Haggling in PC World?

runswithascript

Have any of you gotten deals on electronics in stores?

We have our eye on a laptop for €250 or so and we'll take all that cash in with us but I'm going to take out €230 or so and see if we can get a deal - what do you think?

HeidiHeidi

My experience recently in PC World (trying to find a case/bag for a tablet) was that it was a challenge to get anyone to talk to me at all, never mind get down to haggling! After a number of failed attempts to engage sales staff in more than one outlet I eventually gave up.

(Still haven't found a case for the tablet, btw - it's an Asus Transformer, if anyone knows where I can find one I'd be very grateful!)

castie

Went into one in Cork helping a friend buy a laptop.

Asked their sales guy for ones with a dedicated graphics card.

"oh you cant get those at all"

Never again....

wingnut

€250 would be about the cheapest laptop going. They don't have huge margins so you would be doing well to get the €20 off. Might have better luck getting a case thrown in.

dudara

Moved to Talk to Curry's & PC World

runswithascript

Nice modding there, you must be new here.

I don't want to talk to Curry's and PC World as I will do enough of that when I buy tomorrow, if I had I would have asked there instead. I want to talk to the boards community, evident from where I posted.

How did you ever become a Mod in the first place if you cannot even understand that much?

cml387

dusf wrote: »

Nice modding there, you must be new here.

I don't want to talk to Curry's and PC World as I will do enough of that when I buy tomorrow, if I had I would have asked there instead. I want to talk to the boards community, evident from where I posted.

How did you ever become a Mod in the first place if you cannot even understand that much?

The view from this member of the boards community is that you should drop the attitude.

runswithascript

cml387 wrote: »

The view from this member of the boards community is that you should drop the attitude.

Who are you, the inappropriate negligent mod sheriff?

What on earth is wrong with the pair of you to think it reasonable that someone who has clearly stated they plan on approaching PC World directly when buying a netbook about a deal and wants to seek advise from fellow consumers before the fact would want their thread moved into the PC World forum.

Northern Monkey

dusf wrote: »

Who are you, the inappropriate negligent mod sheriff?

What on earth is wrong with the pair of you to think it reasonable that someone who has clearly stated they plan on approaching PC World directly when buying a netbook about a deal and wants to seek advise from fellow consumers before the fact would want their thread moved into the PC World forum.

I'm sure Declan (the head of Currys/PC World for Ireland) will be in a better position to advise you as to their policy on haggling.

I have experience of haggling with PC world but wouldn't have seen this thread if it was in it original location.

runswithascript

Northern Monkey wrote: »

I'm sure Declan (the head of Currys/PC World for Ireland) will be in a better position to advise you as to their policy on haggling.

I have experience of haggling with PC world but wouldn't have seen this thread if it was in it original location.

Look at it like this. Do you think someone wanting to know if other consumers have gotten deals off the list price the day before going in to purchase a PC World product would choose to go into a PC World and ask other consumers there that in front of all their staff members?

No, it makes sense to ask consumers before the fact, not staff members. Hence why the thread was posted in CONSUMER issues.

runswithascript

dusf wrote: »

Have any of you (consumers) gotten deals on electronics in stores?

My initial question on opening the thread in Consumer Issues was very specific.

Northern Monkey

dusf wrote: »

Look at it like this. Do you think someone wanting to know if other consumers have gotten deals off the list price the day before going in to purchase a PC World product would choose to go into a PC World and ask other consumers there that in front of all their staff members?

No, it makes sense to ask consumers before the fact, not staff members. Hence why the thread was posted in CONSUMER issues.

And how exactly is haggling a consumer issue? Apart from you being a consumer taking issue with everyone?

runswithascript

Northern Monkey wrote: »

I'm sure Declan (the head of Currys/PC World for Ireland) will be in a better position to advise you as to their policy on haggling.

I'm not looking on the general public company line on deals, that's what they advertise on television and their website etc - again a reason why I posted in Consumer Issues.

runswithascript

Northern Monkey wrote: »

And how exactly is haggling a consumer issue?

Just try saying that back to yourself slowly and try work out how it is you do not understand trade has to do with consumer issues.

Northern Monkey wrote: »

And how exactly is haggling a consumer issue? Apart from you being a consumer taking issue with everyone?

I am not taking issue with everyone, I am taking issue with the negligence of the thread move.

dudara

If you would like the thread moved back, then please let me know.

But firstly, it is not a Consumer Issue, so perhaps it may be better suited to the Laptops forum,.

Secondly, Declan from PC World is very helpful and can offer real advice on PC World. He may even be able to tell you which special offers are best at the moment.

Final point - watch the attitude towards other posters. You have over 1,000 posts on Boards by now. You should know that civil behaviour to other posters will get you a lot further.

dudara

godtabh

I put 3 kindles for work in PC World recently. I asked would they include a usb key as part of the deal. They refused.

If I could have bought it on line I would have. Cheaper online but I suppose it isnt a charity they are running.

donegal100

I haven't stepped inside their door since they refused me their credit offer when trying to buy a desktop in 2002.

runswithascript

It's actually my girlfriend buying it for her little girl and she feels that if something goes wrong it will be easier to return it to PC World etc.

All that's required is a pink netbook, and we've been thinking of ACER Aspire One Happy 2 Netbook - Pink .

dudara

Bought back to Consumer Issues following a discussion with dusf.

dudara

SteM

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

My experience recently in PC World (trying to find a case/bag for a tablet) was that it was a challenge to get anyone to talk to me at all, never mind get down to haggling! After a number of failed attempts to engage sales staff in more than one outlet I eventually gave up.

(Still haven't found a case for the tablet, btw - it's an Asus Transformer, if anyone knows where I can find one I'd be very grateful!)

I got a nice 'neoprene' type one on ebay, try there. Fits the tablet and keyboard.

spookwoman

Went to PCWorold on Wed to get new TV no service people to be found for 15mins. Knew what I wanted when I finally got someone was told they don't keep them in stock and it would be Monday before it would be delivered and they walked away. Went up to Harvey Normans and got a good deal on another TV also they guy went through stock to see what they had.
Far better service and got €20 knocked off TV

dudara

Posters - I really don't want this turning into a PC World bad experiences thread. Let's stick to the topic of haggling.

dudara

Currys PC World: Declan

dudara wrote: »

Posters - I really don't want this turning into a PC World bad experiences thread. Let's stick to the topic of haggling.

dudara

I'll comment on the issue of haggling in PC World if such a comment is sought. Not sure if that is wanted on this thread but here to help as usual.

dudara

Your thoughts would be appreciated Declan

dudara

coylemj

castie wrote: »

Went into one in Cork helping a friend buy a laptop.

Asked their sales guy for ones with a dedicated graphics card.

"oh you cant get those at all"

Never again....

A laptop with a dedicated graphics card? The guy in the store was correct, there is no such thing.

There are no 'cards' in a laptop, everything is on the same board, including the processor, memory and graphics chip.

Your friend might have been better off going to the shop by himself!

Currys PC World: Declan

dudara wrote: »

Your thoughts would be appreciated Declan

dudara

I wouldn't describe us as a haggling house and I'll outline why below, with apologies for the length.

There's an old tradition of haggling in electricals and it predates our time, and I suspect DID's and Power City's and Argos et al. Talking to many independents I know, there was always in time immemorial a bit of room built into product price to negotiate down a bit and give customers a "deal". And, if you could command full price then happy days. Some of the newer entrants to the market have sought to perpetuate that position and that's their choice.

It's not the route we've decided to take. If I look at the OP's case, which I assume to be a netbook costing € 250 , the gross margin we'll make on that will do well to get out of single digits. And from that we pay wages, rent and all the rest. We don't share margin details with our staff but they know that there's not a lot of gross margin on any hardware. So, asking for € 20 off something that we make a margin of € 30 on at best is not going to be met with a positive response.

But there's a position on haggling that I take over and beyond that. If you are going to build negotiation room into your product pricing in the first place then you are going to make yourself look uncompetitive in an internet world. Far better to have your price at the lowest you can and take it from there.

On top of that, many people, especially those who wouldn't know anything about 100 hz and 1080p, are already stressed enough about the jargon that you could do without adding the additional stress of haggling on top of it. And, in haggling, the professionally trained hagglers will always win out. I don't want our shops filled with professional hagglers, we want people who will genuinely assist customers in finding the right product for them and advising appropriately on what ever else they need.

All that said, if you come into a Currys and you're about to buy 6 appliances for your home, we're of course going to put a package price together for that. It's a more efficient sale and you'll trade off your % margin for your cash margin due to to size of the sale. That's just common business sense.

To finish with an anecdote. It concerns a customer in Carlow who refused to buy an appliance from us unless we were prepared to offer free delivery ( costing € 20). The local competitor was offering free delivery but was € 40 more expensive on the actual product itself. Naturally we wouldn't or couldn't do it and the customer went off and paid more to get his delivery "free". In his case, getting a deal was more important than the actual price paid and we would lose business in that scenario. We can't win them all...

slimjimmc

coylemj wrote: »

A laptop with a dedicated graphics card? The guy in the store was correct, there is no such thing.

There are no 'cards' in a laptop, everything is on the same board, including the processor, memory and graphics chip.

Your friend might have been better off going to the shop by himself!

In that case I'll let you be the one to tell HP that their Elitebooks don't exist.(maint guide (large pdf))

On-board graphics are very common but laptops with separate graphics cards do exist although it's unlikely you'll find them in your average retail store.

dudara

Posters - please stick to the topic at hand here. Discussion of dedicated graphics cards is not pertinent to this thread.

dudara

Currys PC World: Declan

godtabh wrote: »

I put 3 kindles for work in PC World recently. I asked would they include a usb key as part of the deal. They refused.

If I could have bought it on line I would have. Cheaper online but I suppose it isnt a charity they are running.

Somebody bought more than 20 Kindles yesterday in Carrickmines. No discount. Not a lot of margin in it to begin with and there is a likelihood that we won't have sufficient stock to last to Christmas.

runswithascript

Thanks all for the input, we got 10% off the listed price in PC World

Currys PC World: Declan

dusf wrote: »

Thanks all for the input, we got 10% off the listed price in PC World

Fair dues is all I can say. You're obviously quite skilled !