On Friday, 25 September 2015 13:30:24 UTC+1, Bill Wright wrote:

The reality is that if you buy from a retailer selling mostly disability
kit and if you sign the declaration you don't pay the VAT. Done it loads
of times.

Bill

I didn't know that, we brought our mobility scooter battereis and paid VAT.
Although to be fair that was correct as we plan to use the mobility scooter as a post delivering option, plan is to make it a student project in control and as an automated guide around the building but it seems MIT have beaten us to it.

On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:09:18 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Bob Eager wrote:
To be fair, a 50% markup in a shop is pretty normal

Of course. But if shop A charges £100, and shop B charges £40,
something is wrong. The markup must be higher in shop A.

Depends on lots of things like overheads etc.

Look at a Sainsbury local etc. You don't get the same prices or choice
you get in a larger one. They generally stick to the higher profit
items. Or a Starbuck's coffee compared to one from a backstreet cafe.

It's likely to be even more so with something like a 'disability shop'
on the high street, who aren't going to have volume sales. They need to
cover the high rates etc.

The statement was "...markup...is pretty normal". Note, *markup*.

I agree the profit may be different.

In message , Indy Jess John
writes
On 25/09/2015 13:36, Richard Conway wrote:

Ah, in the days when you had a different key for the ignition, each door
and the boot (and the petrol cap!)

I have nearly got that, except that the same key fits the boot and
ignition.

It wasn't like that when I bought it, there was a different key for the
boot, but it wasn't a good fit, I had to wiggle it a bit to unlock it.
I dismantled the boot lock and found that stamped on the barrel was a
number which when I checked was the number on the ignition key.

Why the person who sold me the car had a different key for the boot, I
have no idea.

In the days of the 'FT' series of manual keys, my Cortina's (memorable)
FT208 key would open and start about 50% of cars that also used FT keys
- and quite a few that didn't!
--
Ian

GB wrote:

I don't know much about golf buggies, but you can't compare generic with
manufacturer's spares. Even if they are the same product. That's because
they haven't got to have the same wide inventory for generic. So, if you
buy a battery for a top brand golf buggy from one of their dealers, how
much does that cost? Otherwise, as you say, it's not comparable.

So basically you are saying that a battery made by Exide, for instance,
and bought by a golf firm for fitting in their buggies, is in some way
different to the next battery off the line, which is bought by a
disability outfit to fit in their products?

We are talking absolutely identical products here.

Bill

On 2015-09-24, Bill Wright wrote:

110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

115mm rubber tyred jockey wheel, 20mm bo Disability shops: £18.
Various other places: about £10.

Various scooter keys:
Shoprider on/off switch £10. This is standard plastic body toggle
switch: £1 from CPC etc.
Some old types of scooter uses a standard 1/4" jack plug, shorted out
internally, as a key. These are sold for £5 to £12 in disability shops.
Some other keys are on standard blanks and my local cobbler with turn
them out at £5 each, but if you buy from a disability shop they are
likely to be £12 to £15.

Are you complaining about the "free market"?

On 25/09/2015 16:07, Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , Indy Jess John
writes
On 25/09/2015 13:36, Richard Conway wrote:

Ah, in the days when you had a different key for the ignition, each door
and the boot (and the petrol cap!)

I have nearly got that, except that the same key fits the boot and
ignition.

It wasn't like that when I bought it, there was a different key for
the boot, but it wasn't a good fit, I had to wiggle it a bit to unlock
it. I dismantled the boot lock and found that stamped on the barrel
was a number which when I checked was the number on the ignition key.

Why the person who sold me the car had a different key for the boot, I
have no idea.

In the days of the 'FT' series of manual keys, my Cortina's (memorable)
FT208 key would open and start about 50% of cars that also used FT keys
- and quite a few that didn't!

And with Mini's a thruppeny bit fitted nicely between the fuses to power
it up when stealing one.

In article ,
Bob Eager wrote:
On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:09:18 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Bob Eager wrote:
To be fair, a 50% markup in a shop is pretty normal

Of course. But if shop A charges £100, and shop B charges £40,
something is wrong. The markup must be higher in shop A.

Depends on lots of things like overheads etc.

Look at a Sainsbury local etc. You don't get the same prices or choice
you get in a larger one. They generally stick to the higher profit
items. Or a Starbuck's coffee compared to one from a backstreet cafe.

It's likely to be even more so with something like a 'disability shop'
on the high street, who aren't going to have volume sales. They need to
cover the high rates etc.

The statement was "...markup...is pretty normal". Note, *markup*.

The markup will be different according to overheads. Why do you think
things are generally cheaper mail order? Even with small companies who
don't have vast purchasing power? It's because they can make a decent
profit on a smaller markup.

I agree the profit may be different.

--
*Re-elect nobody

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article , Bill Wright
wrote:
GB wrote:

I don't know much about golf buggies, but you can't compare generic
with manufacturer's spares. Even if they are the same product. That's
because they haven't got to have the same wide inventory for generic.
So, if you buy a battery for a top brand golf buggy from one of their
dealers, how much does that cost? Otherwise, as you say, it's not
comparable.

So basically you are saying that a battery made by Exide, for instance,
and bought by a golf firm for fitting in their buggies, is in some way
different to the next battery off the line, which is bought by a
disability outfit to fit in their products?

We are talking absolutely identical products here.

In the distant days when I had a Ford Anglia, I discovered that the starter
was the identical Lucas part to that used in the Mini. But it cost
significantly less as a Ford spare rather than a UniPart one. I had friends
with Minis and we compared notes.

--
Please note new email address:

In article ,
James H wrote:
And with Mini's a thruppeny bit fitted nicely between the fuses to power
it up when stealing one.

That Lucas fuse holder had space for two spare fuses. If they were
present, one would fit between the two nicely - for those too poor to have
a thruppenny bit.

--
*What was the best thing before sliced bread? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
charles wrote:
In the distant days when I had a Ford Anglia, I discovered that the
starter was the identical Lucas part to that used in the Mini. But it
cost significantly less as a Ford spare rather than a UniPart one. I had
friends with Minis and we compared notes.

In the BMC days something like a cylinder head nut for the B series engine
would be priced differently at Morris, Austin, Wolseley Riley and MG
dealers. And they'd tell you it was a different part...

--
*I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Friday, 25 September 2015 16:30:09 UTC+1, Adam Funk wrote:
On 2015-09-24, Bill Wright wrote:

110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

115mm rubber tyred jockey wheel, 20mm bo Disability shops: £18.
Various other places: about £10.

Various scooter keys:
Shoprider on/off switch £10. This is standard plastic body toggle
switch: £1 from CPC etc.
Some old types of scooter uses a standard 1/4" jack plug, shorted out
internally, as a key. These are sold for £5 to £12 in disability shops.
Some other keys are on standard blanks and my local cobbler with turn
them out at £5 each, but if you buy from a disability shop they are
likely to be £12 to £15.

Are you complaining about the "free market"?

People get steamed because they choose to be. They don't take the actions required to find stuff cheaper elsewhere. I understand it can be a task for someone with no technical skill to find out exact what battery type they need, but that's how it is, and there's nothing anyone is gonig to do to change it.


NT

In uk.d-i-y Indy Jess John wrote:
Why the person who sold me the car had a different key for the boot, I
have no idea.

Some cars have valet parking keys - you can give the key to the ignition to
the attendant, but not the key to the boot. But your setup seems the other
way around.

Theo

GB wrote:

One possibility is that the disability shop orders the keys in from the
manufacturer. Clearly, that's not the same process as the key cutting
kiosk. For a start, you need to have the key to begin with to use the
kiosk. You'd be the first to complain if the manufacturers of the
scooter were unable to supply a key just from the ID number of the scooter.

It's the same key for all the scooters in that series. You say which
scooter it is and they sell you a key.

Bill

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Mark Carver wrote:


That was Johnny Cash AICMFP.

My favourite country and Johnny Cash record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM


Better call at the Grand Ol Opry if ever you're in the USA. You might get
to like other C & W tracks like I Flushed You From The Toilets Of My
Heart, Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissing You Goodbye, My
John Deere Was Breaking Your Field While Your Dear John Was Breaking My
Heart, You Can't Have Your Kate And Edith Too, If You Don't Believe I Love
You Just Ask My Wife, and so on . . .

Ah, some of the old classics, my fav is, 'I shaved my back for this?'

In uk.d-i-y Bill Wright wrote:
GB wrote:

One possibility is that the disability shop orders the keys in from the
manufacturer. Clearly, that's not the same process as the key cutting
kiosk. For a start, you need to have the key to begin with to use the
kiosk. You'd be the first to complain if the manufacturers of the
scooter were unable to supply a key just from the ID number of the scooter.

It's the same key for all the scooters in that series. You say which
scooter it is and they sell you a key.

That's like most tractors believe it or not.

--
Chris Green
·

On 25/09/2015 13:27, Bill Wright wrote:
David Woolley wrote:
On 25/09/15 09:17, brightside S9 wrote:
You realise that the rip off is worse than you percieve. Products
from the 'disabled shop' are VAT free, not from the 'golf shop'.

They shouldn't be selling a battery VAT free. The exemption is only
supposed to apply to equipment that has no significant non-disabled
use, and is being sold to an individual end user.

I'm well aware of the VAT situation. You are wrong. The exemption
applies to batteries for scooters.

There are exemptions but I suggest more caution, or at least from the
supplier.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...d-older-people

Para 4.9:
"VAT relief doesn’t apply to the separate supply of general use items
such as standard batteries, even if these were purchased to be used
within an item which is eligible for VAT relief such as a mobility scooter."

and Para 5.5:
"............. a general purpose battery may be zero rated when supplied
as part of a wider service of repair and maintenance of a zero-rated
mobility scooter."

That suggests the supply of a standard battery should not be zero rate,
but where the battery is fitted as part of a overall maintenance or
service, then that maintenance or service can be zero rated.

In that respect David is correct. The supplier of your batteries could
easily be on the wrong end of a VAT bill from HMRC for non payment of
VAT and a further penalty of 100% of the unpaid VAT.

If you're in doubt, leave the name of your zero rated battery supplier
here and see if a few months down the line they still provide zero rated
batteries.

Phil L wrote:
"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Mark Carver wrote:

That was Johnny Cash AICMFP.
My favourite country and Johnny Cash record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM

Better call at the Grand Ol Opry if ever you're in the USA. You might get
to like other C & W tracks like I Flushed You From The Toilets Of My
Heart, Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissing You Goodbye, My
John Deere Was Breaking Your Field While Your Dear John Was Breaking My
Heart, You Can't Have Your Kate And Edith Too, If You Don't Believe I Love
You Just Ask My Wife, and so on . . .

Ah, some of the old classics, my fav is, 'I shaved my back for this?'


All my exes live in Texas . . .

Bill

wrote:
In uk.d-i-y Bill Wright wrote:
GB wrote:

One possibility is that the disability shop orders the keys in from the
manufacturer. Clearly, that's not the same process as the key cutting
kiosk. For a start, you need to have the key to begin with to use the
kiosk. You'd be the first to complain if the manufacturers of the
scooter were unable to supply a key just from the ID number of the scooter.
It's the same key for all the scooters in that series. You say which
scooter it is and they sell you a key.

That's like most tractors believe it or not.

And a lot of plant.

Years ago I was helping out on a farm and I was driving an antiquated
tractor back and forth with loads of disgusting stuff on a trailer. I
was given a 6" nail to shove in a hole somewhere, and that started the
tractor. In the end I got into bother because I somehow broke the
trailer tipping mechanism.

Even longer ago when I worked as a labourer in an asphalting gang there
were two US jeeps in use. They had a switch marked on-off as I recall.

Bill

Fredxxx wrote:

If you're in doubt, leave the name of your zero rated battery supplier
here and see if a few months down the line they still provide zero rated
batteries.

It would be a poor do if HMRC chased a disability specialist for this.
Who's to say who fitted the battery? I've been using the same two firms
for years without any problem. I think even HMRC has a modicum of common
sense.

Bill

On 26/09/2015 02:00, Bill Wright wrote:
Fredxxx wrote:

If you're in doubt, leave the name of your zero rated battery supplier
here and see if a few months down the line they still provide zero
rated batteries.

It would be a poor do if HMRC chased a disability specialist for this.
Who's to say who fitted the battery? I've been using the same two firms
for years without any problem. I think even HMRC has a modicum of common
sense.

Common sense and HMRC are mutually exclusive entities.

The purpose of HMRC rules is to prevent buying zero VAT batteries for
other uses.

I would imagine that most people with mobility scooters would be unable
to fit batteries themselves, so perhaps not unreasonable to specify they
must be fitted by the same supplier?

Fredxxx wrote:

I would imagine that most people with mobility scooters would be unable
to fit batteries themselves, so perhaps not unreasonable to specify they
must be fitted by the same supplier?

Most people have sons-in-law.

Bill

On 26/09/2015 14:42, Bill Wright wrote:
Fredxxx wrote:

I would imagine that most people with mobility scooters would be
unable to fit batteries themselves, so perhaps not unreasonable to
specify they must be fitted by the same supplier?

Most people have sons-in-law.


Who are more likely to abuse the Zero VAT rate on batteries.

This is a case where it's difficult to draw the line for an item which
can be used for a range of applications.

Given that most mobility users get various disability benefits, one
starts the question why there needs to be a separate benefit in
supplying zero VAT to a disabled person, but hey!

In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
If you're in doubt, leave the name of your zero rated battery supplier
here and see if a few months down the line they still provide zero
rated batteries.

It would be a poor do if HMRC chased a disability specialist for this.
Who's to say who fitted the battery? I've been using the same two firms
for years without any problem. I think even HMRC has a modicum of common
sense.

Could be a problem where the battery is shared with other products,
though, and sold mail order. Who's to say it will only be used in a zero
rated application?

--
*The statement below is true.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 26/09/2015 15:25, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
If you're in doubt, leave the name of your zero rated battery supplier
here and see if a few months down the line they still provide zero
rated batteries.

It would be a poor do if HMRC chased a disability specialist for this.
Who's to say who fitted the battery? I've been using the same two firms
for years without any problem. I think even HMRC has a modicum of common
sense.

Could be a problem where the battery is shared with other products,
though, and sold mail order. Who's to say it will only be used in a zero
rated application?

There are some online retailers willing to sell multi-use batteries on
the receipt of a completed form.

They are running a considerable risk to HMRC whose guidelines are quite
clear.

On 26/09/2015 14:42, Bill Wright wrote:
Fredxxx wrote:

I would imagine that most people with mobility scooters would be
unable to fit batteries themselves, so perhaps not unreasonable to
specify they must be fitted by the same supplier?

Most people have sons-in-law.

Most of whom are old and/or useless.
Don't think the population in general knows anything about DIY as IME
they know nothing.

On 26/09/2015 15:18, Fredxxx wrote:
On 26/09/2015 14:42, Bill Wright wrote:
Fredxxx wrote:

I would imagine that most people with mobility scooters would be
unable to fit batteries themselves, so perhaps not unreasonable to
specify they must be fitted by the same supplier?

Most people have sons-in-law.


Who are more likely to abuse the Zero VAT rate on batteries.

This is a case where it's difficult to draw the line for an item which
can be used for a range of applications.

Given that most mobility users get various disability benefits, one
starts the question why there needs to be a separate benefit in
supplying zero VAT to a disabled person, but hey!

You don't need to be disabled to get zero VAT you can get some things if
you have a chronic illness.

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

cost of manufacture is not the only cost that they have to recover

If a product only sells in low numbers (and a "flight safe" device aimed at
a disability product sounds like a very low potential market) the costs of
development can be a significant part of the individual sale price

tim

On 24/09/2015 19:40, Bill Wright wrote:
110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

With or without VAT?

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

115mm rubber tyred jockey wheel, 20mm bo Disability shops: £18.
Various other places: about £10.

Various scooter keys:
Shoprider on/off switch £10. This is standard plastic body toggle
switch: £1 from CPC etc.
Some old types of scooter uses a standard 1/4" jack plug, shorted out
internally, as a key. These are sold for £5 to £12 in disability shops.
Some other keys are on standard blanks and my local cobbler with turn
them out at £5 each, but if you buy from a disability shop they are
likely to be £12 to £15.

It is simply a matter of shopping around. Last week I bought a three
wheel walker, with bag, basket and tray, for £29.99 from Amazon. Around
£90.00 from a disability shop. A few weeks earlier I bought a
lightweight transfer wheelchair for £50 from Amazon, as opposed to
£12.50 a week to hire locally; worthwhile as I knew it would take my
partner more than four weeks to fully recover from her TIA.

I suspect the difference is in the level of turnover and the overheads
involved in having a shop on the high street.


--
Colin Bignell

"Nightjar cpb.me.uk" "insert my surname here wrote in message
...
On 24/09/2015 19:40, Bill Wright wrote:
110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

With or without VAT?

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

115mm rubber tyred jockey wheel, 20mm bo Disability shops: £18.
Various other places: about £10.

Various scooter keys:
Shoprider on/off switch £10. This is standard plastic body toggle
switch: £1 from CPC etc.
Some old types of scooter uses a standard 1/4" jack plug, shorted out
internally, as a key. These are sold for £5 to £12 in disability shops.
Some other keys are on standard blanks and my local cobbler with turn
them out at £5 each, but if you buy from a disability shop they are
likely to be £12 to £15.

It is simply a matter of shopping around. Last week I bought a three wheel
walker, with bag, basket and tray, for £29.99 from Amazon. Around £90.00
from a disability shop. A few weeks earlier I bought a lightweight
transfer wheelchair for £50 from Amazon, as opposed to £12.50 a week to
hire locally; worthwhile as I knew it would take my partner more than four
weeks to fully recover from her TIA.

I suspect the difference is in the level of turnover and the overheads
involved in having a shop on the high street.

and having to deal with returns and warranties

3 out of 4 of the items that I have purchased on Amazon type sites have
broken in less than the warranty period, but, of course, silly me forgot to
keep the seller's details - but the aggro of sending it back by post
probably means that I wouldn't bother anyway

Now reluctant to buy stuff this way in future, whatever the saving

tim

On 26/09/2015 19:14, tim..... wrote:
...
3 out of 4 of the items that I have purchased on Amazon type sites have
broken in less than the warranty period, but, of course, silly me forgot
to keep the seller's details - but the aggro of sending it back by post
probably means that I wouldn't bother anyway

Now reluctant to buy stuff this way in future, whatever the saving

I've not had any problems with things I've bought from Amazon. Even the
Aspidistra is flourishing.


--
Colin Bignell

"Nightjar cpb.me.uk" "insert my surname here wrote in message
...
On 26/09/2015 19:14, tim..... wrote:
..
3 out of 4 of the items that I have purchased on Amazon type sites have
broken in less than the warranty period, but, of course, silly me forgot
to keep the seller's details - but the aggro of sending it back by post
probably means that I wouldn't bother anyway

Now reluctant to buy stuff this way in future, whatever the saving

I've not had any problems with things I've bought from Amazon.

but it's not "from" Amazon", is it

it's "Dispatched from and sold by XXX"

and presumably it is XXX with whom you have to assert your rights

tim

Fredxxx wrote:
On 26/09/2015 14:42, Bill Wright wrote:
Fredxxx wrote:

I would imagine that most people with mobility scooters would be
unable to fit batteries themselves, so perhaps not unreasonable to
specify they must be fitted by the same supplier?

Most people have sons-in-law.


Who are more likely to abuse the Zero VAT rate on batteries.

It's unlikely that the son-in-law would bother to **** around filling
forms in just to save the VAT?

Bill

On Thu, 24 Sep 2015 19:40:52 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

115mm rubber tyred jockey wheel, 20mm bo Disability shops: £18.
Various other places: about £10.

Various scooter keys:
Shoprider on/off switch £10. This is standard plastic body toggle
switch: £1 from CPC etc.
Some old types of scooter uses a standard 1/4" jack plug, shorted out
internally, as a key. These are sold for £5 to £12 in disability shops.
Some other keys are on standard blanks and my local cobbler with turn
them out at £5 each, but if you buy from a disability shop they are
likely to be £12 to £15.

Supply and demand.

--
Advice for office managers:
If you keep the sexual harassment complaint forms in the bottom drawer, then when a woman gets one out you'll get a great view of her arse.

On Thu, 24 Sep 2015 20:04:35 +0100, ARW wrote:

"GB" wrote in message
...
On 24/09/2015 19:40, Bill Wright wrote:
110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

115mm rubber tyred jockey wheel, 20mm bo Disability shops: £18.
Various other places: about £10.

Various scooter keys:
Shoprider on/off switch £10. This is standard plastic body toggle
switch: £1 from CPC etc.
Some old types of scooter uses a standard 1/4" jack plug, shorted out
internally, as a key. These are sold for £5 to £12 in disability shops.
Some other keys are on standard blanks and my local cobbler with turn
them out at £5 each, but if you buy from a disability shop they are
likely to be £12 to £15.

Very annoying! To some extent, this is just the same as any spare parts
operation - for a car, for example. There is a cost involved in stocking
*many* spare parts and only selling small numbers of each item, and that's
bound to be reflected in the price.



Somebody worked out that building a car from spare parts would cost
several times the cost of a finished car.


That was Johnny Cash AICMFP.

Johnny Cash didn't have access to Ebay.

--
Advice for office managers:
If you keep the sexual harassment complaint forms in the bottom drawer, then when a woman gets one out you'll get a great view of her arse.

On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:12:00 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

GB wrote:

I don't know much about golf buggies, but you can't compare generic with
manufacturer's spares. Even if they are the same product. That's because
they haven't got to have the same wide inventory for generic. So, if you
buy a battery for a top brand golf buggy from one of their dealers, how
much does that cost? Otherwise, as you say, it's not comparable.

So basically you are saying that a battery made by Exide, for instance,
and bought by a golf firm for fitting in their buggies, is in some way
different to the next battery off the line, which is bought by a
disability outfit to fit in their products?

We are talking absolutely identical products here.

Why are you buying the parts from a disability shop if you can get them cheaper elsewhere?

--
I've never had a problem with drugs,
I've had problems with the police. - Keith Richards

On 26/09/2015 18:45, tim..... wrote:

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

cost of manufacture is not the only cost that they have to recover

If a product only sells in low numbers (and a "flight safe" device aimed
at a disability product sounds like a very low potential market) the
costs of development can be a significant part of the individual sale price

tim





I see. People run these shops as a favor to disabled people not to make
money out of an easy target.

On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 17:29:07 +0100, Huge wrote:

On 2015-09-25, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
charles wrote:
In the distant days when I had a Ford Anglia, I discovered that the
starter was the identical Lucas part to that used in the Mini. But it
cost significantly less as a Ford spare rather than a UniPart one. I had
friends with Minis and we compared notes.

In the BMC days something like a cylinder head nut for the B series engine
would be priced differently at Morris, Austin, Wolseley Riley and MG
dealers. And they'd tell you it was a different part...

VAG are still doing that to this day.

Still, they won't be around much longer. )

Typical treehuggers ****ing up one of the best companies in the world. Still, our thieving EU will bail them out with YOUR taxes.

--
I've taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money.

On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 12:11:59 +0100, charles wrote:

In article , GB
wrote:
On 24/09/2015 21:09, michael adams wrote:
"GB" wrote in message
...
On 24/09/2015 19:40, Bill Wright wrote:
110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and
2 shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost
of manufacture will be about £1.

115mm rubber tyred jockey wheel, 20mm bo Disability shops: £18.
Various other places: about £10.

Various scooter keys: Shoprider on/off switch £10. This is standard
plastic body toggle switch: £1 from CPC etc. Some old types of
scooter uses a standard 1/4" jack plug, shorted out internally, as a
key. These are sold for £5 to £12 in disability shops. Some other
keys are on standard blanks and my local cobbler with turn them out
at £5 each, but if you buy from a disability shop they are likely to
be £12 to £15.

Very annoying! To some extent, this is just the same as any spare
parts operation - for a car, for example.

But that doesn't explain why the same battery is available for a golf
buggy for 40% of the price. Or the toggle switch which is widely
available elsewhere at 1/10th of the price. Or the keys which cost
three times as much in a disabilty shop as in a key cutting kiosk.


One possibility is that the disability shop orders the keys in from the
manufacturer. Clearly, that's not the same process as the key cutting
kiosk. For a start, you need to have the key to begin with to use the
kiosk. You'd be the first to complain if the manufacturers of the scooter
were unable to supply a key just from the ID number of the scooter.

I can remember buying car keys from a proper locksmith by quoting the
number on another one.

My Range Rover car key would open and start any Range Rover. Which I did once by mistake until I saw his gloves on the dash and got out rather quickly before I got arrested.

--
Follow your dream! Unless it's the one where you're at work in your underwear during a fire drill.

dennis@home wrote:
On 26/09/2015 14:42, Bill Wright wrote:
Fredxxx wrote:

I would imagine that most people with mobility scooters would be
unable to fit batteries themselves, so perhaps not unreasonable to
specify they must be fitted by the same supplier?

Most people have sons-in-law.

Most of whom are old and/or useless.
Don't think the population in general knows anything about DIY as IME
they know nothing.


I'll have you know that when I was working sons-in-law were responsible
for some of the finest DIY jobs I was called out to rectify!

Bill

tim..... wrote:

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
110Ah deep discharge battery sold through some disability industry
outlets: £149.95. Exact same battery sold for golf buggy: £60

Flightsafe device: £30. This is a three pin XLR plug with pins 1 and 2
shorted, in red plastic. This inhibits the scooter operation. Cost of
manufacture will be about £1.

cost of manufacture is not the only cost that they have to recover

If a product only sells in low numbers (and a "flight safe" device aimed
at a disability product sounds like a very low potential market) the
costs of development can be a significant part of the individual sale price

Development? A 0.5" length of wire soldered to two pins?

Bill