Haggling in Powercity

marknine

Over the last day I have been reading "Stingiest thing you've seen stingy people do" on boards.ie. After reading this I will no longer moan about Powercity (even though I am still flabergasted, that they turned down my business) I have been really happy with them over the years and to be honest, they are normally good value and nice to deal with. I am going to start shopping there again and not hold a grudge. Still peed off that they would rather turn down hard cash, than give a small discount though. I'm not one of those peolpe that try and have the last say, Yes I am, they refused my business. Oh but I'm letting that go now LOL. To out there, thanks for your feedback. Good & Bad

CIARAN_BOYLE

marknine wrote: »

Still peed off that they would rather turn down hard cash, than give a small discount though.

They gave a small discount according to your OP. You turned it down.

the_syco

whippet wrote: »

when you say PC World and Argos were doing a better deal ... was it the exact same notebook? if not you can't compare.

Having looked around at times, I also would ask the same question, as the "cheaper model" would have a sh|tty celeron, half the amount of RAM, and a crap graphics card. How would you know? The last letter could be different (this makes a BIG difference), but I've found PC World doesn't always display the full model number.

marknine

the_syco wrote: »

Having looked around at times, I also would ask the same question, as the "cheaper model" would have a sh|tty celeron, half the amount of RAM, and a crap graphics card. How would you know? The last letter could be different (this makes a BIG difference), but I've found PC World doesn't always display the full model number.

The PC world & Argus models were a better spec to be honest and around the same price. I would have been happy with the Samsung if they had given a better discount. Over the years I have had a number of laptops and to be honest, unless you get a realy high spec model, they are mostly all the same. The one I got was a Sony from PC world (I origanly said it was from Argus Sorry) I think it worked out at €20 more, but in fairness is a far nicer machine. But If I got the Samsung I would been just as happy.
Anyway, Thats the end of it. I am going to Powercity tomorrow and buy a heater for the house.
Funny as over the past few years or so, we were all told we should haggle when buying a big purchase. RTE 1 was good for this with Tina Leonard and that Cork guy whos name I just cant remember at the moment. Anyway Im just going to put it down to me not being able to haggle and go back to Powercity. I did not expexct a huge discount, but what Powercity were giving was nothing less than a joke.
Anyway Thats the end of it. No more giving out about Powercity discounts.

skinny90

make sure u ask for a big discount:D,if they dont give it to you, walk out,and start a new thread :P

Del2005

marknine wrote: »

The one I got was a Sony from PC world (I origanly said it was from Argus Sorry) I think it worked out at €20 more, but in fairness is a far nicer machine.

How much did PC world give you off?

marknine

skinny90 wrote: »

make sure u ask for a big discount:D,if they dont give it to you, walk out,and start a new thread :P

LOL Fantastic |I couldn't stop laughing LOL

Kensington

All of the discounts are controlled by Powercity head office, the guys on the shop floor only have a certain margin within which they can discount - if the margin is small, or there is no margin (specials, one off etc.) then there is nothing more they can do on the price.

Besides, profit margins on laptops, particularly the lower end ones, can be extremely tight. A customer isn't worth their custom for a shop if they can't at least break even on what the customer buys

As for the cash argument, cash can actually work out more expensive to a retailer than card payments:
Cash needs to be insured on the premises, it requires a trusted (usually senior) member of shop staff to count it, it needs to be transported securely to the bank, the bank charge both to handle and lodge the cash and then there's the added risk of forged notes, theft, loss etc. which hit the overall bottom line.

Cards, on the other hand, are fairly secure, no-one needs to count it, the money doesn't need to be securely transported, the hit from fraudulent transactions are generally borne by the bank/CC company, for a high-monetary-volume retailer like Powercity transaction fees are not even remotely close to 5% and there is no risk of physical theft of the money at any point.

Anyway - it's a buyer's market out there at the moment, shops are fighting for your business. They're in it to make as much money out of you as they can so you should be in it to get the best deal out of a purchase that you can - from whoever may be offering that deal

marknine

Del2005 wrote: »

How much did PC world give you off?

It turned out to be on offer at €170 off and worked out at about €20, I think maybe dearer or cheeper (cant remember) It was one of those Sony's with i3 chip. The funnny thing is, 2 weeks later the i3 second gen came out LOL.
However, I have found no real diffferance between laptop specs unless you are using something like photoshop or the like. The powercity Samsung laptop was an very low spec laptop that was onsale at €449.95 and at the time Argus and PC world were selingl better at cheeper, but not that model. I was happy to buy from Powercity but as the discount offered was less than 5% infact it was €12, I could not justify paying for what I knew was bad value. But in sayiing that, if it had been €20 discount, I would have bought there and then. The price of that laptop was about 15 - 20 weeks saving for me as I was not working at the time. The fact that the same laptop was advertised on sale at a dicount of €110, only highlighted my feeling that the discount they offered was a joke. It more that they turned down the chance of a sale, that bugged me as I really did want to give my business to an Irish owned company. In saying that, I have no issues with UK owned companys and I buy from them all the time.
Here is the add for the Powercity Samsung laptop the I was going to buy a few days before at a very much higher price. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockydo...in/photostream I am really sorry as I doont know how to add a jpeg to this site. If I had of got a propper discount and bought the Samsung laptop, although I would be a bit peed of that I would have got it cheeper if a weighted a few days, I would have just chalked it down to being "just one of those things"

borderlinemeath

What I find about power city is the original price is always competitive, they'll have a very keen starting price - so discounts from this are always at the lower end of the scale. Even in their big sales, they will have their blowout offers, which are always limited to about 5 for store to generate publicity, the rest of the offers are limited to 10-20% and products that are out of date/old spec.

Argos on the other hand has one of the highest mark ups on the high street. Their RRP is always far higher than it's competitors allowing them to market their products with big discounts while staying on the right side of consumer law. I don't think I've ever bought anything at the original RRP in there, it's always overpriced to begin with.

I don't shop often enough in PC world to know if they operate the same tactics, however I have shopped in Currys (same company) and use their website for price comparisons and I find the prices quite competitive.

skinny90

very true on the argus point.they have the highest mark up.what people dont realise is their sales are generally on the over the top prices discounted to normal prices

Del2005

marknine wrote: »

It turned out to be on offer at €170 off and worked out at about €20, I think maybe dearer or cheeper (cant remember) It was one of those Sony's with i3 chip. The funnny thing is, 2 weeks later the i3 second gen came out LOL.
However, I have found no real diffferance between laptop specs unless you are using something like photoshop or the like. The powercity Samsung laptop was an very low spec laptop that was onsale at €449.95 and at the time Argus and PC world were selingl better at cheeper, but not that model. I was happy to buy from Powercity but as the discount offered was less than 5% infact it was €12, I could not justify paying for what I knew was bad value. But in sayiing that, if it had been €20 discount, I would have bought there and then. The price of that laptop was about 15 - 20 weeks saving for me as I was not working at the time. The fact that the same laptop was advertised on sale at a dicount of €110, only highlighted my feeling that the discount they offered was a joke. It more that they turned down the chance of a sale, that bugged me as I really did want to give my business to an Irish owned company. In saying that, I have no issues with UK owned companys and I buy from them all the time.
Here is the add for the Powercity Samsung laptop the I was going to buy a few days before at a very much higher price. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockydo...in/photostream I am really sorry as I doont know how to add a jpeg to this site. If I had of got a propper discount and bought the Samsung laptop, although I would be a bit peed of that I would have got it cheeper if a weighted a few days, I would have just chalked it down to being "just one of those things"

So basically you started a thread moaning about Powercity not offering you a big enough discount. You then went and bought in PC World and never asked for a discount.

marknine

Del2005 wrote: »

So basically you started a thread moaning about Powercity not offering you a big enough discount. You then went and bought in PC World and never asked for a discount.

Thats true to a degree, but on the other hand, the Sony Vaio was €170 off and also seemed to be realy good value. Im not sure why I didnt ask for a discount with PC world to be honest. OH, I tell you why, it was because the Sony was advertised at the €170 reduced price. If I had bought the Samsung at Powercitys reduced price, I would not have asked for a further dicount either. If something is good value, then I have no problem paying the price. I just felt the Samsung was not good value for what they were asking. I dont normaly ask for discounts and to be honest, if I do, I find it embaressing. Different if buying cabinetmaking tools as I just ask for a traids discount. But as I said from the first post Powercity would only offer me less than 5% or about 12 euros on the full price of the laptop. They had the sale in there hand but turned it down. If I had of thought it was good value, I would have bought the laptop there and then. We have been told that we should haggle when making a big purchase and on this occasion, the haggle was a fail.

borderlinemeath

marknine wrote: »

Thats true to a degree, but on the other hand, the Sony Vaio was €170 off and also seemed to be realy good value. Im not sure why I didnt ask for a discount with PC world to be honest. OH, I tell you why, it was because the Sony was advertised at the €170 reduced price. If I had bought the Samsung at Powercitys reduced price, I would not have asked for a further dicount either. If something is good value, then I have no problem paying the price. I just felt the Samsung was not good value for what they were asking. I dont normaly ask for discounts and to be honest, if I do, I find it embaressing. Different if buying cabinetmaking tools as I just ask for a traids discount. But as I said from the first post Powercity would only offer me less than 5% or about 12 euros on the full price of the laptop. They had the sale in there hand but turned it down. If I had of thought it was good value, I would have bought the laptop there and then. We have been told that we should haggle when making a big purchase and on this occasion, the haggle was a fail.

We have been told by a couple of consumer TV heads to try - it doesn't mean the shop has the ability to comply with what you want. It's not the same haggling in Power City as haggling in Harvey Norman, where they openly welcome it - but the prices are high to start with.

I do think that you have been blinded by marketing though, just because something has a "sale" price, doesn't mean it wasn't overpriced in the first place...

marknine

borderlinemeath wrote: »

We have been told by a couple of consumer TV heads to try - it doesn't mean the shop has the ability to comply with what you want. It's not the same haggling in Power City as haggling in Harvey Norman, where they openly welcome it - but the prices are high to start with.

I do think that you have been blinded by marketing though, just because something has a "sale" price, doesn't mean it wasn't overpriced in the first place...

You may be correct that I may have been blinded by marketing regarding the Sony Vaio I bought in PC World. However it still worked out to be a better deal than the Samsung from Powercity. But as I say, it is the fact they turned down a good sale that realy is the issue here. Most of my electrical goods that I bought over the years are from Powercity s I have always found them to be good value. Up untill they turned down the sale of the Samsung laptop (that wasn't good value) I would always go there first. But in all honesty, a discount of €12 for an item that was costing €449.95. If they even threw in a mouse or something maybe. But then to find the same laptop for sale a few days later at a discount of €110, well I'm sure you can understand how this reinforced my feelings at the time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockydog/6447677211/in/photostream/lightbox/

I wish I could add this as a photo so you could all see.

Anyway I am now buying things from Powercity again as I bought a heater the other day. Oh, and I didn't ask for a discount either LOL

GrumPy

Always ask for a discount in power city. Staff will be surprised if you DONT to be honest. (former staff, 5 years) Worst case scenario they genuinely are not given authorization from head office to discount, and they can't. Or maybe they can only offer a very small discount.

Always ask though!