Once again, he manages to find salespeople who know how much things cost and can speak English. I mean, compare that with my last venture into the world of consumer electronics …
Me: Hello. I’m looking for a new TV set. Salesperson: Grrhhbsssa mkwhkhll flkd? Me: I was looking at that one over there. Salesperson: (tries to follow pointing finger, is distracted by passing female customer, shambles after her drooling, returns five minutes later looking disconsolate) Me: That one there. Salesperson: (peers vaguely at TV set) Yah, skruhsm glwd fnuf kthahg. (stares at price ticket with expression of hermit crab attempting to understand general relativity.) Me: £199.99. (or whatever it was, I forget) Salesperson: Gstnk fah wffl extended warranty sgnerffr huh? Me: No, I don’t think I’ll be purchasing an extended warranty. Salesperson: *(looking piteous)*Extended warranty krnk nhhuhh glbstfgl hhrork … Me: No, I’ll take my chances without the extended warranty … you do have one of these sets left in stock? Salesperson: (looks at me as if I have just offered to perform a perverted sex act with his mother)
… and so it went on. A salesperson who just tried to sell me an extended warranty in English would come as a positive relief.
I bought the extended plan with my cell phone I got from Media Play- it’s for 2 years and covers damage to the phone or replaces it if it breaks. Since my last phone DID break (a Nokia cell phone), I figured it was a good investment. (I’m also bad about dropping phones). It was $8 more on a $60 purchase. Maybe I got hosed, but I like knowing that if I do have trouble, I don’t have to spend another $60 on a phone. The guy was nice about it- not pushy or anything, though. If he had been pushy I would have scooped out his eyes with a melonballer and had them for my lunch.
I bought a two year replacement plan at Best Buy on my PDA. 11 months later (and two days before starting my new job), my PDA conks out. Voila, original purchase price gets applied to my new PDA, which is of much better quality than the one I’d been using. I’d been out of work for months when this happened, so I wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy a new one then.
For anything that isn’t terribly expensive or doesn’t get used frequently, I scoff at the replacement/repair plans. But for a really expensive TV, or my PDA (which gets a lot of wear and tear), I like the extra security. So, I don’t buy these plans often.
Oh, and I tried not to scoff when the cashier asked about a plan for my optical mouse (as I know they’re required to ask), so I’m at least polite.
And there you have it. Your own role in creating this high-pressure-to-buy-the-extended-warranty climate is YOURS, for shopping by price.
My friend worked at Montgomery Wards, in electronics sales. Month in and month out, he was sales leader on gross dollar basis, but his percentage of extended warranty sales was low. Month in and month out, he was on the carpet. Why?
Job 1 was to get customers into the store. In order to accomplish this purpose, they advertised the products at a 0 profit price. At cost.
Job 2 was to make a profit. This job was accomplished by selling the add-on warranty. To accomplish job 2, they had to really put the screws to the sales staff. In fact, one rule was that if you sold the leader model, the advertised model, you were f.i.r.e.d! (Apparently that unit was being advertised BELOW cost. The price leader is often called the “bolt down” model, it simply c an NOT leave the store.)
Yes, how stupid of me; I should have ignored the bargain and bought a much more expensive machine, possibly with a lower spec.
Shopping for best price is not the only way in which I exert pressure on the retailers to modify their behaviours, I balance it by violently slaughtering any salesperson who provides poor customer service; I think it balances out quite evenly on the whole.
That’s illegal, right? I was always under the impression that “bait and switch” is illegal, but I’ve never really had it confirmed for sure.
I had a “bait and switch” backfire on the sales guy. He did manage to talk me up to a better TV set than the one I went in for. Then discovered the one he’d upgraded me to was out of stock, except for the one on the floor which was available at such a reduced price that it ended up being cheaper than the one I originally wanted.
When you have a chance, please bring a set of impaling spikes over to Dell customer service.
I asked a perfectly reasonable and detailed question through the “sales/pre-sales” heading of their “contact us” page. It made sense, since I could both give them detail in writing and avoid the hold time of their phone system. Mind you this is the only method I have found of contacting them via email.
After fielding a flurry of interesting yet unhelpful auto-generated email responses (each correctly indicating that they are in the sales/pre-sales category) I finally reach the point where I’m promised contact with a live person. This purportedly live, thinking person writes me to say that this is a sales/pre-sales question (surprise!) and she is in customer service and cannot help me.
Fine, I tell her. You’ve misrouted my inquiry, so just pass it on to sales if that is where it belongs. “Sorry for the inconvenience,” she writes back, “but this is customer service, and we can’t help you.” Oh, the irony.
I replied with an invoice from Acer, who had answered my questions and processed an order in the meantime.
Yeah, two of the extended warranties I provide support for are like that. They also cover damage due to a power surge in the first year (which is usually not covered on the OEM warranty).
I hate the salespeople who tell our customers that this warranty covers anything, that if you have a problem they will send someone out to fix it. It kills me to disappoint these people when I explain that their are a lot of problems that aren’t covered, and we are only sending someone out after we do extensive troubleshooting over the phone to determine exactly what part has failed.
How startlingly innovative of you. Just a shame that both the factors you actually mention are dependant on shopping around for the best price, just as the op describes.
