Abuse of the word “free”

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

I find a lot of these posts interesting. I reckon I became immune to adverts where ever they were when I was around 15. A few did have an effect. For years now no effect at all. I might notice yet another iPhone has come out but buy another make and model. I'd guess many people are the same but the add industry in all areas is a money go round that could mostly be replaced by a search engine and on line stores.

Some fools pay for space on this site and many others which allows them to exist. Lets hope they never realise that the adds as presented are a waste of money and screen space. They could be replaced by simple links plus a note of what they sell.

John

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[Ray LyonsParticipant @raylyons29267]

I was getting up to 3 cold calls daily and worried about the scammers who are finding new ways to part us from our cash. (mainly the older generation). About 6 months ago, while browsing through my local Tesco store, I came across a BT Guardian phone set and after a bit of on line research bought a system. A bit of a job setting up to establish known contacts in the phone book but so far it has been great. No cold calls at all and as a bonus, the range outside is good, enabling me to keep in touch from the garden or the shed.

[Clive IndiaParticipant @cliveindia]

Posted by the artfull-codger on 01/02/2016 22:19:16:

…. Insurance for the over 50s? peace of mind?, do they seriously think I'm going to pay out of my pocket every month so my kids can have a bean feast when I croak, I don't think so, they've had plenty out of me allready, my "piece of mind" is not wasting money on insurance so others can have it.

Shame on people like Michael Parkinson who probably doesn't need the money, helping to promote this stuff.

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

I fly free-flight model aircraft.

I can assure you that they are not 'free' or even cheap – but they are fun and a great way to keep fit.

* Danny M *

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Clive India on 02/02/2016 08:57:38:

Shame on people like Michael Parkinson who probably doesn't need the money, helping to promote this stuff.

.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. …………. But he says you do get a FREE ball point pen just for enquiring.!

Nick

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Posted by Danny M2Z on 02/02/2016 09:43:25:

I fly free-flight model aircraft.

I can assure you that they are not 'free' or even cheap – but they are fun and a great way to keep fit.

* Danny M *

Yes, the keep fit part is where you wander around for hours trying to find where it came down. Funny how they only disappear when you've just filled the fuel tank or put a fresh battery in.

Dave

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Spurry claims that:

With model radio gear, ditto CB, you got *nothing* for the fee.

Well, I don't think that is completely true, either. What you got was a mainly silent frequency band, not cluttered up by people with no more sense than to spend all day driving trucks, microphone in hand…

But I'm sure that wasn't the reason that Her Majesties Government took the money.

Cheers, Tim

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Remember, it was a politician who said "When I said safe, I didn't mean safe". But how many of them do say what they mean?

Friends who don't have a TV were HOUNDED by the TV licence people , until they finally came to the house to search for the set, that MUST be there. Only then did they accept that there was no set.

"What very odd people, no TV!"

Winston Churchill said that there were liars, damned liars, and statisticians, he forgot marketing folk and politicians of all shapes and sizes.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pay for it!

Howard (Fully paid up cynic)

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I read today that people viewing TV without a licence via the Iplayer (presumably other catch-ups as well) are to be stopped from doing so, not heard how this is to be achieved though.

 

Edited By V8Eng on 03/03/2016 20:43:56

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Howard Lewis on 03/03/2016 19:29:58:

Remember, it was a politician who said "When I said safe, I didn't mean safe". But how many of them do say what they mean?

Friends who don't have a TV were HOUNDED by the TV licence people , until they finally came to the house to search for the set, that MUST be there. Only then did they accept that there was no set.

"What very odd people, no TV!"

Winston Churchill said that there were liars, damned liars, and statisticians, he forgot marketing folk and politicians of all shapes and sizes.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pay for it!

Howard (Fully paid up cynic)

I remember sending the nth licence request back in about 1985 with "I haven't got a bloody telly" written on it in huge letters. They didn't send me any more requests after that.

Neil

[charadamParticipant @charadam]

As Heinlein has it – TANSTAAFL.

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

V8Eng, I think you got it slightly wrong, as I think I heard no-one is actually going to be stopped from watching catch-up for free but rather that ALL WILL pay! Quite how that will work I dont know but it will certainly be very much more profitable for the Govt. than stopping it.

John

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I guess it depends on which reports you see / hear, one suggestion I have seen is that TV Licence payers might be issued with codes to use, I do not know how you would stop those being passed around though.

It looks as if one way or another the powers that be are going to try and stop people from watching catch-up for free.

Edited By V8Eng on 03/03/2016 23:12:13

Edited By V8Eng on 03/03/2016 23:13:09

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Another big con: blah, blah then "Get (or collect) the set" as applied to cut out cardboard prehistoric monsters on cereal packets many years ago. Also applies to many other "give away free" items but when you buy umpteen more packets of whatever, you end up with duplicates and it seems like at least one item is not available.

Spanners, socket, double open-end, combo ring + open-end, Allen keys, screwdrivers, chisels, collets, taps and dies and various other items nearly always sold as a set. Very often some items will suffer heavy use, e.g., 2/4/6/8 BA taps but 1/5/7/9 even 10 BA never/rarely used. Same with dies. Boxed sets always seem to contain tap wrenches and die stocks to add to your fast growing collection of these often unwanted items which are nevertheless included in the overall cost of a set. Look at drills – Letter/No./Fraction/Metric. Adverts try to encourage purchase of sets. Letter "F" or No. 43,27 spring to mind as commonly used ones along with no doubt a number of others for tapping sizes diff. threads but many others as new. OK, individual items can be purchased often at a much higher price.

Feel like I long ago joined the huge club of conned mugs.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

It's many years since the government in NZ gave up licencing for radio, and TV. Even longer since a fee was charged for CB radio, for CB there were only two radio inspectors in the country, one North island, one South Island, it was cheaper to drop two inspectors that try and collect the fee, or take non fee payers to court.

Even in the UK it probably costs more to police the radio, and TV users than they get from the licence fee.

Ian S C

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