I wouldn't expect an normal kettle to be afflicted with bluetooth. It's just my way of complaining in the shops about the problem. Newer is not better. Different is not better. Only better is better, and that depends on the use-case. So in many situations, a "normal" kettle like the one you are looking for is the right tool. I just know someone here even more fed up with poor, unnecssary deployment of overly complicated technologies, bluetooth in particular. It has become a running joke to me though my humor may be off.

If they're anything like US stores they always tell you they can order one for you if not in stock at the store. I find that annoying because it implies I wasn't smart enough to order it online and also that I'd like to waste my time by coming back to pick up the item at the store after they order it. I went to the store for instant gratification by seeing and picking out what I want. If they don't want to stock anything they should close down and become a pure online operation.

P.S. Amazon UK has stove top tea kettles:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stovetop-Ke...ode=3544848031

you don't need either to open an ebay account (and I'm pretty sure not for amazon either) and I have succesfully ordered stuff from ebay with neither paypal nor credit card.

Well, I don't want to use my debit card because it's directly linked to my bank account. And once your card details are on someone's server, it seems to be only a matter of time before they get stolen and traded on the dark web.

This is the kind of worry I had back in 1997 when I made my first online purchase. I thought, "I can't use my card details on the web, they'll get traded and stolen". I even remember what my first online purchase was, a CD of a band called The Violet Hour. Needless to say nothing happened, and I've made hundreds of online purchases since. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, as long as you're buying from a reputable retailer. If you are worried about it, just walk into Argos and buy the thing.

I use an old Barclaycard that I took out when they were the first bank to issue a card, rather than the debit card from my usual bank. I only use it on-line and keep a low credit limit. In shops I use the ordinary debit card. I've never had either card's details stolen off anyone's server. I did once have my credit card details stolen from a bookshop, but that was in pre-internet days and Barclays immediately rang me — "Have you just ordered a mountain bike? It's doesn't sound like the sort of thing you buy." I doubt if they are as careful these days!

Another thing I hate about online is that sites are so difficult to navigate. I have a Brother laser printer that I bought from the Tesco site. I went there because the printers they sell in-store are all HP inkjets; I had developed a serious beef against HP (details on demand) and had also been informed by people on this forum that a laser printer was what I needed for occasional black-and-white printing of music, etc. No ink to dry up between uses!

Will you believe it? Every time I clicked on "Add to trolley", it added two printers! Then I would cancel the order, go back and try again. I wasn't being particularly heavy-handed with the mouse either. Tesco just seemed determined to sell me two printers so that it could get double the money out of me. I can't remember how many tries it took me before the malevolent script realised that it wasn't going to be able to sell me two printers and would have to settle for one.

It's even worse on government sites like the local council. If you try to complain about anything on those sites, the scripts just lead you round and round for ever. You put in your correct name and address and they say "Invalid". And if you walk into the council offices (which are not far from where I live), no one will deal with your problem. They just say "Go online."

The British government now has a policy called "Digital by Default". Of course it's nothing of the kind! A default is what you get if you don't ask for something else. But increasingly, you are not offered any other option. It's "digital by decree"!

OK, first of all I fully understand your complaint:
There's a whole list of products that used to be freely available just one or two decades ago that have completely disappeared from my everyday shopping experience.

And for many of those "just order it online" isn't appropriate advice (food...).

But for someone who uses computers & internet forums on a daily basis, it should be OK to order a stovetop kettle online.

I'm not so sure about this; what's a debit card? Anyhow, I made quite a few purchases by simply putting the money on the sellers bank account - and they would then send the product when they see the money has arrived.
Not only private sellers but also many companies are willing to go that way.

Don't they have debit cards in Finland? I'm sure they do. They must just call them something different. A debit card is a card issued by your bank that allows you to make immediate payments out of your account. Practically all accounts have them (though there is a thing called a "basic account" that banks are legally obliged to provide for really poor people, that don't come with a card). It's used just like a credit card, but the money is taken out of your bank account, not put on a slate for future payment.

You can also use them for wireless payments, though I never do that as I don't trust the technology. In fact I told my bank that if they find any wireless transactions on my account, it means my card or my details have been stolen!

they are called visa electron here. i use one, i buy some stuff from sweden / usa / germany with it.

For Amazon and even Ebay, I have seen gift-cards in grocery stores here. So, instead of giving credit / debit card info to Amazon / Ebay, you could get one of the gift cards and use them at check out? Assuming the gift cards are available in UK?

Now that does sound useful. I played about for a while with the idea of using a loadable debit card, independent of my bank account. The local credit union provides one. You load money onto it and then you can spend it online. And if the details get stolen, the thieves can't take more money from you than you had on the card. But they all charge a monthly fee, so it comes rather expensive if you don't use it very often.

i have heard of prepaid creditcards on US.

Correct, they are here, but not all are "free" as several of them charge maintenance fee, and there are some that charge even more fee if you do not use them in certain time.

Some of the gift cards you can buy in the U.S. are for Visa, Mastercard and American Express. On checking just now it appears at least Mastercard gift cards are available in the U.K:
https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/c...gift-card.html

Here in U.S. you can buy the gift cards at many locations (Grocery stores, Drugstores, Department stores) and load them when you buy them. You can even use your own Credit Card or Debit Card for that load but the gift card has no direct access to your Credit or Debit card.

The gift card works just like a credit or debit card so should work anywhere that takes a regular credit or debit card of the same brand (i.e. if they take Mastercard they'll take the Mastercard gift card).

One thing some banks do is allow you to generate random credit card numbers online for one time (or even recurring) purchases. That random number bills to your main credit card account without ever giving the merchant your real credit card number. The Bank of America Visa I used does that. I like it because I can set the spending limit and the expiration date. That means a merchant can't charge more than they said they would (of course I always up the limit a bit for sales tax and/or shipping). Another benefit to the one I use is it can only be used at one merchant. If someone hacked the merchant right after it billed me the hacker wouldn't be able to use it at all.