Can you afford the $400 emergency?

The Faulty Remote!!

Have you seen in the popular press that the average family couldn't handle a $400 emergency?

Well yesterday the heat arrived and hit 33c [ about 91F ] and I thought I would try the aircon... first challenge was the remote control needed new batteries and I needed to go to the local IGA - they are expensive those AAA batteries so there was a decision to be made - well know brand [Duracell] or same brand style - usually Duracell is more expensive but they were actually $1.40 each against $3 for "same" brand - Duracell won.

At home, I replaced the batteries and spent 1 hour getting the clock to show the right time... but other than that no joy. Checking how much to get someone to come and see... "$200 call out PPLUS parts if needed then $25 per 15 minutes" did I really want to be cool? The $400 problem?

I quick phone call to a service centre who said that probably the remote had broken - I could use my smartphone camera and check and according to the guy on the phone, they no longer had those remotes [ system was older than 5 years ] but a universal might work... $200 call out plus $100 Mmmmm

I spoke with my chook man friend David who said for $2 to $5 may be the "tip" shop might have one. I had never heard of a "tip" shop but apparently every tip has one and lots of stuff in good working order is junked but resold at tip shops... but he had another suggestion - send a pic of the remote and he would trey eBay where, sure enough, they were available from $13 to $17 including postage and would arrive in 48 hours.