They have declined me twice,l can’t get to speak to there medical team as the certificate and dates are self explanatory.l want to fight this and will do what it takes.My husband was the patient.
can you tell me how Dom has the same shirt on all the series i do watch every on is his bit of the filming all don the same day as i know he cant be doing all the chasing his self but i keep looking at this shirt can you put me out of my misery
Ron
can you please tell me why a water bill still as a ratable value and why i pay more than next door it is a semi house
I went for a loan with a company called loan soloutions they told me if i paid 69.99 up front i would recive me loan in 4 days after signing i have not recived my loan but i have now learnt they have done this to many off people i want this company stopped as it has upset me that people are capeable off this
all sorted got motor home back ,great job been done , thanks every one who were involved .as it seemed never ending back an forward to glossep ,but alls well that ends well,
motor home been picked up on friday 27th , lets see what happens next. thanks tradeing standeds .we will see when it comes back , at least its not us doing the running about now, at last we can see the end of this mess . well we hope .
glossop caravans , sent someone to reipair motor home ,yaaaaaaaaaaaaa, arrived at three , went at four carn,t do work . what , help more phoneing more money .
still nothing from Glossop caravans ,what next , fed u p brownd of , sod the little people . any one tell us what to do other than trading sta,
I purchased a Hoover washing machine on 14/2/11. Although Comet kept on at me to take the extended waranty I asumed the machine would be fit for purpose.
On Easter Monday the machine made an awful noise then started leaking water, a bolt from the machine appeared underneath. We called Comet who arranged a service engineer to visit. The earliest they could get him to us was the royal wedding day. He failed to turn up so when we asked where he was they said they had called to cancell and left a message. We dont have an answerphone!
Anyway another date was arranged and the engineer turned up and told us the damage was caused by coins, he produced a 5p and a 20p bit. I then showed him a bolt that had come from inside the machine and that I found on the floor after it broke. He said this was a bolt that had been left behind when the machine was built and that it had not caused the damage.
I have had an independant engineer confirm that the likely cause of the breakdown was the bolt that had either come loose from the drum retaining brackets or had indeed just been left inside as the Comet engineer has said.
Comet are no help at all telling me I should have took out the extended warranty, even offering to sell it to me retrospectivly. We declined, stating the sale of goods act but they are flaty refusing to do anything, even ignoring our letters delivered by recorded delivery, saying we have to pay £300 for repair, this for a £290 machine.
We have been left very out of pocket, there are six of us and I am going to the launderet twice a week, I am going to get a new machine at Tesco but what can we do, can you help us.
I bought a iPhone from tesco on what i was told was a 24 month contract and was told if anything went wrong with the phone within the 2 years they would fix it. A year after i bought my phone i took a photo then my phone broke saying there was a manufacture malfunction and all i needed to do was restore it. I tried restoring it but it said there was a error so i went back to apple store three times and they said there should be no problem unless it is with the sim card. I then went back to tesco and they said they would give me a new sim card and send over all the details from my old sim card to my new one within 24 hours. The sim card wasn’t working the next day so we phoned there customer services and they told us it was only a 12 month contract not a 24 and they just renewed it without asking us. My mum then said we were paying for six months broken phone as she thought she had to which came to a total of £80. They said it would cost £150 to fix or they would give my a new iPhone 4 for £365 but i still had to pay £25 a month. We asked if there was any chance they could give us a discount due to the lack of incompetence from there members of staff but they said there wasn’t.
I was just wondering if there was any way you could help me by getting any discount or any refund.
Glossop Caravans , Been intouch at last picking motor home up from our house ,next week so they say ,we will see, they say that they will do the work that has to be done , what next more pulling the wool over our eyes .If not traiding standers said give them 10 days .
after more phone calls to the obove company , i,m told there interfewing he will phone back later . waited two hours no call , phoned back an was told he,s in a meating , he doe,s know about phoneing you , another waiting game all we want is for them to put things rite is that to much . what next i don,t know .i think we will have to keep phoneing , hope we get them down . an maby sort this mater out nice thought. never mind i hope they pay my phone bill.
we bought a motor home in January 2011 . it has been back an forth with problems over the last few months .not happy as this is costing us money that we dont have . traveling from Canarfon north wales to Glossip carrivans ,an being told its not been done , all jobs were little one but had to be put write . as they promist.a new pin when we picked it up .mercanical, elec ,an now body work,going . I carnt get out of cab door stuck, only way out is van side door , hubbys door going the same way .all we asked is for the company to let us know what there going to do for us .We have phoned an sent emails to them but there not replieing to us . We payed 15 grand , we know its not a lot of money ,but to us its a hell of a lot an to get something that is breaking apart every time we use it .were sorry we ever went there for it we could have gone local but thought this is a big company ,an we should get better service .
i was fitted with windows and doors last year by solar windows to which afterwards i had flooring fitted, then as we recieved bad weather the through the winter the door leacked and did so everytime it rained. i contacted my local council who sent out workers to try solve the problem to no avail, i put in a claim against the council for damage to my new flooring and was told they wasnt takin responsability then a few weeks later it rained again so back onto the council again and told them i wanted to carry on with the claim. it is now may and i still have had no joy with either solar windows or bron afon my local counci,, even tho both are passing the buck and complaint after complaint and letter after letter hasa been sent
My husbands car ins. is due for renewal in July. His current insurance company have increased his premium by £100. We had a leaflet through the door from RIAS giving discounts for the retired, over 50, older car and low mileage. I went on their web site put all his details in and they came up with a quote of £804. His current ins. is £453. He has been driving for 50 years has never had any convictions against him and has a clean license.
I rang Rias and they said it’s probably because we live in Birmingham and then within 2 mins of the call they cut me off. WELL DONE RIAS
hello, i have booked a two week holiday with a company called holiday jems. for the 16th june untill 23rd june, when this was on line it showed the 2 week holiday for £622, i phoned up the company and talked to an operative, who made a mistake and clicked the number one instead of the 2 for the 2 weeks, have tried with no success to get them to alter this to the 2 weeks they advertise on the web site but have got to take only one week on the 16th this month as they will not honour the 2 weeks they print out on there web site.
hoping you can look into this and get them to give me and the wife a further week somewhere later, i am 72 and the wife is gone 60
hoping to hear from you with a possability of some good news.
all the best eugene
I have been a customer of brighthouse for over a year now, and I have missed one, yes ,one payment of £42.80p, and I am a pensioner , but they have sent me threats of repossion of the goods, and keep trying to get me to sign a new contract, because of my missed payment, this would add more costs to me, when you sign the contracts, they do not tell you about being bullied, or threatened with court , or any of the hassle, all for one payment, can you advise me , as I said , I am a pensioner, and am still paying them faithfully every week.
“wired up with a hidden camera and microphone, visits unsuspecting retailers,”
not quite, the producers have to seek permission from the retails before they are allowed to film, so its not really secret at all
we took out mortgage protection and unemployment and sickness cover now we have been told its been cancelled b the company and not by us and its left us with out any mortgage protection can you help please
nadine hardman
we have a caravan new company taken over want to put £150 on the 19 vans that they say face the sea and they call prime spots.we could not see the sea even if we stood on top of the caravan as we face a high bank plus the sea wall.been there 8yrs everybodies ground rent was alwayes the same now they want us 19 to pay this extra money .do you think this is legal..we have sent in letters but attitude is dont like it lump it
I watched a program on dentist this morning and my wife has got a dentist but she has all her teeth out except for two the dentist saed there would give her some false one, what she she rearly wanted was implants but the dentis sead it would cost.
Is there a grant for this as l have looked on net and found nothing even the denist is no helping,
hi i bought a caravan off ebay the advert said that it had no damp and no leaks we went down to get it started to check it i started at the back all the window cupboards then went to the front on my way to start to check the lad said i have been round with a damp meter so i left it when i got home i took the curtains down the front had been board up it was roating so i rang the lad he said bring it down and i will put new wood on i said all the wood needs to be change we have been still try to get this sorted as know he will not andswer the phone what can i do please help me claire young
i have insurance for myself n wife with abbey life for 11 yrs now.we understood that when my husband or i reached 60 first we would be paid out in full, last year they put the money down and agn this year it will go down again but they say one of us have to die before we get paid out if we cancel we only get about £900 although we have paid over £4000 into the policy. could you give us some information or help with this mater. thankyou.
could u please give me the phone number for dont get done get dom as i think im being done
having problems with a lost banker draft with RBS and it is now 4 months and no further along the ombudsman will come in soon , l know the money is a international bankers draft with caja canaria they are waiting to pay thw money . RBS have admited they have lsot the draft and the bond they put up but this means l still have not got the money or no real movment . This is frustrating as the situation is very complicated.