Homebase price £24.99 v £11.34 at Plumb Center for basin pop up waste

OK, so I expect to pay a few quid premium at the big DIY sheds with their higher overheads, and pay for a bag of screws what Screwfix would sell by the box for the same price, so I try and avoid the sheds where I can.

But sometimes needs must - which is why I found myself in Homebase this morning buying an assortment of sprays, powders and baits to quell a serious ant problem (the little b*ggers are like the migrants at Calais).

Then I remembered I needed a new chrome pop up waste for the bathroom sink - but the Homebase price seemed so eye-wateringly off the mark at £24.99 that it had me reaching straight for my phone to check the price elsewhere.

Fortunately, there is a small Plumb Center literally 500yds away in a little industrial estate adjacent to the Homebase car park, which had the same item for £11.34 - AND it was better packaged too! Never has a short walk felt so good, but it's just daylight robbery, it really is.

Anyone any more extreme examples of this?

Homebase are about as extreme with DIY prices you can get, I have one local to me. They are no good to tradesmen/women as they rarely have what is needed for those little simple special items, such as reducers!
But on one occasion I found myself in there and was looking at their skirting boards and they where selling single lengths at 5 times the price than Wickes were and about 7 times the price that Magnet was, which just so happens to be locate on the rear and adjoining this branch, about a 30 second walk. Best avoided!

15mm tube cutter.

Toolstation £9.20
Homebase £17.99

!!!!!!

You was robbed.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40mm-Heav...ement-Brass-/321709907796?hash=item4ae7679f54

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUSTIN-BA...-WASTE-/131560536723?var=&hash=item1ea19e7a93

It's only a matter of time until they fold.

Anywhere where they end their prices as 99 means it's robbery. In my opinion.
Genuine traders calculate their margins/costs based on a percentage. This can seldom end in 99p. Thieves !!!

foxhole said:

You was robbed.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40mm-Heav...ement-Brass-/321709907796?hash=item4ae7679f54

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUSTIN-BA...-WASTE-/131560536723?var=&hash=item1ea19e7a93

Click to expand...

Fair enough - you can often get something cheaper on ebay, and I'm not saying Plumb Center are cheap either (I remember needing some copper pipe fittings for 8 and 10mm microbore a few years back and their price was quite shocking compared to Screwfix).

In this case, the pop up waste (actually the type that you press down and press again to release) I was replacing was cheap and nasty with peeling chrome on plug and surround after just a couple of years - and its a right pain to get to due to type of sink and cabinet its in, so I was happy to pay a bit extra for something that looks to have a much deeper and better quality chrome finish.

I'm not saying the waste you've highlighted on ebay IS as cr*ppy as the one I was replacing, but when something machined out of solid brass and quite heavy is being sold for under £4 inc. postage, it might not be the bargain it seems.