For those in Perth always looking for a better, faster, cheaper way

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Tricks of a Used Car Salesman

We recently bought a second hand car from a car dealer in Perth and learnt an interesting lesson from the experience. As we all know, there are many tricks in different industries and there are certainly tricks in the used car business. So how should you go about buying a car?

First of all, as with all sales people, don't rely on the sales person to inform you about anything. Do your own research. They are there to sell. You can use your research as a guide to work out how honest the salesperson seems to be. Ask them questions that you already know the answer to.

The other lesson we learnt was when it comes to the price, check all sources of the car yard's advertising. We saw a car that we were interested in, in their car yard for $18,990. A few days later, we were looking at the car yard's website and found the car advertising on their website for $16,990. We thought that the price had dropped so we went again to the car yard a few days later, the price was still $18,990. I asked the salesperson whether $18,990 is the price and he said yeah. When I told him about the price on the website was $16,990 he said, 'yeah, we can do that'. Of course you can, it's your website!

When you think about it, that makes perfect sense. When you are walking around the car yard, the salespeople pretty much see that you are ready to buy. When you are researching online, you are comparing their price with everyone else's price. So be aware, there could be a big difference between an internet price and a car yard "stupid tax".
0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Thursday, December 6, 2012

5,000 Point Breaks in Asia and Europe

Every month, the Intercontinental Hotels Group posts a list of hotels that allow you to book a night for 5,000 Priority Club points per night. This is compared to the usual rates of 40,000 and 50,0000 points that it normally costs to redeem a night's stay. Here are the locations for the Asia and Europe regions this month.

ASIA


FIJI ISLANDS
HOLIDAY INN SUVA

EUROPE

BELGIUM
0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

How Easy Is It to Replace a Lost Passport Overseas?



There are times in a world of convenience that we forget not everything comes to us as fast as a Big Mac with fries. One of those things is the replacement of a passport. We can quite easily underestimate the importance of a passport when travelling. You will often need to travel to the country's capital such as Bangkok in Thailand to get a replacement passport. But how do you get there? In Australia, you don't even need photo ID to travel by plane within the country but in Thailand even if it is a domestic flight, you will need your passport. Have a read of this article to see how hard it was for one reporter to get back to Australia after losing his passport and you may cling a little more tightly to your passport when you are next abroad.
0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

How to get to ClickFrenzy Stores (when the website is down)?

The website ClickFrenzy has been inundated by the nation as the clock ticks over to begin the sale. The website is currently down but Ozbargain has provided a list of participants of ClickFrenzy, so head over to the stores through here.

Some more deals

Missed any? leave comments for others.. 
3 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Friday, November 16, 2012

NBL Awakens With Live Basketball on TV, Online and Radio

The Perth Wildcats will tonight play their first home game at the new Perth Arena. As you may have heard already, the game will break ALL WA records for the most number of people at a basketball game, and possibly break some NBL records as well with the 12,000+ people expected for the game. If you are heading to the game, and you've never been warned, remember to wear a red shirt!

It's a very big season for the NBL with broadcasting deals reached with free to air TV, online and on the radio. For example, you can listen to all Perth Wildcats games live on the radio by tuning to 98.5 Sonshine FM which can also be streamed online if you don't have a radio nearby.



The NBL this year introduced their own online streaming service for fans which costs $59 for access to all the games. You can subscribe at NBL.tv. We thought it would be good to also let you know something you might have missed about NBL coverage. A little known fact is that iiNET, naming rights sponsors of the National Basketball League, have been given the rights to broadcast one game each week LIVE and free for their customers.



Note that this service is only available for iiNET customers, who can also access on-demand videos of the games that were broadcast live, a few days after they were shown. Today's game between New Zealand Breakers and the Townsville Crocodiles will be shown live at 2:30pm WST (follow twitter commentary at #NBLNZBTSV) and the following week, the Perth Wildcats v New Zealand Breakers will be shown live at 7:00pm WST (Twitter #NBLPERNZB).

Channel Ten will also broadcast two games each round including one on Friday night on ONE HD and also the Sunday afternoon games on TEN.

Tonight's Perth Wildcats game is going to be replayed on ONE HD tonight at 9:30pm which will be live for Eastern States viewers.
0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

When Australia Post Doesn't Attempt Delivery (but says they did)

We've been having this recurring problem in our area where the Australia Post courier doesn't even bother to check if anyone is at home. It was an issue that my parents always complained about but didn't do anything about it. On two occasions I have gone to the Post Office and complained but they told me to call up Australia Post as the couriers are not connected to the local post office.

The Australia Post number for complaints (and everything else) is 13 7678. They noted my complaint and even called the distribution centre to tell them of our complaint. Also worth noting is that any registered post which is a letter, not a parcel is by their policy always carded because these are delivered by the bikes and apparently the guy on the bike is not allowed to leave his bike. Delivery van drivers however should be attempting delivery. If not, don't pass Go until you call up Australia Post now.

Also, I thought you guys might be interested in this. I didn't know that Australia Post can compensate you for any losses caused by their service. This is from their website.

Compensation

Australia Post is not liable for any loss or damage for letters carried by the letter service, but in some cases you may be entitled to compensation of up to $50 for loss or damage caused by Australia Post to uninsured articles within Australia or overseas (applies to selected articles). You may be able to purchase extra cover through our postal outlets to protect more valuable articles. Please inquire in our postal outlets as for a small fee you can add substantially more cover to your items.
In the event you need to lodge a compensation claim, please call the customer relations centre on 13POST. You are also entitled to refer the matter to the Postal Industry Ombudsman's office if you are not satisfied.

If you want to call the 13 POST number with your VOIP phone for free check out this post.
2 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Cheap Family Entertainment - Wildcats Family Tickets from $50


Well the Perth Arena is finally open and everyone wants to check it out. One of the best value nights out this summer will be the basketball games played at the Perth Arena. The Perth Wildcats have been the most successful professional sporting franchise in Australia, having appeared at ALL NBL finals series since 1987. In that span, they have also won the championship five times and appeared in the grand final nine times! The game night entertainment is slick, fast and appropriate for all ages.


With the move to the Perth Arena, ticket prices have come down and the ticket also includes free public transport around Perth for a three hour window on either side of the games. The cheapest tickets in Perth Arena start at $10 for juniors 3-16 years old and $20 for adults. Family passes for two adults and two children are only $50 including public transport. Ticketek is the place to go to get tickets, not Ticketmaster, and they charge an extra $8.50 service charge on top. Tickets to the first game at Perth Arena are now on sale for the Friday 16th November against Adelaide. The following week, the Perth Wildcats will take on last year's champions, the top of the table New Zealand Breakers

The crowd of 11,562 at Perth Arena - Wildcats v New Zealand Breakers

We used to have season tickets to the basketball when the Wildcats were at the Perth Entertainment Centre and it was an amazing experience as the people streamed out of the PEC still chanting after the game leaving bystanders intrigued and resolving to check out the Wildcats next time. Well, jump on the band wagon because the Perth Wildcats are back in the city and painting the town red.


If you do go to a Wildcats game for the first time, do let us know how you found it or send us a tweet while you are at the game @PerthHacks.


UPDATE: Perth Arena now allows you to receive your Wildcats tickets via EzyTicket which means you do not need to wait for the ticket to be sent to you via post and it only costs $6.20 rather than $12 to post or collect from the venue and miss the pre-game entertainment for $8.50.

0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Monday, October 29, 2012

Caltex and Coles Express Canning Vale Cheapest all Week

I am not sure whether you have seen this phenomenon recently or not. I don't think I have ever seen petrol stations keep the same price for petrol throughout the whole week! Caltex Woolworths and Coles Express both in Canning Vale left the price of ULP unleaded petrol at 137.1 for the whole of last week and it looks like this week both have started to peg their petrol prices at 136.1.



It seems that the same battle lines are being drawn up at the far northern suburb of Clarkson. Both Caltex Woolworths and Coles Express have today's and tomorrow's price at 136.1. Could this be the end of the petrol price cycle for some Perth suburbs?
0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Free Grilld Burger at Scarborough this Sunday

Grilld has just sent us an invitation to the opening of their new Scarborough Beach store at 188 The Esplanade, Scarborough which is just a stone's throw from The Wild Fig Cafe. The exciting thing is that they have said you can come along as well and get a free burger from 11am-3pm by printing out and presenting the voucher below. Please note that this is only valid on this Sunday 14th October 2012!


If you do end up going, send out a tweet to @GrilldBurgers to thank them for their generosity and share your thoughts about the place. Who knows, you may spot a fellow PerthHacker tweeting from the store. Feel free to let your friends know as well. With summer coming around the corner, looks like Grilld has given one more reason to head up the West Coast Highway for dinner by the beach.



View Larger Map
0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Free Whoppers, Fries, Sundaes - Just Shake Your Mobile


Why shouldn't you bother with Hungry Jacks vouchers in Perth? If you were wondering why people seem to be driving through Hungry Jacks without paying recently, there is a mobile app that is available for Apple and Android users which allows you to you "win" either a discount or a giveaway from Hungry Jacks every time you are within 1km of a store. Just shake your phone and the offer will appear. So what can you get from the app?
Free items (no purchase)Free with purchaseDiscounts
Bacon n' Egg Muffin (before 10:40am)Buy any burger, get a Medium Frozen Coke50% off any Country Burger
Whopper / CheeseburgerBuy a Whopper, get one free50% off any Premium Choice burger
Hash Brown (before 10:40am)Buy a Bacon Deluxe, get one free25% off any purchase up to $10 inclusive
Medium Fries50% off any purchase up to $30 inclusive
Medium Soft Drink
Soft Serve
Sundae

Some people are concerned that every time you claim a freebie, it gets posted on Facebook. You can turn off the app's posting rights to facebook or you can restrict their check-ins to be "viewed only by me". You are only able to claim one item per store every 10 hours.

Where can you get the Hungry Jacks app? 
  • Google Android users click here (Samsung Galaxy S2/S3, Galaxy Nexus, HTC Sensation/One etc)
  • Apple iOS users click here  (iPhone 4/4S/5)

1 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Monday, September 24, 2012

Get up to $100 Cashback from Dell, Vodafone purchases etc

If you have been around the internet for a while, you will know that quite often when you click on an ad, someone gets a bit of money. Sometimes that little bit of money is quite a lot. For example, some advertisers will pay $100 for every new vodafone contract signed up as a result of someone clicking through the ad. No, I've never received such commission but there is a website where I have managed to save quite a lot of money by going to big online companies through that website.

StartHere lets  you get back the commission that the website collects when you click through their website to online suppliers like Dominos, Spreets, Hotels.com, Dell, Cudo etc You can see some of the more famous companies listed below. I've been using that website for about 4 years at least and I've earned $442 from it. They just take the first $10 of your commission that you earn each year. The rest is yours. I got $100 cash back for signing up with Vodafone last time.

Recently they added a Google Chrome extension that alerts you when you go on to a website that Starthere provides a cashback for, so that you can then log through their website to make your purchase and claim a cashback that you may not even know even exists! They are offering gold membership for the next six days so click here to join StartHere.


0 left a comment, click to leave a comment

Monday, September 10, 2012

Map of Complimentary Hotels for AMEX Platinum Reserve


View AMEX Reserve Hotels - Created by www.perthhacks.com in a larger map

I have recently been checking out the complimentary hotels for the American Express Platinum Reserve card and noticed that some of the hotels have changed from the last time I looked at it. The American Express Platinum Reserve Card gives you the option to redeem one night stay at a hotel or a return flight to many places in Australia and Bali if you are in Perth. I've put in a table below the hotels that are available and the type of room that they offer to complimentary redemptions. This is based on the AMEX website but is subject to change at any time so please treat this as a rough guide only. Also check out the map above (or click here) to see the hotels mapped out on a Google Map.


Property City State Country Room Type Rating
Sydney Harbour Marriott Sydney New South Wales Australia Deluxe City View 5
Radisson Hotel Sydney New South Wales Australia Studio Room 4.5
Medina Grand Harbourside New South Wales Australia Standard Studio 4.5
Novotel Darling Harbour New South Wales Australia Standard Pyrmont View 4.5
Hilton Sydney New South Wales Australia Deluxe 5
Merchant Court Hotel Sydney New South Wales Australia Classic 5
Diamant Boutique Hotel Potts Point New South Wales Australia Standard 4.5
Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach New South Wales Australia Coogee Village View 4.5
The Sebel  Manly New South Wales Australia Superior 4.5
Quay West Resort Magenta New South Wales Australia Studio 5
Crowne Plaza Terrigal New South Wales Australia Resort Room 4.5
Crowne Plaza Newcastle New South Wales Australia Cityside Suite 4.5
Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley New South Wales Australia Deluxe Room 4.5
The Sebel Harbourside New South Wales Australia Superior King 4.5
Peppers Southern Highlands New South Wales Australia Cottage Queen 4.5
Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove Queensland Australia Guest Room 5
Sheraton Miragen Resort & Spa Gold Coast Queensland Australia Garden Room 5
Crowne Plaza  Surfers Paradise Queensland Australia Superior 4.5
Club Watermark Surfers Paradise Queensland Australia Deluxe 5
Gold Coast International Hotel Queensland Australia Ocean View 5
Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach Queensland Australia Superior Ocean View 5
The Sebel King George Square  Brisbane Queensland Australia Sebel Deluxe 4.5
Sofitel  Central Brisbane Queensland Australia Superior 5
Urban  Brisbane Queensland Australia Balcony Room 4.5
The Sebel Suites  Brisbane Queensland Australia One Bedroom 4.5
Hyatt Regency Coolum Queensland Australia King Room 5
Novotel Twin Waters Resort Queensland Australia King Suite 4
Peppers Pier Resort Harvey Bay Queensland Australia One Bedroom 5
Peppers Coral Coast Resort Airlie Beach Queensland Australia I One Bedroom 5
Coral Sea Resort Airlie Beach Queensland Australia Ocean View 4.5
Pullman Reef Hotel Casino Queensland Australia Superior 5
The Sebel Cairns Queensland Australia Harbour View 5
Shangri-La Hotel, The Marina Cairns Queensland Australia Deluxe Marina View 5
The Sebel Reef House & Spa Palm Cove Queensland Australia Brigadier 4.5
Grand Mercure Rockford Esplanade Palm Cove Queensland Australia One Bedroom 4.5
Sabaya Resort Port Douglas Queensland Australia Resort Poolview 4
Thala Beach Lodge Queensland Australia Jungle Walk Bungalow 5
The Elandra Mission Beach Queensland Australia Queen Room 4
Mantra One Bright Point Magnetic Island Queensland Australia One Bedroom Standard 4.5
Peppers Blue on Blue Resort Magnetic Island Queensland Australia Deluxe Hotel room 4.5
The Sebel Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia Studio Suite 4.5
Crown Promenade Hotel Melbourne Victoria Australia Standard 4.5
Crown Metropol Melbourne Victoria Australia Luxe 5
The Hotel Windsor Melbourne Victoria Australia Traditional 5
Hotel Lindrum Melbourne Victoria Australia Standard 4.5
Medina Executive St Kilda Melbourne Victoria Australia Premier Studio 4.5
Crowne Plaza Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia Standard 4.5
Cumberland Lome Resort Victoria Australia 1 Bedroom Garden View 4.5
Mantra Erskine Beach Resort,  Lome Victoria Australia Studio 4.5
The Sebel Heritage Yarra Valley Victoria Australia Deluxe 4.5
The Esplanade Resort & Spa, Lakes Entrance Victoria Australia Hotel 4.5
Hotel Collins Tasmania Australia Club 4.5
Somerset on the Pier Tasmania Australia 1 Bedroom Executive 4.5
Wrest Point Tasmania Australia Standard Harbour View 4.5
Peppers Seaport Hotel Tasmania Australia Standard City View Room 4.5
The Sebel  Launceston Tasmania Australia 1 Bedroom Deluxe Suite ; 4.5
Peppers York George Town Tasmania Australia Deluxe Hotel 4.5
Tidal Waters resort St Helens Tasmania Australia Standard 4.5
Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village Cradle Mountain Tasmania Australia 1 Bedroom Cottage 4
Medina Grand Adelaide Treasury Adelaide South Australia Australia Premier Studio 4.5
Sebel Playford Adelaide Adelaide South Australia Australia Playford Guest 5
Hilton Adelaide Adelaide South Australia Australia Hilton Guest Room 5
Oaks Plaza Pier Glenelg Adelaide South Australia Australia Sudio 4.5
McCracken Country Club Adelaide South Australia Australia Standard Spa Room 4.5
Novotel  Barossa Valley South Australia Australia Studio 4.5
Grand Mercure  Mount Lofty South Australia Australia Deluxe 4.5
Medina Grand Perth Western Australia Australia Premier Studio 4.5
The Sebel Residence East Perth Western Australia Australia Studio City View 4.5
Rendezvous Hotel Scarborough Western Australia Australia Deluxe Ocean View 4
Pan Pacific Hotel Perth Western Australia Australia oianaara 5
Holiday Inn Burswood Perth Western Australia Australia Urban Queen 4.5
The Sebel Mandurahn Perth Western Australia Australia Studio King 4.5
Quay West Resort Bunker Bay Perth Western Australia Australia Studio Villa 5
Seashells Yallingup Perth Western Australia Australia 1 Bedroom 4.5
Seashells Resort Broome Broome Western Australia Australia 1 Bedroom 4.5
Oaks  Broome Western Australia Australia Hotel Suite 4.5
Medina Grand  Darwin Northern Territory Australia Premier Studio 4.5
Mantra Pandanas Darwin Northern Territory Australia Hotel Water View 4.5
Holiday Inn Esplanade  Darwin Northern Territory Australia Superior 4.5
Crowne Plaza  Alice Springs Northern Territory Australia Garden View 4.5
Crowne Plaza  Auckland NZ Superior 4.5
SKYCITY Grand Hotel Auckland NZ Luxury City View 5
Hyatt Regency  Auckland NZ Regency Club 5
Novotel Christchurch Cathedral Square Christchurch NZ Standard 4
Crowne Plaza  Queenstown NZ Courtyard 4.5
Millennium Hotel  Queenstown NZ Superior 4.5
Hotel St Moritz  Queenstown NZ Standard Guest 5
Millbrook Resort Queenstown NZ Village Inn 5

Other AMEX posts
0 left a comment, click to leave a comment
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)