South African Rip-offs Ranking

J

Jedisword

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South African Rip-offs Ranking


1 Telecommunication 400% overpriced

2 Music CD & DVD 300% overpriced

3 Banks 300% overpriced ( eg. cash deposit fee 1% ,service fees,admin fees,transaction fees .....)

4 Motor car +- 60 % overpriced


This is based on my personal observation as an well travelled Businessman ,Any more Ideas ?
 
Yep. Totally true. I've been all over the place. South Africans just seem to accept this. I've no idea why.

We just don't whinge enough. Government should also address these overpricing issues.
 
I totally agree. But really, what can the common south african do about this stuff? Most of the companies could not give a damn as they consider our market share to be minimal and thus don't care if we do complain??
[}:)]
 
For the high banking costs there may be an explanation: banks spend millions on secutity of our money in SA. Banks with cheaper cost may not survive in SA due to crime etc. It is still not nice, but at least the pricing is not based on greed.



"I am jimmy and I approve this message"
 
the bigest ripoff was a few years back and not so much now when there was special import tarrifs on electronic goods to help the local manufacturers ... what landed up happening was the local guys making a massive profit and no benefit been passed to consumer/employeee ...
 
I know, lets all stop buying cars ! :D

Seriously though, one of the worst aspects of car prices in this country is second hand cars.

In the UK, you can pick up an old second hand car that's passed it's MOT for the equivalent of R6000.
Sure, it's not going to be the most upmarket car on the road - probably a polo or something similar, but still, it's a car.

Over here, anything under R20 000 is a lemon.

I'm not sure how we got to the point we are at regarding prices of ALL things - one thing missed from that list was the price of food, which as we all know, skyrocketed out of control in 2001 and never recovered, even though the rand did and even though we're being told how strong our economy is.

The only things that ever seem to go down in price are electronic goods and that's only because it's a continuous upgrade cycle that drives the prices down. The "next best thing" comes along etc.

Oh yes, and as for the budget, good news, but ...

Who wants to make a bet on the petrol price having a serious hike in the next 3 months ?
That's exactly what happened after the last budget when clever trevor gave us all a break ...
 
I am contemplating a plan - since received many requests to fight down car prices.

I just need to find my "lost insanity" to complete the last part of the master plan :)
 
Don't forgot software prices. These are thumbsucks but I'm sure they're not too far off:

Windows XP Proffessional - R1500
MS Office - R4000
Adobe Photoshop - R6000

I'm talking about the retail versions. Its so ridiculous. Probably 95% of Photoshops in use are pirated and its not suprising.
 
Im not a smoker but my mates buy boxes of whatever brand for something like R15 these days?
Someone is coining it big time...
 
Well, I have no sympathy to smokers and the price they pay.

I gave up three years ago and never looked back.

Personally, I think they should be R30 a box and that extra R15 should go directly to subsidising low cost housing, education and health services.
 
jimmy said:
For the high banking costs there may be an explanation: banks spend millions on secutity of our money in SA. Banks with cheaper cost may not survive in SA due to crime etc. It is still not nice, but at least the pricing is not based on greed.
Click to expand...

This is not correct last year I saw a report showing that our retail banking margins were twice that of the overseas banks.
Unfortunately I cannot find the original source.
 
We have much work to do here,wthin a week I will announce the new target for consumer activism

The new Villain will either be the "Banca" (banking cartel ) or Motor cartel

but only one of them will be our target..
 
bb_matt said:
Personally, I think they should be R30 a box and that extra R15 should go directly to subsidising low cost housing, education and health services.
Click to expand...

I'd be the happiest bloke alive if it was R30 a box tomorrow. Currently paying +-R60 a box in london 9if you buy retail). Haha

Just another thing to note: the price of clothes in s.a. has also gone for a bit of a hike recently. It is cheaper to buy babyclothes in london (the third most expensive city in the world) and send to s.a. than what it is to buy the equivalent stuff in s.a.
 
i concur. groceries are also pathetically expensive here. In the UK groceries are mocked as the most expensive in Europe yet shopping in a UK supermarket in July with my mom, i almost broke down and wept. She did her entire months groceries for R900 equivalent including all their wine supplies! BLERGH!!!
 
I think something needs to be done... I remember at one stage a house costed about as much as a car. Anyways i think its all fixed-price wise and somebody needs to take them up on it,.. i mean when the rand devalued the prices sky rocket quickly but when the rand recovers the prices remain wtf ? i think some of the poverty in this country is self imposed by our own companies and perhaps the goverment who sits by idle and just says 'ya theres a problem...' but does not do anything.
 
We don't have any effective anti-trust legislation in SA such as in the USA and Europe. Well that's understandable I guess because then a monopoly like Telkom & Sentech would be illegal right off the bat.

Remember that a private business works on Market Principles, with the most fundamental being, "Charge what the market will bear". The market for cars as an example will bear the increased prices, because the people will keep on buying cars, no matter if it is 60% or whatever more expensive than the o/s prices.

One of the things anti-trust legislation protects the consumer from is market collusion, such as the emergence of cartels. All we have to protect us is the pathetic SA Competition Commission. And they are as effective as the Public Protector. I.o.w. a total waste of space and effort. Not even worth mentioning.
 
pat22 said:
Yep. Totally true. I've been all over the place. South Africans just seem to accept this. I've no idea why.

We just don't whinge enough. Government should also address these overpricing issues.
Click to expand...
And when we do whinge, we are called "spoilt white brats".
 
We are being overcharged in many different avenues. The other day at Pick n Pay I purchased 2 small fresh peaches and was charged R4.90. I never thought I would ever see the day I would have to pay R2.45 for a peach.

The car industry is another guilty party.

But my pet hate (besides Telkom) is the high banking charges we are paying. It was only when I saw what overseas banks were charging did I realise how badly the banks are ripping us off. We already pay a very high interest rate on money we owe. We already get a very low interest rate on our savings, but on top of that you have to pay to deposit money, withdraw money, transfer money, etc, etc, etc, etc.

So if anyone wants to start some sort of banking movement, count me in!! It's really time for these corporate guys to realise that the time of stealing from us is over.
 
I must agree, my new gripe is banking charges (the old gripe is still Telkom ;) )

After my monthly run of debit orders I was shocked, For simple things like online inter account transfers, they're charging about R4+. That's for something the bank requires 0 input for!

Although I can see what's going to happen. I used to work for a large financial institute. All the banks are connect via diginet (typically 384-2Mb pipes) They'll just blame the high cost of business on telkom . . .
 
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