Same with certain home improvement companies that hope once you're on the line, they can close the sale there and then.
I swear they must make all their money off people who don't want to think about what the job involves, and just hand over a chequebook.

The water softener from Costco is £500, the one from ScrewFix is £400, but I'm curious how much the one from NameBrand is.
NameBrand website "Well, it can vary a lot depending on how complicated..."
Forum posts: "£2k including fitting and a year's salt, £1500 for the unit"
(Which isn't an insane price to just have it sorted, I just hate the bollocks excuses when everyone magically still comes out around £2k)

The physical staircase will cost me about £1000, then a few days of skilled labour for someone to fit.
I wonder how much one of those "we'll just handle it" companies in the back of the sunday supplement could do it for...Oh, that's 15 times the price, wonderful.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I get what your saying and obviously overpaying by 15x, like in your example is a terrible idea but, I will say, overpaying by a much smaller amount to save time is sometimes worth it.

One thing your example does not do, and its something most people don't do is factor in how much your time is worth. Is spending an extra $500, for example, worth as much as multiple hours of your time?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

I absolutely agree.
Honestly, if NameBrand posted their prices, I might have considered them, as once my time organising/plumbing (or paying a plumber) is factored in, the difference isn't so massive.
I just loathe the principle of having to get a quote for even the basic device in a box!