Archive for the ‘offers’ Category
Investigating insurance
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
I had an e-mail in June reminding me I’d signed up to share my car insurance quotes with an online company called Consumer Intelligence in exchange for £50 and so began my sojourn into insurance investigations.
I’d already had a look on Confused.com and been offered a slight reduction with Endsleigh who I have favoured in the past, I was tempted as I know their customer service to have been exemplary in the past but then I’m a bargain hunter at heart so the search went on.
I’ve been insured with Lloyds TSB for two years which has served my purposes but honestly I would have probably changed insurers had I not been so lazy with the renewal last year. Prompted by CI and their required 6 predetermined calls I ended up with a great quote from the Co-operative and all was looking good. I’ve had insurance with the Co-op in the past and found them to be a decent company to deal with.
My renewal was coming up just over £300 which wasn’t especially appealing, I’m a firm believer that my insurance should go down each year, holding a steady figure is of no interest to me. The Co-op were offering a saving of around £55 and I had the potential to further beat that figure down with an extra saving by signing up online.
Keeping my knowledge of Quidco in mind I went searching the site for offers which could tempt me or at least cashback on the quote I had with the Co-op and sure enough two popped up. One for an immediate £1.50 payout on a quote with Gocompare.com and £70.00 cash back on my Co-op quote and I was about to hit the send key when I noticed the quote on Gocompare.com, three companies were able to undercut my current quote and each had cashback with Quidco.
The lowest was £235 with Kwik Fit with £42.50 cashback and a free MOT. Fabulous!
There is a glitch though and the same will apply on many insurance websites, watch out for all the many added extras, they’ll add things like windscreen cover and breakdown cover and legal cover at figures like £25 here and £18 there but they all add up. If you want the bare bones be sure to read the details and keep your final figure where you want it.
So, ultimately, I’ll have a £50 payout from CI, a £42.50 payout from Quidco for the Kwik Fit insurance and a further £1.50 for the quote on Gocompare.com, a free MOT at a saving of around £40 and my insurance was hammed down by almost a third. Once I claim all payouts and savings my fully comprenhensive insurance will have cost me £101 and a couple of hours of my time. Furthermore, any work on my car by Kwik Fit will be at a 10% discount over the coming year which is useful to me since one of their branches is near my place of work.
The Co-op quote would have been £288 minus £71.50 cashback on Quidco and the £50 from CI, not quite such a good deal in the end result but still a good saving on my renewal.
It’s worth going through this same process for all insurance policies you take out each year, it’s a little time consuming but generally the savings are apparent.
Tags: insurance, online offers, online policies
Posted in Findings, offers, Savings | 1 Comment »
600 more restaurant offers
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Just added: 600 more restaurant offers
This is a quick update to say we have just completed work on a new partnership with 5pm to bring all of their restaurant offers to BView. If I was a betting man I’d also take a punt that the BView restaurant offers directory is now the largest in the UK.
Happy eating!
Tags: 5pm, BView, offers, restaurants
Posted in offers | Comments Off
Out and about for nowt (as we say in Yorkshire)!
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
I decided to make a short notice break away from the norm and galloped off to the coast for a few days of relative peace, naturally, for the purposes of research I had to do that on a budget.
So, having already spent a couple of days sharing a caravan at a Park Resorts site I decided to maximise the savings to be had. Park offer a saving for any repeat bookings in one season and since I was mentioned on the occupancy list last time, I’m entitled to the saving this time. The best savings are to be made when booking again before you leave and that applies to any of the sites around the country.
I managed to book a pretty big caravan for four on the East Coast for a long weekend and from there the plan was to explore.
En route we travelled through Hull, hardly a fine example of tourism but with it’s own appeal in the form of The Deep a large sea life centre just off the main roads. We got in for the family ticket price of £28.50 and there’s the option to upgrade that ticket at no extra cost to a year long pass, all they ask is for a donation next time but it isn’t compulsory. So, that’s a years entry into The Deep for around £7 each. You can even make use of the local tourist information board who often provide online printable vouchers or key phrases to quote and make even greater savings at attractions around the country.
We even managed to find some places of interest with free entry, like Wold’s Way Lavender Farm and we picked our own fruit at a farm down the road before driving home via Wentworth Garden Centre.
Park even assist with savings, for example you can buy entry for The Sea Life Centre in Scarborough at great reductions instead of the ticket sales at the venue. Alternately look at the internet site and find vouchers on site or sign up for Bview’s local listings to get an up to date link to the latest offers in the area.
No matter what type of holiday you want or even if you just want a day out or two, it’s worth searching around the internet for reduced price entry to visitor attractions and events all over the UK and really making the most of the sunshine.
Tags: attractions, caravans, days ut, holidays, Savings, tourism, visitors
Posted in Features, Findings, General, offers, Savings | Comments Off
Making the most of the scrappage allowance
Monday, June 29th, 2009
It’s been a great temptation for many car buyers to take advantage of the scrappage allowance scheme introduced by the government this year. The Scrappage Allowance / Vehicle Discount Scheme is a £300 million scheme which has been introduced by the UK government during the 2009 budget which involves the scrapping of a car or small van which is over 10 years old. The government is offering a £1000 incentive which will be matched by participating manufacturer’s dealers . The discount is deducted from the price you pay for the new vehicle.
Tempted and willing to research I had a look at the offers from Ford and found some interesting figures, they’re offering a £2K government scrappage amount and they’re going to match it, which sounds amazing, but that’s for a Style at £12,295 after reductions, then another £1,892 as a fee for the credit which stands at a whopping 7.9 APR. Suddenly the offer isn’t quite so tempting.
And there are caveats: The vehicle must only be first registered on or prior to 31 August 1999 and the owner must have owned the vehicle continuously for at least one year prior to the order date of the new vehicle.
The scrapped vehicle should have a UK address on the registration certificate (V5C) and has either a current tax disc and current MOT certificate, or has a current tax disc and a current Hackney Carriage Licence, or has an MOT certificate which expired no earlier than 14 days before the date of the contract for a new vehicle.
Neither vehicle (scrappage or new) should exceed 3.5 tonnes.
The purchased vehicle must be first registered in the UK on or after 18 May 2009 and have no former keepers.
The registered keeper of the new vehicle must be identical to the registered keeper of the vehicle to be scrapped. The Scrappage Allowance will be payable in relation to the first 300,000 new vehicles purchased nationwide or until 28 February 2010, whichever is sooner.
My reservations were repealed by the more promising offers with Kia, a subsidiary of Hyundai , where you can get a Picanto for a mere £4,495 on the road with a £2,000 combined saving with the new incentive. As a cash purchaser with no ridiculous APR to pay on a credit agreement, you’d actually be making a reasonable purchase for a new car, though it should be borne in mind that a car decreases in value rapidly for those first days of ownership and then drops to it’s usual steadier decline, but with a sensible road tax bracket, great fuel economy, low insurance grouping of 2, 3 or 4 and all around nippy features, perhaps many of the savings are to be made later. You could also look at the Fiat Eco at £5,995 and Peugeot 107 Urban Lite from £6,945.
It’s only a true saving if you don’t pay the hiked credit/ finance fees and interest rates.
Tags: car, dealerships, government incentive, Savings, scrappage allowance, vehicle
Posted in Features, Findings, General, News, offers, Savings | 1 Comment »
30% off catalogue codes
Monday, June 15th, 2009
One of the interesting facts which came from the recession was the renewed interest in reusing and repairing, from clothing to cars and everything else around us. One of those was The Sole Man in Sheffield but sadly the decrease in spending hit too hard and his business closed this week.
However, if you haven’t got it you can’t repair it, or in some cases the item is beyond repair.
I’ve been working on my home, making the garden part play space and part relaxing social environment. As a result I needed to replace the rusted to death swing seat which sat despoiling my green haven.
I spent ages trawling eBay, Tesco online, Amazon and Argos, visited my usual haunts of Focus and Homebase and even tried further afield at Dobbies Garden World but I found nothing in my limited price range and appropriate size and style. Eventually, searching BView I fell upon Littlewoods Direct and their current offer. You might remember the name as domestic catalogue company or perhaps you’ve been accosted on the street during a marketing campaign. It’s less in vogue to shop by catalogue these days but when they’re giving away a generous 30% discount off items up to £500 for your first order it’s hard to ignore.
So, I signed up for a credit account, ordered a swish swing seat for my little suntrap and enjoyed the 30% off which entirely cancelled out the delivery charge and a further chunk of cash besides.
It’s worth noting that the same swing seat was £30 more expensive at Littlewoods that it was at Littlewoods Direct, so it’s worth taking the time to compare prices.
Now, boxing clever, you might not know that Littlewoods, Littlewoods Direct, Marshall Ward, Kays, Great Universal and others are all part of the same company, though, in distinction you can join each one with a separate account. Which also means you can use the 30% off code for each account but only on your first order. If you have a number of larger priced items or a families clothing to replace, it’s an offer not to be sneezed at!
I’m off to buy a new washing machine as the last one went the way of the decrepit swing seat.
Tags: discount, garden, home, littlewoods, save money, Savings, voucher
Posted in offers, Savings | 1 Comment »
Cutting communications costs
Friday, May 29th, 2009
Most people in the UK have a mobile phone, in fact there are more mobiles in the UK than there are people with over 75 million handsets but less than 62 million people.
Mobile communication is important to us and therefore the networks have great market control with charges for calls, contracts, text messages, internet use and a million and one other ways to extract our hard earned cash.
Being of the bargain hunting persona I was less than impressed when my 2 year old mobile phone began with a series of strange glitches which rendered it useless, so the great bargain phone hunt began.
The most important thing is to determine what kind of user you are before anything else. I actually don’t use my mobile that much, a few calls here and there and a few more texts. There’s little point in buying a package which gives you 500 free minutes if you are a text fanatic, or something with 100 free minutes and endless free texts if you are a prolific caller.
My monthly use on a pay as you go sim card was between £5 and £10 a month. I was determined still not to exceed that and maintain my outgoings, if I couldn’t reduce them.
So, the first thing is to find a suitable network and check the tariffs. In the ever evolving market you can choose from Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile, Orange and O2. Then there are virtual networks, like Tesco and T-Mobile, who each actually go through the primary networks, T-Mobile and O2 respectively.
You can choose from PAYG, a contract or a SIM only contract, so you really need to analyse your phone use to decide what might work out for you. If you already have one or another, check out the alternatives and weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each. If you are on PAYG, check the charges packages to be sure you’re on the one which suits you best and consider ‘bolt ons’ to make best use of your money.
I searched the internet for the best deal I could get to suit my use. I needed a new handset and since I have text mad friends I thought it might be an idea to find a way to access unlimited texts. Eventually I found a deal on Quidco which would enable me to go through their site and buy a SIM only deal at £10 per month but with £60 cashback if bought online. The deal includes 500 free texts per month and 100 free call minutes, exceeding my use requirements but staying within my financial rein. In fact, using Quidco I’m saving money as the cash back means the actual outgoing is £5 per month for a year rather than £10.
You might like to take the opportunity to join Orange and make use of the cinema deal on Wednesdays, all at the price of a text.
Since I needed a new phone too I made a similar search for phone deals. After some searching I found an LG KS 360 which suited my needs and was on long term offers with Argos, Carphone Warehouse and Orange. I’d already decided I wanted to use Vodafone and bought my SIM pack, I engaged in a little legwork to play the three companies off against each other, checking who would give me the best offer. Both offers with Orange and Argos were tied into Orange so eventually I chose to buy the phone via Carphone Warehouse, therefore entirely unlocked to all networks and available to put my new card in immediately. It even came with £10 credit on a T-Mobile SIM card.
So, I can text myself silly on my new phone and I never run out, all my calls come into my 100 minutes and all for £5 per month, not a bad deal at all!
Check out the local offers on BView to make the most of your shopping opportunities.
Tags: 3, call costs, mobile phones, o2, orange, saving money, tariffs, tmobile, vodafone
Posted in General, offers, Savings | 1 Comment »
Vi’s top coupons for April
Monday, April 20th, 2009
BView has a lot of coupons available doesn’t it! I’ve been having a bit of a root through the site and I’ve selected my favourite ones for this month to share with you here.
La Senza
My first Top Discount is definitely one for the ladies – although men, if you know your ladies size I’m sure she’d love a treat! La Senza are offering 50% off selected lines of Bras, Babydolls, and Nightwear, and they really have some stunning items at the moment. They also offer free delivery if you spend over £35 so you could really bag yourself a superb bargain here. This offer expires 1st of May.
Expedia
For those starting to plan their holidays this one might be worth a look, Expedia are offering a 30% discount at Hilton Worldwide Resorts when you book with the Early Saver. This one doesn’t expire till 15th December, so even if you’re not planning a trip away yet, keep this one in mind as 30% is a pretty good saving.
Superdrug
A nice everyday one this, but very useful never-the-less. 10% discount across the whole store online including sale items is being offered with this voucher code, and it doesn’t expire till 18th November, so this is a must to bookmark!
Hip Home Direct
Anyone thinking of moving house? If you are, you’ll need a HIP (Home Information Pack), it’s a requirement these days. This company is offering a 10% discount to anyone who mentions the word BView when they apply for a HIP. No expiry date is given for this.
Chargrilled
This last one I’ve picked because it happens to be a favourite store of mine. They do t-shirts with funny slogans on them, and I have to say I think they make brilliant gifts because there’s just so much choice. They’re offering 5% discount with this link.
There are loads more discounts on the site too, and it’s always worth remembering that not all of them are national, so have a hunt for places in your local area who might be offering a discount through BView too.
Tags: best vouchers, BView, chargrilled, coupon, discount, expedia, hip, la senza, money saving, superdrug
Posted in offers, Savings | Comments Off
Efficient personal expenditure
Friday, April 10th, 2009
Efficiency in essential expenditure is on everyones mind right now and I’ve been experimenting with keeping a tight rein of my outgoings. It came as a surprise to find out how much it costs me to run my car each day.
Transport
For some transport is a costly affair indeed, even a second hand car could be less efficient than you would expect. If you drive work out how much your car costs you daily and work out how cost effective that it to you. Check out your miles per gallon calculation here Look at your local bus, train or tram services to compare costs but balance this with the freedom of your own vehicle. Consider car shares and similar cost sharing schemes with friends, neighbours or colleagues. There are often incentives with your local councils to increase the appeal of car shares.
Income and outgoings
Check if your income and outgoings are accurate or if you are entitled to help here www.entitledto.co.uk at HM Revenue & Customs . Enter your details, it’s all anonymous, in order to calculate what you might be able to get help with. It might be single persons council tax discount, free school meals and prescriptions and a variety of other amounts.
Check uSwitch for savings on utilities and then check Quidco before you commit to a contract as you could get a substantial amount of money back. The same goes for insurance renewal, telephone, internet and television subscriptions and utility expenditure.
Local facilities
The local library is a forgotten resource. Why spend your money on books when you can order books in your town or city to be delivered to your local library. You can, for a small charge, usually hire CDs and DVDs much cheaper than the likes of Lovefilm or Blockbusters .
Cashback
When you must buy something, check cashback sites like Quidco for savings. I bought a new mobile phone at Carphone Warehouse and got cashback for almost half the price and then signed up for a prepay Vodafone SIM card and got half the money back. My £10 a month SIM is actually costing me £5 a month as a result of the cashback.
Coupons, codes and vouchers
Check any newspapers and magazines for money off vouchers or coupons you can use when shopping. Look at the free supermarket magazines before you shop. Check the likes of BView and moneysavingexpert.com for codes and coupons to reduce your shopping bill, get free delivery or additional freebies and savings on other purchases.
Buy in bulk
There are some items we get through in vast quantities. Whilst my twins were tiny nappies and wipes were financial killers. I joined Makro and began buying Pampers wipes at the equivalent of 70p per pack when buying 12 at a time in a big box. Then nappies bought on offers of buy one box of 156, get one free.
Buy second hand
If you need something, think about if it has to be new. Using eBay , car boot sales, advertisement magazines, NCT sales, flea markets, the local press and other second hand sales venues.
Buy in sales
I often buy items in sales, either to save money on gifts or to buy clothing for my twins. I have a second wardrobe which is purely to keep clothes in bought in sales. I buy 6-12 months ahead and pay around 25% – 50% of the original price whilst still keeping my girls in Boots Mini Mode, Monsoon, BHS, Next clothing and shoes. You can do the same for your own clothes. Save all your money for the January sales or end of season sales and buy whatever tickles you at the time then put it aside for the right weather. I usually hit the Boots January sale at 70% off for a huge stock of gifts through the year. Even now in April, my sale bargains have saved me around £80 on the full priced items. I even plan my sale shopping in advance by checking out availability on the website.
Buy a lower range
You’ll have noticed that each supermarket does a range of products with varying prices. It could be baked beans varying from 17p value to £1.15 best quality with posh packaging and often the content differs little. If you buy mid range now, consider dropping a level to save up to 10%. The difference is much bigger when you drop from mid level to value goods and you’ll really notice a difference in your bill. Using a stores own brand is often cheaper than a branded label. Check who the product is made by. I have it on good authority that certain brands of washing powder are exactly the same product between the highest and lowest ranges, merely marketed to attract the broadest scope of shoppers.
Check out the food reductions for last minute saves for your evening meal or to fill your freezer.
Whilst you fill your freezer, stick a load of balled up bags or those giant air filled pillows used in packaging to fill up freezer space. It’s more efficient to freeze smaller remaining spaces.
Buy energy saving bulbs for your home. Supermarkets all stock them very cheaply now and often on offers. Contact your utility supplier or look for free bulbs as part of your local councils economy efforts.
It’s very difficult to calculate how much all this could save you, we each spend different amounts in each element of our lives, but I think it’s safe to say that your expenditure will decrease and your awareness will increase.
Tags: discount, ebay, effciency, money saving, sales, shopping, smart spending, vouchers
Posted in General, offers, Savings | 2 Comments »
Are you the most worthy of 99% off?
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Savings, savings, savings. Everyone’s tightening their belt; buying no-name; downloading coupons, and hunting for bargains. BView wants to be a part of that: we’ve got savings from the big boys and the little guys (or girls). We might even have savings for your neighbourhood… check out your local area here. But enough of that, you’re probably here because you want the daddy of vouchers. I’m offering you 99% off ANYTHING in the world (up to £500). That’s right, anything. But you don’t get this big lovin’ for free, you gots to do a bit o’ work for it!
*The work:
- You write a blog post telling the world what you’d do with your 99% off. Make sure you have a link back to www.bview.co.uk.
- Send an email to competition@bview.com and give us a link to said posting.
- All entries have to be received by midnight GMT on Saturday, April 25, 2009.
- I’m going to shortlist my top 10 favourites, and then the lovely attendees of Social Media Camp London will vote on the winner, which will be announced by 8pm Sunday, April 26, 2009 GMT.
- You can enter as many times as you like (if you have multiple blogs, then go for it!).
- People from anywhere in the world can enter, but the prize will be awarded in pounds sterling.
So that’s it. Now it’s time for you to get your creative hats on (I know I’ve been singing, “If I had a million dollars” in my head while writing this)! To get you started, us folk at the BView office have come up with what we’d do with the savings. You’re lucky our boss won’t let us enter, but hopefully they will inspire you to think of some great ideas. Good luck, and I look forward to reading your entries!
Dan (the developer)
If I had 99% off anything, I imagine I would take a trip down to the picturesque village of Bray. With no wallet to burden me and a crisp £5 note in my freshly ironed shirt pocket, I would walk purposefully into The Fat Duck with my girlfriend and ask for the finest table (Norovirus be damned). After enjoying one of the finest meals in the world, I would personally hand Mr Blumenthal the £5 note and ask him to bill the rest to BView.
fat duck for a fiver
Huw (the developer)
I would like to invest £375 in the UK stock market; strategically selecting shares in struggling companies within the financial sector (such banking and insurance based companies). Following this, I would spend £100 on premium bonds, and squander the remaining £25 on a new jumper (NOTE: I may purchase 2 jumpers, depending on the price per-jumper).
jumper
Colin (the product guy)
I’d take my wife away for a week in cornwall. Just a bit of a break from the norm, just a little something to break the monotony of all that child care that has gotten to be a little bit out of control. It would be cool to to be in France but what about a beach that soothes, that reignites romance? A bargain for a fiver.
Simon (the community guy)
With 99% off I’d have to go for a Canon EOS 40D to replace my beaten up and practically ancient 350D. It would be a shame having to replace it if i won (I’ve had it for so long) but something tells me I’d get over it….
Kat (the web designer)
I have a problem: I love goats, especially baby ones, and so I’ve made up a character named safetygoat, who, sporting a fetching red lifejacket, has become my little mascot. I had this idea that I could make plastic replicas of them, but minimum quantities means it’s expensive (and I’d end up with hundreds, maybe even thousands of the little guys). So, I’ve been making them on my own by making a silicon mould and pouring polyeurathane and then painting the result. You can see the adventures of safetygoat here.
safetygoat with a lump of sulfur
They’re pretty cute, but they’re not exactly the most refined looking toy. So, with my £495 (with a fiver of my own cash) I’d like to make proper vinyl safetygoats. I’d get them properly made in some third world country, and I would get loads of them, so anyone who wanted their very own safetygoat could have one! It would be a dream come true!
We can’t win (unfortunately), so now it’s your turn!
So get out there and write your entries 
Tags: 99% off, competition, discounts, free money, Savings, voucher, win bview, win £500
Posted in Announcements, Competitions, Events, offers, Savings | 9 Comments »
Bouncing into 1st place
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
Following the slot as number 1 business on BView we had to know more about Atlantic Trampolines and Mark Plews was very helpful.
Atlantic Trampolines was set up in response to a gap in the market in 2005, there were others supplying trampolines but AT’s research came up trumps showing that others were also supplying garden furniture and spas and would change suppliers often.
So, a specialist company was just the ticket and the AT team travelled to China to find a supplier, eventually settling on Kogee, the second largest supplier in the world and in business since 1984.
Mark said:
“We found BView through a search engine and liked the layout of the site and also the benefits that it could bring to future customers to be able to see real customers views of the service and products we supply. We use most of the networking sites and these sites have given us extra exposure on Google.
The voucher idea is a great plus point on BView and having these email to all members of BView every two weeks makes this a very appealing feature and we hoped this would also gain a few extra sales during these times of hardship.”
Diane Leonard reviewed the company and said “Ordered 14ft trampoline, changed mind before it was despatched to 12ft . They were very helpful over phone and re-imbursed me the difference. Trampoline is very sturdy and has withstood the harsh winter and still looks as good as new. Would have no problem recommending this company.”
If the BView listing and the comments on their own website (www.atlantictrampolines.co.uk) isn’t enough, you can check out Atlantic Trampolines on eBay with their 100% feedback and over 10,000 happy customers.
You might also find them near you at one of the county fairs during the summer season and what’s more sales are picking up in Europe, so Atlantic Trampolines might become more of a household name in the future.
So with a solid background like that, it’s no wonder Atlantic Trampolines have the No.1 slot for business on BView.