It's a big country with a small population....
Jan 29th 2011, 9:12 pm
#31
Banned
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,253
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
I wonder if anyone has done a study on price difference depending on your outward appearance and or your accent. I'm pretty sure some think I'm either a tourist or a simply naive new comer when they give me a price for things.
I've been quoted some prices that are so f^&king ridiculous that they can only be opportunistic gouging.
I've been quoted some prices that are so f^&king ridiculous that they can only be opportunistic gouging.
Jan 29th 2011, 9:39 pm
#32
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
I wonder if anyone has done a study on price difference depending on your outward appearance and or your accent. I'm pretty sure some think I'm either a tourist or a simply naive new comer when they give me a price for things.
I've been quoted some prices that are so f^&king ridiculous that they can only be opportunistic gouging.
I've been quoted some prices that are so f^&king ridiculous that they can only be opportunistic gouging.
I was told by a disinterested third party of a friend who got a quote locally for irrigation installation: $30k. He got another quote from Canberra, 160Km away, for exactly the same system - and paid $6k.
It's a land of opportunity alright
Jan 29th 2011, 9:58 pm
#33
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Posts: 16,622
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
I wonder if anyone has done a study on price difference depending on your outward appearance and or your accent. I'm pretty sure some think I'm either a tourist or a simply naive new comer when they give me a price for things.
I've been quoted some prices that are so f^&king ridiculous that they can only be opportunistic gouging.
I've been quoted some prices that are so f^&king ridiculous that they can only be opportunistic gouging.
Feb 9th 2011, 3:13 am
#36
Home and Happy
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,862
Feb 9th 2011, 3:37 pm
#37
Ex BE ***** Addict
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,773
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
Good thanks, I thought I'd just stop by for a read. There's a few things I've discovered about this land that I really think need changing and letting prospective UK leavers know about. I did know these already but until you actual
experience it first hand you tend to fob it off.
I have private health cover here, I also had it in the UK. Both I had to pay about
the same premium. I've used both now here and at home. Well what a con it is here. In the UK my cover paid 100% of the bill, here it pays a ridiculously small
amount of the total bill. My sons tonsils just cost me about $1000, medicare paid a few hundred and the private cover paid a grand total of $76 leaving me a health gap to pay. So why the con here in Australia? Then the icing on the cake was discovering that my HBA here is infact run by bupa the exact same company as my insurance back in the UK!
The standard Australian response to this little story has been 'Well at least in private you got seen quickly and in a nice hospital!", well actually it took 2 months from start to finish here, not bad but wait a mo, in the UK when I had the misfortune to need a hospital on my private there, I was seen the same day!
Car insurance!!!! What a rip, add together CTP, REGO and fully comp and it's easily more expensive than back home. Thank the lord I don't need a pink slip yet, or is that a green one? Oh and then I discover that my fully comp doesn't cover me for a holiday hire car in the same country, whereas my UK one did!
Renting a car here!... Cost of car hire approx $300 per week, then add same again for insurance, then for the final laugh, here in Aus you have to pay to get the hire car re registered in your name and then back again at the end of the hire. Then add the govt fees and levies! It's all ok though as they carefully only advertise the actual car hire cost minus all the extras, bargain!
Oh hell, I only stopped by to say hello.
experience it first hand you tend to fob it off.
I have private health cover here, I also had it in the UK. Both I had to pay about
the same premium. I've used both now here and at home. Well what a con it is here. In the UK my cover paid 100% of the bill, here it pays a ridiculously small
amount of the total bill. My sons tonsils just cost me about $1000, medicare paid a few hundred and the private cover paid a grand total of $76 leaving me a health gap to pay. So why the con here in Australia? Then the icing on the cake was discovering that my HBA here is infact run by bupa the exact same company as my insurance back in the UK!
The standard Australian response to this little story has been 'Well at least in private you got seen quickly and in a nice hospital!", well actually it took 2 months from start to finish here, not bad but wait a mo, in the UK when I had the misfortune to need a hospital on my private there, I was seen the same day!
Car insurance!!!! What a rip, add together CTP, REGO and fully comp and it's easily more expensive than back home. Thank the lord I don't need a pink slip yet, or is that a green one? Oh and then I discover that my fully comp doesn't cover me for a holiday hire car in the same country, whereas my UK one did!
Renting a car here!... Cost of car hire approx $300 per week, then add same again for insurance, then for the final laugh, here in Aus you have to pay to get the hire car re registered in your name and then back again at the end of the hire. Then add the govt fees and levies! It's all ok though as they carefully only advertise the actual car hire cost minus all the extras, bargain!
Oh hell, I only stopped by to say hello.
Feb 9th 2011, 3:58 pm
#38
has lost The Game
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Chippendale, Sydney
Posts: 8,735
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
I have private health cover here, I also had it in the UK. Both I had to pay about
the same premium. I've used both now here and at home. Well what a con it is here. In the UK my cover paid 100% of the bill, here it pays a ridiculously small
amount of the total bill. My sons tonsils just cost me about $1000, medicare paid a few hundred and the private cover paid a grand total of $76 leaving me a health gap to pay. So why the con here in Australia? Then the icing on the cake was discovering that my HBA here is infact run by bupa the exact same company as my insurance back in the UK!
The standard Australian response to this little story has been 'Well at least in private you got seen quickly and in a nice hospital!", well actually it took 2 months from start to finish here, not bad but wait a mo, in the UK when I had the misfortune to need a hospital on my private there, I was seen the same day!
Yes, this infuriates me as well - I had a great package in the UK, that did, as you say, pay out 100% of the bill. No gaps, no fracking about, just simple to understand 100% cover. But here, the whole private health insurance system is an absolute joke.
And they want people to use it more often, even when it's completely obvious to anybody that you will be heavily financially disadvantaged if you do. I never touch mine, just have the basic cover to avoid the extra tax.
And another thing, BUPA are quite happy to cover you with their 100% insurance here in Aus if you want - it's pricey, but maybe it's good value when you start looking at the gap payments. However, because it's not a recognised private health fund, it doesn't provide any exemption to the extra tax! So you may have BUPA international cover, that pays everything, and costs the local health authority nothing at all, but the Aus govt still insist that you have a policy with one of their prescribed providers in order to negate the extra tax, depite that you choosing that option will mean that they will be out of pocket for the Medicare component of the cover!
Car insurance!!!! What a rip, add together CTP, REGO and fully comp and it's easily more expensive than back home. Thank the lord I don't need a pink slip yet, or is that a green one? Oh and then I discover that my fully comp doesn't cover me for a holiday hire car in the same country, whereas my UK one did!
Oh hell, I only stopped by to say hello.
Oh hell, I only stopped by to say hello.
Yes, and why can't you get a fully fully comprehensive policy that rolls the the two covers into one? How hard could that be as an innovative product?
Oh, and welcome back, even if it's only temporarily...
S
Feb 9th 2011, 4:43 pm
#39
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
Yes, welcome back - some of us have missed you!
Feb 9th 2011, 4:49 pm
#40
Proudly Deplorable
Joined: May 2003
Location: Alloha snack bar
Posts: 24,246
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
Good thanks, I thought I'd just stop by for a read. There's a few things I've discovered about this land that I really think need changing and letting prospective UK leavers know about. I did know these already but until you actual
experience it first hand you tend to fob it off.
I have private health cover here, I also had it in the UK. Both I had to pay about
the same premium. I've used both now here and at home. Well what a con it is here. In the UK my cover paid 100% of the bill, here it pays a ridiculously small
amount of the total bill. My sons tonsils just cost me about $1000, medicare paid a few hundred and the private cover paid a grand total of $76 leaving me a health gap to pay. So why the con here in Australia? Then the icing on the cake was discovering that my HBA here is infact run by bupa the exact same company as my insurance back in the UK!
The standard Australian response to this little story has been 'Well at least in private you got seen quickly and in a nice hospital!", well actually it took 2 months from start to finish here, not bad but wait a mo, in the UK when I had the misfortune to need a hospital on my private there, I was seen the same day!
Car insurance!!!! What a rip, add together CTP, REGO and fully comp and it's easily more expensive than back home. Thank the lord I don't need a pink slip yet, or is that a green one? Oh and then I discover that my fully comp doesn't cover me for a holiday hire car in the same country, whereas my UK one did!
Renting a car here!... Cost of car hire approx $300 per week, then add same again for insurance, then for the final laugh, here in Aus you have to pay to get the hire car re registered in your name and then back again at the end of the hire. Then add the govt fees and levies! It's all ok though as they carefully only advertise the actual car hire cost minus all the extras, bargain!
Oh hell, I only stopped by to say hello.
experience it first hand you tend to fob it off.
I have private health cover here, I also had it in the UK. Both I had to pay about
the same premium. I've used both now here and at home. Well what a con it is here. In the UK my cover paid 100% of the bill, here it pays a ridiculously small
amount of the total bill. My sons tonsils just cost me about $1000, medicare paid a few hundred and the private cover paid a grand total of $76 leaving me a health gap to pay. So why the con here in Australia? Then the icing on the cake was discovering that my HBA here is infact run by bupa the exact same company as my insurance back in the UK!
The standard Australian response to this little story has been 'Well at least in private you got seen quickly and in a nice hospital!", well actually it took 2 months from start to finish here, not bad but wait a mo, in the UK when I had the misfortune to need a hospital on my private there, I was seen the same day!
Car insurance!!!! What a rip, add together CTP, REGO and fully comp and it's easily more expensive than back home. Thank the lord I don't need a pink slip yet, or is that a green one? Oh and then I discover that my fully comp doesn't cover me for a holiday hire car in the same country, whereas my UK one did!
Renting a car here!... Cost of car hire approx $300 per week, then add same again for insurance, then for the final laugh, here in Aus you have to pay to get the hire car re registered in your name and then back again at the end of the hire. Then add the govt fees and levies! It's all ok though as they carefully only advertise the actual car hire cost minus all the extras, bargain!
Oh hell, I only stopped by to say hello.
Welcome back
Feb 9th 2011, 7:51 pm
#41
Ex BE ***** Addict
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,773
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
Thanks, I'm not sure how long I'll stick around for, I'm very busy and don't seem to have the time to use this site.
On a slightly different note, WA has fires, QLD has floods and cyclones, VIC has floods and fires, NSW seems to be on the verge of a plague of locusts, then there are the plagues of flies. All things right out of the book of Genesis, God must be mightily displeased with Australians, I wonder what they did so wrong to displease him.
On a slightly different note, WA has fires, QLD has floods and cyclones, VIC has floods and fires, NSW seems to be on the verge of a plague of locusts, then there are the plagues of flies. All things right out of the book of Genesis, God must be mightily displeased with Australians, I wonder what they did so wrong to displease him.
Feb 9th 2011, 7:59 pm
#42
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
After six years we are beginning to talk about jacking it in and going back to Europe. It's just talk at the moment, but the frustrations of Australia on a daily basis take that long to wear you down. The other side of the coin is the huge hit we would take on our house, so up in the air at the moment!
Feb 9th 2011, 8:43 pm
#43
Banned
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 22,348
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
After six years we are beginning to talk about jacking it in and going back to Europe. It's just talk at the moment, but the frustrations of Australia on a daily basis take that long to wear you down. The other side of the coin is the huge hit we would take on our house, so up in the air at the moment!
Feb 9th 2011, 9:01 pm
#44
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
As for the question - how long do you have <g>. I won't bore you with it all.
Feb 9th 2011, 9:07 pm
#45
Banned
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 22,348
Re: It's a big country with a small population....
