Is there too much choice?

Real choice only happens when the government guys create a decent baseline in the market

The post office bank opened interest bearing current accounts(Girobank) around 1970 to give everyone easy access to a decent basic current account

To compete the banks had to open loads of branches and offer a decent service and decent products

The government started killing Girobank off from the 1980s and closing as many post offices as possible

This allowed banks to shut huge numbers of branches and the removal of the Girobank current account in exchange for some crummy private sector bank account alternative meant the banks could offer a REALLY rubbish service with no fear of any competition

Once you allow a private cartel to operate the sector simply goes down the toilet as far as customers are concerned

It's the same with anything basic that people need

water

electricity

etc etc etc

The food sector has done ok/well but the barriers to entry are much lower

Edited By Ady1 on 02/01/2022 02:02:58

Ady

I agree fully with all of the points raised in your post.

Emgee

Peter G....

well, we have lived outside the UK for almost 25 years now......

Mostley France but now Crete,

you have to understand that starting a DD in France is easy but stopping one is a nightmare.....

The company has the right to keep taking ur money until u've jumped thru all the hoops and this can take months....

then u actually never get the overpayment back.....

god knows how the poor French get on with it all......

perhaps thats why they are so miserable.....hahaha...

they only accept instruction from u via a registered letter and other oddaties.....to long a list....

for example...

we closed the water bill down the proper way, then actually actually tried to stop the water comp taking more money from us so in the end we closed the bank account down with the min of 25euro's needed.....and just let em take it.....

actually it was cheaper than all the extra registered deliv letters, on top of those we sent allready.....

Banks are useless and u think u have it bad in the UK....

A lot better here tho......

when a bill comes thru it has a special code number on it.....

so u go to the hole in the wall....dial in the number and state the amount..press the green button.....job done......

this way she say's she can keep control.....!!!!!

It'd be highly unlikely that we would change our phone or internet suppliers and the electric comp is a monopoly so where's the problem I say....?????

another odd one......we have 2 water supplies, domestic and agriclutural......

one you pay the water board via the hole in the wall and the other u pay the local council at the town hall in cash.....

no cheques or bank cards accepted.....strange or what......

it does keep the brain cells moving tho tho......hahaha...

It's just we had so many probs in France it messed with her head....

lastly a joke......

Whats the best thing about France....

the sign that says u are now leaving FR.......hahaha.....

we drove here, what a pleasure to cross the border into Spain....pre brexit.....can u say that word here.....hahaha...

Hello Clogs,

I get the picture re your wife's refusal to use DD's. I merely wondered if perchance (ooh, that's fancy isn't it) she had the same opinion about DD's as I have, but it seems that your situation is somewhat different so therefore not really comparable.

Cheers, & thanks for the reply.

Peter G. Shaw

p.s. I don't want to get into discussions about DD's. It's nothing to do with my OP.

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 02/01/2022 09:07:34

I historically got very irritated by so-called suppliers of utilities. For most of what we need there was one state-owned system and a host of parasites acting as sales agencies.

Things have changed for telecoms as mobiles are a genuine choice, having different infrastructure.

There is some change in electricity as the UK now has numerous suppliers at different prices and the sales agencies buy and sell electricity from those sources. Hence the recent chaos, which I have managed to survive as I am with a "provider" who buys electricity mostly from wind power and hence the price hasn't gone up. The small premium I paid when I signed up compared to coal and gas-sourced electricity has disappeared as fossil prices have risen, I now have "cheap" electricity.

Insurance is sort of sales agencies, I find that all the cheapest prices have the same underwriter, so I am stuck with them unless I pay a fortune. What does help is good service when you have a reasonable claim and that is worth seeking out.

If you embrace online banking it can make life very easy, cancelling a direct debit is in your complete control at the touch of a finger although it would be courteous to inform the recipient you were cancelling it. The ability to pay bills and transfer money to anybody willing to share bank details makes life very easy. I bought a car for my son and drove away within the hour, car paid for,taxed and insured. I think any sensible dealer would wait for a cheque to clear before they hand the keys over. I think our utility bills are going to be frightening in the not too distant future. The motor insurance business is a racket that needs a sort out, it will be interesting to see how the new regs actually pan out, I saved £600 pounds on my sons insurance using a comparison site and I think I shall be seeing what they offer me next time. I think they use the how to boil a frog principle, just keep raising the temperature gently and the frog won’t jump out of the pan. When I finally thought they were taking the **** with my home insurance i reinsured for a third of what I had been paying. I shall be looking around with my utilities but the savings have never been spectacular enough to initiate me moving. It would be nice if there was some competition with council tax, they have you over a barrel and it only ever goes one way. I know the system is based on sharing the burden but I don’t use most of the things they provide and the ones that I do use are poor at best.

Mike