This is so true. Gordon Brown got into government in 1997 on the promise that he would bring an end to destructive booms and busts in the property market.
Eleven years as Chancellor (the money guy) and Prime Minister later he has presided over the biggest boom of them all. And now the evidence of his initial bold claims is starting to disappear from government websites. Shameful.
I am reading this book that explains it all:
Earlier this year Grant, Cam, Russ and I purchased tickets to the Ireland, Wales and England rugby tests against the All Black in the UK this November.
The purchase was made through Sports Tickets International Limited who are, according to their site, the Officially Licensed Match Ticket Company of the New Zealand Rugby Union (”NZRU”).
The total amount that my Visa was charged was 922.85 but when I picked up my tickets yesterday the face value of all 12 tickets came to a meagre £632. This means that STIL added on a whopping 46% to the price of the tickets!
That is one hell of a mark-up!
This table shows the breakdown.
| Test | Face value for 4 tickets | STIL cut | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | £200 | 92 | £292 |
| Twickenham | £164 | £75.44 | £239.44 |
| Dublin | £268 | £123.28 | £391.28 |
| £632 | £290.72 | £922.72 |
Naturally I have emailed them to find out what is going on.
STIL have added a handling fee to the face value of each ticket. This fee covers the cost of making this facility available (including website and software charges, travel, administration, wages and processing fees), and as a result the face value of the tickets will not equate with the amount charged. Any income, which remains at the end of this project, once all costs have been paid, will be returned to the NZRU to assist with the development of Rugby in New Zealand.
I have copied and pasted the below from the Terms & Conditions Page on the STIL website, hope this helps.
If we assume that our tickets are the average price then STIL is making roughly £25 per ticket. If we also assume that they have 5000 tickets per game to sell then they will have 25000 tickets which means that they will take £625,000 or 1,766,519 New Zealand Dollars (today’s exchange rate is 2.826) to perform the duties mentioned above.
I am pretty sure that I could do it all for less than that.
I have emailed them again and asked them how much money is returned to NZRU for the development of NZ rugby.
STIL have replied again. In answer to the preceding question they said:
The breakdown is about 50/50
So NZRU get nearly ONE MILLION NEW ZEALAND DOLLARS for the development of NZ rugby which is good. And it costs STIL nearly ONE MILLION NEW ZEALAND DOLLARS to sell Kiwis in the UK tickets to 5 games of rugby.
So I asked STIL
So you are saying that it costs nearly one million New Zealand dollars to provide tickets for New Zealand fans for 5 games of rugby?
And they threatened me with this email:
Carl
I am not sure where you are getting your figures from and where you are going with this, but we will not be following any further line of communication.
If you like, we will take you off our database, and recommend you purchase your tickets direct from the host unions in future.
Kind regards
Margaret Faisandier
Sports Tickets International Ltd
The Official match Ticket Licensee of the NZ Rugby Union
You know what I am getting at Margaret Faisandier, you are profiteering from loyal All Black fans!!!
My next question is: Is there an open and transparent tender process for the job of selling tickets to UK fans? I think I would like to apply.
I have set up an online petition stating that Amazon should stop circulating advertising material for VistaPrint. Hopefully if we get enough signatures Amazon will stop doing business with these scammers and we will get them where it hurts the most … their bank account!
http://www.petitiononline.com/stop1111/petition.html
Rachel and I had a packed bank holiday weekend.
On the Saturday we rode along the Regents Canal to the London river boat festival.
On Sunday we spent 8 hours on England’s wonderful railway service (making a journey that should have been 3 hours) to Monkey World in Dorset. Monkey World is sanctuary for monkeys that are saved from all over the planet. Some were kept in research labs for in one meter cages by themselves for year after for year. Others were pets that got too big to be pets any more.
Finally on the Monday off work we took our bike out to the country and covered them in mud. My bike the Canondale “Road Warrior” did okay in the muddy conditions despite it’s skinny road wheels.
Half way through the day the front tire split and I got two consecutive punctures which I fixed while everyone else was enjoying their lunches.
All in all a packed and fun May bank holiday weekend in England :)
This is a photo from McDonalds’ special Rugby World Cup menu. I would suggest adding the following menu items. A low calorie bag of hot air for Australia. A very blunt instrument (probably a spoon) for South Africa. Something bland and disappointing for England. A bag of sour grapes for Stephen Jones to eat. A doormat for France after their first performance. And nothing dangerous that the Kiwis might choke on.
We touched down in Marseilles to the amazing news that Argentina had convincingly beaten the hosts France in the opening match. This is shocking news as the team that comes second in the so called pool of death will head to Cardiff to face the All Blacks. France ideally wanted to delay this encounter until Paris for the final where they would have had home ground advantage. Now they are playing for their lives and have to beat Ireland just to have a chance to progress out of the pool.
It took us a couple of hours to clear customs and clear up the booking mess made by our Etap hotel after they gave out rooms out to anyone and everyone who asked for them before we arrived. Thankfully we asked for a room from another couple and all was sorted out.
By the time we caught up with Russ, Russ, Cam and Phil who took an earlier flight they were well smashed. I took a great video of Phil ripping of a locked drinks fridge. There was little chance of getting caught as the French bar owners were drowning their sorrows.
Up at 11 the next day the nine of us decided to walk to the game as it was a very sunny day. Stopped for a beer on the way. When we got to the stadium we settled in and Cam spent forty euros on alcohol free beer for everyone. That was nice of him.
The Italians made an early mistake by ignoring the Haka. The snub must have really ticked off the All Blacks because it only took them 68 seconds to score their first try. Eighty minutes later the Italians had let in 10 more tries and the All Blacks took the game 64 – 14. Allowing the Italians one intercept try and another late one off a poorly judged kick in our own 22. The intercept was the worrying one as it was an intercept by Australia that put us out of the last world cup and we seem to give one away every game these days.
After the game we had a couple of beers (with alcohol) and a meal for the first court session. After only 24 hours on tour we had enough fines to finish off a bottle of Lemoncini between the 9 of us.
An all night drinking session followed. Later on in the evening we even met Brad Butterworth OBE the Kiwi yachtsman who won us the Americas cup and then went to work for another syndicate and won it back off us. It didn’t make him very popular at home. He was very approachable and seemed like a good guy.
I went home around one or two and managed to dislocate my thumb on the way. Luckily it popped straight back in. Some of the boys who got in around five were warned by friendly locals that they were drinking with that it was too dangerous for them to stay out. Apparently some of the other locals were looking for a fight with Kiwis and it was no longer safe to be out in Marseilles. We woke the next day to find out that three of our group had been pick-pocketed for mobiles or wallets (although one may have had that done by the local guy she was kissing). Someone also saw a guy on a scooter try to steal a handbag off the passenger seat of a parked car. Marseilles is a nice town but it seems you have to be pretty vigilant or the locals will rob you blind.
If you are travelling to Marseilles make sure you read this guide to spotting pockpocketers first.
On Sunday we had a relaxed start and the boys had a topless swim (when in Rome) with the locals at one of the beaches.
In other rugby news. A lot of the minnow teams made their major league counterparts look decidedly average. Samoa were only down 9-7 after 30 minutes. Ireland barely subdued Namibia 32-17. America made England work for every point of their 28-10 victory. And Canada led Wales 17-9 after 45 minutes.
I recently had a package shipped form the USA with DHL. On arrival there was an outstanding charge for VAT of £1.25 which DHL set about collecting, along with their £12.22 administration fee!
Rip-off jerks.
My digital camer has recently started taking very overexposed pictures. I contacted Canon and they had this to say.
Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding your Canon product.
In response to your query, please be advised that from your incident description and from the two images we concluded that the over exposure effect the images have would be normal, even with the Automatic mode.
Please be advised that in case the camera would automatically set the balance to normal in the sunny sky area, the rest of the image would be even more massively under exposed.
Furthermore, in case in normal light conditions the images are not over or under exposed using the Automatic mode settings, most certainly there is nothing wrong with your Canon Digital IXUS 750.
Well I know there is something wrong with my camera so I have sent them this picture I took in Boston. There is no sky or bright light in this photo. Just more of the same building. And the sun is behind the building so there is no reflection.
I caught a bit of sunshine in the Spanish owned Canary Islands just off the coast of Morocco this Xmas. My partners in crime were my flatmates and friends from London. The weather was excellent and most days it was hot enough to swim. This was a pleasant change from London where most days was is hot enough to ice skate.
On our second night I noticed my flatmate ‘Angry Cam’ yelling at a bar tout who stiffed us on some free shots the night before. I walked over and quickly convinced AC to step down. Not quick enough however as five bouncers jumped us from behind. One put me in a neck lock that flattened my oesophagus to the point I couldn’t breathe. Over a week later it still hurts to swallow. Cam got a much worse hiding but he was the one who was asking for it. Luckily for them I was too pissed to stand on one leg or I would have pulled out the crane on their arses.
You can leave the table when you have more than doubled your money and you don’t have to wait until you are fully pissed and they have won it all back. Of course it helps if the drinks are not free. I mean only a moron would turn down free drinks at a casino.
If you ever go to Tenerife you should take a trip on the cable car up the resident volcano El Tiede. The views were outstanding.
There were several cases of coughs and flu amongst the party. My advice if you get the flu travelling is to drink loads of fluids and keep warm. Also if someone offers you a ‘day nurse’ cold and flu tablet in the middle of the day and the packet is dark blue - don’t take it - it’s a night nurse and you will fall asleep in a beach side café and your friends will sneak off.
I am the All Tenerife Coozer Champion thrashing all the other five travellers 3 zip zip zip zip zip. Losers.
BA has come to the rescue and offered me a far inferior pack or half the value of a replacement since it was eight years old. “But it’s was in perfect condition” I said. “Well backpacks get less valuable when they get older Sir”. Bull. My Macpac was as good as the day I bought it and it has had tens of thousands of pounds worth of expensive customisations done in the last eight years. Travelling to other countries to buy those little badges isn’t bloody free you know!!!
How does Google know so much? Who shagged in the bathroom and where did the blood come from? How do those touts afford to give away €1000 for scratchy prizes if you sit through a one hour seminar? Where did Don Sandy Bingo get to that one night?
I recently tried to sell my new Nokia via Amazon’s marketplace. It was listed with them for a number for weeks during which time I received literally dozens of emails from Nigerian conmen trying to get me to send the phone to Lagos. While most of these scams are child like in their simplicity and presentation (their spelling and grammar is worse than mine) some are actually quite clever. Like the attempts to mimic the automated response that Amazon sends when an item is sold legitimately. I have two pieces of advice for would be Amazon Marketplace users:
Here are some of the email addresses they used:
bomaniphonestores10@yahoo.com; buyphoneonline@yahoo.com; christianah_lucy@yahoo.com; covetdon@uk2.net; da_taylor01@yahoo.co.uk; dammychi@yahoo.co.uk; deborah_scot@yahoo.com; donald_lisaworld@yahoo.com; eluksinfo@yahoo.com; famouse4all@yahoo.com; froofblack@yahoo.com; gbengalshstore@yahoo.com; george_x009@yahoo.com; georgepaipar@yahoo.com; graetkunle@yahoo.com; graetkunle@yahoo.com; janet_smith_03@yahoo.com; jenny_lopez080@yahoo.com; joshtels@yahoo.com; joydan005@yahoo.com; jtewright@gmail.com; kayboy1on1@yahoo.com; kaydees2002@yahoo.com; larry_jeff09@yahoo.com; lauramary01@yahoo.co.uk; lawwy_joe@yahoo.com; luisenrique198601@yahoo.com; lunasmith56@yahoo.com; macbetprin1@yahoo.com; mahmoodo@aston.ac.uk; mariecarr310@yahoo.co.uk; memoryfx@yahoo.com; nivis_james005@yahoo.com.au; owenstore2005@yahoo.com; pastor_andrew01@yahoo.com; razy4real2001@yahoo.com; rebecca_gonzalex@yahoo.com; kproject11@yahoo.com; smith_smithstore@yahoo.com; Steffany_Wallace@yahoo.com; sterwaydaylight@yahoo.co.uk; val_1cool@yahoo.com; visfinity4all@yahoo.com; vtaboi@fsmail.net; wildnasco5@hotmail.com; terryelectronic_inc@yahoo.com
I emailed Amazon and they were no help other than to suggest that I should not sell to con men from Nigeria. Well duh?
Today I gave up and took the listing down. So if anyone needs a Nokia 6630 it’s brand new…
We all know that a good percentage of Nigerians spend their days doing dodgy email scams. And who can blame them when it is estimated that American alone chokes up $200 million a year. I one case they even convinced a Brazilian to send $242 million dollars for a ‘new airport’.
I sold a couple of mobiles on Ebay recently and received several emails from Nigerian’s who wanted to order several phones at well over their saleable value. This is an obvious scam where I ship them phones and they pay via some service that doesn’t work or seems like it works and then doesn’t once the phones are shipped. The lowest of these approaches is the one below where they tried to use the recent tragic tsunami disaster in the con.
HELLO SELLER, I AM A PASTOR IN A CHURCH IN AMERICA, AM NOW IN INDONENISIA COS WE HAVING A PARISH THERE SO AHVE COME TO MEET SOME OF OUR MEMBERS WHO LOST THERE FAMILIES IN TSUNAMI CRISIS MOST ESPECIALLY MY PASTOR WHO WAS KILL BY THE CRISIS, AND WIFE AND FAMILIES RE IN AFRICA (NIGIRIA). SO I WILL LIKE TO BUY TWO OF THIS ITEM FOR HIS WIFE AND HIS ELDER SON WHO RE MANAGING A SCHOOL IN NIGERIA. SO I WANT THEM TO BE USING THIS ITEM TO BE COMUNICATION WITH THE REST OF FAMILIES IN INDONESIA. I WILL BE PAYNNG FOR THIS ITEM THROUGH BIDPAY WESTERN UNION AUCTION PAYMENT. I WILL BE PAYING 192.50 FOR EACH ITEM. IF YOU RE INTERESTED IN SELLING THIS ITEM PLS IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE THEY NEED IT VERY URJENTLY BEFORE NEXT WEEK TUESDAY. PLS IF YOU RE MAILING ME BACK CALCULATE THE ITEM SHIPPING VIA DHL OR FEDEX. BEST REGARD. PASTOR JUVENILE..
What a pack of wankers.
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And it was a real bugger to count them all!!!
