Robin's Diary

The price you see is the price you pay!

Trading standards officers have recently clamped down on some dealers who charge an admin fee on top of the price of a car, which I wholeheartedly agree with!

You don’t go into Morrisons and pay a bit extra for them stacking the shelves or checking the dates on perishables. But I also have a big beef on restaurants who add a service charge on automatically and say you can remove it if you want, which isn’t that different. Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy to tip great service, and that’s what it should be.  Whereas, if it’s added automatically, it creates an atmosphere if the service didn’t warrant a tip, and customers shouldn’t feel like that. Staff should be happy to receive not just the money, but also the satisfaction of deserving a tip, rather than experience the customer’s resentment of it being added!

Likewise, when you see a car for say £9,999 that’s how much it should cost you to buy the car. It might not sound a big problem, but it’s made worse, if you return the car if it has faults, because the admin fee, according to trading standards, isn’t being refunded, just the invoice price of the car!

So, once again, be warned, the cheapest might not be the best value after the service charge/ admin fee has been added! 

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten." - Benjamin Franklin