Bargaining in PC world

Little Mickey

Mods related to this I started a thread asking about laptop spec's but I've ordered one now so you can close it if you wish
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055961129

Are the days of bargaining totally gone?
I went into PC World yesterday looking for a new laptop, gave them info on roughly what spec's I wanted - my budget was around €700
The guy showed me around and there was a nice Dell one for €769. I told him that this was going well over my budget but I said I'll take it at €750. Spent about 45mins (yes - 45!) haggling but no way would he budge. He said that he couldn't do it that they would be making a loss (€20 not much of a profit then?). I pointed out laptops that had been knocked down, there was one that had been €550, then it went to €530 and now it was €500 but then he said that the prices are controlled from head offices, there's nothing he can do. Then I had the same debate with the manager. Then (just out of curiotisity at this stage as i'd my mind made up to go) I asked for a laptop bag costing €20 to be included for an extra €10 (i.e. €780 total) - no way.
At that point I left and went home and ordered one from Dell online, higher spec, for €750 (I know online will be cheaper but still...)

Sorry for the rant but can you haggle in any shop (other than Harvey Norman who are way overpriced anyway) now?

jor el

The manager may have some discretionary discounts that can be applied, but in the large chain stores, like PC world, that's no often the case.

In Harvey Norman the staff do have some discount capability. That's about the only place I've ever heard of it. In most places, it's simply a case of computer says no, and they can't argue with it any more than you can.

Bigtoe107

I work in Halford's which I would imagine it would be fairly similar to pc world in the sense that the employees have absolutely no control over pricing; although even though i explain this I still get the "ah sure you can throw that in aswell" comments every f'in day.

So in answer to your question op yes the days of haggling with some who cannot change the price are gone.

Chardee MacDennis

used to work in dixons and currys (same group as pcw) i could give discounts but at the end of the day my discount rate would be reviewed by managers at the end of the day, if i had a discount rate of between 5-10% it could be picked up on but generally i could discount that much if i sold about 15-20% insurance.

i think its changed in the last few years though...

Little Mickey

That seems to be the case alright, really p*ssed me off though.
I know the prices of (new) cars is a totally different scale but I think you can haggle a bit there? But going by the price that I was spending, which when you scale it by PC World products would be similar, compared to a motor dealer's products, surely they could offer a little.
I appreciate a supermarket wouldn't do it because they're only selling everyday goods but it wouldn't be any major hit for PC World to do it.
Anyway I'm glad I ordered online, got myself better spec's for less buck

Little Mickey

BastardPrince wrote: »

used to work in dixons and currys (same group as pcw) i could give discounts but at the end of the day my discount rate would be reviewed by managers at the end of the day, if i had a discount rate of between 5-10% it could be picked up on but generally i could discount that much if i sold about 15-20% insurance.

i think its changed in the last few years though...

Gee's, and I was only asking for about 3% I think!

eightyfish

Little Mickey wrote: »

(€20 not much of a profit then?)

I used to work in Dixons also. We were allowed to use the opportunity of a customer asking for a discount to sell them coverplan (insurance). The company would make much, much more profit on selling the coverplan than the laptop. So you could get, say 15% off if you spent an extra €150, but the €150 was pure profit for Dixons.

On the profit thing- I worked for a smaller computer shop after Dixons, and was in charge of buying stock in as well as selling it. In order to compete with the bigger shops, we would often have laptops with only €20 profit on them or even less. We'd make our profit in selling accessories etc.

ShooterSF

I have found what eightyfish said to be true. I have gone to PC World and they wont budge on the price of the laptop but will offer discounts on the insurance and the anti-virus (which I always ask not to be given). These are probably their biggest money makers.

reeta

As an ex-manager of Currys and P.C. World., sales staff can give discounts particularly if the customer buys Coverplan (which is a complete rip off)... They can definitely throw in a laptop bag etc... The sales person cant go over 3% discount for their total sales for that day... the problem at the moment is trying to find a sales person to sell you something !!!!

Little Mickey

ShooterSF wrote: »

I have found what eightyfish said to be true. I have gone to PC World and they wont budge on the price of the laptop but will offer discounts on the insurance and the anti-virus (which I always ask not to be given). These are probably their biggest money makers.

If my memory serves me right the original price with Norton anti-virus was €850 and the first thing I said was I don't want that - avast! has never let me down so far and it doesn't cost a cent. As for a firewall I use Comodo, doesn't cost a cent either. He then pointed out that Norton was the best anti-virus but when I told him that afaik Kaspersky has got better reviews in general he said well yea Norton is in the top 5 anyway - what a load of bulls*iting...

eightyfish

Little Mickey wrote: »

Norton is in the top 5 anyway - what a load of bulls*iting...

I hate Norton. It used to be good but it's grown so bulky and intrusive over the years. Once it started trying add a friggin' toolbar to my browser I decided to take a grudge against it for the rest of my life.

I find Microsoft's free Security Essentials software good, and quiet.

Little Mickey

The one I ordered online has a 15 month subscription to McAfee, if it's also like what you describe with Norton then I'll probably replace it with avast

Del2005

Little Mickey wrote: »

Sorry for the rant but can you haggle in any shop (other than Harvey Norman who are way overpriced anyway) now?

I recently bought a lens in Harvey Norman, it was only €10 more expensive then other shops and it was open when I was buying. I asked for a discount and the sales person said no way, he did give me a free memory card!

It depends on what your buying on getting a discount in Harvey Norman.

Bosshogg

I picked up a Sony Vaio in Power City Fonthill just recently. The guy was offering mark downs without asking. It was like an invitation to squeeze him for more. Did a better price than online stores I frequent in the end.

bongi69

I'm also an ex Dixons worker:

What the others have said is correct. I could throw in free stuff or knock a few quid off if one took out coverplan too. If you were buying a couple of things, like a TV and a laptop at the same time, we could generally give something there, but I think our manager allowed this while others didn't.

A future tip for shopping in DSG shops, if you see anything marked with .98 or .97 cents, its clearance, and you have alot more bargaining power. We were regularly told we could knock up to 20% off, but only if the customer asked. Naturally some clearence stock woudln't have a box (display models etc.) so we discounted those straight off.

Run_to_da_hills

With so much competiton out there there is a very slim profit margin on laptops these days particularly fresher models. The only machines that might have some chance of bargaining with would be old stock that they are trying to shift.

WopTittyPop

Compare the prices of laptops 2 years ago to the prices nowadays! The €700 laptop you bought online through Dell (terrible idea buying direct from Dell btw..) probably cost about €2000 2 years ago! Yeah sure, technology declines in price every year on all fronts, but wouldn't this also explain the reason for haggling becoming more and more difficult? The margin on technology nowadays is worth nothing! These shops sometimes makes more money of accessories than the actual main products themselves!

Also no offense, but I used to work in Curry's, and yes I did like giving someone a discount when possible, but it's people like you, that keep going on and on and on for 40+ minutes, that make a work day sh*t!

My suggestion to you for the future is ask once, if they say no ask again, and then if they say no again leave it


P.S: Sweet laptop by the way

Little Mickey

WopTittyPop wrote: »

Also no offense, but I used to work in Curry's, and yes I did like giving someone a discount when possible, but it's people like you, that keep going on and on and on for 40+ minutes, that make a work day sh*t!

I have to mention though, as soon as I began browsing he was straight over to me, and between my bargaining I didn't ask him to stick around.
Why was he over to me straight away - because he'd nowt else to do - him and two others were standing around with thier hands behind thier backs, so I passed some of his time!

Gillo

Little Mickey wrote: »

Why was he over to me straight away

He's a sales guy and you were in the store where he works, why do you think he was over to you??

Little Mickey

Gillo wrote: »

He's a sales guy and you were in the store where he works, why do you think he was over to you??

I forgot, sorry

UrbanSea

I'd imagine,as people said before,that discounts couldn't be given as in chain stores the employees simply don't have the power. Try independent retailers for discounts,they'd almost certainly give you some.

php-fox

I worked in Currys for 5 months (worst time of my life!).
Little Mickey - what you did to the poor sales rep is usually one of the main factors of why we hate customers so much.
First of all, you can't take no as an answer. 45 minutes of debating over 20 euro. God save the guy you were attacking.
Second, you don't understand the way PC world group does business. They sell their laptops at the smallest price possible, making no money or very little. Where they make money is additions to a sale. With every laptop we are forced (under fear of death by a hammer) to sell norton, bag, insurance, printers, cables and everything else you can find in the store.

So a sole laptop sale is considered to be a bad sale, leave alone a sole laptop sale at a discounted price. If I ever did that, I'd be hang at the main entrance. If you bought a laptop with stuff, then yeah, I would personally knock down 5-15 euro.

Little Mickey

php-fox wrote: »

you don't understand the way PC world group does business. They sell their laptops at the smallest price possible, making no money or very little. Where they make money is additions to a sale. With every laptop we are forced (under fear of death by a hammer) to sell norton, bag, insurance, printers, cables and everything else you can find in the store.

So a sole laptop sale is considered to be a bad sale, leave alone a sole laptop sale at a discounted price. If I ever did that, I'd be hang at the main entrance. If you bought a laptop with stuff, then yeah, I would personally knock down 5-15 euro.

The point I intended to make earlier was that a total of 3 of them were standing around with thier hands behind thier back. I think I may have been the only customer in there unless there were more at the other end of the store. So for a company making only 20 quid profit on a laptop it seemed like they were over-staffed. I know that there will be more customers in the evening or weekend but during business hours during the week there was no need for that.
One bad way for PC World to do business imo.

Dublindude69

I hope Little Mickey never comes into the store I work... or has he already? In my store staff have zero control over the prices so when people demand a discount, nothing we can do at all.

jpb1974

I hear what current and former employees are saying but given the times we're in I find it hard to believe that they'd let €750 walk out the door... for the sake of €19.

I also find it hard to believe that the profitability on the laptop in question would be in the region of €19... they'd wanna be selling some amount of stuff to keep the doors open with that sort of profit margin.

Polar101

Dublindude69 wrote: »

I hope Little Mickey never comes into the store I work... or has he already? In my store staff have zero control over the prices so when people demand a discount, nothing we can do at all.

Yes, but to be fair, the customer can't know what the store policy is.. no harm in asking. I'd imagine it can get irritating if you get the same question 10 times a day, though.

Antigone05

jpb1974 wrote: »

I also find it hard to believe that the profitability on the laptop in question would be in the region of €19... they'd wanna be selling some amount of stuff to keep the doors open with that sort of profit margin.

Its alot of the time , less.

its more down to the consumer not knowing the value of the product. How could they! its the smaller products that would boast margin, inks, paper, small gadgets, headphones etc..

There is no gross profit left in computers at a retail level. Alot of company's sell below cost or at 0% to be competitive. People still think that a couple of hundred quid is pure profit. far far from it.

whiterebel

I don't see why anyone expects companies to haggle. Ask one question: Is that your best price? If the answer is yes, either buy it or leave.

jpb1974

I don't see why anyone expects companies to haggle. Ask one question: Is that your best price? If the answer is yes, either buy it or leave.

Haggling is a tradition that dates back to the days when women, strong men & goats where used to barter for goods.

Ever bought a car?

Personally I wouldn't haggle for 45 mins for €19... you can usually tell after 30 seconds where things are going.

Often people need to feel their getting a bargain... and there are ways of going about these things that give people the impression they're getting a great deal even if it's a case that there not.

Ya can't beat a bit of dishcount.... a bit o' cash dishcount.

DjBryn

ShooterSF wrote: »

I have found what eightyfish said to be true. I have gone to PC World and they wont budge on the price of the laptop but will offer discounts on the insurance and the anti-virus (which I always ask not to be given). These are probably their biggest money makers.

yes antivirus that is free as most models have it installed free for 3mths anyway, insurance?
if they have faith in the products they are selling you why would they want to try shove insurance down your throat

i have walked out of there a number of times and founnd better prices elsewhere....

eightyfish

DjBryn wrote: »

if they have faith in the products they are selling you why would they want to try shove insurance down your throat

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