http://x-penditure.com Reporting my experiences, to help others with their consumption decisions... Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:35:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Domain name registrar Dotster sent me an email inviting me to "confirm your email address", and in return promised to "give you a coupon for 20% off your next purchase as a special thank-you gift". This sounded good, as I had some domain name renewals coming up. After checking that the ... http://x-penditure.com/2009/09/30/i-got-tricked-by-dotster/ The car rental from Tempest Car Hire (South Africa) seemed to be good value, and everything seemed to go straightforwardly. When I returned the vehicle, a staff member checked it and found that everything was OK, and confirmed that the fuel tank was full (as it should have been, because ... http://x-penditure.com/2009/09/08/tempest-car-hire-overcharge/ My daughter's first phone was very basic - it did voice calls and text only. No music or games. She really wanted games. After a few years we decided to get her a new phone for her birthday, and of course we chose one with games. I bought the LG KS360 ... http://x-penditure.com/2009/01/19/a-bad-customer-experience-with-orange-uk/ When you visit amazon.co.uk, you can buy things that are supplied by Amazon, but you can also buy things that are supplied by their associated Merchants. Amazon keeps track of the process, but it can cause you to receive a lot of confusing emails. I bought a tap recently, and received ... http://x-penditure.com/2008/01/11/amazon-and-their-merchants/ Recently Mrs Penditure bought a sturdy-looking bicycle combination lock. On its second use, it jammed up, trapping the kids' bicycles to the school bicycle rack until we found someone with a tool that could cut the cable. I took the severed lock back to Wilkinsons where they were quite happy to ... http://x-penditure.com/2006/04/27/returning-a-combination-lock-to-wilkinsons/ This shampoo (Natures Organics "fruits") works well enough. It: cleans my hair doesn't cost too much has an Apple flavour that's not too objectionable It is also an example of what must be the pinnacle of consumerism - a container that won't dispense a small quantity. I don't have as much hair as some ... http://x-penditure.com/2006/03/20/shampoo-you-have-to-use-a-lot-of/ A strange kind of reminiscence this one, back to the days when the local supermarket (in Sydney) stocked a brand of toilet paper called Thousand Sheet Roll. I was living by myself at the time. I would install one of these, and wouldn't have to worry about changing the roll for ... http://x-penditure.com/2006/03/07/thousand-sheet-roll/ The kids were keen to go ten-pin bowling so we phoned Morecambe super-bowl and reserved a lane for an hour for £20 including shoe hire. It was a mixed experience. The lighting above the pins wasn't working on our lane, but we bowled on. It soon became clear that the automatic scoring ... http://x-penditure.com/2006/03/06/morecambe-super-bowl/ I recently discussed the notion of price discrimination, where the same product is sold to different people at difference prices, with the aim of extracting the maximum profit for the seller. Another form of price discrimination can be found in many supermarkets. It's price discrimination by variation of packaging. For example, at ... http://x-penditure.com/2006/02/28/price-discrimination-by-packaging/ Twice a year or thereabouts, the Continental Market sets up in the pedestrianised part of the city. About twenty stalls sell a wide range of delicious foods, plus toiletries and crafts. Best of all is surely the mobile bakery which turns out fabulous food. I always look for the stalls that ... http://x-penditure.com/2006/02/27/apple-jam-from-france/