Chaos.com Review

I recently purchased season two of Alias (Yes i know lol) on DVD from self described 'leading online entertainment store' Chaos.com. I should probably use another phrase rather than 'recently' as this was 34 days ago!

Okay I have to admit, I was pretty happy with the price ($16.99). Compared with other major retailers like JB HI FI where i've seen the product for just under $30. So in terms of price, i thought i couldn't go wrong. The site claims that it will take 3-4 days to deliever or if it is an ordered item (item they don't have in stock) which was true in this case then it would take up to 10 days.

34 days later, I am still waiting. 34 days i think is abit ridiculous. However i am certain it will take longer which means I will be even more pissed then i am now! I do have to give them some credit though as well as the good price, Chaos have been decent enough to email me to inform me that my product will be delayed as they are still waiting for it to come to their warehouse and that they will notify me once it has arrived. This was three weeks ago, still waiting.... The suspense is killing me.

Not that i am in desperate need of this DVD or anything. This could be just a one off bad experience. They may be great in regard to service and delivery times in majority of cases. Chances are I just got a bad apple. But then again I could be wrong. This could be more wide spread. Would love to hear other peoples experiences with their dealings with Chaos.

On a final note, I shall let everyone know once I finally receive this bloody dvd! Hopefully it won't be too much longer. *Fingers Crossed*

Corporation Greed

This is an older post that I did a while ago which still holds great relevance today.

I recently purchased a brand new 40gb Playstation 3 for $677 (Australian Dollars) from Myers, one of Australias largest department stores. Meanwhile you can get the exact same product in the US for $399 in US Dollars. Now what i quite don't understand is why there is a price different of $277 between the same product when the Australian dollar is almost equivalent to the US dollar. In fact the Australian dollar has never been stronger. Not to mention the economy in Australia has never been stronger and is still showing rapid growth.

Now i know that the retail market in Australia isn't as big nor competitive as it is in the US. But this still shouldn't matter. What i want to know is why Sony are inflating their prices on this specific product by over 50% on the exact same product in Australia when the dollar is almost matching the US dollar? It's not just Sony who does this. The same goes for many other transnational corporations.The obvious solution would be to simply have bought my new PS3 direct from the US from an online retailer such as Amazon.com.

Believe me, i tried doing this only to find that if i did i would be slumped with excessive import and customs taxes. Which i suppose is fair enough as this deters consumers from purchasing outside their own country therefore enabling the retail markets in Australia to remain as competitive as they can without this businesses going completely broke.

But still, this is a question i put to Sony. Why are the prices of your products excessively inflated here while in the US they are significantly lower when the Australian dollar is almost matching the US dollar?

Channel 9's A Current Affair - Regarding Lack of Fresh Fruit & Vegies at the Supermarkets

If anyone watched A Current Affair this week you may have seen a story about how the big supermarkets freeze and keep in store their fruit and vegies for months at a time.

I recently wrote a post about this. I found it quite interesting. Obviously people had complained to the current affairs show about this issue. It's no secret really about what the supermarkets are doing. Just to save some money. How can food be fresh if it is frozen and kept in storage for up to a year?

Here is the link to the video of this story:

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=562689

More Changes to eBay

So, I was just going through eBay when I noticed another significant recent change. Not only am I a buyer on eBay but also a seller. The feedback system that eBay uses is suppose to indicate for buyers and sellers alike the reputation of the other party they are doing the transaction with.

It gives information on how smooth the transaction went, delievery time, delivery costs etc. You can either give neutral, positive or negative feedback to the other party you have trasacted with. BUT, eBay have recently changed this system slightly where if you are seller, you can no longer give the buyer negative or neutral feedback.

Honestly, I think eBay are idiots and have completly lost it. First paypal now this! Firstly I should mention that I don't believe the feedback system is that great. Reputation is everything on eBay. Most sellers now don't leave positive feedback for their buyers until the buyer leaves positive feedback. If the buyer leaves negative feedback, look out! cause the seller will do the same!

I don't quite understand why eBay has changed this so the seller can only leave positive feedback now. What happens if the buyer is abusive, rude, slow to pay or just doesn't pay at all! The only thing the seller can do is just not leave feedback at all. It's win win for the buyer. The buyer can now do what they like. It's sending the wrong message. Buyers can be asses and get away with it and not have to worry about receiving negative feedback yet they can leave negative feedback on the seller and ruin their good reputation when they have done nothing wrong.

SDA

The SDA is the union that represents retail employers in Australia. I myself am a member. Being a member has many benefits including receiving a discount booklet for all types of shops. I myself am a member. Check out the video.

Change Of Topic?

As you may have noticed, I have began to severly get off topic about what this blog is about. This blog is suppose to link the readers to high quality cheaper than retail products and yes it does occasionally try to accomplish this objective. Glad to see though that I haven't gone completly off topic. This blog is still very much about the retail industry, shopping and consuming.

Lately though, I have found myself to be more so of an advocate for consumers. I am highly critical of the big players out there who think they can just rip off small time folk such as ourselves. I just don't think it's right and fair.

Anyways, I promise to have more posts soon. Meanwhile will be interesting to finally see the budget tonight once it is released which I expect will be very shortly within the next couple of hours.

Stay tuned.

Coles Express a Rip Off!

The newly appointed petrol commission agency called today for consumers to boycott Coles Express when buying petrol. They claim that Coles Express are leading the pack when it comes to higher petrol prices.

The fact is, consumers shouldn't be spending this amount of money on petrol while the petrol companies heap a large profit. I paid $1.45 for petrol today, the highest I have ever paid for petrol before in my life time! Yes it was from Coles Express too. This was before I saw the news today though.

It is quite fair to say that the main driver of high petrol prices has been due to the rising cost of oil as a result of the ever increasing lack of supply. The monopolisation of the petrol market by Woolworths and Coles defiantly is another major contributing factor. They are stamping out the competion. I believe that Coles and Woolworths should have never been allowed to enter the petroleum business in the first place. They already rip us off at the checkout.

Eventually, there will come a day, perhaps 20 years or so now when the world runs out of oil. Yes, this means that we will continue to see the rapid rise in petrol prices. What are we going to do when we run out of oil? Will all the cars in the world be useless? I think it's time that the Government pushes and starts promoting alternatives to petrol such as gas powered and electric cars. Even hydrogen, although hydrogen powered cars are quite pricey ($1 million for BMW's 7 Series hydrogen vehicle). These are pressing questions and issues which need to be addressed if we are to adequetly prepare ourselves for the future.