and we are not exempt, unfortunately
Just reading Martins Money newsletter this morning, along with the latest inflation figures from the ONS, (mark you we don’t know what planet they are on!) confirms the view that there is a lot of inflation yet to come.
The article highlights increased postal costs, and then goes on to point to large price increases from many Media and Telecom Companies, particulary BT and other broadband providers who are planning price increases at the top end of what they are legally allowed, meaning increases of 15% or more, in many cases.
April is a time many businesses reassess their costs and profits, especially larger state run and major Corporations
This is of course on top of the fact that we will all be paying more for Gas and Electric, (not that this will show in inflation figures!)
According to todays Sun Newspaper, the price of a Galaxy Chocolate bar has increased recently fron 99p to around £1.50 in at least two major supermarket chains. Its our feeling that the real rate of inflation, as experienced by most of us is far above the 10.4% quoted by the official figures.
However the point behind all this is that we too are having to increase many of our prices, because, obviously, we are also subject to these changes and the effects of general inflation. Microsoft for example have announced a new policy of adjusting their pricing every six months to reflect international currency valuations, (never a good thing for a depreciating pound), and from April there will be a 9% increase across their UK product range. This will impact on all our customers using MS365 (Office) versions, as well as pricing for PCs with Windows Operating Systems etc.
Increases from Openreach/BT/EE etc will also mean a general uplift to our telecom and connection costs, albeit because some of this involves our own systems we should be able to hold pricing below many of our competitors
Whilst we do dislike increasing our prices, and apologise for having to do so, we want to stress what a value proposition ComputerBits represents, we constantly compare our prices with what others charge and nearly always we are cheaper.
This may, in fact, sometimes put us at a disadvantage, by giving a perception that if they are only charging that “it cannot be very good”, believe us, we strive to charge the minimum we must but also not to jeopardise quality.
Conversely we have people say “I have seen it elsewhere, (particularly “Online”) cheaper”. Our response is “check your getting the same thing and make sure you include any charges you may have to pay for delivery, setup, installation etc”. Our experience is that like for like, ComputerBits costs less.
We recently came acrss a flyer given out by our predecessor here (DesQtop) sometime in the 1990’s, and strikingly the current equivalent of many of the things offered then are still similarly priced or even less for a generally more poweful version today
Thought to takeaway:
ComputerBits = Great Service & Great Value
