On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 13:35:56 GMT, "Jim Gregory"
wrote:

"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Jim Gregory wrote:
I had the forerunner of this rechargeable Bosch found at Argos. Very
good spec - 12V, keyless, reversible, varispeed at about £40 from
Great Mills over10 years ago. But when the accumulator failed several
years later, I was quoted £42 at several places for its replacement.
So I binned it.
You should have kept it and bought a new model of the same voltage and 1
month later taken it back with duff batty attached and asked them for a
replacement drill 'as the battery is not holding its charge'. ;-)

That would be very dishonest, though.

Just as dishonest, IMO, as universally quoting £42 for a consumable (not
ex-stock) that was once an integral part of a £40 deal. They lost a former
customer, and possibly that decision may influence other potential buyers
reading this....
Why are any spares and consumables so transparently exhorbitantly priced?
Jim
Jim



There are several aspects to this:

- For many generic store-labelled tools, spares are not available
anyway. They simply play the numbers game with the warranty,
expecting a certain return rate, and then after that the assumption is
that the customer junks the product when it breaks.

- There are certain manufacturers and tool types which have
proprietary consumables. One reason for that is that it is classical
razor blade marketing - the Scorpion saw is an example of that as was
the Rotozip in its early days. Another is that there is something
inherent in the functionality of the tool that is not generally
available - either because the tool/machine is specialist in nature or
because it is innovative and patented - examples are the Fein
Multimaster.

- One should also consider the context of the tool. If the objective
is to buy something at minimum cost that meets basic functionality
requirements (i.e. it's a 14.4v drill but that's all I care about)
then as long as it uses standard consumables then so what. On the
other hand, in the context of a quality tool, purchased with aspects
such as performance, ease of use, precision and servicability, then
the total cost of ownership should be taken into account. This
includes the cost of spares and consumables over the projected life of
the product. In that case, spares, which are relatively unlikely to
be needed anyway, typically do not cost close to the original purchase
price.


--

..andy