Tenerife forum

[funky]

Ok, I haven't done a rant for a while, so I think this is well overdue.

I'm currently looking for a pool cleaner, one of those automatic widgets that scurries its way around the floor and walls of your pool picking up dirt and filtering the water, so you don't have to hook up a hose and vacuum twice a week. Now I know they're not cheap, but given the price of a pool cleaner once a week, it will pay for itself before long.

Aaaaanyway, after trying the usual suspects in Tenerife, I discovered that these little beauties are far from cheap. In fact, for anything half decent in Tenerife, they want close to €2,000 !!

So being the enterprising little sod that I am, I did a 'google', and was astonished to learn that you can get the exact same cleaners in the U.S. for a fraction of the price. e.g. £1,900 in the UK, but only $1,100 dollars in the U.S. That's right, a mark up of 345% !!!!!!

Admittedly the warranty won't be valid in another country, but at that price, who cares? You could buy 3 of the U.S models and still have change out of the U.K version !!

So, I hear you cry, buy it from the U.S and save yourself an arm and a leg. Problem is, none of the U.S. suppliers would ship to Europe, no matter how much I cajoled, bribed and finally bullied them. After much digging around, I discovered it is because of the Nazi regime manufacturer, who has tied up all its worldwide distributors with a watertight agreement that under no circumstances are they ever allowed to ship an item to any other country.

Only one country is excluded from this little exclusive tie-up. Any guesses? That's right, the U.K. Why? Because they don't need to tie up the U.K. distributor from shipping goods abroad, because no overseas consumer is dumb enough to try to buy from the U.K at that price in the first place !!

So I rang the manufacturer to complain about this policy, and I got a litany of pathetic excuses as to why they won't ship them abroad. First they said that the power voltage is different in the U.K. DUH!! Have they never heard of a common outdoor transformer available anywhere for €30? How do they think their European models work? "Oh no sir, actually the European models are subtily different". REALLY! So how come the printed specification, online manual and technician's product code for spare parts is identical for both!!) Then they tried to fob me off with some nonsense that the factory adjust theirs so that they will only recognise U.S. electricity. So apparently those of us on this side of the pond have 'gullible' tattoed on our foreheads??

So I'm now forced to call in my American favours and get it delivered to a U.S. address where they can ship it privately to me, saving me the approximate price of a new house, car and putting 8 kids through college.

Someone is clearly getting VERY rich off the backs of European suckers. I don't plan to be one of them....


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My Paranoia-Management Therapy is going great! Now they're only watching me half the time....

[rob]

You could always get yourself an au pair and show her how to do it! Or offer Live in pool cleaning training courses!
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Who am I? Follow the myspacetenerife link under my avatar.

Remember: You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing.