[ot] Maplin are a rip off!!!

[michaeldunne109]

Caution: Bit of a rant.

Just paid a visit to Maplin to buy a couple of things for my custom controller and college projects.

My god their a rip off paid E46.00 for 5 resistors, 2 potentiometers a small piece of breadboard, a 2inch x 2inch veroboard sheet, a tube of small gauge solder and some replacement solder tips.

To be honest i had no problem paying the E46.00 as i needed the stuff urgently but the sales dude hadnt a clue what he was talking about on the order sheet i threw down 120r for the the value of the resistors he came back with 120k resistors lucky i spotted the color bands being off spent 5minutes explaining i needed 120ohm resistors then he goes you said 120r. I nearly slapped him. Spent another ten minutes explaining that 2w resistors won't fit on my pcb and could he please get some 0.6watt resistors for me he said they where buried somewhere in the back of the shop and would take 20mins to find i told him id wait took him no more than 3mins to find them. Personally i don't believe he knew the difference between the two wattages.

Anyway just wondering where are ye buying yer components?? sites ect??

Thanks for reading had to get it off my chest now off to a gig which will hopefully relax me

[fullenglishpint]

they're ridiculously expensive for components, but when they're just down the road...

[MiL0]

I find the staff in Maplins generally quite knowledgeable when it comes to electronics, at least the staff in the Brighton store.

They are expensive though, I'll give you that.

[The Bong Squad]

They hate me at my local store aha!

They got really arsey that I knew more than them :P I bought a £3 piezo element which came out cheaper than the internet as I would have to fork out an stupid price on P+P.

But I was using it for a high speed photography project and the bleeding wiring was cheap and flimsey and snapped after moving the circuit a few times

Expensive prices for crap kit . .

[extraclassic]

Maplins will have your pants down when it comes to prices - always have.

If I had known you were ordering some parts i would have mentioned that Rapidonline.com are offering free delivery on orders over £10 up to the 30th of this month.

[Steve Zorilow]

In no specific order
DigiKey
Jameco
Mouser
Newark In one (Farnell)
Electro-Sonic

My favourite being Digikey. Pretty decent prices, not the best, but nice shipping rates & fast.

[Siytek]

they're ridiculously expensive for components, but when they're just down the road...

I second that! Even though there are a complete rip off, I use them so much for odds and ends as I can walk there from my flat.

Farnell for planned orders and Maplins for odds and ends works for me

[djchriswoods.co.uk]

they are a fucking joke, the staff in both belfast branches havent any idea what the fuck they are talking about.

maybe a case of 'those who can do, and those who cant, try to sell the shit to the people that can'

I remember once buying a graphics card that i needed urgently, picked up an AGP card by mistake, it was amongst PCI cards on the shelf. got home,l noticed the error with the packaging still intact, but the staff refused to accept it as a return 'because it has memory'. so somehow i had magically filled its ram through a sealed box...fucking joke

[deevey]

Radionics, Farnell, Mouser

Maplin are great if your stuck but I wouldnt be ordering components from them day to day unless I really needed. They seem more focused on consumer gadgets than electronic hobby parts these days.

In fairness their tools and parts though are decent value and have saved my ass on many occasions.

Staff in most shops generally don't seem to have a clue when it comes to the nitty gritty, buyer be sure! They are stockboys for the most part (On occasions some stockboys with a love of electronics).

because it has memory

They musta been afraid that it'd escape and follow you home

[michaeldunne109]

I second that! Even though there are a complete rip off, I use them so much for odds and ends as I can walk there from my flat.

Farnell for planned orders and Maplins for odds and ends works for me

I have used farnell very good service and fair enough prices