denismartindale
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It’s likely that millions here in the UK may buy brand new TVs this Christmas and in 2025. I was surprised to watch a YouTube video about buying from High Street stores such as Currys. Local stores such as Currys may seem convenient for returning faulty items but the 12-month or 24-month warranty coverage is the reason there’s a lower price than other companies and stores offering a 5-year or a 6-year warranty coverage such as John Lewis and Richer Sounds.
Modern Smart TVs may get broken because of a top heavy effect based on weight as well as feeble supports under the TVs. Even my LG and Hisense TVs are not the best support designs. So the YouTube video explained a broken screen costs hundreds to replace if the customer insists on it or the insurance covers that cost and doesn’t offer a new replacement TV instead.
The somewhat recent Sales of Goods Act has to be reconsidered as customers out to get TVs that last 5 years and even more. However, some TVs are deliberately sold with substandard parts and some TVs had to get withdrawn.
Another factor is energy usage and costs as well as changing the default ECO-settings on some TVs. We may need to reconsider what we pay for our customised settings that require higher costs than the default settings.
It’s possible that the electricity and gas standing charges may be revised with energy companies ordered to provide tariffs without these charges. The companies would simply charge more per energy unit anyway, but very low users could save some money and perhaps even more if using a fast microwave than the gas oven taking longer.
The 4K Smart TVs have efficiency ratings for energy usage but people may be more interested in the other specifications and apps. Even some some YouTube videos question if Smart TVs are really worth the extra money and that could depend on any freebie or home trial discounts the TVs display which could save customers money.
The horrible TV Licence Tax increases by £5 in 2025 so no chance of a cancellation for tens of millions of customers who hardly ever watch BBC shows or use the BBC iPlayer online.
As for extra TV channels the Internet access provides, I use the Netgem Netbox 4K model as it lets me add over 100 Netgem Internet channels when I retune the Freeview channels so a secondhand purchase on eBay proves very helpful to get even more channels and apps.
YouTube has several tutorials and tricks and tips and TV settings advice so that’s another app for our TVs and devices to access.
In any case, I look for 4K Smart TVs with the little circle input for satellite TV and Radio channels as I’ve got spare satellite dish cables to receive Sky and Freesat frequencies. However, the ultra picture quality receivers for Sky Q and Virgin Media’s 360 box don’t let me record content via a SCART output or HDMI output to my DVD Recorder. Both receivers had to be taken away and I was switched back to Sky+ cables instead. I don’t recommend Sky Glass or Sky Stream either. I’m staying with my 2TB storage Sky+ box instead so with my Sky subscription I can store content and download it, too.
As for Sky, I prefer NOW TV for Sky Cinema and cancel that every now and then rather than get Sky’s long 18-month contract at a discount price yet hardly ever watched… Sky Entertainment is worthwhile because of the extras at a discount if you’re lucky…
My current Disney+ subscription ends on Boxing Day so I visited the website again and checked available films and TV shows. My PC doesn’t stream anything but I needed to check details anyway. I switched to the 4K TV to access Disney+ there and checked the MARVEL content. I was pleased to watch some of the ASSEMBLED film documentaries about the making of films such as Black Widow as well as Deadpool and Wolverine. I learned so much about the actors and actresses and the stunt men and women and the setting up of massive sets used for some of the scenes. The documentaries were marvellous to say the least so I thought that it could be useful here on the forum to know about these comic book characters and the incredible attention to detail that is required to make these blockbusters.
The eBay 15% discount deal ends on the 17th of December 2024.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_7116143159
Code JINGLE15 for minimum orders of £10 and maximum discount of £75.
If the item is with free delivery then even better value rather than paying separately for this.
Check the categories and any eBay search results that include the discount code.
The MSE email I received had a tiny TV Licence update
TV licence fee to rise by £5 to £174.50/yr from April 2025
So they ain’t gonna cancel it, are they?
Some comment, well, that’s just an extra £5 a year. Some say differently, it’s even more bills to pay for years to come and for what? Millions rebel against the TV Licence Tax and the harassment and the £1,000 fine. I get benefits and these include the TV Licence as a part of the cost of living payments which may seem quite nice at first. However, there are millions who miss out on benefits or legitimate claims based on the National Insurance payments they paid and their employers paid, too. I realise that if the TV Licence Tax was abolished that the Government could take that £3 a week away from benefits and merely delay future benefit increases accordingly. Even so, think of the reduced misery of not being harassed into paying something that needn’t have been charged for in the first place!
What many forget about is that the TV adverts on hundreds of other TV channels announce thousands of discount deals every single year and could easily pay for a TV Licence many times over. Look at this forum discussion for the ways I’ve saved thousands of pounds on the Internet less a few hundred pounds for the Broadband and phone line rental charges. Mind you, millions don’t have a computer at all. But a 4K Smart TV offers us some Internet web browser access that could prove useful as well as some apps on various devices as the Amazon Fire Stick or Android set-top boxes.
Some 4K Smart TVs have their own TV channels as extras such as the LG TVs do. Then again, the Netgem Netbox 4K set-top box has over a hundred of its own extra TV channels we access when we retune channels. So while I oppose the TV Licence Tax I still pay it through my bank or by a credit card if the bank payment fails. I learned recently that some payments don’t go through for some licence payers and they are regarded as criminals. The BBC and certain banks have a lot to answer for. So do the Governments for permitting the BBC fiascos to happen and to continue.
Still, I’m not paying my TV Licence as the Government benefits I get do that for me.
Fav shows such as Doctor Who and Superman and Lois are basically all I really watch as live TV shows.
A couple of grocery orders on the http://www.morrisons.com website led to about £33 as my extra discounts. The available items dictate the actual savings because stocks can decrease as Christmas approaches. I used 2 email accounts to get the 2 discounts and I could save a lot for a multi-buy item as well.
I saved about £10 on http://www.amazon.co.uk compared for the same item recently. Some items are sent delivery free so we need to look for these rather than sign up for Amazon Prime every time.
Another week and I was able to get further discounts on the http://www.re-vived.com website.
Large orders may get declined by Paypal or the credit cards so I split my order into 2 orders that were processed.
I want to share an update about a Broadband company: http://www.toob.co.uk
I received a leaflet offering 900 Mbps service with line rental for £29 a month on an 18-month contract. This is one of those advance notices suggesting people visit the website and register their interest. They get to be notified when the service becomes available, presumably on a local post code search.
100% full-fibre broadband, no line rental, no in-contract price rises, UK-based customer service. The Broadband service is over CityFibre’s network. It’s the Best Value Provider Genie Awards winner for 2024.
It’s an unlimited service and doesn’t throttle speeds at peak time- even on multiple devices.
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Be aware that modern Smart 4K TVS can restrict speed to 100 Mbps unless we fit an adaptor to let the true speed gain access, such as explained in YouTube videos and with demonstrations of the adaptor and the speed results. TVs have their speed tests yet Virgin Media directed me to the samspeed website to verify my Broadband speed for me.
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Some cancelled services may incur a subscription cancellation fine.
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I saved over £25 on the http://www.poundland.co.uk website as I made 2 account orders today with free delivery.
I saved £50 on a DVD Recorder on http://www.ebay.co.uk as I got a scart cable and the user guide in the original box, too.
I got another 99p home trial for Amazon Prime to qualify for Prime Video and any Amazon Prime deals.
I stocked up again on http://www.groceries.morrisons.com to pay about £50 for my £70 order.
I viited http://www.re-vived.co.uk again and made a few large orders this week to get the 25% discounts that end soon and I reckon I saved over £100 yet after the discounts end I can use the loyalty points for extra discounts and get even more saved next week.
The Netgem 4K Netbox was just for the box and was sent for the £5 total. That worked OK.
I set up the 20 metres Ethernet cables to access the Internet on the Netgem and Sky+ set-top boxes downstairs to replace a few of the shorter cables that were joined together…
I checked the Sky Store and found the Venom hero film was the latest Sky VIP freebie to download.It’s been a busy little week.
I tried to cancel the Amazon Prime membership this morning (24/11/2024) and it had been renewed for £8.99. I visited the Account details and Manage Membership web page details but there was no option on different web browsers to CANCEL NOW. So I checked the Contact Customer Services option and requested a call and explained why I wanted to cancel and was promised a refund. I checked my account again and the membership was no longer listed so that problem has been resolved until I get a refund listed in the credit card statements on the Internet website for pending transactions.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/contact-us/foresight/hubgateway-csp
That’s the contact URL…
Another Amazon £5 off a £15 order has been sent by email to one of my accounts so I visited http://www.amazon.co.uk to switch to that account and get the promotion offer applied. This time I ordered 2 hoodies from the M17 mens items and they were a total of just over £15 so I got £5 off and paid just over £10 instead.
amazon—co—uk/dp/B09C6KLRBX/
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/identity
Sign in and see your account and your tariff then click switch account for the Black Friday deals.
I switched from my recent V11 tariff of 15 months to the Fixed Tariff 18m which will cost about £3 extra.
The electricity costs about £35 cheaper but the gas costs about £35 more so the price stays the same except for the extra 3 months.
The deal is supposed to end at 9pm on the 22nd of November 2024, today.
I will get a £25 Amazon credit about 60 days from today and get entered into a prize draw of free energy for a year. So who knows if I save even more?
The other deals cost a lot more and there’s no gain paying extra for any of those.
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This reply was modified 4 weeks, 1 day ago by
denismartindale. Reason: Details of Amazon £25 credit and free energy prize draw
eBay has several offers on the home page and includes previous searches for the account…
t.ly/LSlvG shortcut here…
eBay code ends on the 19th of November 2024.
Coupons on the top of the eBay home page or in eBay email updates.
ebay.co.uk/b/bn_7116144158
20% OFF code FIRSTLOOK20
NB £10 and maximum discount £75. Terms say we can redeem the code 3 times.
Selected items are available from these sellers:
pages.ebay.co.uk/coupons/2024/tok0rli2fso/https://ilovepdf.com is a PDF website with several ways to view, and edit or convert PDF files.
The Microsoft Edge web browser can view our computer PDF files, too.
Money Saving Expert email mentions the v11 British Gas Tariff…
In this week’s MSE Tips, the latest British Gas Tariff v11 is offered to existing customers and it’s for 15 months.
My tariff is 14m v2 and I needed to get the new tariff details on the British Gas website before calculating the differences and the worth of switching or not.
The 14m V2 tariff is a day and night set of charges and November is a good average for the annual 5000 units used.
It’s about 300 for day usage and 115 for night usage and with 5% VAT the average works out at about £105 a month.
The new tariff works out for the only charge for day and night usage and with VAT goes to £110+ a month instead.
As it’s Winter with extras to pay, I increased the Direct Debit to £120 for the next few months.
My tariff ends in October 2025 so that means 11 months are left. So the increase of about £5 a month which includes the 4 extra months is still worthwhile based on the overall prices now and what they could be increased for any future tariffs offered to British Gas customers.
The understanding is that we switch and pay a lot more for our Winter months and these apply from here to the end of March or April depending on a mild or a cold Winter and early Spring.
As the new tariff uses a single charge for electricity this means customers don’t need to do the laundry overnight or stay up late at night using off-peak electricity as before.
https://britishgas.co.uk/identity/
Here we sign in then view tariffs if seeking info on switching or not, and our monthly statements as well as submitting meter readings.
Time to stock up at https://groceries.morrisons.com/
So I used the email discount code and saved £15 on my £70+ order. -
This reply was modified 4 weeks, 1 day ago by
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