TOT: email to Tesco 14th May

[polygonum]

Thanks Bill.

[fred]

A turd is still a turd, putting a 'turd' flag in it doesn't make it any more welcome.

Perhaps I'm trying to head off the political rambles that you have posted extensively in the TV group in the past.

If we all posted here to further own TOT agendas then this group would turn to shit in no time. The major on-topic contributors have the restraint and good manners to keep it straight so how about following their excellent example?

[Peter Parry]

Why not?

Everything you mention bar one can be done on a computer, the VAT zero rating can't. You can program a computer to zero rate an item, you can't program it to train staff to make sure the claim is valid and keep the bit of paper proving so.

The reason online suppliers are expensive is because they can be, my examples were both on-line suppliers.

Far from being foolish it is something any sensible company would have factored in to their calculations.

[Frank Erskine]

It could be very easy. Call at the customer service desk to do the necessary "paperwork", and they'll give you a bar-coded voucher which can be scanned at the till (manual or SOCAT) to calculate and deduct the relevant VAT. That way avoids unnecessary holdups at the till. Even if you were purchasing more than one disability-related item at the same transaction, as long as the "paperwork" covers these items.

One wonders, I suppose, whether somebody would actually buy, say, a zimmer frame for somebody that isn't disabled...

[John Rumm]

They seem to manage to make it require staff verify the age of someone buying booze or knives or solvent containing items ok. Can't see it being any more difficult to flag up the possibility of a VAT refund and ask the teller a question, the answer to which would influence the VAT rate applied.

[John Rumm]

You seem a little tetchy of late Fred...

[polygonum]

Maybe HMRC's heads need kicking as well? Seems to me that there are at least some goods which, as in the zimmer frame case, really have no reasonable purpose other than the intended one. Perhaps they should actually set a zero rate on the good itself? Avoid unnecessary paperwork. Obviously more difficult on less obvious products.

At present we appear to have a situation in which the specialist suppliers know all about it and handle it - but ramp their prices up. And the non-specialists who don't know or don't care and don't operate the system but do keep their prices down.

So you could argue much of the benefit seems to go in the direction of the specialist suppliers rather than their customers. Need to grovel over their detailed figures.

[Dave Liquorice]

There is the requirement for a bit more checking than "does the person look older than ..." or checking an ID for age. As A.N.Other customer I'd not be best pleased being stuck behind some one having to go through the paper verification process etc. Having said that there is nothing to stop the till flagging the possibilty of a VAT refund and the operator telling the customer to visit Customer Services to verify details and get it. This would be much better for getting customers verified etc and wouldn't require every checkout to have the required paperwork and the operators trained in the minutea of it's applicaction.

Tesco's failing here was that CS denied knowledge of the scheme and tried to fob the customer off.

[Gazz]

Got my mum one of those a few years ago, and we both found it strange that a watch sold for the blind/low sighted paople was a bit of a faff to sync both time bases.

Sure, most can't see the hands so prolly wouldn't even set them, but how hard would it have been to have both the speaking and seeing part sync,

My mum loves it tho, i just wish it didn't sound like stephen hawkins, but maybe there are newer models available that have better sampled voices.

[Peter Parry]

Probably MP's really. The responsible legislation is the VAT Act 1994 and particularly Schedule 8, Group 12.

The way the law is written it is difficult even with obvious ones. A Zimmer frame used by someone whilst a leg wound is healing does not qualify for zero rating, the same item used for a frail elderly person does not qualify for zero rating, the same item used by a frail elderly person with terminal cancer which will kill them in 3 years is zero rated.

You can zero rate a complete 65ft cabin cruiser modified for an eligible customer but not a stair lift in a charity building for the use or convenience of all chronically sick or disabled persons who might use the building.

A wig may be zero rated if the customer qualifies but bandages cannot (as they are not appliances).

incontinence products are zero rated under this scheme "off the shelf" no declaration of eligibility is needed, but they are standard rated if bought by a nursing home for a resident. A Braille embosser is only zero rated with a declaration.

That's before you start on the composite rate of tax relief calculations for computers where the VAT rate can be anything between

0 and 20% and vary over time.

VAT Notice 701/7 is about 34 pages or 9,000 words long. It is a masterpiece of recursive logic. It is no wonder many companies decide it is too much bother.

[Bill]

In message , Gazz writes

It did strike me as a bit strange too. In my case my father still has adequate eyesight and can set it for her. I would hope that there would be someone that could help in most cases.

I assume that it is a relatively small market and was rather glad to find something that did the job. I was very glad she accepted the voice, she has rather strong views and even if the watch was perfect in every other way the voice could have caused her to reject it! :-)

I would be interested to know how Rod gets on with his, if he does ahead, and also what he goes for.

[Bill Wright]

The general idea with shops is to sell things, and that requires customers.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

No but it helps you avoid treading in it.

Rambles? How dare you? Incise political analysis if you don't mind!

Have you got a thing about excrement?

The topic was of wide interest, as has been proven by the 33 contributions by others. The information in the discussion will I'm sure be useful to many. How many topics have you started that have aroused so much interest? None, I reckon, which makes you a very boring contributor. And boredom it what turns newsgroups into the very turds that you despise.

Bill

[Frank Erskine]

No I didn't, Bill!

[fred]

Glad you've retained your famous sense of humour.

I'll stick to concise, factual and mostly on-topic posting thank you, if you find that boring then that is up to you.

As to the rest, the nice folks never seem to be able spot the kooks until it's too late, see uk.legal , uk.politics , Germany . . . .

Stay well . . .

[Bill Wright]

Oh I know, it's very confusing isn't it?

Bill

[Frank Erskine]

Caused by top-posting.

[alan]

It's more likely that Tesco will just announce it is withdrawing from providing equipment for the disability market and will be concentrating on its core business.