Can you buy astro gear by installment?

[emadmoussa]

I remember David Hinds used to sell scopes that you payed off monthly,not sure if they still do,or if they are still in business.

Yes, I think they're still functional. They changed their website tohttp://www.celestron.uk.com . I looked at their stock yesterday, but they don't seem to have the 9.25 XLT OTA in stock. They have them with mounts, but not OTA only.

[Daddystu]

There used to be a double page ad. in astronomynow a few years back. Loads of scopes, all with associated finance deals. I cant remember what the company was called now. Telescopes direct or something like that - sure somebody with a magazine collection could find out. I think I got a Helios 102mm from them.

[Tinker1947]

If you don't have or can't find a Credit Card with interest free credit for 6 months or more, the use any Credit Card to purchase what you want then transfer the amount to another card offering 1 year or more zero interest on balance transfers this way you get you bits early and pay not interest, i purchased my Mount and Scope at the same time using the balance transfer method, just make sure you can afford the repayments over the free interest period and stick to it don't get sucked in to buying any thing else, clear the balance.....

[emadmoussa]

Guys, I found a Celestron 9.25 in near mint condition second hand for £650. Do you think it's a good deal?

Does the losmandy dovetail fit on the EQ6?

[JamesF]

Assuming you haven't had it for a long time. If you don't mind me asking, did you get second hand or brand new? If by installments, I'll appreciate you divulging the secret to me

I bought it brand new when it was on offer. Not had a it very long time.

James

[JamesF]

Guys, I found a Celestron 9.25 in near mint condition second hand for £650. Do you think it's a good deal?

Does the losmandy dovetail fit on the EQ6?

If it's in genuinely good condition I'd say that's not a bad price at all. The Losmandy dovetail will fit some EQ6 variants I think. Some have a dual saddle to allow them to take both styles.

James

[pete_l]

If you are uneasy about starting to buy stuff with a CC, you could always make the initial purchase and then cut the card up afterwards, or give it to a responsible person who's under strict instructions not to hand it back (or use it themselves ) until the balance has been paid off.

However, I wouldn't advise using a CC unless you have a secure, full-time job. I'd also strongly advise making the maximum payment you can afford - minimum payments can take 20 or 30 years to pay off. Consider those payments as the "rental" for having your astro gear earlier than if you'd saved up and then paid cash.

[Qualia]

I don't want to put a downer on things or derail this thread but personally I feel one should only spend only what one can afford. A credit card does not mean free money. You have to pay back what you spend and in general, you will be charged interest on any outstanding balance. For numerous normative reasons, I feel we ought to adapt ourselves to sacrifice, along with the mental and emotional effort required to get to the point where we can buy something debt-free, rather than the aggravation of dealing with debt and financial stress. A little put by each month and you're a freer man than the other fellow at the whip and call of the financial institutions.

[r3i]

It is well worth buying any astro gear using a credit card. If you do you are covered by "section 75" protection which says that the card company is jointly liable should anything go wrong with the deal e.g. the Astro supplier goes bust or the goods a faulty and the supplier won't (or can't if they are bust!) play ball then the card company must reimburse you in full. Effectivly "double" protection. This only applies to items of over £100 (which is not uncommon with Astro gear).

There is also a procedure called Chargeback which can be called upon for credit card purchases less than £100, see this Which article for info.

[emadmoussa]

I don't want to put a downer on things or derail this thread but personally I feel one should only spend only what one can afford. A credit card does not mean free money. You have to pay back what you spend and in general, you will be charged interest on any outstanding balance. For numerous normative reasons, I feel we ought to adapt ourselves to sacrifice, along with the mental and emotional effort required to get to the point where we can buy something debt-free, rather than the aggravation of dealing with debt and financial stress. A little put by each month and you're a freer man than the other fellow at the whip and call of the financial institutions.

Like mentioned above, I found a good scope for under £700. I don't think for this amount I'll need to turn to credit cards. So I still am a free man

[knobby]

I don't want to put a downer on things or derail this thread but personally I feel one should only spend only what one can afford. A credit card does not mean free money. You have to pay back what you spend and in general, you will be charged interest on any outstanding balance. For numerous normative reasons, I feel we ought to adapt ourselves to sacrifice, along with the mental and emotional effort required to get to the point where we can buy something debt-free, rather than the aggravation of dealing with debt and financial stress. A little put by each month and you're a freer man than the other fellow at the whip and call of the financial institutions.

Sound advice!

what I would do is each night... Pop out the back garden... If its clear, use whatever you have now... If its cloudy... Put a fiver in a jar... Before you know it you'll be up to Takahashi money

[Bizibilder]

I should have said - pay the card off in full immediately - so you pay no interest, but still get the protection.

[Digz]

I don't want to put a downer on things or derail this thread but personally I feel one should only spend only what one can afford. A credit card does not mean free money. You have to pay back what you spend and in general, you will be charged interest on any outstanding balance. For numerous normative reasons, I feel we ought to adapt ourselves to sacrifice, along with the mental and emotional effort required to get to the point where we can buy something debt-free, rather than the aggravation of dealing with debt and financial stress. A little put by each month and you're a freer man than the other fellow at the whip and call of the financial institutions.

A very valid point and I am by no means suggesting otherwise.

I did make it clear in my posts that you need to be savvy with money and pay the monthly repayments ensuring the balance is repaid in full at the end of any 0% period. Notwithstanding that you should not use a credit card as a means of purchasing something if you cannot afford it. I only ever used this method knowing that I can meet the repayments with ease and no additional financial burden.

You are right, however, that it is less of a burden putting money away each month to make a purchase rather than that money being used to settle a debt.

I wouldn't want anyone to take my advice above and get into debt because the repayments cannot be made!

[endure]

I don't want to put a downer on things or derail this thread but personally I feel one should only spend only what one can afford. A credit card does not mean free money.

Actually if you pick the right card and have a reasonable amount of discipline it does mean (interest)-free money. I have a Tesco CC at the moment which is interest free on purchases for the next 15 months. I've just used it to pay for my car insurance and will pay it off over the next couple of months. The other two options I had were to pay a lump sum up front which would have messed my cashflow up (there's posh!) or paid the insurance company monthly payments which would have meant an APR of about 8% so I've got the best of all worlds.

[Naemeth]

You have to be incredibly careful with credit cards, or any other form of borrowing in fact. Banks don't give out free money whilst expecting nothing back (otherwise they'd never make money), if you fail to pay they will charge you - quite a lot in some cases.

If you want to save up, why not use a savings' jar? If your circumstances change, you can always use that money to help you out. However, if your circumstances change when you're on a credit card, what can you do then? Because of fees etc., you will probably end up losing some of what you would have saved with the jar method. Of course, the savings' jar has it's problems too .

[spiff]

I subscribe (for free) on the Martin Lewis website www.moneysavingexpert.com

You may find a solution for financing on here

Though I appreciate that Martin Lewis is trying to save people money, a lot of his suggestions seem to revolve around finding ways to make sure that no retailer ever makes money and is finally forced out of business. He is a nasty, immoral man that seems hell bent on destroying the livelihood of a lot of people - all so that his subscribers can save the odd fiver on items costing several hundred quid. Ever notice how hard it is for your teenage son/daughter to get a weekend job? It won't get any easier as long as that [removed word] is preaching his horror.

[Digz]

Though I appreciate that Martin Lewis is trying to save people money, a lot of his suggestions seem to revolve around finding ways to make sure that no retailer ever makes money and is finally forced out of business. He is a nasty, immoral man that seems hell bent on destroying the livelihood of a lot of people - all so that his subscribers can save the odd fiver on items costing several hundred quid. Ever notice how hard it is for your teenage son/daughter to get a weekend job? It won't get any easier as long as that [removed word] is preaching his horror.

In your opinion. Which, I imagine a lot of people will disagree with.

And, for reference please dont use bad language on the forum (refer to the CoC you signed upto when registering)

[Pig]

Erm - I wonder what happened to installments idea for the 11"

Or was it one installment of £2450

[emadmoussa]

You can say I was lucky. This morning my client paid me in advance a lump for a job I am going to do this week. out of the blue really...that covered 2 thirds of the price. It's under £1700 for the tube, cg5 gt mount, Celestron eyepiece kit and a book...ait was the last one in stuck, hence the price. I will get part of the price back when I sell the mount and kit ::

[Pig]

Thats great news - apparently they are good with a 2" set up - ive just got to find a reasonable dew shield now

[Vince1963]

Get an interest free credit card and set up a direct debit to pay the minimum each month then you need never worry about missing a minimum payment. Then pay more whenever you have spare cash. It costs nothing and as long as you pay it off it boosts your credit rating too. Halifax are doing a 17 m oth interest free purchase card at the moment

http://www.halifax.c...market_HAL617_1

Nothing better than free money... I see a new NEQ6 coming my way :grin: .. Just got to convince the wife now

[scarp15]

Though I appreciate that Martin Lewis is trying to save people money, a lot of his suggestions seem to revolve around finding ways to make sure that no retailer ever makes money and is finally forced out of business. He is a nasty, immoral man that seems hell bent on destroying the livelihood of a lot of people - all so that his subscribers can save the odd fiver on items costing several hundred quid. Ever notice how hard it is for your teenage son/daughter to get a weekend job? It won't get any easier as long as that [removed word] is preaching his horror.

I believe that the web site provides some general informative and educational advice on sound household financial managment, you can take or leave the coupons / offers. Much more applicable, at least to myself, are means to save on energy costs etc. For many of us the necessity arises when you need to replace the car, replace the roof (or even go with part financing a 'luxury' purchase) so it does no harm to look at the emails as part of an investigation. But yes where money is concerned and particularly in this economic climate of instabilty and insecurity, you ought to 'cut your cloth to suit' or at least try to.

[endure]

Though I appreciate that Martin Lewis is trying to save people money, a lot of his suggestions seem to revolve around finding ways to make sure that no retailer ever makes money and is finally forced out of business. He is a nasty, immoral man that seems hell bent on destroying the livelihood of a lot of people - all so that his subscribers can save the odd fiver on items costing several hundred quid. Ever notice how hard it is for your teenage son/daughter to get a weekend job?

I'm not quite sure I understand this. Are you suggesting that I ought to pay more than I do for stuff that I buy so someone else's children can get a job?

[brucen]

It is well worth buying any astro gear using a credit card. If you do you are covered by "section 75" protection which says that the card company is jointly liable should anything go wrong with the deal e.g. the Astro supplier goes bust or the goods a faulty and the supplier won't (or can't if they are bust!) play ball then the card company must reimburse you in full. Effectivly "double" protection. This only applies to items of over £100 (which is not uncommon with Astro gear).

And the worst way of buying anything?? ........... Real money in a real shop!! Crazy but true - you have the least consumer rights of all with that method.

The good thing is that you can also get this protection by paying for any part of the purchase by credit card. So, if you buy a £1000 item and only put £10 on the card they still have to provide full cover. Seems a litle hard on the card issuer but woth keeping in mind.

[endure]

The good thing is that you can also get this protection by paying for any part of the purchase by credit card. So, if you buy a £1000 item and only put £10 on the card they still have to provide full cover. Seems a litle hard on the card issuer but woth keeping in mind.

You have to spend at least £100 on the CC to be covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.