'If that is what you want to believe'

I bought a new camera yesterday for a forthcoming overseas trip. A compact digital camera. I already have a fancy digital SLR camera so it is not essential for me to have purchased this latest camera but I had two reasons for doing so.

First, the compact camera is easier and lighter to carry around day after day and suitable for those quickly taken snaps when you are on the run. Second, the camera has GPS capacity so the photographs I take with it will be labelled with the location. The second factor was the clincher in my decision to have an additional camera available on the trip.

The salesman tried to sell me a 'care protection service'; in effect an additional warranty. I've seen/heard enough consumer information programs on television and radio to know that these 'services' are a money earner for the retailer and an unnecessary duplication from the consumer's perspective of what the retailer is liable to provide under existing consumer law.

The salesman was quite insistent. It wasn't enough for him that I answered 'no' to each of his three proposals that I purchase the 'service'. He then asserted that without my purchase of their 'service', the retailer would not replace the camera should it require replacement. I responded that in those circumstances they would be required to replace the camera and if they refused to do so I would not hesitate to refer the matter to the Department of Fair Trading.

The salesman wasn't deterred. 'If that is want you want to believe' he told me three times. I think he might have continued to push the 'service' if it wasn't that I told him that I would walk away and he would have lost the sale. I'm glad that he then backed off. The camera had been discounted 30% and was significantly cheaper than the price for that camera at the other outlets in the shopping mall.